Hash oil is a cannabis concentrate made by using a solvent to pull the resin out of the plant. Once the solvent is removed, what’s left is a sticky, potent oil that can be shaped into all kinds of textures: glassy shatter, soft wax, crumbly crumble, saucy live resin, or the clear oil inside most vape carts. Hash oil is much stronger than flower, so it’s usually used in small amounts with a dab rig or a vape.
The name is a little confusing, because hash oil isn’t made from hash. It’s called that because, like hash, it’s a concentrated form of the plant’s resin. Here’s how it’s made, the main types you’ll see on a menu, and how people use it.
Hash vs Hash Oil vs Kief
All three come from trichomes, the tiny resin glands on cannabis flower.
Kief is loose trichomes, the powder at the bottom of your grinder. We explain it in what is kief.
Hash is kief that’s been pressed and worked into a solid.
Hash oil is resin that’s been dissolved out of the plant with a solvent and then concentrated further. It’s typically the most potent of the three.
How Hash Oil Is Made
At a licensed manufacturing facility, cannabis is washed with a solvent that dissolves the cannabinoids and terpenes. The plant material is filtered out, then the solvent is purged, leaving the concentrate behind. Different solvents and different finishing steps produce different products.
Hydrocarbon extraction uses butane or propane. It’s behind a lot of shatter, wax, budder, and live resin.
CO2 extraction uses pressurized carbon dioxide. It’s common for vape oil.
Ethanol extraction uses food-grade alcohol and is often a step on the way to distillate.
Solventless products like rosin skip chemical solvents entirely and use heat and pressure instead. Strictly speaking, rosin isn’t hash oil, but you’ll find it in the same section of the menu.
Don’t Try This at Home
Making hash oil with butane or other flammable solvents is dangerous, because those solvents catch fire easily. In Colorado it’s also a serious crime. Under C.R.S. 18-18-406.6, anyone without a state license who makes marijuana concentrate using an “inherently hazardous substance” commits a level 2 drug felony. The law defines that as anything with a flash point at or below 100 degrees Fahrenheit, which covers butane, propane and diethyl ether but not alcohol. Leave extraction to licensed manufacturers.
Types of Hash Oil You’ll See on a Menu
Shatter
Hard, glassy and usually amber. It snaps like thin glass. Our guide on how to smoke shatter covers the basics.
Wax, Budder and Badder
Soft, opaque, and easier to handle than shatter. The texture ranges from crumbly to creamy depending on how it was whipped during finishing.
Crumble
Dry and crumbly, a bit like feta. Easy to break into small pieces.
Live Resin
Made from fresh-frozen plants instead of dried and cured flower. Fans love it because it tends to keep more of the plant’s original terpenes, which means more flavor. If you’re weighing it against rosin, ask at the counter and we’ll walk you through the difference.
Distillate
Refined until it’s mostly one cannabinoid, usually THC, with very little flavor of its own. It’s the base for many vape carts and edibles, and flavors are often added back in.
You can see the extracts we carry and read a little more about each type on our extracts page.
How People Use Hash Oil
Dabbing
The most common method for shatter, wax, and live resin. A small amount goes onto a heated nail or banger on a dab rig, and you inhale the vapor. New to it? Start with how to dab.
Vaping
Vape cartridges and disposables are hash oil in a pre-filled format. They’re simple, with no rig needed. If you’re shopping for a battery, read our vape battery buyer’s guide.
Topping a Bowl or Joint
Some people add a small piece of concentrate to a bowl or roll a little into a joint. It burns fast and hits much harder than flower alone, so go easy.
How Strong Is Hash Oil?
Much stronger than flower. Concentrates are made specifically to concentrate cannabinoids, and the label will show you just how high the numbers go. That’s why a dab is tiny compared to a bowl. If you’ve never used concentrates, start with the smallest amount possible, wait, and see how you feel before you take more. Ask a budtender to help you pick something on the milder end to start.
Storing Hash Oil
Keep concentrates in an airtight silicone or glass container, away from heat and light. Heat makes softer concentrates melt and lose flavor. Some people keep them in the fridge, but let the container come to room temperature before opening so moisture doesn’t collect inside. Keep it locked up in its original labeled packaging.
Common Questions
Is hash oil the same as THC oil?
People use the terms loosely. “THC oil” usually means a concentrate high in THC, which describes most hash oil. Distillate is the most refined version and is mostly THC.
Is the oil in a vape cart hash oil?
Usually, yes. Most vape cartridges hold a form of hash oil, often distillate or live resin, sometimes with terpenes added back for flavor.
Is hash oil legal in Colorado?
Adults 21 and over can buy concentrates from licensed dispensaries. Making it yourself with butane, propane or another solvent the law treats as inherently hazardous is a level 2 drug felony without a state license, as we covered above.
Can you smoke hash oil without a rig?
Yes. A vape is the simplest option. Some people add a small amount to a bowl or a joint, but it burns quickly and hits hard, so use very little.
A note on concentrates. Concentrates are much stronger than flower. Overconsumption of marijuana concentrate carries potential risks, including: psychotic symptoms and/or psychotic disorder (delusions, hallucinations, or difficulty distinguishing reality); mental health symptoms/problems; Cannabis Hyperemesis Syndrome (CHS) (uncontrolled and repetitive vomiting); and cannabis use disorder/dependence, including physical and psychological dependence. Start low, go slow, and ask a budtender if you have questions. For adults 21 and older.
Shop Concentrates at Lit
Shopping for your first concentrate? Come in and ask at the counter at either store, and we’ll help you figure out where to start. You can also browse the Federal menu or Broadway menu before you visit.
