In recent years, hash oil has become extremely popular among marijuana users in America and Canada. At the prestigious Cannabis Competitions, hash oils entries, which were marginal once, have radically increased over the last few years and are currently trending over the traditional hashish. Known by a number of nicknames such as BHO, dabs, honey oil, wax, earwax or shatter, hash oils can be consumed in a variety of ways. They can have radiant colors like golden, amber or dark brown and may look translucent or opaque depending upon its exact form. Hash oils give you the same high and healing benefits associated with cannabis, but the effects are usually much stronger and faster than that of normal marijuana flowers.

This also means that hash oils can provide greater symptom relief for people using marijuana for purely therapeutic purposes. In spite of its growing popularity, not many of us know what exactly hash oil is except that it is another derivative from the cannabis plants. But, do you know how it is made? Or, what are its chemical components? What are the best ways to consume hash oils? Keep reading this post to get your answers. This article will give you an excellent introduction to the world of hash oils and prepare you for the dynamic hash oil scene currently unfolding in Canada and America!

What is hash oil?

To put it simply, hash oils are concentrated extracts from cannabis plants that have high THC contents in them (70-90%). That is the reason hash oils are much more psychoactively potent compared to regular marijuana buds which can have a THC content of 22-25% at highest. Though there are references for hash oil consumption in the nineteenth century, the currently popular method of making hash oils using butane solvents was imported to the US from Afghanistan in the 1970s. Nowadays, hash oils are available in both liquid forms like butane honey oil or BHO, badder, distillate, wax or earwax, as well as solid forms such as shatter, crystalline, honeycomb, crumble wax, pull-and-snap. Due to their high potency, these different forms of hash oil are sold in smaller quantities and cost more than normal marijuana buds. However, as they have a very high THC content – sometimes even reaching up to 95% – you only need a very small amount of hash oil to get high.

How is hash oil extracted from cannabis plants?

Hash oil is extracted from the cannabis plants by using some type of solvents like butane, carbon dioxide or ethanol. The cannabis buds are crushed and diffused into the solvent, then heated and pressurized until the oil gets released from it. Butane extraction is the most popular and cheapest method of the three, but according to experts like A. C. Braddock, the CEO of a renowned extraction machinery making company, carbon dioxide extraction is much safer and produces less toxic than others.

Is hash oil safe?

Being a concentrated extract from the cannabis plants, the hash oils have unbelievably high THC content (sometimes as high as 95-99%), and are much more potent than normal marijuana flowers or other cannabinoid-derivative products. if you’re not careful enough, there is a possibility of overdosing. However, as Amanda Reiman, manager of cannabis law and policy in the Drug Policy Alliance, suggests, ‘There’s no risk of having a fatal overdose’ from the hash oils. The worst thing that can happen due to too much hash oil consumption is ‘somebody passing out from getting high’, she argues. In most of the cases, overdosing from hash oil will make you anxious, paranoid and overall a little uncomfortable. But that’s it; there is no risk of any long-lasting physiological danger whatsoever.

How to consume hash oil?

One of the major benefits of hash oil is that you can use it in multiple ways. One of the most popular techniques of consuming hash oils is called ‘dabbing’. In this process, users use a titanium made or any other needle-like tool to dab a bit of thick, sticky hash oil and apply it to a special pipe or bong meant for the purpose. When the pipe is heated with a small blowtorch, the hash oil dab vaporizes and releases a thick smoke that is inhaled. Nowadays, there are vaporizer pens that use an in-built heating and combustion mechanism to produce the smoke. If you want a totally hassle-free experience, get a disposable vaporizer pen or one with a rechargeable hash oil cartridge from the local marijuana store and start smoking!

For those who don’t like smoking, there are other ways of consuming hash oil which is equally effective. There are edibles that use hash oil as an active ingredient. You can use hash oils to make delicious brownies and cookies at home. Remember that edibles work through ingestion, which means the hash oil will take time to work and the effects will be long-lasting. You can also use it as tinctures and topicals and apply them directly on your skin or in your favorite drinks. Experts argue that the effects produced by the hash oil topicals applied on skin are usually short-lasting compared to edibles and tinctures.

Compared to smoking regular marijuana buds, hash oils have less smell. This gives hash oil a unique advantage over many other marijuana products. If you want to get really high really quickly, smoking hash oil is the most effective way to achieve that. Usually, any hash oil is four to five times more potent than regular marijuana strains available in the market. Take a small quantity of the best quality hash oil, and it will make you extremely euphoric and energetic real fast. Remember they are extremely high in THC content. If you are not looking for a psychoactive, mind-altering high, you should probably stay away from the hash oils. Taking that into account, hash oils are perfectly safe to consume and have no extra side-effects compared to regular marijuana.