Water Extracted Hash
Marijuana Horticulture
by Jorge Cervantes
Hash extracted using cold water is known as water hash, Ice-O-Lator hash, ice hash, THC crystal, etc. When very pure, hash will bubble releasing volatile resins when exposed to a flame, hence the name Bubble Hash. This boiling effect is called “full-melt bubble” hash.
Modern water hash extraction started with “Sadu Sam’s Secret” that was published in HASHISH! by Robert Connell Clarke. Sadu Sam’s Secret is simple physics: resin is oil-based and cannabis foliage is water based. This difference makes separating the two in aqueous solution easy. Heavy, oil soluble resin glands will not dissolve in water; they are heavier than water so they will sink. Water soluble material dissolves in liquid, and foliage is lighter than water, which makes it float!
A passage from HASHISH! states, “Sadu Sam’s Secret involves stirring a few grams of pulverized flowers or freshly sieved resin powder into a tall container of cool water containing ten to twenty times the volume of water to dry powder. Coo or cold water is essential because warm water softens the resin, which tends to stick together forming and unmanageable ump. The mixture must be stirred vigorously for several minutes until the lumps of the powder disperse. Once stirring ceases, the differing particles in the suspension begin to separate. Plant particles and other light debris float to the surface. Small, immature resin glands also tend to float. mature resin glands and any dense debris such as sand and mineral dust sink, settling to the bottom.”
Sadu Sam and Mila (the Pollinator) are old friends, and both live in Amsterdam, Holland. Mila continued to play with the separation method and refined it. Within a short time, she combined the dry sieving process with ice-cold water-the outcome was Ice-O-Lator bags. They are three waterproof nylon bags with progressively smaller micron silk screens sewn into the bottom of each. Clean cannabis is chopped and placed in ice-cold water in the bags. The water is mixed. When the slurry settles, the resin glands pass through the screens, and the foliage and debris are retained in bags. The water is retained in bags. The water is drained, and a few nice clumps of high quality hash remain.
Bubble Man refined the process by adding more bags with progressively smaller mesh. He has been adding screens, and at the time of publication, he uses seven different screens. He found that each screen separates unique sediments, some of which contain exceptionally pure THC. This hash is so pure that it bubbles when heated. Bubble Man popularized this saying, “If it don’t bubble, it ain’t worth the trouble.”
Water-soluble terpinoids found in cannabis resin contribute to fragrance and taste. The majority of these soluble terpinoids dissolve and are washed out when extracting resin with water. The result is often hash with little flavor and aroma.
Now the hash is out of the bag! Many manufacturers have jumped on the band wagon. Your time and budget will dictate how many bags you want to use for making water hash.
Use three bags and process the mix twice to extract virtually all the THC rich resin. Keep the wet plant material from the first water hash extraction. Freeze is and process again to make more resin. Or you can use five or more bags in a single run and harvest different qualities, some of which are very pure.
Ice-cold water makes trichomes brittle, and agitation knocks the heads off. Strain the mix through filters for increased purity.
Use leaves that have visible resin. Using large fan leaves or immature leaves will result in disappointing hash.
Use a mixer with paddles. If you can, find one with long shanks on the paddles for easy, deep mixing in a five gallon bucket. You can cover the bucket when mixing to hep contain splashes. However, moving the mixer around the perimeter of the slurry helps mix up any dry or stagnant places.