CBD Concentrate Guide | Crumble, distillate, hash, kief, terpsolate & more

If you’re familiar with CBD, you might have heard terms like; “CBD distillate“, “CBD crumble“, “CBD crystal“, “CBD wax”, “CBD shatter“, “CBD hash“, “CBD kief” or “CBD terpsolate“. But what are they exactly? What are the differences? And how to use CBD concentrate? This guide will explain everything you need to know.

What is CBD concentrate?

Let’s start this guide by answering the question: “What is CBD concentrate?” CBD concentrate is a collective name for all the above-mentioned products (CBD distillate, CBD crumble, CBD terpsolate, CBD hash, CBD kief, etc.). So, these products are all different forms of CBD concentrate.

CBD concentrate is a ‘concentrated’ extraction of the hemp plant. It is very pure, and it contains very high levels of CBD; usually between 50% and 99.9%. For comparison: CBD oil usually has around 5-15% CBD, and CBD flower around 10-22%. So, it wouldn’t surprise you that CBD concentrates have the highest CBD content of all CBD products. Because it is so potent, you can easily take high doses of CBD quickly, by only using a little bit of product. That’s also one of the main reasons for people to use CBD concentrates.

So, now you understand what CBD concentrates are in general. However; as we mentioned above, there are a lot of different forms. What are the differences between them? Let’s see…

The different forms of CBD concentrate

The most common forms of CBD concentrate are as follows:

● CBD isolate (CBD powder, CBD slabs & CBD terpsolate)

CBD isolate consists of pure CBD without any other cannabinoids. Out of all the concentrate forms, CBD isolate has the highest CBD content; usually around 99 up to even 99.9%. This means that it’s the most pure form of CBD.
CBD isolate usually comes in powder form, therefore it’s also known as “CBD powder“. We described our favorite CBD powder in this review. There is also CBD isolate in crystal form, which obviously is called “CBD crystal” (or “CBD slabs“). This powder or crystal is usually white and tasteless. Some brands also sell CBD crystals infused with terpenes, they often call these “CBD terpsolate” or “CBD shatter“. Because of the terpenes, these products do have some taste and color.

Favorite CBD isolate

● CBD Wax (CBD crumble, CBD live resin & CBD budder)

CBD wax (also called “CBD dab“), is “full spectrum” or “broad spectrum”. This means that it contains all the other main cannabinoids of the hemp plant as well next to CBD (except THC when it’s broad spectrum). Because it contains all these other cannabinoids as well, the CBD content is a bit lower compared to CBD isolate; Most high-quality CBD waxes usually have around 80% CBD (which is still very high). Because all the cannabinoids work together (creating the “entourage effect“) and because of the high concentration, CBD wax is generally more potent than CBD isolate.

There are several variations of CBD wax, such as CBD crumble, CBD live resin and CBD budder. These are all similar to each other, but differ slightly in structure and production process. CBD live resin for example has a higher terpene content than other waxes. You can find a review of our favorite CBD wax here.

Our favorite CBD wax

● CBD distillate

Just like CBD wax, CBD distillate is full spectrum or broad spectrum as well. However, there are some distinctions:
Whereas CBD wax is solid, CBD distillate is a thick yellow liquid that looks like honey. Also, CBD distillate is produced in a very different way than the above-described waxes. Whereas CBD wax may have some impurities left, (nearly) all impurities are removed in CBD distillate. This means that CBD distillate is cleaner than CBD wax. It’s even deemed the purest full (or broad) spectrum CBD concentrate available. The percentage of CBD in distillate is usually around 80-90+%, which generally is a bit higher than in CBD wax.

Because almost everything (expect the cannabinoids) is removed during the distillation, CBD distillate also lacks terpenes. That’s why it typically doesn’t have a lot of flavor, taste, or aroma. Because of these attributes, CBD distillate is used very often as the base ingredient of CBD products. Since terpenes do have beneficial effects, some manufacturers re-add them to their CBD distillate later in the process.

Because CBD distillate is so pure, it may possibly crystallize instead of remaining liquid. To fix this you need to heat it carefully, for example by giving the product a hot bath while it’s in a zip lock bag or sealed container.

Favorite CBD distillate

Note: The above-described terms get mixed up sometimes (because the different concentrates are quite similar to each other). So, it could be possible that you come across a vendor that uses the wrong name for a concentrate. For example; As described above, some sellers use the term “CBD shatter” for terpene-infused crystals. However; “real” cannabis shatter is actually different; this is a thin honey-colored sticky substance with a glass-like texture, which shatters easily (hence the name). It can also have a “snap-and-pull” consistency sometimes (which is a bit like taffy candy). This shatter-form is actually more common for “marijuana” concentrates, while the terpene-infused crystal “shatter” is more common for CBD concentrates. This is because of compliance; it’s very hard to keep the “real” (glass-like) shatter below .3% THC, so they need to process the CBD shatter in a different way.

Another example is that some vendors may offer “distillate” while their product is more of a wax. Some brands may also offer slightly deviating variants. These things can make it a bit confusing. Therefore, we recommend to check if the product photos and the description match with the concentrate-type that you’re looking for.

● CBD kief & CBD hash

CBD kief is a powdery substance with usually a green-golden color. It is an accumulation of dried ‘trichomes‘. Trichomes are the resin glands of cannabis. They are those tiny crystal mushroom-like heads that grow on the plant. They’re often referred to as “frost”, as trichomes can look like a white frosty layer from a distance. These shiny and sticky little hairs contain very high levels of cannabinoids, terpenes and flavonoids.

You can collect CBD kief in several ways, but the easiest one is by using a three-chamber grinder. These collect the powdery trichomes that fall off your dry hemp flower when grinding. Two-chamber grinders are less suitable since a lot of kief will stick to the inside of the grinder.

By using heat and pressure, you can turn the powdery CBD kief into a solid CBD hash block. This way it’s more convenient for certain ways of consumption. CBD hash usually has a brown, green, golden or black color. Since hash is strictly made from trichomes, it’s very sticky and it breaks easily.

Our favorite CBD kief

The above-described CBD concentrates are the most common ones. However, there are several other CBD concentrates as well (such as CBD rosin and CBD resin).

Extraction: Solvent & solventless CBD concentrates

CBD concentrates can be classified into two categories: Solvent and solventless.

● For ‘solvent‘ CBD concentrates, a chemical solvent is used to extract the cannabinoids and other compounds from the hemp plant. Solvents that are often used for this process are CO2, butane (‘BHO‘) and ethanol. Nearly all CBD waxes are solvent concentrates.

● ‘Solventless‘ CBD concentrates are not created by using a chemical solvent, but for example by using heat, pressure and/or water only. Some examples of solventless concentrates are CBD kief and CBD hash. (*Technically, water is a solvent. However, it isn’t a chemical. Therefore, water-extracted CBD concentrates will be classified as solventless.)

How to use CBD concentrate

So, how to use CBD concentrate? A nice thing about concentrates is that you can use them in a lot of different ways. For example;

● You can mix CBD concentrates into your (homemade) foods and drinks (such as tea).
● You can also use pure CBD isolate powder by mixing it with a carrier oil. This way you can create your own CBD oil.
● You can add CBD concentrates to your hemp flower to boost its potency. For example; You can add the concentrate to the inside of a joint while rolling, but also at the outside of a joint when you’re finished rolling (also called “twaxing”). Or just mix it into your bowl/pipe.
● You can smoke, vape and dab CBD concentrates on its own. “Dabbing” is a method to vape CBD concentrates by using an “oil rig”. This is one of the most popular ways to consume CBD concentrates.

For certain ways of use, one concentrate-form may be more suitable than others. That’s why there are so many different forms. For example; CBD powder and CBD kief are very easy to mix into foods/drink or to sprinkle on your hemp flower. CBD wax and CBD distillate on the other hand are very suitable for vaping and dabbing. So, which concentrate-form should you pick?: It all depends on how you want to use it.

Do you need to decarb CBD concentrates? (Oral use)

“Decarbing” is the process of heating CBD concentrates (or flower) to a certain point over a certain time period. This will convert the cannabinoids from the “acid” form (such as CBDA) to the active compound (CBD). Since your body uses the active form, this process will make the concentrate (more) effective.

Decarbing the acid-forms is only required when eating or drinking the concentrate. When you’re making edibles for example, regular cooking usually isn’t enough to fully decarb the concentrate. Therefore, you should decarb concentrates separately before adding them to your foods or drinks. For vaping, smoking and dabbing you don’t need to decarb concentrates, because the heat already decarbs them while vaping, smoking or dabbing.

Also: most CBD concentrates (such as isolates) are already decarbed when you buy them, so you don’t need to do this yourself anymore. This is not always the case though, it depends on the extraction method that is used. CBD kief for example isn’t decarbed yet (since it’s raw plant material).

If you want to make sure if your concentrate needs to be decarbed, you should check the used extraction method. When the concentrate is exposed to enough heat during the extraction process, it most likely won’t need to be decarbed. You could also check the label or test-results of the product; If it mainly contains the active compounds (such as CBD, so without the ‘A‘), it’s already decarbed. If it mainly contains acid forms (“CBDA” etc.), it still needs to be decarbed. When in a doubt; always decarb concentrates for oral consumption to be sure.

It’s also a good idea to add some fats when consuming CBD concentrates orally. This way you increase the absorption rate, as CBD concentrates are fat soluble.