How to Vape Hash

(Based on ‘Easy Organic Weed’ by Bill Griffin)

Like many Canadians (especially those living near seaports) growing up in the 70s, I have a soft spot for hashish. It wasn’t always the easiest to come by but, when you did, it was like God had personally smiled upon you.

Hashish has been made for thousands of years. Whereas cannabis flowers have a shelf life measured in months, hash can last years and still maintain its potency. Over time THC will oxidize and transform into CBN – which also has medicinal effects – but does not get you as high. With hash, the outer layer of the slab is exposed to air, heat and light. This layer of oxidized cannabis protects the inside of the slab, keeping it fresh and tasty.

When cannabis flowers, ‘trichomes’ form on the buds and small leaves surrounding the flowers. These trichomes contain essential oils and cannabinoids. Cannabinoids are what gives this wondrous herb its medicinal effects. When we grow cannabis, we are actually doing it to harvest the trichomes over everything else.

In recent times, improved access to locally grown high quality cannabis buds has precluded the need to condense them into such a compact form as hash.

Although technically a concentrate; hash differs from modern concentrates such as budder and shatter in that it contains more plant matter. This gives hash a different taste, look, feel and character.

There are multiple ways to produce hash and different cultures have their own methods – hand rubbing in South Asia or sieving in the Middle East, Central Asia and Mediterranean. Then compacting the trichomes into hash – either by hand or with presses.

There are different grades of hash – the lower grades containing more plant material.

There are also different styles. The two main types are resin (dark and pliable) or pollen (yellow-brown and granular powder). It will depend on the grade and processing technique used which category the hash will belong to.

So…why would I want to vape hash? Hashish produces a very heavy stone. Some of the high-end hashes will put you into a sublime dream-like state; perfect for disconnecting from the stresses of life and floating off to your favourite chilled out tunes before settling in for a nice deep sleep.

So, what do you do when you have access to some fine connoisseur hash, don’t use tobacco and have a collection of portable vapes? Well, you get busy researching and experimenting on how to best vape hash, that’s what!

In my day, the hash we all sought was the wonderfully malleable, black oily product of India, Nepal and Afghanistan. The one downside to this hash is that it is incredibly hard to chop up into small bits. And it also likes to clump up as it goes into your vape. Surface area is important in vaping since the process is most efficient when the material is finely ground to increase the contact between your herb and the heated air that extract the cannabinoids from the vegetation. Being who I am, I want to use that delicious black hash so I do the best I can to get the best results.

Vaping is definitely easier if you use hash that is ‘crumblier’, like the Moroccan hash so prevalent in my youth. This material is sieved from the harvested plants and then compacted using a press of some kind. It breaks down a lot easier than the oily black hash.

One of the secrets to vaping hashish is the use of ‘degummed hemp fibre’. When you vaporize hash, it will melt. You do not want this molten hash getting into your expensive vaporiser. Some models come with concentrate or liquid pads. Don’t use these unless you want to trash your concentrate/liquid pad and buy some new ones.

Degummed hemp fibre is like hemp cotton wool. It will protect your vaporizer against damage from exposure to the molten hash. Depending on your model of vaporizer, you will need to figure out which way to use the hemp fibre best but please use it. It won’t impart any taste to your session and it will save you a world of hurt and equipment cleaning/replacement.

Virtually all cannabis-derived products contain ‘terpenes’ (chemical compounds that give the cannabis its characteristic taste and smell) and cannabinoids (THC, CBD etc.), which give the medicinal effect or high. Terpenes are the most volatile and vaporize at quite low temperatures – this is why the first hit on a vaporizer always has the nicest taste.

In terms of how much to use, 0.1 grams seemed to be a good amount to start with. This gives 8-10 nice draws of dense and tasty clouds. Enough to get 2-3 people high. Or one person very high! You are you own control board so please vape responsibly! The effects resulting from vaping hash are heavy, so it’s best to save this for evenings or times when do have few responsibilities and have the luxury of time just to feel fine.

Attempts to vape hash in electric vaporizers have produced mixed results for me. I have heard good things about the results from the Storz & Bickell ‘Mighty’ but that’s an expensive piece of gear. If you want to try this with your own electric vaporizer, try 200℃ as an initial temperature setting then adjust as necessary to produce the results you want. Keep in mind that you can mess your vape up pretty badly if you don’t protect the internals from the molten hash.

A lot of people recommend making ‘sandwiches’ with herb/hash/herb layers in the vaporizer oven. The ganja protects the equipment. This definitely works but you just don’t get the full, unadulterated flavour spectrum of the hashish.

Despite the fanciness of electric powered with their temperature controls, Bluetooth connections and sundry bells and whistles, it is refreshing to get back to basics and go old school…kinda like driving a car with manual gears.

I have had my best results using my butane powered vaporizers. I currently own a Lotus pipe, a Vapman and a Dynavap ‘M’. All of these produced stellar results. However, each of these vaporizers has a learning curve that will require some trial and error to master. Of the three vapes, the Dynavap was probably simplest for me to use. The Dynavap is a great little budget vape that performs wonderfully with dry herb AND hash. If you are interested, please try this hyperlink: DynaVap ‘M’

Inserted some degummed hemp fibre into the Dynavap bowl and add approximately 0.1 gram of ground hash on top. Heat the tip as per instruction and puff away. You can get six or so good hash tasting clouds before the taste started to change and you’ve got all the goodness. We stock the Degummed Hemp Fibre in our store.

Vaping hash in the Dynavap produces results that minded me of ‘hot-knifing’, something I did a LOT in the good ole days!

There was a fair bit of molten hash in the inside of the bowl that need cleaning up but the hemp fibre protected the small vents below from clogging up.

Well, that’s about all there is to it. All that remains to be done is get some nice hash, get a Dynavap (if you don’t already have one, you should…they’re great and they’re cheap!), load it up and get it on!

Happy vaping, my friend!

U.P.