These days, edible companies are using effects-based marketing to give consumers an idea of how they’re going to feel, but can we truly experience these effects in an edible? There are edibles for sleep, anti-anxiety, intimacy, and the list goes on; but how are companies really achieving these effects? Cannabis researchers deny that any distillate edible can have the characteristics of an individual strain, or even Sativa, hybrid, or indica for that matter. The way around it? Live resin.
Live resin is becoming a very popular commodity in legal cannabis. It can be found most popularly in concentrates and cartridges but recently we’re experiencing a surge in live resin edibles as well. Live resin is made during the harvesting process, by flash-freezing the cannabis plant right when it’s cut. Freezing the plant preserves trichomes, the appendages on a cannabis plant that produce and store the plant’s terpenes and cannabinoids. Otherwise, the curing or drying process degrades most of the plant’s terpenes and flavonoids. This gives live resin products the most authentic experience of smoking the plant itself.
Terpenes are essential oils that are found in cannabis and many other natural plants and herbs. Terpenes are not psychoactive like cannabinoids, but they do play a big overall effect. In addition to taste and aroma, terpenes work synergistically with cannabinoids to provide the physical and mental effects of each strain.
Cannabinoids are chemicals or compounds that are unique to cannabis. There are over 144 cannabinoids naturally found in the plant with different effects. With so many different chemicals, the combinations are almost infinite which is why there are so many different strains.
We know that terpenes are what hold those strain-specific effects. When you pair THC, terpenes, and other natural cannabinoids found in cannabis, it gives you what we like to call the Entourage Effect. The Entourage Effect is a theory that various cannabis compounds work together to give unique effects and benefits.
Distillates on the other hand are cannabis extracts that concentrate a particular cannabinoid, usually THC. Unless altered after production distillate is void of any other cannabis compounds. To create a distillate the plant does endure the curing process, which strips a majority of its strain-specific qualities. The process referred to as “fractional short-path distillation” uses heat and pressure to extract individual cannabinoids, which have different boiling points. This renders a distillate oil virtually indistinguishable from the next even if it came from the same plant. So what does that mean for our edibles?
To obtain a more curated experience with an edible, live resin is a full spectrum oil that can give you “true to plant high”. Your normal gummies made with a distillate oil will still get you high but can’t give you the distinct strain-specific experience the Entourage Effect does. Live resin can take a stagnant edible high to the next level.
Want to know if the products you are purchasing are truly strain-specific live resin? Check the Certificate of Analysis!
Sources:
https://www.leafly.com/learn/consume/dabs/what-is-live-resin-cannabis-concentrate
https://www.leafly.com/news/strains-products/can-edibles-really-be-strain-specific-or-is-that-just-hype
https://www.leafly.com/news/cannabis-101/cannabis-entourage-effect-why-thc-and-cbd-only-medicines-arent-g
https://thebloombrands.com/2021/08/10/live-resin-vs-distillate/
https://weedmaps.com/learn/the-plant/list-of-cannabinoids
