Gourmet Hash: Frankenstein’s Monster

Death Star Sugar Crumble, Walter White shatter, Death Star Greenhouse pull-n-snap shatter and Hindu Kush live resinWelcome back to the Gourmet Hash series. We get to start this edition with the excitement of delivery day. Each order placed mostly contains products we have not tried before. Most of you might agree that trying new strains and experiencing the taste and effect is a joy all its own. This order contained Death Star Sugar Crumble, Walter White shatter, regular Kief, Pink Blueberry Kief Hash and some Comatose indica bud.

I was in the middle of giving each new item a good hello sniff when my eye caught sight of some of the items from the previous order and the bulb went off. Why not make a batch with more ingredients? This adventure being brand new, I had imagined using basic recipes while learning what the different combinations would bring. Yeah, that didn’t last.

<insert maniacal laugh here> 

Since caution had now been thrown to the wind, it was time to go Mad Scientist. Lining up all the available ingredients from the previous and new order, we went with 0.2 grams each of the following:  Death Star Sugar Crumble, Walter White shatter, Death Star Greenhouse pull-n-snap shatter and Hindu Kush live resin.

Death Star Sugar Crumble, Walter White shatter, Death Star Greenhouse pull-n-snap shatter and Hindu Kush live resin
Death Star Sugar Crumble, Walter White shatter, Death Star Greenhouse pull-n-snap shatter and Hindu Kush live resin

I gently heated the four ingredients until all were melted into a thick liquid and then thoroughly mixed them together. Once everything was well mixed, I slowly re-warmed the jar and the thick goo was allowed to settle on the bottom of the jar. I topped the contents with a little under 0.2 grams of Pink Blueberry kief, capped the jar and warmed it again for a couple of minutes. Once everything was up to temperature, I mixed everything together with the dab tool.  I stirred the mix and slowly added kief until the mix did not stick to fingers.

Heated concentrates in the mixing jar
Concentrates are heated to a goo, then allowed to settle to the bottom.
Pink Blueberry kief added to mixing jar
Pink Blueberry kief gets sprinkled on top of our goo. Looking tasty!
Contents in mixing jar getting less gooey
Mix, mix, mix, mix, mix …

Once our batch could be worked by hand, I packed it into a tight chunk. From the picture, it looks still very shiny and sticky. Oh, and it looks tasty as hell. It also looked much greener than expected, considering none of the ingredients were that colour. Even the kief was a consistent tan colour, indicating the highest quality. While it was tempting to play with this new creation, however, it went in the jar to be better examined the next day.

Pressed hash, looking rather green
That’s some lovely looking hash!

Pondering what might come of this new creation, I spent some time giving each ingredient a good smell so the distinct aroma of each would be fresh in my mind when the new monster was unleashed. As unique and aromatic as each singular item was, it did not prepare me for what awaited when I opened the the jar. While trying to imagine what it smell like, it never occurred that it would be the most simple outcome possible. It smelled like what it was: Hash. Not just any hash, though. It smelled like that super-premium, old-school Afghani, black, sticky goodness of years ago. The scent was clean, bright and earthy, with a hint of floral. I was pleasantly surprised that something so new reminded me so much of the old school goodness.

While manipulating the solid chunk in my fingers, it started to come apart and crumble. That’s something that should be better controlled in future episodes when I add a kief press to the process.

Trying the new creation was a pleasure. It melted and liquified when heated, so adding more kief, pressing and heating the batch would give a more even burn. Going by the smell, the taste was no surprise, but was certainly no disappointment. It tasted like a brighter, somewhat flowery version of old-school black hash. The smoke was smooth and easy to inhale, which made enjoying the exhale very easy. Rich hash flavours left their trace behind for you to enjoy a second time.

The effect for a small amount was very cerebral and suggested a sativa like influence. This was quickly overpowered by heavy indica effects when more was consumed.  Couch lock and relaxed muscles became the most prominent effect, but did not overpower the cerebral effect enough to let you forget you were not going to be doing anything too complicated for the next couple of hours.

In this case, it meant that writing this article was not going to happen as planned that day. Remembering my name would have to be the hardest thing attempted while under the effects of this new monster. This super potent hash would need a name that befits its strength and character: Frankenstein’s Monster.

Sounds about right.

Until next time, may you be blessed with Health, Healing and Herb.

Frankenstein's Monster hash
Frankenstein’s Monster under the spotlight.

Gourmet Hash: It’s All Falling Apart

Hindu Resin HashWelcome to the third installment in the Gourmet Hash series! We’re venturing further and further from our comfort zone and heading deeper into the unknown. Since the last article, there have been some interesting developments.  Mainly, everything has fallen apart. As I mentioned in the previous installment, the UK Cheese/kief hash was fairly crumbly. I was a bit surprised to see that the shatter itself became crumbly.

After some research and seeking advice from well informed extract specialists, I was relieved to learn this is a very normal outcome. It turns out that by removing the shatter from its wrapper and placing it inside silicone containers, the shatter is able to absorb moisture from the air. The increased moisture causes the material to crystalize. The crystallization is not a bad thing in terms of potency or taste. In fact, the major upside is that the shatter is much easier to work with due to it not sticking to the paddle end of the dab tool. That enables it to be scooped up in small amounts, much like you might with kief.

Ok with that out of the way, on to the ingredients for today’s Gourmet Hash. The kief used was a higher-grade, lighter-colour and slightly more expensive kief that was selling for $14/gram at the time this was written (late February).  The light kief has a less earthy smell than others and it offers a very nice taste on its own. It is rich in mild terpenes, which results in almost a skunky spice flavour.

Light Kief
Light Kief

 

The chosen extract was Hindu Kush live resin from Diamond Concentrates. The aroma of the Hindu Kush live resin is bright with overtones that are more like cedar than pine, and a hint of pineapple. Terpene-rich, the resin looks very wet in the jar, like a mass of tiny globs suspended in a thick oil. Sampled on its own, the flavour very much matches the smell. It has an earthy, almost spicy, exhale. It is very enjoyable on its own.

Hindu Kush live resin
Hindu Kush live resin

We started with close to a half-gram of the resin placed in the mixing jar and warmed it to just shy of being too hot to touch. I expected better kief absorption than we saw with the shatter, so I went started with 1/4 gram of kief. I put the kief in the jar and closed the lid to allow everything to come up to temperature.

The dab tool atop the mixing jar
The dab tool atop the mixing jar

Using my trusty dab tool, I stirred the mix together. The rosin, as expected, absorbed far more kief than the previous batch I made with shatter. After I thoroughly stirred the mix, I compressed it by hand into a nice clump. I then sealed it in the mix jar and left it to cure for 24 hours.

When I opened the jar the next day, there was a wonderfully complex aroma that much more closely resembled a bud of premium flower than hash. The hash was a nice. light colour with an almost translucent appearance that showed the kief was well wetted and absorbed. It was very soft and was easily pressed and played with without sticking.

I placed a sample of this new hash in a bowl and gave it a try. Under heat, it maintained the properties of resin, bubbling and melting into the little bit of kief underneath. Getting a thick rich draw was very easy, featuring a very smooth smoke with wonderful flavours of soft spice, earthy cedar and, perhaps, even a hint of skunk. Very enjoyable.  The name I gave it is simple: Hindu Resin Hash.

Hindu Resin Hash
Hindu Resin Hash

The onset of the high was fairly fast, with an initial cerebral rush that was followed by a mellow, body-relaxing wave of calm. In small doses, this would be a wonderful companion to almost any task. In higher doses, it would be perfectly suited to a relaxing evening with friends, a movie and a pizza or candle light and dinner for two.

A couple of days and a fair amount of exposure to air, it happened: The hash went from soft and shapeable to a drier texture and began to crumble. Worked and poked with the dab tool in the container, it totally crumbled very much like the shatter hash did.

The crumbling really doesn’t present an issue, as the potency and flavour remained unaffected. Adding a pollen press to the process, however, seems like it would be a good addition. A press might reduce or even prevent crumbling in some of our final products.

Until next time, may you be blessed with Health, Healing and Herb.