What is Flavored Cannabis Distillate | How To Flavor Distillate

As many of you probably know by now, people want more and more potent and pure cannabis products everyday. Stoners aren’t just satisfied with your bog-standard leaf or flower anymore, and people simply want the strongest and purest forms of cannabis possible. Many people argue that cannabis distillate is exactly this. Unlike Butane Hash Oil, distilling cannabis results in a much purer form of cannabis. It can be used to create basically any cannabis product you can think of.

So, what exactly is a cannabis distillate? Well, unlikely other products, cannabis distillate doesn’t actually taste like cannabis. This is why there’s a difference between cannabis distillate and flavoured cannabis distillate. But in essence cannabis distillates are a distilled form of cannabis concentrates.

This article will cover the following topics:

What is a cannabis distillate
What is CBD cannabis distillate
What is THC cannabis distillate
How to make distillates
How to flavour distillates
How to smoke distillates
What is the difference between concentrates and distillates
What are these vape companies out in California
What is hash oil
Can you get vape liquids which taste like cannabis or even contain it
And maybe a few more topics!

Ok enough foreplay, let’s find out what it actually is.

What is cannabis distillate?

Distillation equipment on display, photo: @arometrix

Cannabis distillate is essentially an über-concentrated product that was created using solvent-based extraction. Not all of your typical concentrated products such as shatter or wax are ‘pure’. They come in various textures: some are incredibly impure, filled with plant wax and residual solvents. This means that distillate creators look for impure waxes and concentrates, which are low-quality and not highly sought after. Once they’ve sourced this product, they simply distill it further, making them much purer. So a cannabis distillate is basically a concentrated form of low-quality cannabis shatter or wax, which is purified further using a distillation process. This process can leave cannabis wax or ‘distillate,’ which is much purer than the original product. Some distillates are up to 99% pure. The end result is a much purer form of concentrated cannabis, which can be smoked or dabbed without fear of it being adulterated with unwanted chemicals. The resulting distillate is much clearer than the original concentrate, which is often dark and impure.

What is THC distillate?

Crystal clear THC distillate, photo: @troies_cannabis_growth

THC distillate is basically almost pure cannabis distillate that leans further towards the THC side of the CBD:THC divide. In essence, this is exceptionally strong cannabis distillate; it can be up to 99% THC. This is incredibly potent, and may leave some users feeling far too stoned. If you’re fairly new to the stoner game, please don’t simply try THC distillate and expect to feel fine. If you do feel too stoned, then we have a guide on how to feel less stoned:

Take a cold shower
Drink a hot pot of coffee
Take some time for yourself
Put some classical music on
Focus on your breathing

You should feel a lot better after this. THC distillates will have a minimum of 95% THC in them. The THC distillate itself wouldn’t taste very nice without the addition of additional terpenes after the fact. This is because the terpenes, as well as all of the unwanted additional solvents etc. are burnt off in the distillation process. Thus, you should always add pure THC distillate to something that already tastes great, or, if you can somehow get your hands on some terpenes, then simply add in some terpenes yourself.

What is CBD distillate?

CBD distillate ready to go! Photo: @guudmfg

CBD distillate is very similar to THC distillate, with the obvious difference being that CBD distillate usually has over 95% CBD and very little THC content. There are some advantages with using this, not least of which is that it’s more widely legal to sell CBD distillate than it is to sell THC distillate. Another advantage of using CBD distillate is that you can get the desirable healing effects of cannabis, without the sometimes unwanted high associated with THC. Although some conditions do require a high dosage of THC, some people simply don’t want to get high. It’s a common myth that medical marijuana patients simply want to get high. Both THC distillates and CBD distillates are what (most) vaporizer companies use. Vape pens are incredibly handy, but they do have some very negative points associated with them. For example, a lot of the bigger companies use buds that have been contaminated with pesticides, and are therefore incredibly dangerous to vape.

What is a hash oil pen?

Perhaps you prefer your concentrate in pen form? Photo: @garygetcrazysmith

Hash oil, or Butane Hash Oil, is a process used to create cannabis concentrates. Basically you strip all of the terpenes and the active ingredients from the cannabis plant using Butane. You then have to either distill the product to remove any impurities (but also, unfortunately, the terpenes) or you can simply put it in a vacuum oven to help remove any impurities. The product is then put inside a vaporizer pen, which then, at the click of a button, vaporises the oil for you. The reason it’s necessary to vaporise the oil is because you need heat to turn THCA into THC. This process is called decarboxylation, and, without the heat, your attempts to create potent concentrate will be futile. There are many Hash Oil pen companies, including Brass Knuckles. These products are becoming incredibly popular among stoners in North America. However, there are some disadvantages to hash oil pens, or vaporiser pens in general:

Some contain pesticides, which are extremely dangerous to vaporise
Many use thinning agents which are also bad to vaporise
There’s not much by way of quality control
Some of the vaporisers are very badly made, and you may inhale burnt plastic
They break very easily (particularly the disposable ones)

Hash oil pens do have advantages though:

Very handy, discreet, and portable
Essentially odorless weed, although there is a smell for about 5 minutes
Vape juice that tastes like weed
Most potent hash oil

It’s up to you to determine whether the rewards outweigh the risks, or vice versa. But be careful, as a lot of these companies claim that they’re safe and fine to smoke, when they’re definitely not.

How to make distillate

There are a few methods of creating distillates. All of the methods have a lot of things in common, which we will talk about now. If you’re unfamiliar with what distillation is, or what fractional distillation for THC (or anything) is, worry not! It’s simply the process of separating a substance by using the different boiling points of its parts. You’ve all undoubtedly heard the expression that something is greater than the sum of its parts. This is not really true of low-quality concentrates. As such, the clever people in the stoner community decided that it’s better to separate the good stuff in low-quality concentrates from the bad stuff. If you want to embark on this adventure you'll need to invest in equipment to help you do so. Once you've got that, the distillation of concentrates or of THC is as follows:

Freeze the concentrates (thus creating ‘winterised’ concentrates,
Add them to a machine and put them through a winterisation process,
Separate the individual parts of the concentrates at different temperatures

The end result is a very refined, pure cannabis distillate. The only problem is that alongside the much unwanted impurities, all of the flavour is also lost. That means that the end product is simply a ‘get very high very quick’ product, which some people may favour, but others also like flavour in their product.

Cannabis terpene chart and how to add them to cannabis distillates

LIMONENE	PINENE	MYRCENE	LINALOOL	CARYOPHYLLENE
Citrus, lemon aroma	Pine aroma	Musky, earthy aroma	Floral, sweet aroma	Woody, spice aroma
Stress relief and elevated mood effects	Creativity, alertness and euphoric effects	Sedation, body high, relaxing effects	Calming, relaxing effects	N/A
Anti-anxiety medicinal use	Asthma, anti inflammatory medicinal use	Antioxidant, insomnia medicinal use	Antianxiety and sedative medicinal use	Chronic pain, insomnia medicinal use
Super Lemon Haze, Lemon skunk strains	Trainwreck, Bubba Kush strains	White Widow, Blue dream strains	Skywalker OG, Headband strains	White Widow, OG Kush strains
Also found in citrus, peppermint	Also found in parsley, basil, rosemary	Also found in mango, thyme, lemongrass	Also found in lavender and rosewood	Also food in pepper and clove

How to flavour weed distillates

The problem with cannabis distillates on their own is that they have no flavour. Although this isn’t a problem for some people, others don't light up just to get high as quickly as possible: some enjoy the flavour, some enjoy the social aspect of it, etc. As such, it’s recommended that if you do make your own distillates, you add a little extra flavour by adding terpenes. You can either get your own terpenes from your favourite strains, or you can buy them in some countries. This process is how many vaporiser companies create such great tasting products.

Not only this, but terpenes (as can be seen in the table above) are thought to have their own medicinal benefits when smoked. This is further evidenced by the fact that a lot of these terpenes can be found in other products, which are thought to have medicinal benefits. For example, lemongrass is a known antioxidant, and it contains the terpene Myrcene. This beautiful little piece of cannabis knowledge really shows just how incredible this plant is. Another great example of this is that the same terpene found in our favourite lemon strains, such as Lemon Skunk or Super Lemon Haze, is also found in lemons. Adding flavour to your cannabis distillate using terpenes isn’t necessary by any means, but it’s a bit like eating a meal without any salt or pepper. It’s doable, but why would you want to do it?

If you collect the terpene oils during the distillation process, you can easily add them back to the cannabis distillate. This process is incredibly simple. All you have to do is add the oil to the distillates. These are often referred to as liquid terpenes.

Companies adding fake flavour to marijuana distillate

There is, however, a major problem with some vaporiser companies who add terpenes themselves. They make cannabis distillate and it’s very pure, but then they add it to a thinning agent that isn’t safe to vaporiser. Furthermore, a lot of these companies (but by no means all of them!) then add fake terpenes, which could either be completely harmless or incredibly dangerous. That’s the problem when these companies are forced to operate in the shadows; a lot of them become shadowy. However, some companies do make proper hash oil distillates, and this can be a great example of something like limonene hash oil, which has real terpenes and pure cannabis distillate.

Distillate vs. shatter or wax

What is the difference between extracts and distillate? There are several differences including the way they are made, what they can be used for, what they taste like, and so on. Also, distillates can be used to make extracts and concentrates, just like concentrates can be used to make distillates. Another difference between the two is that distillates don’t really have any flavour (unless you add it afterwards), whereas concentrates, which are created using Butane, retain much of their flavour. Another big difference between the two is that Butane Hash Oil, or concentrates, are often a lot more impure than something like a cannabis distillate. That is because the process of distillation, by its very nature, leads to a much purer product. Cannabis concentrates often has leftover residual solvents in them. Shatters and concentrates are also not necessarily at the potency that distillates are. Distillates are defined as being over 95% potency; concentrates don't reach this level. Another key difference is that distillates have already been decarboxylated, which means you can make edibles with them without decarboxylation of them. This is not true of concentrates. If you want to make edibles using concentrates, you must first decarb them. Distillates are basically a base product that can be used in a plethora of different ways, whereas shatters and waxes are an already finished product.

How to smoke a distillate

There are many different ways to smoke distillate: you can use it to make edibles, you can use it to make vape pen juice, you can simply dab it (which is probably the most common method of smoking a distillate). Dabs aren’t considered to be a healthy method of ingesting cannabis, however. This is because the exceptionally high temperatures you submit the product to before inhaling creates unwanted bi-products. This is true of basically any method of smoking cannabis, except perhaps smoking from a flower vape. The reason for this is that you’re burning plant matter and then inhaling the contents. Even with exceptionally pure cannabis distillate, the bi-products created when burning them aren’t exactly welcomed by the lungs. That is why we recommend using a flower vaporiser so much. It’s perhaps the healthiest way, except potentially edibles, of getting high. Also the flavour is great, especially if you grind your buds up first. However, if you’re just looking to smoke a distillate and don’t care too much about your lungs, then dabs are definitely the way to go. You can also place a small amount on top of a bong or put a small amount inside a joint. If you’re feeling particularly brave, you could attempt to make your own moon rocks or your own tarantula cones.

What is the texture of weed distillates?

Distillate capsules, photo: @boston_extracts

The texture of weed distillates is very similar to that of honey. They will either be slightly thicker or slightly thinner than honey at room temperature. This makes for a really fantastic, pliable material, which can be used in many different ways. Even though the texture will be lost in whatever method of smoking you're partaking in, it’s important (and we think interesting) to know the texture of weed distillates, especially if you’re going to put them on a bong or in a joint.

24 Karat

Some people refer to cannabis distillates as the 24 karat version of cannabis. This is because it’s ultimately the purest method of creating highly potent cannabis. There is also a strain with this name, which is called 24K or 24 karat cannabis strain. There are also vape companies which play on this theme of 24 karat cannabis, for example the 24k and the 22k vape companies exist out in California.

How to extract THC from weed

There’s only one way to start the extraction process - you need flower! Photo: @smokeywolf420

As we’ve already seen in this article, there are a number of different ways to extract THC from weed. The most common method is called blasting, or butane blasting. This is effectively putting cannabis plant material in one side of a tube, and pushing butane through it. This strips THC from the weed plant material, and is a reasonably effective method of extracting THC from weed. However, this does have some disadvantages, the main one being impurity. That’s the beauty of the distillation process, which many people think is an essential part of creating cannabis concentrates, and should always be done. Once you have the impure, potent cannabis concentrate, you should then distill it. This will allow you to have the best of both worlds. The final step in this process would be to add terpenes to flavour the product exactly how you want it to taste. You can either reintroduce the original terpenes, or add the terpenes you think fit best for the product you're making.

Can you get vape juice that tastes like weed?

Vape juice in-hand, ready to go! Photo: itswawan

Not only can you get vape juice that tastes like weed, you can get actual vape juice that has cannabis (normally CBD) inside. These are typically mainly made by German companies. These companies get e-juice or vape juice and mix it with terpenes and CBD/THC. This can then be placed inside your e-cigarette and you can enjoy the taste of cannabis or the effects of cannabis alongside your nicotine. You can think of it as an e-joint.

What are weed flavor drops?

An army of weed flavour drops! Photo: @japbarbervape

Weed flavour drops can refer to two separate things. Firstly, it may refer to cannabis drops that contain actual THC or CBD. These are also referred to as CBD oil or THC tinctures. These are an exceptionally popular method of taking cannabis, especially in terms of CBD. This is because it’s an easy way to store the cannabis for a very long time.

This term may also refer to weed flavourings, which are sometimes used in cooking. People normally make these themselves, as they’re not that popular. However, in some countries such as Thailand weed is actually used a flavouring. This means that some people use cannabis as a traditional food seasoning, and aren’t using it to get high at all.

This rather comprehensive guide covers so many topics that it’s difficult to summarise. However, we’ve attempted to explain what a cannabis distillate is, how to make a cannabis distillate, what the difference between a distillate and something like cbd conentrate wax is, how to add terpenes to cannabis distillate and what the point of this is, and even given you some good information about what terpenes are, and things like cannabis e-liquids.

We hope you enjoyed and feel like you can go spread the knowledge with your toker friends!

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Written by Megan Medeiros (BA)

Megan Medeiros has a bachelor’s degree in English and is currently working on a master’s in English at James Madison University. She's the owner and operator of Medeiros Writing, and has been working as a cannabis writer for the past three years, mostly following the legal climate of marijuana, especially in areas like California, Colorado, Oregon, Canada, and other legal areas.

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