Discovering BHO – What you Need to Know

The cannabis community is rife with acronyms – from BHO and THC to CBD and 420, there’s a lot to learn. While THC and CBD are the most recognized and understood, there’s still a lot of confusion surrounding butane hash oil (BHO) and what these cannabis products actually are. 

Whether you’re a fan of BHO cannabis products or just dipping your toes in, we’re here today to give you the 411 on BHO and show you why this acronym represents an entire subsection of the toker community! 

What is BHO?

BHO stands for butane hash oil. Butane hash oil is a category of cannabis concentrates that are incredibly potent and incredibly tasty. BHO products come in many different sizes, flavours, and forms, but they all share one thing in common with another – they’re made through the use of butane as a solvent. 

Although you might not be familiar with the BHO term, you might already be familiar with some BHO products such as shatter, crumble, and wax. BHO can also sometimes be referred to as honey oil, although that term is beginning to fall out of vogue as cannabis lingo continues to evolve alongside its user base. 

Although these concentrates look vastly different, their core production method remains similar – they all involve the use of a solvent. 

What’s a solvent? 

In the cannabis industry, a solvent is any chemical used in the extraction process that has the ability to strip the cannabis plant of its essential, desirable compounds. This solvent-based extraction process leaves behind the plant material, its fats, and its chlorophyll behind while also concentrating its cannabinoids and terpenes. 

Once the “essence” of the plant has been extracted, the undesirable compounds, including the solvents, are expunged and removed from the plant, leaving behind a concentrated hash oil that can then be further processed into shatter, wax, or crumble. 

The benefits of cannabis concentrates are plentiful.

For starters, you’re getting a concentrated amount of cannabis goodness in an extremely small amount, which explains why dabs are so incredibly potent. 

Another benefit? Dabs are going to be more flavourful than your regular, run-of-the-mill flower and healthier, too.

BHO concentrates are vaporized instead of smoked. With less plant material and tar entering your lungs, there’s a much less harmful effect on your health when compared with smoking weed. 

How is BHO Made?

Butane is used to make BHO. Butane is a hydrocarbon and is captured relatively easily after being pumped out of natural gas wells. When extracted and purified, butane can be stored in liquid form, as you might’ve seen in your local grocery store or supermarket. 

Unlike other DIY cannabis recipes, BHO is one cannabis product that’s best left up to the professionals. Not only does lab-grade butane have to be used to ensure both quality and safety of the final product, but improper handling can also lead to fires, explosions, and serious bodily harm. 

Gathering Your Materials

To make quality BHO, you need quality ingredients. 

Quality cannabis concentrates such as the ones offered on our site use high quality, full-bud cannabis. As a cannabis concentrate, all the cannabinoids, terpenes, and flavours of the plant are concentrated into one single product, so if you’re starting with bad material, you’re going to get bad material. 

While cheaper BHO concentrates exist, they tend to use either shake or trim parts of the weed plant that are typically thrown away. And while this saves on costs, the potency and flavour of trim and shake leave much to be desired. 

BHO producers will also need lab-grade butane. Regular butane will work, but the purity of commercially available butane tends to be a lot less than lab-grade butane. The difference in quality can lead to leftover solvent in the final product and a lower quality concentrate overall. 

Introducing the Solvent

Once the bud is collected, it’s ground up in order to allow the solvent to fully saturate the weed. This helps the butane strip everything away from the plant material.  Once everything has been stripped away, the next step involves purging the solvent 

The butane used in the extraction process is kept at a low temperature. With an incredibly low boiling point of -1°C, the butane just has to be left on its own to reach room temperature in order to evaporate. In laboratory settings, the butane is collected and recycled for later batches. At home, this evaporation can be dangerous as it could saturate the air in poorly ventilated environments. 

Removing all the Solvent

Leftover butane is incredibly dangerous and harmful when consumed. Quality BHO producers will use a process known as loafing to remove any remaining butane from the final product. 

Loafing involves the use of heat and a vacuum to purge any residual solvent. Once the butane is removed, the final crude extract is ready to be purified and processed into the different types of BHO, which we’ll explore now! 

Different Types of BHO

Shatter

The most popular and well-known variety of BHO. Shatter is aptly named for its close resemblance to glass and its tendency to ‘shatter’ when dropped. Honey gold and semi-transparent, shatter is one of the most beautiful cannabis concentrates available out there.

Incredibly flavourful and potent, shatter has an average THC content of 80% or more! For comparison, even the highest indica flower strains will have a maximum THC content of 30%. 

Shatter, like other forms of BHO, can be easily dabbed or twaxed.

Budder

Budder is a play on “butter,” and once you see how it looks, you’ll agree with its somewhat peculiar nickname.

Named for its smooth and buttery consistency, budder is a cannabis concentrate that many tokers enjoy for its unique, one-of-a-kind texture. 

Further processing of the initial crude BHO extract has made this cannabis concentrate extremely creamy and liquidy. Budder, also known as badder or batter, tends to have a more robust terpene profile compared to shatter, perhaps due to its 

Wax

Weed wax stands apart from the budder and shatter with it’s thick, viscous texture.

With THC levels approaching 90%, this BHO concentrate is of similar potency to budder and has the same robust terpene profile, too. 

When it comes to butane hash oil concentrates, the difference really boils down to personal preference, as these products are all essentially the same. 

Crumble

Created under low-temperature conditions, crumble is a coarse butane hash oil product that features the same properties as budder and wax discussed above. 

The texture of crumble is truly unique, as it’s one of the few cannabis concentrates that will literally fall apart in your hands as you handle it. For us, we love to dab crumble and watch it melt in our dab rigs. This is anecdotal, but many of us at BLG believe that crumble’s enhanced surface area gives it an extra kick in the flavour department! 

BHO – Cannabis Concentrates For All

Butane hash oil concentrates represent a large portion of cannabis concentrate offerings, and it’s one category of cannabis products that tokers everywhere love to enjoy. Enjoying BHO products requires some investment into a dab rig of sorts up front, but we guarantee that the health, savings, and flavour benefits are well worth the costs! 

While cannabis concentrates have just been introduced by the federal government of Canada for sale in their dispensaries, BHO products have been around long before Canada adopted Cannabis 2.0. 

Dedicated cultivators, extractors, and producers have been perfecting their cannabis arts and supplying tokers around the country with access to flavourful, potent, and premium BHO products for decades, and it’s all available online at Buy Low Green’s store. 

Don’t spend more than you have to at government dispensaries – check out our concentrate offerings today for the best deals on shatter, wax, budder, crumble, and more! We guarantee you won’t be disappointed.