Cannabis Concentrates: Live Resin vs. Shatter

These days, people are using cannabis in a number of creative and innovative ways. You can still smoke and vape weed, but cannabis is also available in the form of edibles, topicals, concentrates and so much more. With so many new products coming out in these recent few months and years, you’d be forgiven for not knowing what the cannabis concentrate live resin is. If you’re familiar with shatter and other concentrates, then you might be wondering what the differences between live shein vs shatter are, what live resin is and what makes it so special

Fortunately, we’re here to clear the air around live resin and give you some insight into the live resin vs shatter debate. Even if you’re a steadfast supporter of shatter, you might change your tune after hearing what we have to say about this new “living” cannabis concentrate.

What is Live resin?

Live resin is a cannabis concentrate made under very special and specific circumstances. Traditionally, cannabis concentrates are made with already dried and cured cannabis. Drying and curing cannabis removes excess moisture from the plant as well as making the plant’s cannabinoids more suitable for absorption into our bodies.

On the other hand, this curing process also degrades some of the plant’s terpenes – compounds which provide weed’s flavour and aromas – and its trichomes (aka kief). This means that when you’re smoking cannabis any other kind of cannabis concentrate, you’re not really tasting weed the way it would be if it was freshly harvested.  In other words, you’re not tasting “fresh” weed, you’re tasting dried and cured weed.

As you might imagine or already know, there are many different types of cannabis concentrates which use dried and cured cannabis in their production. What separates live resin from the rest is live resin’s use of “living cannabis.”

How is Live Resin Made?

Unlike shatter and butane hash oil cannabis concentrates such as budder and wax, live resin uses fresh, “living” cannabis. Instead of a dry and cure process, the buds are frozen as soon as they’re harvested. They’re kept frozen throughout the entire manufacturing process as well to preserve their “living” state.

Ignoring the fact that live resin uses freshly harvested, flash-frozen weed, the production process for live resin is the same as shatter. The frozen bud is submerged in a solvent, usually butane, in order to extract all of the plant’s THC, terpenes and trichomes.

Once these have been extracted, the solvent is evaporated and purged to remove it completely from the final product. Once that’s done, what remains is collected and packaged as tasty live resin.

Live Resin vs Shatter – Is One Better?

Since live resin uses a flash-freezing process, live resin is definitely a higher-quality product in terms of flavour and taste. Naturally, live resin will cost more due to a more complicated production process but many tokers say it’s well worth it for the robust flavor that live resin provides.

That doesn’t mean shatter is completely irrelevant now. Shatter is still a great extract to have. It still has terpenes and cannabinoids galore, just not as many as in live resin.

What is Rosin?

Rosin is very different from both shatter and live resin because a solvent is not used to make this concentrate. There is no extraction process. Instead, cannabis buds are heated while intense pressure is applied. This combination of  pressure and hot temperatures actually squeezes the plant’s beneficial compounds out and extracts them – all without any use of a solvent.

Rosin is popular with cannabis users for several reasons. First, many people like the fact that it does not use a solvent, namely butane. Even though the butane is removed from the final product, it depends on who is making your concentrate.

There’s a possibility that inexperienced extractors leave traces of butane in the final product by performing an incorrect purge. Many consumers skip the worry all together and just go with rosin.

What about potency?

All three concentrates –live resin, shatter and rosin – typically have the same THC potency. Ranging from 60 to 90 percent, its ultimately the quality of the weed used and the extraction process that’ll dictate where the product falls within this range.

Although the THC content is roughly the same across all three, each one will have a different profile for other cannabinoids and terpenes, so all three have different tastes and effects.

Again, these concentrates are very potent and not ideal for beginners. By comparison, smoking weed has a THC potency between 8 to 28 percent depending on the strain and method of smoking. Given the comparisons, choice usually comes down to user preference.

Many medical marijuana patients choose shatter, particularly if they must medicate throughout the day. Higher doses tend to have lower prices, so this is an economical option.

Other users may be seeking out a different kind of weed experience, so either live resin or rosin will be a good choice. Keeping the terpenes and cannabinoids intact may even be able to provide a “full spectrum” effect to users.

Concluding Thoughts on Live Resin vs Shatter

Live resin vs shatter? Rosin vs live resin? Is there a “best extract”? Not really, because so much depends on personal preference. There is no right or wrong, it comes down to your personal preference and what you’re looking for out of a cannabis concentrate.

If you want great flavour and a great full-spectrum effect, you’ll be happy you chose live resin. Something affordable and potent? Shatter is your best bet. Something naturally produced without the use of solvents? Give rosin a chance. Whichever concentrate you end up choosing at the end of the day, you’re bound to have a great time.