The Best Cannabis Concentrates for Beginners

Cannabis extracts, oils, and concentrates offer a wealth of benefits that you won’t find in a flower. From easy, convenient dosing to unadulterated flavors, concentrates put great emphasis on the active ingredients in cannabis — the main driving force behind its therapeutic and psychoactive effects.

Looking for a strong, euphoric high?

Or a fast symptom relief?

What about symptom relief without the buzz?

That’s possible, too.

In this article, we’ll show you the best cannabis concentrates for beginners. Once you’ve learned which concentrates are the easiest to consume, you’ll have a good starting point for further discoveries.

All aboard!

The Best Cannabis Concentrates for Beginners

Most people associate cannabis concentrates with dabs, which are the waxy extracts that you vape in a vaporizer or blaze in a dab rig. But, not all concentrates are consumed the same way. In fact, there are a few smoke-free consumption methods that you can incorporate into your routine.

Of course, as a beginner, you don’t want to go all-in, which is why we’ve saved the stronger concentrates for another blog post. In this section, we’ll also help you figure out the best transition from flowers to extracts, and give you some handy dosage tips.

Let’s start from the simplest forms of concentrated cannabis.

1. Kief

When you closely examine your cannabis flower, you’ll notice a crystalline coating on every part of the bud. These are trichomes, where all the cannabinoids and terpenes are contained — the reason we consume the herb.

When you grind the buds, some trichomes fall off during the process, forming a green powder referred to as kief. For collecting kief, we recommend buying a grinder with a kief collector, which is a shallow chamber at the bottom of the piece.

The easiest way to use kief is to sprinkle it on top of your weed in a joint or pipe and enjoy the pumped up THC/CBD content.

If you’re up for some manual work, you may follow the ancestors and press the powder into hash once you’ve collected the sufficient amount.

Speaking of the devil.

2. Hash

The history of hash stretches back thousands of years — and the tradition of making hash remains alive and well. In a traditional way, the hash is made by packing the plant’s resin and pressing them to create compressed smokeable bricks of trichomes that boast THC concentrations between 40-60%, up to 4 times the potency of an average flower.

Today, manufacturers can produce hash more efficiently thanks to technological advancements. Modern production methods involve sieves, ice water, and mechanical pressure, all of which yield stellar quality hash.

3. Vape Oil

This is hands down one of the best starter items for concentrate-curious. Vape oils are typically made with CO2 oil, a concentrated form of cannabis involving botanical extraction that employs pressurized carbon dioxide to obtain cannabinoids and other essential compounds from the plant material.

This extract is then suspended in a THC-rich or CBD-rich cartridge (depending on the strain). The user needs to attach the cartridge to the battery of a vape pen, turn on the device, and inhale through the mouthpiece.

The vape pen only heats the oil to the point where the cannabinoids are released as aromatic and flavorful vapor. Since there’s no combustion, vaporization is a healthier way to consume concentrates as it leaves away the carcinogenic content.

Using a vape pen filled with CO2 oil not only allows you to revel in the aromas and flavors unique to each strain, but it also gives you much desired low-key experience, allowing you to relax without being constantly alert in public.

4. Rick Simpson Oil (RSO)

Rick Simpson is a cannabis activist and the man behind RSO, one of the most popular medical cannabis products of all times. The man treated his skin cancer using this homemade cannabis remedy and there’s a lot of anecdotal evidence from patients who also succeeded in fighting the disease with RSO.

This concentrate is made by soaking the cannabis flower in isopropyl alcohol or pure naphtha to strip the therapeutic compounds from the plant, leaving behind a dark liquified solution once the solvent has fully evaporated.

How do you use RSO?

That’s pretty simple — the solution can ingested sublingually, added to foods and beverages, or applied directly to the skin. Many commercial producers have come up with their own versions of RSO, some of which sport high THC content, whereas others focus on CBD.

RSO is a highly concentrated extract, reaching even up to 90% of the main cannabinoid. Because of that, it doesn’t offer much in the way of flavor, but then again, it’s rather a medical product than something you would use recreationally.

5. Tinctures

Cannabis tinctures were the most common form of cannabis medicine in the United States up until prohibition in 1937.

In essence, a tincture is a liquid extract that involves alcohol extraction, which pulls out the cannabinoids out of sourcing material.

Tinctures are more potent than cannabis oil and have a longer shelf-life. You can apply the tincture directly beneath the tongue and hold it there for about 30 seconds. The effects should take hold within 20–30 minutes after ingestion.

Tinctures come in a variety of potencies and flavors. If you want to enjoy your experience with this product, we suggest that you try a flavored variant because unflavored tinctures are, least to say, not so tasty.

6. CBD Oil

CBD oil is one of the best cannabis concentrates for beginners seeking symptom relief without getting high.

The product contains high concentrations of the non-intoxicating compound CBD — short for cannabidiol.

Offering benefits without delivering psychoactive effects, CBD oil is used by people seeking relief from anxiety, stress, inflammation, pain, or another condition that CBD may potentially alleviate.

CBD oil can be derived from both marijuana and hemp, so it’s important that you’re able to distinguish between cannabis CBD oil and hemp CBD oil.

Hemp produces high levels of CBD with only trace amounts of THC (below 0.3%). For marijuana-derived CBD oil, producers use strains that have been selectively bred to contain higher levels of CBD alongside other beneficial compounds, including THC.

While hemp oil is widely available online, cannabis oil falls under different regulations, so you’ll need to visit your local dispensary or order it from an online retailer if you live in a place where cannabis is legal for medical or recreational purposes.

Similar to tinctures, CBD oil can be applied under the tongue, or mixed with foods and drinks. However, keep in mind that orally ingested CBD oil may need more time to produce its effects as it has to pass through the digestive system first.

What was the first cannabis concentrate you’ve consumed? Tell us about your experience with it!