Next set of questions!!
What is THC Distillate?
How is it made?
How can it be tasteless and odorless?
How can it be 96%?
What are the benefits to using distillate?
I see some people eat it, some vape it and some rub it on burns etc...
Can you fill in the blanks in this seemingly new product?
Distillation is actually a very old technology. It is alleged to go back as far as the 12th century, if not further!
Distillation is the process of boiling a compound and then recondensing the vapor phase into a liquid for collection.
Reclaim in a dab rig is a great example of very crude distillation. You put the dab on your nail, it boils into vapor, you suck the vapor through your rig but some of it gets too cool and recondenses on the glass. That condensed liquid oil could be called a distillate. This is obviously not as high quality of a distillate as some of the products out there.
Distillation can also be used to isolate and separate compounds, using a technique called 'fractional distillation'. This is where your 96% THC distillates can come from. Often performed under a vacuum, fractional distillation does what some vaporists mistakenly think their vapes can do. You know how so many new vaporists think that they can separately boil off different compounds by using higher or lower temps in their vape to achieve the relevant boiling points?
Fractional distillation does exactly this, in an obviously much more tightly controlled environment with more accurate temp control and measurement than any vape. Fractional distillation is a wonderful way to purge solvents for recovery in original form too (with enough work, sometimes one must process a fraction several times to clean it of any other compounds with similar boiling points - the same goes for isolates etc, it is all down to technique of the processor).
Distillates can be solventless or solvent based, as distillation can be used to express plant essences from flower (however, this is not very efficient and typically most do an initial extraction using other methods first (solvent extracts usually, but this could be done with rosin or hash too).
The quality of the distillate is going to come down to a few things - the control over temp/pressure in the distillation rig used, the temps used in the pot (where the original substance goes to be boiled into vapor) and the cleanliness of the overall system, among other things. This is not a process that just anybody should use, as there can be some associated risks.
High (almost all) THC distillate is useful for public use as it can be made to have very low smell. Take a really terpy full melt dab before I leave the house and if I need to dose while away, some THC will boost the effects without the smell attracting every bystander for miles asking for a hit
THC itself is basically tasteless and odorless. THCA crystals are also tasteless and odorless IME.
Distillation has a number of valuable properties for our purposes as we can see :)
FYI, generally distillation should not be done at home. One should have at minimum some organic chem experience and read/been taught out of relevant lab manuals. Maintenance and proper operation of various fractional distillation rigs is very important for hygeine and safety (to prevent implosion/explosion risk with hot glass depending on how this process is being used). This is a great process for dispensaries/extract artists but this is not so much a tool for the home extractors arsenal - which is why you don't see a distillation thread in the Extraction Labs section here.
I hope that this has been educational for you guys, please do fire away with any more questions - I love seeing new questions here, bring on the inquiring minds!
