The Visual Guide to Buying Concentrates
and Extracts from Queen City
Elevate your next session. Explore the world of cannabis concentrates at Queen City!
Cannabis concentrates 101: Covering the basics
Cannabis concentrates, also called cannabis extracts, are highly potent products that contain elevated levels of THC and other cannabinoids. Where cannabis flower contains anywhere from 10% to 30% or more THC content, concentrates and extracts have anywhere from 50% to 90% or more THC content.
How to consume cannabis concentrates
There are three main ways to consume concentrates: By dabbing, vaporizing, or adding to your flower.
Dabbing
involves using a dab rig or an electronic dabber to heat and inhale extracts
Vaporizing
involves using a vaporizer to heat and inhale — but not combust — extracts
attached to a battery is a form you can also use and is a whole other type of concentrate!
Types of concentrates you can buy at a New Jersey dispensary
Live resin
This extract is made from flash frozen cannabis plants, among the freshest cannabis out there. The flash freezing process preserves sensitive terpenes, making live resin one of the most terpene-rich cannabis concentrates available in New Jersey. It’s also great for making extracts that mimic the precise cannabinoid and flavor profile as its origin strain, called strain-specific extracts. Live resin is typically dabbed, but you can add it to your joint or vaporize it as well.
Sugar
Sometimes called sugar wax, this concentrate looks and feels similar to the same ingredient we put in our coffee or in a cookie recipe. But this sugar isn’t meant for eating. This extract earned its name from its sandy, grainy appearance. Sugar can be dabbed, vaporized, or added to cannabis flower.
Badder
This concentrate involves whipping cannabis extract until the texture is smooth and creamy, almost like its namesake cake batter. There’s also budder, which has a similar consistency but is a bit firmer than badder. This concentrate can be vaporized or dabbed. While you can add it to flower, its runnier consistency may be more difficult to work with.
Shatter
Thin, glass-like, and translucent, shatter has one of the more unique cannabis concentrate textures. Shatter is made by pouring cannabis extract onto a sheet to cool and solidify in a thin layer, then it’s broken into pieces. Like other concentrates, shatter can be dabbed, vaporized, or added to flower.
RSO
Short for Rick Simpson Oil, this extract is unique in that it doesn’t need to be heated. RSO is taken orally similar to an edible or a tincture. A tiny amount — we’re talking the size of a grain of rice or even smaller — goes in your cheek or under your tongue to dissolve. You can also mix RSO into food to make it easier to handle, as RSO is notoriously thick. This extract has an interesting background and unique protocol for taking it, too, so it’s worth reading up on it before buying RSO.
Dablicator
A Dablicator isn’t a specific type of concentrate, but a device filled with concentrate that you can use to easily dole out your dab on flower, in your dab rig, or in a vaporizer. In New Jersey, you’ll find Dablicators available pre-filled with cannabis extracts of varying kinds, ready to use right out of the package.
What about vapes?
The cannabis oil in a vape is a concentrate, too! Most vapes are made with distillate, a type of extract that contains mostly THC. That’s not always the case, though: You’ll find live resin vapes making waves in dispensaries throughout New Jersey, too!
What about other types of live concentrates?
Sometimes, you’ll see sugar, badder, and other concentrates described as “live” concentrates. This simply refers to how the cannabis flower was treated before extraction. Flash frozen flower brings many benefits that result in a richer, more flavorful extract. If you see live sugar, live badder, or live resin on the Queen City menu, give it a try — you’re in for a treat!
Accessories you need to start dabbing concentrates
Ready to start dabbing? You’ll need a few items to get started.
Dabbing shopping list
If you plan to dab your cannabis concentrate, you’ll need:
- A dab rig or electronic dabber (such as PuffCo Peak) to inhale the concentrate
- A blowtorch or e-nail to heat the nail where the dab is placed (skip this if you’re buying an electronic dabber)
- A dab tool to help you place concentrate in the dab rig without getting your hands sticky
- A carb cap to cover the “bucket” where the dab is dropped
- A dab mat so you can safely put down hot tools
- Your choice of concentrate from Queen City!
Vaporizer shopping list
If you’d rather skip the dab rig but still want to try concentrates, vaporizers are a great alternative. You’ll need considerably fewer tools when dabbing with a vaporizer, including:
- A vaporizer of your choice, as long as it’s compatible with concentrates
- Any accessories necessary to consume concentrates with your vaporizer
- A dab tool to easily place the concentrate of your choice in the vaporizer’s chamber
- A set of cleaning tools to wipe out residue after your session (your vaporizer may come with this)
- Concentrate
Add-to-flower shopping list
Flower and concentrate are an awesome combination worth exploring! If you want to try this route, we recommend the following:
- A grinder to grind your cannabis (or buy pre-ground flower)
- A rolling tray to keep everything contained
- A package of rolling papers and filters
- A dab tool to simplify placing your extract alongside flower
- Concentrate with an easy-to-handle consistency, like shatter
How much concentrate can I buy in a single dispensary trip in New Jersey
You can buy up to 4 grams of concentrates, or the equivalent in milliliters, per Queen City shopping trip.
How are concentrates made?
Concentrates fall into two major categories: solventless and those made with a solvent. Solventless extracts like hash and live resin are made with a manual process, while solvent-based extracts like butane hash oil (BHO) involve the use of a solvent.
Solventless extraction uses heat and pressure to make the concentrates. There’s also ice water extraction, which submerges plants in near-freezing water to agitate and collect the plant trichomes, which contain lots of cannabinoids and terpenes.
Solvent extraction can fall into two camps: hydrocarbon and CO2 extraction. Hydrocarbon extraction uses butane, ethanol, or a similar medium as a solvent, while carbon dioxide is the solvent used in CO2 extraction. The flower is submerged in the solvent, which pulls cannabinoids and terpenes from the cannabis. The mixture is then purified of unwanted compounds and cleaned of all residual solvent. The final step involves treating the extract in different ways to create different types of concentrate products.
