Today, you can find countless concentrates lining dispensary shelves, from budder to badder, sauce, crumble, and more. At our dispensaries in Illinois and Massachusetts, we get questions about the subtle differences between all these concentrates each and every day.. The most confusing? Live resin and live rosin. Though they sound similar, these fragrant concentrates hold their own and offer unique, special qualities.
If you’ve been curious to try these standout products, you’ve come to the right place. Discover all the defining attributes of live rosin and live resin, how they’re made, how to consume them, and more so that next time you visit your local dispensary you’ll be ready to dive into these fragrant, punchy concentrates. Ready? Let’s roll.
What Is Live Resin?
Potent and aromatic, live resin is a high-grade version of a category of concentrates known as butane hash oils, or “BHOs.” This class of concentrates uses the solvent butane to extract the cannabinoids—such as THC and CBD—and terpenes—the essential oils found in the plant—from the cannabis flower. This controlled extraction process purges all the extra plant matter from the final product, producing golden-hued, sticky crystals.
However, unlike other BHOs, live resin takes flavor and aroma to the next level with its use of fresh, flash-frozen flower. When an extractor makes BHO, they typically dry and cure their plants before washing them with butane to extract terpenes and cannabinoids—not so with live resin. Instead, extractors freeze their plants immediately after harvesting them, thus preserving the cannabinoids, terpenes, and other beneficial compounds exactly as they are in a just-picked plant.
The payoff for using such fresh material? Extremely high traces of aromatic terpenes and a THC content that may reach astonishing levels—we’re talking upwards of 90% THC.
History of Live Resin
We can thank a grower and extractor named “Kind Bill” Fenger for bringing live resin to the world—he’s the leading man responsible for discovering how to make live resin back in 2013, and he’s now credited with bringing this fragrant concentrate to the masses.
When Fenger noticed that the vast majority of the terpenes in his plants were breaking down before he could extract them, he began flash-freezing his buds immediately after harvest, and—voilà! Live resin was born.
To be fair, this freezing method wasn’t a particularly new concept in cannabis circles. Other growers had tried similar methods dating back to at least 2011, but Fenger’s significant contribution was refining the freezing and solvent-based extraction process through plenty of trial and error.
What Is Live Rosin?
Another fragrant concentrate that delivers powerful aromas and a mouthwatering exhale, live rosin is a solventless extract produced from simple heat and pressure. Live rosin fans also love it for its closeness to the cannabis plant, maintaining its fresh aromas without the use of solvents or other chemicals.
Live rosin products range from a waxy, crumbly form to a smooth, butter-like consistency depending on the manufacturer, and its lighter color—compared to live resin—is often a sign of its exceptional purity.
History of Live Rosin
Live rosin’s history is closely tied to Phil “Soilgrown” Salazar, founder of Soilgrown Solventless and a key figure in the development of solventless cannabis concentrates. Interestingly, Salazar discovered the rosin extraction technique by accident in 2015 while experimenting with cannabis flower. He applied heat and pressure to the cannabis he had on hand and noticed a golden, resinous substance oozing out of it and leaving behind the extra plant matter.
The resulting rosin was potent, flavorful, and made without the use of solvents, which sparked excitement within the cannabis community. Since making rosin required only a heat press or a similar tool, it was accessible and safe for simple at-home extraction using cosmetic tools like hair straighteners.
But what about live rosin? Building on the success of this initial rosin press technique, Soilgrown and other innovators began exploring ways to enhance rosin’s terpene retention. Inspired by the new popularity of live resin at the time, Soilgrown experimented with fresh-frozen cannabis instead of dried and cured material, thus producing a concentrate with an even richer terpene profile that was then referred to as “live rosin.”
The process involved washing fresh-frozen cannabis in ice water to create bubble hash, which could then be pressed using the classic rosin technique. This two-step, solventless process preserved the plant’s full-spectrum compounds while eliminating the need for chemical solvents.
Live Resin vs Live Rosin: What’s the Difference?
Though live resin and live rosin are both produced using flash-frozen cannabis flower, they have some significant differences that are worth noting.
- Extraction Method: This is perhaps the defining distinction between live resin and live rosin. Live resin extraction uses solvents like butane, whereas live rosin relies on only heat and pressure.
- Consistency and Color: Typically, live resin has a saucy and viscous texture with vibrant amber hues and crystal formation. Live rosin has a more waxy, butter-like consistency and is lighter in color.
- Price: Live rosin is often considered an indulgent item due to its high price tag on the cannabis market. Since live resin involves solvents, producing at scale is easier and tends to benefit from a comparatively lower price tag.
- Purity: Due to live rosin’s solventless extraction, there’s zero risk of compounds like butane ending up in the final product. While professional live resin processors have advanced technology and procedures to purify solvent residue, there are no guarantees the final product won’t have slight traces of these compounds—especially without thorough third-party lab reports.
Live Concentrates: All About the Terpenes
It’s impossible to underscore the significance of terpenes when talking about live resin and live rosin. Many of our customers gravitate to these products specifically for their enhanced terpene percentages—while other concentrates like shatter or budder have some terpenes in their chemical profiles, they tend to focus more on THC levels. Plus, these types of concentrates use cured weed as their starting material, so they already have a different terpene profile to extract in the first place, as terpene profiles change and mellow out during the drying and curing process.
Freshly harvested and flash-frozen cannabis flowers have the highest concentrations of terpenes, meaning you can enjoy the maximum amount of these compounds using a live resin or live rosin product. But what’s the big deal with terpenes? These compounds provide cannabis strains with their unique aromatic profiles—and live concentrates are known for their distinctive, punchy and fresh flavor profiles.
However, terpenes aren’t just there to provide a sensory experience; many of them are believed to impact our physiology and may play a role in the “entourage effect,” which is when cannabinoids and terpenes work synergistically to amplify the therapeutic effects of cannabis.
Whether it’s the citrusy zing of limonene or the spice of beta-caryophyllene, different terpene profiles appear to play a role in how we experience each cannabis cultivar. So, by including such high concentrations of terpenes in live resin and live rosin, they could have a major impact on both the flavors you taste and your overall experience.
How to Smoke Live Rosin vs Live Resin
There are a few ways to consume live resin and live rosin, but dabbing is by far the most common method. This trendy inhalation technique involves vaporizing the concentrate on a heated surface—called a “nail”—attached to a unique bong-like device called a “dab rig.”
Traditional dabbing requires using a blowtorch to light the nail and transferring a small piece of live rosin or live resin from a dab tool to the hot surface. Today, you can find electronic dab devices—also called “e-rigs”—and electric nails that remove the need for a blowtorch and make the overall process more customizable, safe, and user-friendly.
Not a fan of dabbing? You can easily smoke live resin or live rosin instead by sprinkling it over the ground flower in your joints, spliffs, blunts, and bowls, adding extra flavor and potency.
What Products Contain Live Resin or Live Rosin?
Want to try something different? Don’t feel like you have to handle live resin and live rosin in their sticky forms. As these concentrates become more desirable, manufacturers are creating plenty of unique items with live resin and live rosin as the main ingredients.
- Vape Cartridges: Ditch the dab rig and reach for a more discreet option. Live resin is especially popular for vapes due to its fluid-like consistency. You may find your favorite cannabis e-juices with live resin as the primary substance for a more flavor-forward vaping experience.
- Infused Pre-Rolls: Rather than rolling live rosin or live resin into a joint, you can buy pre-rolled packets already locked and loaded with these potent concentrates. Both live resin and live rosin can easily be infused into pre-rolled joints for a convenient and elevated smoking experience.
- Edibles: Live resin and live rosin are occasionally used to infuse edibles to produce a potent blast of full-spectrum effects. Since these concentrates are so full of natural terpenes, you’ll notice a very fresh, true-to-plant taste in these edibles.
Whatever you feel like and whatever you’re in the mood for, live resin and live rosin are easily attainable in various ways. If it’s your first time consuming these types of concentrates in any form, just remember the golden rule: start low and go slow.
Stock Up On Quality Concentrates and More At Mission
Live resin and live rosin offer a flavorful and potent dabbing experience, but you may find one of these concentrates better suits your needs and preferences.
Start your journey today and head to your local Mission dispensary in Massachusetts or Illinois to stock up on quality, lab-verified live resin or live rosin and sample some truly mouthwatering strains. Don’t know where to begin? Just ask our friendly team of budtenders for their tips and top picks.
Want to learn more about concentrates or brush up on your general cannabis knowledge? Check out our informative cannabis blog, where you’ll find plenty of in-depth articles to take you even further, including our beginner’s guide on how to smoke wax, a deep dive into the Banana Puddintain strain, and so much more!