Honey Oil: The Sweetest Thing

The advent of dabbing, and the growth of ways to concentrate the active ingredients from the marijuana plant, has created a range of new products derived from the cannabis extract known as honey oil.   

For thousands of years, smoking was the only method by which people could enjoy cannabis. These days, however, people are increasingly preferring to take advantage of the cannabis plant’s health benefits, without having to inhale the smoke created by burning it.

Various products containing the concentrated forms of marijuana’s active ingredients (THC and CBD) are now readily available. The advent of techniques such as dabbing, along with the consumption of cannabis oil as a food additive, has created a large market for honey oil: the basic ingredient of all cannabis extracts.

So let’s take a look at honey oil, how it is made, and where you can get hold of some.  

An Asian Native

Cannabis plants, Cannabis sativa and Cannabis indica are natives of Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent. The plants have been employed as a drug for both recreational and ceremonial uses for thousands of years. 

While cannabis plants have been grown since at least the third Millennium BC, evidence suggests that cannabis was being smoked for psychoactive effects about 2,500 years ago in the Pamir Mountains of Western China. 

The Good Oil

Things were so much simpler in the olden days. For centuries, smoking was the most convenient method of taking marijuana. It could be rolled up in a joint, or inhaled through a pipe or bong of some kind. In fact, smoking and marijuana were a combination that seemed to be made in Heaven!

However, all that has changed in the last couple of decades since a new method of inhaling cannabis was discovered called dabbing.

Dabbling with Dabs 

For anyone new to the cannabis scene, it processes a vast array of terminology and slang which, at first, can seem a little bit confusing and hard to understand. But, in fact, dabbing is a pretty simple process to understand.

Dabbing involves vaporizing a marijuana concentrate of some kind and inhaling the resulting fumes. This may not sound much different to just plain smoking weed. But dabbing was a giant leap forward in convenience for cannabis users. 

It meant that people no longer had to suffer the adverse health effects of actually inhaling smoke in order to get their cannabis highs. With dabbing, they could use various concentrates, in the form of shatter, diamonds, and a variety of other products, in order to access both the recreational and health benefits of cannabis.

Dabbing usually involves some sort of concentrate, such as shatter, wax or diamonds, and these products have to be derived from some base substance. That substance is known as honey oil

Hash Oil 

Honey oil is just another non-technical term for hash oil. In fact, hash oil became known as honey oil simply because it has the amber colour of pure, sweet honey.

Honey oil became popular because it is a concentrate. When you smoke a joint, the marijuana that you are inhaling would generally contain around 20% of the active ingredient THC. But if on the other, you take that same amount of marijuana and run it through an extraction process, the resulting honey oil can have a THC content of 80% or more.  

And if you add the advantage of not having to inhale actual smoke when you imbibe a marijuana concentrate such as honey oil, you make the product even more attractive, especially to people who are using marijuana for medicinal reasons.

So How Is It Made?

The production process to extract hash oil is extremely complex, and best left to experts. However, for readers who are chemistry buffs, hash oil (aka honey oil) is made using a cold extraction process, then winterizing the oil before removing the associated methanol with a rotary evaporator and then…confused? 

Suffice to say, extracting cannabis oil is a process that involves a bunch of very toxic chemicals, and some extremely delicate and potentially lethal laboratory equipment. So a better option is to find yourself a good dealer or MoM dispensary and order your honey oil from them. 

The Shatter and the Wax

Honey oil is the key component in the manufacture of shatter and wax: products that are used in the dabbing process. 

Shatter is a marijuana concentrate that has all of its molecules stacked up, one on top of the other, to form a thin, translucent, brittle, and solid substance. Shatter can be mixed with various other marijuana compounds to form a semi-cohesive liquid that can then be placed into a dab rig.

Wax is essentially the same as shatter in that it is also derived from honey oil. However, its molecules are just piled up in a jumbled heap that creates a liquid that has a consistency of runny butter, coconut oil, or, you could say, honey.

Does Honey Oil Come From Indica or Sativa?

Generally speaking, cannabis, is divided into three strains or varieties. Each variety has a slightly different biological makeup, and produces subtly different effects. 

The Three Marijuana Strains

• Indica. This is the original form of cannabis. It is a native species of the Hindu Kush region of western Asia (Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Nepal). It is characterized by stout, broad leaves and it is considered to be a strain that delivers a tranquil, sedating effect.
• Sativa. This tall, narrow-leafed variety of cannabis derives from the hemp plants originally grown in Europe and Asia for hemp fiber and seeds. Its psychoactive constituents produce what is described as “energizing effects.”
• Hybrid. These strains of marijuana combine plant genetics from both indica and sativa lineages. Their charismatics, therefore, are composed of different combinations of euphoria, uplift, happiness and energy. A hybrid’s lineage will give a clue to how strong each of these effects will be and as you become more experienced in cannabis use you will be able to do your own research into the strain that best suits your needs.  

The Sweetest Honey 

When it comes to honey oil, the good news is that it can be produced from all strains and varieties of cannabis. Depending on how strong you want your concentrate to be, there is a honey oil, or a honey oil derivative, to suit your needs.  

Of course, as always, your best bet is to consult a reputable supplier for advice about the best product for you.

Is Making Honey Oil Legal?

Generally speaking, hash oil will have the same legal status as marijuana. This means that in places where marijuana is legal, hash oil/honey oil will also be considered a legal product. 

Having said that, however, the production of hash oil is typically illegal even in places where marijuana itself is legal. For this reason, you need to consider two important things: 

First of all, if you are going to make honey oil yourself, is it legal for you to do so? You will need to do some research into your local cannabis laws to figure this out.  In Canada, you can do what you want to with your products, convert the cannabis as you need.

Is it Worth It?

If you apply the old adage of “keep it simple, stupid”, is it really worth all of the trouble (and, let’s face, it danger) involved in producing honey oil when you can easily buy it from a reputable supplier? They will know all the relevant details about the oil: how it has been made, how it has been concentrated, and how you can best use it to your own specific advantage. 

Do it Yourself…or Maybe Don’t!

Like any chemically produced product, honey oil may contain traces of the chemicals used in its manufacture. During the manufacturing process of honey oil, the butane and other solvents used to extract the concentrate need to be completely flushed out. Ingesting solvents, or contaminants contained in any marijuana concentrate is dangerous, especially in patients who are using honey oil for medicinal purposes.

It is impossible to discern the purity of honey oil simply by looking at it. Laboratory testing is the only way to assess the purity of honey oil, or any other concentrate. That is why your supplier needs to be trustworthy, professional, and someone you can rely on.

The Sweetest Thing

The staff at Buzzed Extracts are extremely well-informed about the uses, benefits, and potential side effects of honey oil. We can give you all the advice that you require in order to help you choose the best honey oil product for your particular needs.

So check out our website and take a look at the honey oil products we stock. And don’t be afraid to ask questions. We will give you all the good oil.