Live Resin

Definition: Live resin is a cannabis concentrate made from plants that are frozen immediately after harvest instead of being dried and cured. Extracting from fresh-frozen material preserves more of the plant’s volatile terpenes, so live resin tends to taste and smell much closer to the living plant than standard concentrates.

How Is Live Resin Made?

Right after harvest, whole plants or buds are frozen, often with dry ice or liquid nitrogen. The frozen material is then extracted with a hydrocarbon solvent like butane or propane in a closed-loop system kept at very low temperatures. The cold protects delicate terpenes that would otherwise evaporate during drying and curing. The solvent is then purged, leaving a sappy, aromatic concentrate.

What Is the Difference Between Live Resin and Cured Resin?

Cured resin is made from dried, cured flower, the standard starting point for BHO, shatter, and wax. Drying and curing can lose a large share of a plant’s lighter terpenes. Live resin skips that step, which is why it usually has a brighter, more complex aroma.

Is Live Resin the Same as Live Rosin?

No. Both start with fresh-frozen plants, but live resin uses a solvent, while live rosin is solventless, made by pressing ice water hash with heat and pressure. Live rosin is generally more expensive.

How Do You Use Live Resin?

Live resin is usually dabbed at lower temperatures to preserve flavor, vaporized in a wax pen, or sold in vape cartridges as a more flavorful alternative to distillate.

Related terms: Concentrates, Terpenes, Rosin, BHO

Sources: NIDA: Cannabis Concentrates DrugFacts; Russo EB, British Journal of Pharmacology, 2011.