Bubble Hash

Definition: Bubble hash, also called ice water hash, is a solventless cannabis concentrate made by agitating plant material in ice-cold water so the resin glands break off, then straining them out through a series of fine mesh bags. The collected trichomes are dried into a potent, sandy or paste-like hash. No butane or other chemical solvents are used.

How Is Bubble Hash Made?

Cannabis flower or trim, sometimes frozen fresh, goes into a bucket of ice and water and is gently stirred. The cold makes trichomes brittle, so the resin heads snap off and sink. The water is then poured through stacked filter bags with progressively smaller micron screens. Each bag catches a different size of gland, and the resin is scraped off, pressed to remove water, and dried slowly at low temperature.

Why Is It Called Bubble Hash?

The name comes from how high-quality batches react to heat. The purest grades bubble and melt when you apply a flame, a sign that there’s very little plant material left behind. The filter bags used to make it are commonly called bubble bags.

What Does Full Melt Mean?

Makers grade bubble hash by how completely it melts. Full melt is the top grade, which melts almost entirely with little residue and works well for dabbing. Lower grades contain more plant matter and are better crumbled into a joint or bowl or pressed into rosin. When fresh-frozen plants are used, the result is often sold as live hash rosin, a cousin of live resin.

Is Bubble Hash Strong?

Yes. Like kief and other forms of hash, it’s made mostly of resin glands, so it’s far more concentrated than flower. Start small.

Related terms: Hash, Solventless Extract, Kief, SHO (Solventless Hash Oil)

Sources: Cannabis Glandular Trichomes: A Cellular Metabolite Factory. Frontiers in Plant Science, 2021 (PMC); ElSohly MA, et al. Changes in Cannabis Potency Over the Last 2 Decades (1995-2014). Biological Psychiatry, 2016 (PMC).