Half the caf.

I recently acquired what is known as a pollen press.
It presses, but not pollen. Well, technically, it is known as pollen in some circles, but what it really presses, is trichomes. Specifically, the gathered trichomes of the cannabis plant. Kief is another name for this substance, or crystal. When pressed, the substance forms hashish, which is useful if one enjoys the bottle-toke smoking method. It's a pretty tasty substance, that hashish.

We recently bought some hash that seemed to be cut with sugar. Well, a sweet-burning clear liquid gathered on the inside of the bottle we used to do BTs with it. I suppose, it could have been a sweet-burning chemical cutting agent, but let's just hope it was sugar. It seemed to caramelize, blackening and hardening rather than burn to a nice white ash as is normal with hash. That seemed to indicate sugar as well. The hash was very brittle, and did not soften with heat. It crumbled a bit, perhaps burning the outside. We ended up having to cut the hash with a knife into tiny bottle-toke sized chunks. The person who got it for us said the she would microwave it for a bit to soften it, but she is not exactly known for her good sense, especially having told us this was 'good hash'. As mentioned, we just cut it up as best we could, using the dusty particles in the yetis or joints we smoked.

Now, the pollen press, which is filled with trichomes harvested from cannabis purchased locally, should contain little to no contaminants, besides plant matter(assuming the cannabis itself is not contaminated). But, the hash I am able to produce, ends up quite hard, and is not easily shaped with pressure. Basically, I end up cutting it, much like I did with the shady hash. Now, this hash doesn't have the funny taste, or weird burn-profile that the shady hash did, but still, it is a pretty high quality product, and should be softer. Reading the wikipedia article about hashish, I find this;

Fresh hashish of good quality is soft and pliable and becomes progressively harder and less potent as it oxidizes.

So, what's the story here? Has my kief oxidized, making my hash seem old and hard, even though it's newly-pressed? Have the trichomes oxidized on the plant even? Or am I just not pressing the hash hard enough or long enough? I have read that using a vice to aid the pollen press is a good way to increase the pressure. But, I don't know if that is specifically the problem, or if I would just end up with harder darker hash, equally or more brittle than I have now.

I guess I'll try more time and heat exposure, see how that works. The hash still tastes good, and does what it should, so it's certainly not a waste of materials. Also, it is quite fun to make things for yourself. That sense of satisfaction that comes with a job well done, well, that still comes with an illegal job well done. It's sort of like gardening, or cooking yourself a good meal. Sure, you could just go out and buy the finished product, but when you put the work in yourself, not only do you know what went into the end result, you feel a connection to it. Your efforts brought about that hash, or that onion, or that turkey dinner, that tray of muffins, that finely carved pipe, that hilarious string of words, that high score, that perfect kickflip down a 9-set, or whatever your labour of love may be, and you feel a sense of accomplishment and self-confidence, because you just did that, and you know it, you can see it, and you can probably do it again.

Well that's all I've got for now. I'm off to smoke yetis and play Urban Strike on the SNES. Have a good one, may random find you well. \m/