Weed 101: What is Crumble? - International Highlife

Weed 101: What is Crumble?

Crumble is a form of BHO (butane hash oil) which is purged for a long time at low temperatures in a vacuum oven, and whipped during the purging period. This gives it a softer consistency, yet allows it to remain brittle enough to crumble in your hand. Like other cannabis concentrates, crumble is much more potent than flower, kief or hash.

Essential oil extracted from these materials is highly concentrated and contains very high amounts of THC. Non-transparent extracts like crumble (which can be seen as a form of wax) are whipped during manufacture which causes the solids, such as THCA, to separate from the liquid elements like terpenes.

After an extracted cannabis oil is purged of the solvent used in the process, you will typically be left with oil that is much like shatter. Agitating this oil can change its consistency to wax, and can be accomplished by using one of the three following methods:

1. Once the oil has been purged of solvents, raise the temperature by another 20-30 degrees while under vacuum.

2. Whip the purged oil, then place it back under vacuum at the same temperature it was when purged.

3. Whip the purged hash oil and leave it as is.

The texture of the original shatter dictates the final consistency of the wax once it has been agitated – soft textured extracts will make a peanut buttery type of end product, while a harder extract will create a true crumble.

Cannabis concentrates made for vaporizing or dabbing are characterized by their textures and named accordingly.

Shatter

Very brittle, shatters into tiny pieces when broken

Crumble

Waxy consistency, but remains brittle and breaks up into moldable pieces

Wax

Resembles ear wax in texture

Budder

Budder is similar to peanut butter in consistency.

The Characteristics

Crumble is reputed to have very high terpene levels, making it one of the more flavorful and aromatic forms of concentrate. Retaining terpenes throughout the purging process is accomplished by performing a long vacuum purge for several days with very little or no heat used.

The downside to these types of extracts is that the same process that retains the terpenes in the oil also retains certain hydrocarbons from the solvents used in extraction. Because many terpenes and hydrocarbons have similar boiling points, it is difficult to remove one from the extract without losing the other.

Of all concentrates, crumble is the driest and a quality batch can be broken down easily into individual dabs. Using a vaporizer pen is the best way to ingest crumble, which then can be molded to the heat coils allowing direct heat to reach the wax. It is recommended you avoid storing your crumble in parchment paper. Instead, use a glass or silicone container with a lid.

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