Hash is the oldest form of cannabis concentrate

In the West, most folks prefer to smoke flower. But in the East, and across much of Europe, people there prefer to smoke hash. In fact, in Central Asia, most tokers only smoke hash, as blazing flower there is seen as a crude, low-brow practice.

However, the art of making high-quality hashish is alive and well in the US. And while many of us can identify awesome flower just by looks and smell alone, most American cannabis consumers aren’t as well versed in identifying great hash, simply because it’s not as readily available, or popular, as bud.

To find out how the average consumer can identify excellent hash, we spoke with The Dank Duchess during a video call. The Dank Duchess, or just Duchess for short, is a student of the legendary Frenchy Cannoli, one of the most influential and famous hash makers alive today.

Is hash color a reliable way to distinguish good and bad hash?

People often want to know if it’s dark, is it bad? If it’s light, is it good? That doesn’t apply to bubble hash. That sort of applies to BHO, because often hash that is dark has been made from trim, but that doesn’t necessarily apply to bubble hash. Bubble hash will turn darker when exposed to oxygen and heat.

What’s the method for testing high-quality hash?

Hash comes in all types of textures. You can have sandy hash; you can super, super sticky hash; you can have glass hash; you can have hash that just feels kind of like a rock. But all good bubble hash can be tested in this way:

Put the hash in the palm of your hands. With the thumb on your other hand, press hard into it. The 98 degrees between your palm and your thumb is more than enough heat to melt it slightly. As long as there’s oil content, it will melt, to a degree, meaning it will either coalesce together, or that resin that was hard like glass might soften on one side.

The next test is the melt test. It’s been done for who knows how long, and it’s easy. Just take a piece of resin, and apply fire to it. You want to bring the flame as close as you can [to the hash] without necessarily catching fire. If it doesn’t melt at all — nothing happens — that hash gets scaled as a 0 to 2. But if it melts a little bit but also chars up, that might be a 3. If it melts a whole lot more, but there’s still some discoloration, it’s a 4. If it melts, and it’s just falling all over the place, that’s a 5. And the top value is 6, if it bubbles all over the place and melts to near-zero.

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