Live Resin: What is It, and How to Use It?

As the new kid on the marijuana scene, live resin is relatively unfamiliar to both casual and seasoned recreational tokers and medical marijuana patients. Since this potent cannabis concentrate is quickly becoming a fan favorite, let's dig in and see what the hype is about.

What is Live Resin?

In the world of cannabis concentrates, live resin is one of the purest, strongest, and tastiest ways to get high. Not for the faint of heart, live resin is created using freshly harvested cannabis plants that are flash-frozen to preserve as many of the plant trichomes as possible. Since the trimming, drying, and curing process can have a detrimental impact on the potency of the terpenes in the plant matter, live resin is the greatest way to preserve all of the best parts of the cannabis plant.

After freezing, the plants are put through an extraction process that usually involves butane, propane, or another solvent. This process is not something that you should do yourself. Since it involves highly explosive and combustible solvents, making live resin should be done in a laboratory with all of the proper safety equipment.

Available in concentrate form as well as live resin carts, this potent concentrate should be consumed carefully. It is easy to overdo it and get yourself too high with live resin. If that happens, make sure you follow our green-out tips.

Live Resin vs Distillate

Distillates are, essentially, cannabis extracts that have been stripped of specific materials and compounds. This stripping typically leaves one specific cannabinoid. While distillate can be very potent, it lacks the tasty terpenes that can be found in live resin. These missing terpenes can impact the distillate's taste or therapeutic benefits. 

It’s important to remember that all distillates are oils but not all cannabis oils are distillates. Cannabis oil becomes a distillate ONLY after all material and compounds, including terpenes, are stripped, and the substance is fully refined.

The best analogy I found to describe live resin vs distillate is comparing them both to juice. If you like fresh-squeezed juice with all the pulp and flavor, live resin is for you. If you are down with juices made from concentrate, distillates might be more your speed.

Live Resin vs Rosin

While live resin is created using a solvent, live rosin is solventless. Rosin is made by applying heat and pressure as opposed to butane, propane, or another solvent. The plant material starts the same as with live resin – the plants are flash-frozen immediately after harvesting – but then they are heated and squished in a rosin press.

In terms of potency, live resin usually has a higher THC percentage, but the flavors of rosin can’t be beaten – even by live resin. It’s incredible that one little letter, from “e” to “o,” can create such a large difference in the end result. Ok, the process of creating live resin vs rosin is what causes the difference, not just the letter. 

Cured Resin vs Live Resin

In the simplest terms, the cured resin is the same as live resin except that it is made from fresh marijuana plant material that has gone through the drying and curing process. Since cured marijuana often loses much of its potency through exposure to heat during the drying process, cured resin will likely be far less potent than its live resin counterpart.  

If you are smoking resins for health benefits, stick with live resin. If you are looking for a more recreational experience, cured resins should work for your needs.

How To Smoke Live Resin or Rosin

Smoking live resin is as easy as smoking any of your favorite concentrate budders, shatters, waxes, or sugars. You can either use a dab rig, a nectar collector, an e-rig, or you can sprinkle live resin on a bowl for an extra punch.

I personally love using the Lookah Seahorse or the Terp Pen from Boundless. These two devices provide easy, rechargeable dabbing at home or on the go. Plus, smoking concentrates using one of these pen-like devices feels a LOT less like doing drugs than using a dab rig and torch. 

While you can purchase a live resin cart at most dispensaries, including our dispensary near Lombard, Il, there are as many ways how to smoke live resin as there are live resin strains available, I prefer to consume my live resin with a dab pen. What about you? How do you like to smoke your live resin? Hit me up on social media, and let's spark up a conversation and trade tips!