What is live resin vs distillate

In the ever-expanding world of cannabis concentrates, it's essential to understand what differentiates one concentrate from another. When shopping at a dispensary, you may find yourself wondering, what's the difference between cannabis distillate and live resin?

With different distillation processes, flavors, and potencies, there are many differences between distillate vs live resin. Read on to learn the pros and cons of each cannabis concentrate.

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Distillate, a highly refined and potent cannabinoid oil, is a cannabis concentrate produced when a cannabinoid, such as THC, is isolated from plant compounds.

Distillate, esteemed for its versatility and high potency, is one of the most common cannabis concentrates on the market today. Because they contain nearly 100% cannabinoid content, THC distillates are sometimes called liquid gold or even pure THC. Unless altered after production, distillate is void of other cannabis compounds, including terpenes and flavonoids.

Distillate starts with dried, cured cannabis that is extracted into oil. The distillation process then involves the extraction and vaporization of crude cannabis oil. Cannabinoids in the oil, such as THC or CBD, are separated from the plant material and other cannabis compounds by way of high heat to create distillate.

Distillate appears nearly translucent, and for the most part lacks taste, smell, and flavor, making it the ideal base for cannabis edibles and vape cartridges. In this way, it provides a highly potent base that can be used as-is or from which producers can formulate specific flavor profiles or cannabinoid ratios.

For example, manufacturers may add terpenes to distillate concentrates after extraction to give the final product flavor. Others may infuse additional cannabinoids to achieve therapeutic effects. Distillate can be smoked, vaped, dabbed, added to topicals, eaten, and even administered sublingually.

Distillate is considered highly potent due to its high cannabinoid content, but, depending on the formulation, it can lack the potential therapeutic benefits that terpenes and flavonoids may provide. Cannabis compounds like terpenes are largely responsible for the unique effects and flavors a strain can provide, via the entourage effect.

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What is live resin?

Contrary to distillate, live resin incorporates the potentially therapeutic, flavorful terpenes and flavonoids that, for some, can drastically improve the cannabis high. Live resin is a cannabis concentrate named after the fresh cannabis flower used to create it.

Made using "live," or fresh, cannabis flower, as opposed to dried flower, live resin retains the plant's naturally occurring chemical profile. It's rich in terpenes, flavonoids, and other compounds but generally lower in cannabinoid content than distillate.

Live resin's appearance, aroma, and taste vary depending on what cultivar, or strain, is used to create it. But it typically maintains a loose consistency, golden color, and herbal aromatic characteristics, as opposed to distillate, which is nearly clear and odorless.

While distillate is extracted using heat, live resin is made by flash-freezing fresh cannabis plant material upon harvest and then extracting its compounds using solvents such as butane or carbon dioxide. This helps to preserve the compounds that would otherwise be lost, resulting in terpene-rich, fragrant products that can be used in a number of ways.

Live resin can be smoked, vaped, dabbed, and added to topicals for a potentially therapeutic experience. Many cannabis consumers report that inhaling live resin tastes and feels the most similar to smoking actual flower. Because of this, it's considered a delicacy among concentrates, and can be more costly by comparison.

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Bottom line

Evidently, distillate and live resin are different in significant ways. But is one better than the other? While distillate can be more potent, affordable, and discreet, live resin is typically considered more dynamic, flavorful, and fresh tasting. Whether you choose distillate or live resin is ultimately up to the kind of sensory experience you're after. The process of creating distillate prioritizes THC and other cannabinoids at the expense of terpenes, making it more potent. Live resin preserves more terpenes and flavonoids because the starting cannabis material isn't dried, but the cannabinoids aren't as activated.

One isn't better than the other — they are simply crafted for different purposes. If you're new to cannabis concentrates, consider trying both to see which works better for you.

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