Welcome to the world of rosin. The easy to make the solventless extract. No longer required concentrate extraction through chemical processing or water. Farewell to wasted time waiting for impure solvents to clear your finished product. Heat and pressure have taken over and truly present rosin connoisseurs with a better method of drawing out that treasured substance.

With outdated practices behind us, burning questions remain. Questions like “Where can I get an affordable rosin press?” and “How does a modern rosin press work?” DabConnection is here to provide those answers.

Modern rosin presses work wonders and do it in very little time. They can be affordable, or run a high price tag. Rosin extraction can be as easy as grabbing your jar of kief and a hair straightener. We’ll start by explaining the home hair straightener extraction technique, then roll our way over to modern rosin presses.

Easy Home Rosin Extraction With A Hair Straightener

It sounds kinda crazy when you first hear about it, but making rosin with a hair straightener (also known as a flat iron) proves safer and quicker than solvent-based extraction techniques. Get started by gathering the necessary equipment and supplies. Let’s run through them now.

• Hair Straightener A.K.A Flat Iron – You’ll want a model with very good temperature control to get the best results
• Parchment Paper – It doesn’t take much with a flat iron but will go quickly with extended use. Grab yourself a roll if you don’t already have some.
• Cannabis – The hair straightener will work with buds, kief, and it will even refine hash. Adding a coffee filter when using keif will keep any plant particles from passing through.
• Dab Tool – Most dab collection tools will do but you will need some small tool to gather the finished rosin.

Getting Busy With Dab Extraction

Start by turning on the flat iron and setting it to a low temperature. Take a small bud (kief or hash) and place it on a piece of parchment paper. Fold the paper over so it completely covers the bud. Place the parchment paper and bud on the hair straightener and squeeze down hard. Apply pressure for 3-5 seconds. Repeat this process 2 or 3 times for maximum extraction.

As heat and pressure do their trick you should hear the rosin sizzling out of the bud. Too high of a temperature will burn off terpenes that give the dab a sweet taste and aromatic smell. High temps also liquefy the rosin to the extent that it fuses with parchment paper making it impossible to collect.

Pros

The obvious benefit of the hair straightener technique comes down to speed. Dab lovers can quickly turn herb into pure form and enjoy it within minutes. It’s also much safer than solvent techniques, doesn’t require professional training, and you won’t have to worry about burning down your house.

Consumed buds can still be used for cooking or ground and rolled into joints. Small speckles of dab typically remain behind. Shake and low-end buds can be turned into some grade of smoke. The finished extract can’t be left out of the benefits list. Dab lovers can agree that one puff of magic concentrate will send you to an alternate universe!

Cons

Finding the right heat setting can sometimes be a chore. You might waste a few nugs trying to get it just right. Flat irons won’t provide the same pressure that a press can give which results in slightly less output.

A typical rosin yield lands around 7% which means a 1 gram bud will give less than .1 gram of dab. It does take a decent amount of herb to get a respectable yield. Other than that, there’s no reason to wait around.

Making Rosin With A Modern Rosin Press

Though the process of extraction through heat pressing just recently became widely recognized, modern rosin presses have already made their way into legal markets. Dispensaries now invest in large production scale presses which produce a ton of rosin.

Smaller scale presses like the Ricoma and the Mpress offer more affordable personal options. The process of extraction remains the same with a small “owner’s manual” learning curve, depending on the press you choose. Press benefits and disadvantages shift compared to the hair straightener, so let’s check those out.

Pros

Hair straighteners work great for grabbing yourself a quick taste, but if you really love concentration a press is the way to go. Even small home-sized rosin presses deliver more product for the time you put in.

Save your hands and feet and leave hard work to the press. Even an altered manual t-shirt press will make it easier on your joints. The added pressure can also provide a bit more yield, though the difference is minimal in small amounts.

Most presses have better temperature control making it easier to find the suggested low setting (between 280-330 degrees Fahrenheit).

Cons

A press performs better than a hair straightener in every way, the only drawback being a higher price. We’ll leave it to you dab aficionados to decide which one better suits your needs.

Final Thoughts – Wrapping It Up On Rosin

Heat pressed extraction has to light up the eyes of any dab lovers not yet aware of the technique. Old methods that require professional treatment can now be dismissed for a faster, safer, and purer result. The potency of heat press rosin comes close to solvent-treated herb-based concentrate without leaving any trace of chemical residue behind. Grab your flat iron or press, gather your killer green buds, and let’s get to dabbin’. Make sure rosin is legal in your area!