Everything You Need to Know About Kief

Have you ever read an article about cannabis and not been able to make sense of it? There’s a lot of terminology and slang surrounding the use and sale of marijuana in the US, and it’s important to understand it all.

One term you may have seen frequently used is “kief.” If you’ve been left scratching your head wondering what this product is that everyone’s raving about, then we’ve got you covered.

Here’s your ultimate guide to what kief is and how to use it.

What is Kief?

Before we look at its uses, what is kief? It’s hard to nail down an exact definition, but put simply, kief is a type of cannabis concentrate. Concentrates are a form of super-potent marijuana that is high in levels of THC.

The dried resin that makes up kief comes from the trichomes of the marijuana plant. If you look closely at your flower, you’ll notice some little furry or hair-like strands covering the plant material. These are the trichomes.

Trichomes serve many purposes for the cannabis plant. Firstly, they are what give different strains of cannabis their distinct flavor and scent profiles, but they also work to protect the plant against insects and other plant-eating animals. You can tell when a cannabis plant needs to be harvested by analyzing its trichomes.

The term “kief” can mean different things depending on where in the world you are, but in the western world, it most often refers to the powdery or resin-like substance that separates from the plant when it is ground up, and it is commonly used for both recreational and medicinal purposes.

Kief is a great choice of concentrate for people that want a more potent product that hasn’t been extracted and processed using all sorts of different chemicals. This is because anyone can extract kief from their plants at home, and it is a naturally occurring by-product of cannabis.

How to Collect Kief

If you’ve been using a grinder to break down your cannabis flower, then it’s likely that you’ve been collecting kief the whole time without realizing it. When you grind up cannabis flower, the powdery substance and other trichomes separate from the plant material.

If you use a grinder that has three tiers, then you’ve probably noticed a small bottom layer that can be separated from the rest of the grinder. If you have no idea what that bottom tier is for, go ahead and open it up, and you’ll see that it’s for collecting kief. The trichomes and other fine substances fall through the mesh lining of the main chamber of the grinder to leave you with a tray full of kief that is ready for use.

Aside from using your grinder and letting that separate the kief for you, you can use a device called a kief box that is specifically designed to help you separate the resin from the flower with larger amounts of bud.

If you prefer not to mess around with grinding up your own weed, you can actually purchase kief straight from the jar at a medical marijuana dispensary. When you’re shopping for kief, be sure to keep an eye on the color of the product. The lighter green it is, the more pure the product is.

Uses for Kief

So, you’ve figured out what kief is, you’ve checked your grinder, and you have plenty of it sitting in there, now what? Well, the world is your oyster. There are so many inventive and effective things that you can do with cannabis kief. Let’s take a look at a few now.

Smoking

This one requires absolutely no preparation at all. The kief in your grinder can be smoked straight away for more potent effects than just smoking straight flower.

However, because it is a fine powder, you need to think of kief as more as an additive to your usual smoke. You can sprinkle it on top of a bowl, blunt, or joint to give your smoke an added punch.

Moon Rocks

These require a little bit of craftsmanship to make, but they can be incredibly effective. A moon rock is essentially a clump of cannabis flower material that has been coated or dipped in a melted concentrate.

You can make this at home with some bud, some kief, and some melted concentrate that has been gently heated. Coat the bud with the concentrate and then dip it in the kief.

This is for experienced users only and can have very strong effects, so it’s best to exercise caution when trying this one out.

Edibles

Adding kief to edibles is a straightforward process. As you may or may not know, you need to decarboxylate your cannabis to make edibles. This is essentially just a process of gently heating the cannabis to activate the THC so that it can be released into your bloodstream after you eat it.

Much like using flower, you need to know how to decarb kief to make edibles. The best way to do this is to simply sprinkle your kief over the flower that you’re decarboxylating. After you’ve done this, it’s ready for use in any edible you wish to make.

Hash

You may have heard of hash before and wondered what it is and how it’s made. Well, kief is the essential building block of hash. Making your own can be done at home with some basic know-how and equipment.

One of the first things you’ll need is a kief press. This is a machine that helps you to compact and pressurize the kief to make hash. You’ll end up with a putty-like substance that can be used in any of the ways listed above.

Get Your Medical Marijuana Card Today

So that’s your rundown on kief and its uses. It’s an incredibly versatile concentrate that can give your cannabis a little extra kick to help you get the desired effects out of it.

If you want to use kief in Maryland, you’ll need to get yourself a medical marijuana card. If you’re unsure where to start or how the process works, reach out to us here at Maryland GreenScript. We can help you get your medical marijuana card and guide you through every step of the process.