As one of the newer and rapidly evolving sectors in the cannabis industry, the hash rosin space has a shortage of true specialists. In many cases, hash rosin producers process material for other businesses, but you’ll also find a growing number of established flower producers that are producing their own hash rosin. Something you won’t see very often, however, is a dedicated hash business that produces and handles all of its own material from start to finish, like Pacific NW Roots does.
We recently found ourselves lucky enough to visit Pacific NW Roots in Washington State, where start-to-finish hash farming is exactly what they do! Not only is operator Ras Kaya Paul a master hash maker, he’s a well-respected hash plant breeder with a lineup that includes signatures like Koffee, Sofa King Kush, and Platinum Alien OG. Whether it comes from the raised beds of his indoor rooms or the hugelkultur beds of his outdoor greenhouse, he’s passionate about crafting quality products using all organic methods.
There’s a lot we could say about how streamlined the operation feels, especially for one that does everything from growing to packaging in-house. Amidst the whirlwind of talk about craft cannabis policies, It can be hard to figure out what it really takes for small businesses to succeed. The way we see it, it’s gonna take more eyes on operators like Pacific NW Roots to figure out how artisan producers can actually compete in the pressure cooker of legalization. We’ll explore the cultivation side of Pacific NW Roots another time, but for now, let’s get to the hash making!
We’ll start with a rundown of the logistics and then share some of Kaya’s tips for getting started.
Equipment
- Commercial ice machine (1000 lbs every 24 hours)
- Commercial walk-in freezer w/ sheet pan racks
- Four washing tubs
- Two home freeze dryers
- Small vacuum oven
- Hash rosin press with bags
Step 1: Harvest, prep, and storage
To be fair, step one is growing the weed, but once that’s done, this is where the plant’s journey into that gooey rosin goodness begins, and it’s where Ras Kaya Paul’s careful technique starts to pay off. First, whole plants are cut at the base and hung up so they can be “big leafed”, which means — you guessed it — the big leaves get stripped off. Then the plant is broken down into branches which get hung on a clothesline of sorts that hangs over a long table, with a row of trimmers on each side.
After that, Kaya tells me, “as it moves down, the big leaves come off, anything without sugar, and then the next trimmer will actually trim up the bud, and they are instructed to not cut the leaf or the plant matter but only the stems. This keeps the chlorophyll in the plant, keeps the plant intact so I get more spins out of it.” By spins he means washes, so in other words, careful handling allows for the better yield without compromising on quality. Kaya goes on, “So they break it up really small onto the racks, and we usually give it about 24, up to 48 hours to freeze. Once it’s frozen solid, we put it into bags and let it sit for another day or two with it open, and then you can close the bags. And then it’s good to go until we wash it.”
A key takeaway is the importance of breaking down larger buds. Kaya explains, “You can see the buds are really broken down super far. These were huge buds, we knock em’ down nice and small and get all the surface area.”
Step 2: Washing the buds into hash
Once the flowers are broken down and properly frozen, they’re ready to be washed. For this step, the frozen buds are sloshed around by hand in tubs filled with ice and water as well as a mesh bag that holds back the green plant matter and allows the precious trichomes to drop through.
Afterwards, the trichrome-laden water is drained and Kaya says, “We’ll scoop the hash out and sieve it, and then we basically sieve it out onto those racks,” as he points to a row of pan racks along the wall, “Then [we] set ’em in here to dry for like two weeks. And that’s only the 6-star, 90 microns, first pull, maybe second, and then everything else gets batched together and thrown in freeze dryers.”
He’d later tell us how he used to dry hash on top of lamps or in his truck, but as we passed by the freeze dryers, we could tell they were something he was still excited to have in his facility. Entering the walk-in freezer, Kaya continues, “After we wash [and dry] it, it’s graded and it gets put into jars, and now it’s preserved. At this point I feel safe, I’m like, ‘Okay, I got it. My money’s secure’. And I can squash it if I want to. Now the 6-star, once it comes out of there and it’s dried, we gram it out, and then it goes into these,” Kaya shows us a container, “and you can see it’s like salt.”
Step 3: Squashing
The final step is the one that turns the hash into rosin, and in some ways it’s the simplest part, especially considering how much work it’s taken to get this far. We were expecting to see something bigger, or somehow more commercial looking, but the small rosin press sitting on a table almost looked whimsical compared to the massive ice makers and other equipment we had just seen. As unassuming as appearances may be, without this tool, there’d be no rosin!
Even though you can purchase a similar product and use it in a spare closet, that doesn’t mean that Pacific NW Roots isn’t staying ahead of the curve when it comes to the details. First of all, the space is immaculately clean. All the efforts made to avoid contamination can be wasted if dust, hair, finger oils, or any other foreign material gets near the sticky goo that pours out from between the two heated plates. Kaya explains how they cover things like handles with nitrile gloves because touching any plastic or rubber material can leave small traces of residue on your gloves that would ruin the rosin if it came in contact.
Kaya also describes how things work when they take frozen resin, or hash, out of the freezer for pressing, saying, “The little bags in there, they bring ‘em out here … It’s a little mesh bag, they put like a half ounce in each one, and then they take the paper, and fold it up, origami style, [and it] slides in the gills. Generally we’re pressing at like 170 degrees, and then collecting the rosin, and then passing it back over, and then they immediately gram it up, [and] it goes on the shelves. Usually we’re running through whatever inventory we have during the week.”
And that’s basically it! The products retail for about $75-85 a gram and come in just under a dozen varieties including crowd favorites like GMO and Kush Mints, plus in-house specialties like Strawberry Yogurt and Hamma Hamma. Many of the samples we checked out had different looks and textures, but the aromas were stunning. If you haven’t had the pleasure of smelling a freshly harvested room, you can practically get the same experience by holding one of their jars under your nose. Remember, hash rosin is best when kept cold or frozen, but don’t forget to let the container warm up for 10-15 minutes before opening it or you’ll run into issues with condensation, which can destroy the delicate balance of terpenes in short order.
Before you go, here are a few more tidbits of knowledge from hash master Ras Kaya Paul.
More hash rosin tips with Pacific NW Roots
For the amateur rosin presser, there’s gonna be a learning curve and the easiest mistakes to avoid might not be the ones you expect. I asked Ras Kaya Paul of Pacific NW Roots where people tend to mess up, and he talked a lot about the freezing and drying process. Let’s go over some of what he said!
How do you freeze fresh buds?
Freezing fresh buds for hash washing doesn’t seem complicated, but when we ask Kaya which mistakes he sees most often, he starts at the beginning, when the plant is freshly harvested and ready for freezing. He tells us, “If you’re gonna do that, you’ve got to get it right into the freezer” but, more importantly, to be careful “if you take a hot plant and throw it in a plastic bag.” He says that most people will fill up a bag, close it, and throw it in the freezer and asks, “So, hot plants, cold, what happens? It’s gonna condensate. Now you get ice crystals all over your buds, it brings down your yield, and fucks up your stuff.”
In his facility, they use drying racks and walk-in freezers, but a home hash maker should give the plants time to cool off and bag them in a cold room, then leave the bag open in the freezer for a couple days before closing it.
Moving on, he says, “The other thing they fuck up is letting that defrost at any point. Once you defrost that herb once it’s frozen, you’re fucked. Your yield will go to two percent or less and it’s gonna taste like swamp ass.”
Kaya says the condensation and defrosting are probably the easiest mistakes to make, but what about handling the hash once it’s washed from the buds?
How can I dry bubble hash? How long does it take?
When it comes to the hash washing process, Kaya’s primary advice is just as straightforward and, like harvesting and storage, it has more to do with handling than a special technique. He starts by telling us, “When drying stuff, don’t rush it” and continues, “I started drying hash on a lamp. We would scoop it out, and then chop it up as fine as we could. Chop it up on a plate, and set it on top of a light, and let it sit for up to 14 days. It can harden and get dry, and the inside would be gooey, and you had to get that inside gooiness a little bit dry, otherwise it would mold on you. So trying to get it as fine as you can, if you’re gonna air dry it.” For Kaya, his freeze dryers are a game changer, but for a home setup, he recommends a wine cooler or a small freezer saying, “As long as it’s cool, and it’s drying in there, you can dry hash in there.”
The golden rule of making hash rosin
Over the last half decade, the quality of rosin has come a long way. Thanks to improvements in machinery and the standard techniques, it’s a lot harder to find the tacky, burnt, flavorless rosin that flooded the market around 2015, and typical prices now range from $40-80 a gram on the west coast. There’s a lot of info out there regarding different techniques, but according to Kaya, there’s one golden rule to follow: “Good hash comes from good flowers, so start out by growing some good herbs.”
For that, Ras Kaya Paul has a small but close-knit team that he really trusts, including childhood friends and long-time business partners who know just how much attention to detail makes a difference. At the end of the tour, we talk about the greater context of farming, food, health, and his hopes of one day having on-site sales and consumption. The same sentiments are still shared by a lot of cannabis growers, but given the depth of experience and no frills game plan I saw in action, I can’t help but feel like Pacific NW Roots is gonna make it to the ‘other side’.