How does a buyer choose cannabis for their products? With what seems like an infinite number of factors to consider, selecting strains for specific products or clients can be a tricky process. After hearing how difficult this can be from our partners, we decided to sit down with our farmers to learn from their experiences helping buyers source for edibles, extracts, and concentrates.
Buying wholesale bulk cannabis for categories other than flower sales means looking at factors that differ significantly from those you consider for the 1/8s you package up for dispensaries. When it comes to edibles, concentrates, and extracts, you want to consider unique factors including the bulk cannabis category, terpene potency, percent pull of cannabinoids, terpenes, and flavonoids, and the structure of the specific plant’s trichomes you’re purchasing.
Which type of bulk cannabis to buy
Arguably the most important factor to consider, choosing the right type of bulk cannabis to purchase is the first step in your sourcing journey. What you need for ice water hash is different from what you’ll need
for distillate which is also different from what you’ll need for rosin. We’ve pulled together the chart below to make it easy to narrow in on which bulk cannabis to purchase for you cannabis product:
Consider the Percent Pull of Cannabinoids, Terpenes, and Flavonoids
When making distillate or ice water hash for edibles, you’re typically using more of the plant than you do when packaging cannabis for flower sales. For this reason, you’ll want to take a very different approach to selecting a cultivar. In today’s cannabis market, the most sellable cannabis flower looks like uniform, dense buds dusted with trichomes. However, when making the right choice for your edible, you may want to consider a less aesthetically pleasing strain with a higher distribution of cannabinoids, terpenes, flavonoids throughout the plant. Despite feeling counter-intuitive, this approach makes sense. Because you’re using more than just the plant’s flowers, a strain with more nutrients distributed throughout the entire plant is going to create a higher yield of those nutrients in your end product. Rather than evaluating the cannabis based on its most potent part, the flower, this approach considers the potency across all of the plant including its leaves. If you’re in the market for a cultivar of this type, the Mendo Crumble cultivated by Sweet Sisters, Wildercraft, and Fire Flower Farm has a high percent pull and is a favorite of our ice water hash and distillate customers.
Terpene Profile & Potency
For both type 6 nonvolatile extraction and type 7 volatile extraction including ice water hash, live rosin, live resin, and BHO, you’ll want to consider the potency of the terpenes in the cultivar selected. The reason is that these cannabis processes are uniquely capable of preserving terpenes. When you take your edible or concentrate to market, the terpene profile of the product will matter, especially when compared to your competitors. Brands who regularly use ice water hash, live resin, and live rosin know their products have a terpene advantage and they leverage this benefit to get consumers to purchase. If your edible or vape made from this type of cannabis lacks terpenes, you’ll be starting with a less marketable product. For terpene-rich flower, consider Sweet Sister’s J-Medi testing at 3.33% terpenes or Wildercraft’s Mendo Crumble testing at 5.12% terpenes.
Trichome Structure
When preparing for solventless extraction, particularly for ice water hash, considering the trichome structure of the cultivar will create much better results for your end product. While freezing the cannabis to break off the trichomes, the texture of those trichomes matters. Greasy flower doesn’t wash well, resulting in less trichomes collected at the end of the process. Instead, seek out tacky, grainy flower where the trichomes will freeze and break off effectively, leaving you with more product to work with. This flower has larger, more developed resin heads on the trichomes which break off more efficiently with fewer washes than the shorter, less developed trichomes. According to manufacturers, the ideal structure of the trichome for solventless processing “has a large glandular head, a thin neck, and a medium length stalk”. For solventless extraction, we recommend selecting a cultivar like Giving Tree’s Gelato Cake.
In the wild world of cannabis, new products are launched every day. Behind those products tends to be a team of passionate individuals carefully choosing ingredients they believe will create a desired result for their customers. We hope this blog helps you in your journey to buy the best wholesale craft cannabis for your edible or extract. If you’re looking for extra support in identifying the right strain for your product, the Hive Mendocino team is here to be your guide.