The Basics

What is Kief?

Kief gets it’s name from Moroccan Arabic work كيف “kīf” and is also known as “Dust” and "Chief" “Keef” or cannabis crystals among other names. Kief refers to the pure and clean collection of loose cannabis trichomes, which are accumulated by being sifted from cannabis flowers or buds with a mesh screen or sieve. Open your grinder and if you see a screen and you haven’t investigated further, a glorious present is in store for you! Like some other cannabis concentrates, it contains a much higher concentration of THC and other psychoactive cannabinoids than that of the cannabis flower from which it is derived. Since it contains a higher level of THC, many consumers choose to add collected kief to their cannabis for a more intense "high"; by the same token, this preparation may induce unwelcome levels of intoxication.

Traditionally, kief has been pressed into cakes of hashish for convenience in storage, although it can be vaporized or smoked in either form.After the kief is collected it is heated and pressurized, it makes a fine hashish.

Does Kief get you higher than bud?

The answer is a resounding yes! This form of cannabis is much stronger than bud as it’s essentially the concentrated THC crystals that fall off your buds when being ground or stored in your grinder or a sift box. To put it into perspective, some of the most potent weed strains reach THC levels of 30%. That’s enough to knock you out, depending on your tolerance levels. Kief is much stronger, and it sits somewhere between bud and hash. On the other hand, the THC levels found in kief average is anywhere from 50% to 60% pure THC. This means that it’s twice the strength of even the strongest flower available! However, it doesn’t stop there. That’s just the average. People who are experts at sifting kief can get it to about 80% THC. This consists of almost pure dried trichomes, with just a little bit of cannabis plant left-over.

What is the point of Kief? Why should I be saving it?

You’ve probably been in the situation where you’ve opened your grinder’s kief catcher or opened the bottom of your dry sift box and found these sparkling crystals inside. You then have probably wondered “how do I use kief? Naturally you can throw it in a bong and smoke it by itself, or top your bowl off with it. Those are fine things to do with kief. In this article however we’ll discuss how you can also get creative with it. There are tons of awesome things that you can do with your kief that might never have crossed your mind. We’ll also go over the importance of what’s known as “decrabing” your kief before using it in a way that doesn't burn the goods. At the end of reading this you’ll truly see just how amazing it is to collect kief for future use.

What you can do with your Kief

Make Hash or Rosin

Making kief hash is a rite of passage for every stoner. It’s a fun and easy activity and the end results are awesome. All you really need is parchment paper, an iron or hair straightener, and some kind of cloth buffer such as a pillowcase or a t-shirt. Heat your iron on the lowest setting, with absolutely NO steam, unless you want to ruin all of your kief. Place your kief in your parchment paper and fold it in half so that the paper covers your kief. Place your cloth over the paper and then press down very carefully for only a few seconds at a time. It’s very important that you only use the iron for a few seconds, otherwise you’ll burn your hash.

If you want to try to make rosin, the first step should be to pack the kief inside a small non-woven bag. The bag should be permeable to let the oils leak out, but not the kief particles. The next thing you should be doing is placing the bag inside the parchment paper. The paper is for collecting the resins and oils that makes up rosin. Once you’re ready, set your iron temperature to around the 110-degrees celsius (230 Fahrenheit). Once the heaters are hot enough, you’ll need to place the butter paper on a flat surface. Or if you’re using a hair straightener you’ll need to place it between the two heated plates. Make sure the kief stays in its position firmly. The last step is to heat the kief while pressing it firmly. The heat will extract the oils and resins, while the pressure will push it out. The golden-brown honey-like resin that you receive on the butter paper, in the end, is rosin. All that’s left is to break out your dab rig for an experience you surely won’t forget!

Sprinkle some on your coffee

If you don’t want to go to the trouble of making hash, you can always just put some in your coffee. This trend is catching on in places like Denver, Portland, and of course the coffee capital Seattle. Just toss some on top of your cup o’ joe and you’re good to go! Mmmmm, I might try this after I finish my current cup of coffee. If you’re not a coffee fan, you can always brew tea with it!

Add it to your favorite foods

Kief is excellent for cooking with. An old friend of mine used to make some of the most delicious kief butter. You can also put it in soup, your tacos, and of course all kinds of baked goods (who doesn’t like brownies?). Kief butter has so many uses and it always gets you feeling just right. One of the best things about making kief butter is a little bit goes a long way, so it lasts for a long time.

Make your own THC Vape-Liquid

Many enthusiasts like finding new, discrete ways to enjoy their cannabis. One such way is to make THC infused E-cigarette juice right in your own kitchen. This will give you the added benefit of using a discrete E-cigarette pen, and you can use E-cigarette flavoring to mask the smell of marijuana which is perfect for those looking to toke on-the-go without drawing attention to themselves.

Ingredients

• 5 Grams of Kief collected from your Kief Thief*

• 20 ML Vegetable Glycerin

• 20 ML Propylene Glycol

• 10 ML Syringe

• Double Boiler

• Coffee Filter

• E-Cig Flavor (Optional)

*If you don’t have 5 grams worth of kief or don’t want to make that much e-cig juice, you can use a ratio of 4 ML vegetable glycerin and 4 ML propylene glycol per gram of kief.

First, add water into the bottom part of your double boiler and add your kief to the top part. Next, use your syringe to measure the precise amounts of vegetable glycerin and propylene glycol and add them on top of the kief. Using a metal or silicon utensil, stir the mixture. Place the double boiler on a stove top and heat the water until it is boiling.

Throughout this whole process, you need to make sure that there is still water in the bottom part of your double boiler. Don’t let the water boil away without adding more.

Place a lid on top of the boiler and let it sit 20 minutes. Then, take off the lid and stir while removing the double boiler from the heat source, so it can cool off for a brief period of time (somewhere between one to two minutes). Repeat this process for at least two hours and up to six, depending on how much time you have and how patient you are.

Once you are done, add in some flavored E-cig juice if you want to. This will help give it flavor and mask the smell of the cannabis when vaping. Using a coffee filter, strain the mixture. As it reaches the end of filtration, make sure to squeeze the coffee filter to push out all of the juice.

Now it is ready to be vaped. Simply insert the juice into any E-cigarette or Sub Ohm type vaporizer or store away for later use. Be cautious when trying it for the first time and use responsibly.

You can play around with the ratios of kief to vegetable glycerin and propylene glycol until you find what best suits you.

Make “Moonrocks” that will send you into outer space

Moonrocks, for those of you who haven’t had the privilege of trying them are dank nugs, dipped in hash oil, then dusted with kief. I’m pretty sure that you can imagine that on top of being packed full of trichome heads, they are amazing ...or out of this world, if you are into puns. They’re really easy to make and they are potent as hell. Just one of these will probably keep you stoned for hours.

How to decarb your kief

Decarbing your cannabis is a crucial step if you’re making edibles, but it’s one that’s often misunderstood. The process – and the reason for it – is confusing enough if you aren’t well-versed in the basics, but it might seem even more confusing for kief than for ordinary flower.

Decarboxylation is a crucial step in making edibles because it converts the THC, CBD and other cannabinoids into a form that your body can absorb.

In the plant (as well as kief) contains THC, THCA, CBD and other cannabinoids. These are acid forms of the molecules, and basically contain an extra carboxyl group. “Decarbing” means to remove this extra group, producing the forms of the chemicals that have the desired effect when you eat it.

Technically, the process of vaporizing or smoking herb also decarbs it as you inhale. This is why you don’t have to decarb weed or kief if you’re just smoking or vaping it. However, if you’re making edibles or cannabutter, you have to ensure the cannabis is ready-to-go before you put it into a recipe.

The process is always the same, though: you add heat for the decarboxylation of kief or cannabis flower. But things become a bit more complicated if you want to maximize the efficiency. The process for the decarboxylation of kief will be familiar enough if you’ve ever decarbed weed before, but the timing and temperature are slightly different. But aside from your kief and an oven-safe dish to use, all you’ll need is a couple of pieces of parchment paper. Let’s go over the steps, shall we?

Step 1: Collect Your Kief

If you’re using kief collected from a grinder, this step will have already been done for you. However, if necessary, you can rub cannabis onto a silk screen, with something to catch it underneath. Choose a screen with between 75 and 125 micron holes.

Step 2: Prepare Oven and Lay the Kief Out

Preheat your oven to 250 °F / 121 °C.

It’s worth noting that your oven temperature can vary, and it will likely be hotter near the top than near the bottom. Generally it’s best to have a spot in the middle of the oven for your oven dish.

Place a baking sheet/piece of parchment onto the oven-safe dish you’ve chosen. A good tip is to crumple the sheet before you lay it out to keep as much of it as possible off the hotter oven dish surface.

Try to spread the kief out as much as you can to give a roughly even exposure to heat for all of it, so there aren’t any notable piles or lumps in there.

Additionally, you can lay another piece of parchment on top to trap any vapors in place and maximize the resulting potency.

Step 3: Put the Dish in the Oven and Decarb

When your kief is spread out and your oven has reached the required temperature, you’re ready to start the process. Place the dish in the center of the oven and leave it there for around 25 minutes.

The exact time depends on a number of factors, including the thickness of the kief layer and the precision of your oven.

You should check the kief after 20 minutes – it will darken a little in color, but if it looks like it’s too brown you should remove it.

Unfortunately this is difficult to judge, so the best advice is to leave it 25 minutes on your first try unless you have a very small amount of kief or you’ve put it high up in the oven. This will give you an idea of what it should look like when it’s done, and then you can judge in future based on this.

Step 4: Remove the Dish and Let it Cool

When the kief is decarboxylated, remove the dish from the oven.

It’s a good idea to take the parchment off the hot dish (carefully!) to prevent it from continuing to cook. Remember, heating too much can decrease the percentage of THC in the final mix. When it’s cool – which doesn’t take long with kief – you can go ahead and use it in whatever recipe you’re making.

Things you should know beforehand

Is Kief Legal?

If cannabis is illegal in your country, due to kiefs high ammounts of THC chances are more than likely that it is also illegal. However if you live in a state where access to cannabis is approved by law, it’s ok to harvest your own and you might also be able to purchase it from a dispensary or cannabis retail shop. It’s also used in the creation of a wide variety of cannabis products.

How long does Kief take to hit?

Due to it’s concentrated nature when smoking it you might feel the side effects of THC come on sooner and more pronounced within a few minutes. However like all edibles, if you make kief edibles expect have to wait anywhere from 45-90 minutes for the kief to take full effect. Like we’ve touched on in previous articles, when made into edibles it’s effects will last longer than smoking.