This increasingly popular method preserves all the best parts of cannabis
From classic hash to delicate wax, humans have been making cannabis extracts for centuries, but live resin is a relative newcomer. The technique traces back to the early 2010s, when a small group of Colorado growers thought of a way to distill cannabis while still preserving every beneficial plant compound—including terpenes, which can be extremely fragile.
No matter the technique, cannabis extracts are after resin. It’s what puts the “sticky” in “sticky-icky,” and it’s where all the good smells, tastes, and buzz live in the cannabis plant. But quality extracts require a delicate balance, because the same processes that preserve the good stuff can destroy the stuff that makes it even better.
Maybe you’ve dabbled in cannabis concentrates before, maybe you haven’t. But if you’re a fan of sticky, fragrant cannabis buds, you need to try enhanced live resin.
How live resin is made
Cannabis extraction involves multiple steps that can damage fragile terpenes, which sometimes even degrade at room temperature. A typical extract has lost its terpenes at a couple of different points: First while drying and curing the flower, then again during high-heat extraction.
To make live resin, extractors start by freezing cannabis within an hour of harvest, preserving even more natural oils, cannabinoids, and terpenes than you’d find in most flower you can buy off the shelf.
The next step is taking the frozen cannabis and extracting without losing terpenes, which requires either a specialized, low-heat extractor or a special technique—no matter how you do it, cannabis needs heat to be effective, whether it’s from baking or lighting a joint. The Colorado extractors who first invented live resin used a specialized, low-heat butane extraction process, but there are other, cleaner ways to do it.
For its enhanced live resin, Curaleaf and Select employ two steps, first gently extracting the more volatile terpenes before extracting cannabinoids like THC and CBD. Then, the terpenes and cannabinoids are combined to create Select’s Elite Live, complete with all the elements that nature intended.
Terpenes for days
With terpenes intact, cannabis extracts maintain the full flavor of each strain—but it’s not just about taste or smell. Terpenes aren’t exclusive to cannabis, but they can contribute to cannabis’s effect on the body and mind. If you have an all-time favorite strain, terpenes absolutely contribute to what you love about it.
Curaleaf’s Select Elite Live Resin comes in many beloved strains, now extra-packed with everything great about them.
- Gelato is known for its fruity profile— it’s typically packed with stress-relieving limonene. It’s also rich in peppery caryophyllene, a terpene that is thought to reduce inflammation by interacting with your body similarly to a cannabinoid.
- Lemon Tree’s fresh scent usually comes from plentiful pinene, which promotes a clear-headed high.
- Cherry AK is often enhanced by calming myrcene—one of the most common terpenes in cannabis—along with caryophyllene and pain-relieving pinene.
- Galactic Gas usually achieves its deeply relaxing effects from caryophyllene and pinene.
- Sunset Sherbet, generally, has a similar terpene profile to Gelato—but it leans more indica for deep relaxation.
No dab rig required
Many cannabis users enjoy extracts with a dab rig—but it’s indiscreet, takes up a lot of space, and can be a little intimidating. The good news is that you don’t have to invest in a cannabis appliance to get all the benefits of live resin! Many cannabis producers, including Select Elite Live, sell their live resins in a 510-threaded cartridge, which fits most standard vaporizer batteries.
It’s easy and super discreet: Just pop a cartridge like Select Elite Live Resin on the battery and you’re ready to go. It’s a great antidote to boring, isolate, or flavored oils: pure, potent cannabis that tastes exactly as it should.
The statements in this publication are solely those of Leafly. Laws governing the legality, availability, and use of marijuana vary by state.
