Dear Stoner: What happened to butane hash oil or CO2 oil? Are those forms of extraction pretty much dead now?
Dilfer Dabs
Dear Dilfer Dabs: Just about every aspect of the cannabis industry has evolved rapidly since commercial legalization, but none more so than extraction. When fumy butane hash oil debuted as ear wax over a decade ago, it cost more than $75 a gram, and CO2 oil, devoid of terpenes, was considered the clean option. Now we have solventless live rosin extracted from bubble hash going for $60 a gram, while cannabis distillate, a cheap and refined form of THC, has totally changed the infused-product scene.
You can still find BHO shatter and wax sold by the gram, but it’s essentially disappeared from vape cartridges and edibles since distillate emerged as the cheaper, more efficient option for infused products. The same goes for CO2 oil, which is almost extinct outside of a handful of edibles and vape carts. Some companies have invested too much in closed-loop extraction to switch to newer methods, but both of these concentrates are fading away.
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