What’s the Best Cannabis Concentrate for Topping Bowls?

Dear Stoner: What is the best concentrate to top a bowl of flower? I see live resin, rosin, sugar, crumble, badder, shatter and more. Do any of these burn well in a bowl?
Joe M.

Dear Joe M.: Any concentrate will spice up a bowl, though some are stronger and messier than others. You want extractions that break up easily, don’t stick to fingers and burn well with flower.

Live rosin is considered the best of the bunch, but is also generally the highest-priced item in dispensaries. Badder, crumble, shatter and sugar waxes are all forms of resin and cheaper hydrocarbon concentrates made with butane or other solvents, while rosin, bubble hash and classic forms of Lebanese and Moroccan hash are only made with various combinations of ice water, heat and pressure. (Rosin can also be made into badder, crumble, etc., and looks similar to resin, but only rosin is solventless.)

Bubble, Lebanese and Moroccan hash and kief, a powdery collection of THC-laden trichomes, are time-tested options for bowls, while rosin has become a popular addition to joints. Those are your best choices in the interest of price, purity and bowl enhancement, but solvent-derived crumble and sugar waxes both work well, too. Whatever you do, avoid distillate and CO2 oil, which are both flavorless and sticky.

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