Clear Choice Vendor Spotlight: The High-Tech Extracts of Seattle’s Refine

We love the old-fashioned thrill of crumbling fresh and fragrant flower into a pipe as much as the next budtender, but one of the most exciting aspects of being in the cannabis industry is discovering how cutting-edge science and technology are taking this truly ancient plant medicine to the next level. It’s no exaggeration to say that, thanks to them, today’s cannabis connoisseurs have access to flavors, aromas, and experiences that the stoners of yesterday could only have dreamt of.

That’s why we want to shine a spotlight on Seattle’s Refine, a very special company producing some of the most potent, flavorful and exciting extracts we’ve ever tried. Their high-tech (no pun intended) products like Loud Resin are an intriguing and always-popular addition to the classic and exotic flower, tinctures and edibles we stock our shelves with.

Refine: Unlocking the Secrets of the Cannabis Plant

Cannabis concentrates have been growing in popularity for decades; as we’ve written before, dabs are just the tip of the iceberg. But what’s changed in the last few years is a focus on extracting the purest, most flavorful and terpene-rich concentrates possible. That takes a lot of how-know and a strong scientific grounding. Refine brings both of these and more to the table with their flagship Loud Resin offering, a “live resin” powerhouse of pure, unadulterated flavor.

Live resins are a class of extracts made from frozen fresh—as opposed to dried—cannabis. Why? While drying makes cannabis suitable for smoking or vaping, it tends to diminish the flower’s overall terpene content. By performing the extraction under extremely cold conditions (typically below 120 degrees!), the resin maintains a more complete profile of delicate, flavorful terpenes. The result is an almost shockingly rich and flavorful cannabis experience: The full spectrum of the plant’s terpenes expressed in a potent, concentrated (and highly delicious) offering.

While some manufacturers reintroduce terpenes to their extracts, Refine tends to shy away from this practice (with the exception of their Refine Activated Distillate product line, a translucent oil containing up to 99% cannabinoid content). That said, we’ve tried some phenomenal products containing reintroduced terpenes; at the end of the day, it really comes down to a matter of taste!

Some Favorite Refine Products

We’re excited to be able to offer Refine products for you to try. As always, check our live menu before heading down to the dispensary, as our stock changes at a moment’s notice!

Ice Cream Cake

With genetics deriving from Wedding Cake and the white-hot Gelato strains, this extract is a full-bodied powerhouse with strong kush-like funky flavor and nearly trippy, full-body effects.

Dread Bread

A nearly balanced indica-to-sativa hybrid, this relatively rare strain is noted for its unusually pungent flavor and long-lasting effects. Look for noticeable uplift, energy and creative stimulation coupled with a soft and relaxing body high. (Can you tell it’s one of our favorites?)

Cookies and Cream

A hybrid produced from Starfighter and a Girl Scout Cookies phenotype, this concentrate is noted for a delightfully appealing sweetness. It’s well-loved by patients looking to quell daytime symptoms like chronic pain and anxiety, but go easy: Overindulgence has been known to lead to an early bedtime!

Ready to get your hands on some? Then stop by our Tacoma or Bremerton dispensaries—you can even order online right now.

A Unique Concentrate: How to Smoke Resin

In the age of recreational legalization, more forms of cannabis are available for sale than ever before. Within recent years, a variety of cannabis concentrates have begun to grace the shelves of dispensaries, offering consumers potency and quality previously confined to underground circles of cannabis enthusiasts. One peculiar example that has made a splash is live resin, a powerful, dense substance quickly growing in popularity across the country. For any who come across this unique concentrate, here is everything to know about how to smoke resin.

What is Live Resin?

While other types of concentrates are relatively well-known to cannabis consumers at this point—with the most famous being wax, shatter, and crumble—live resin has become noticed by the wider cannabis community relatively recently. Live resin, commonly referred to as simply “resin”, is manufactured through a process distinct from other concentrates.

The major difference between the production of resin and its sister concentrates is the state of the cannabis used in making resin. Typically, when concentrates are manufactured, dried cannabis is used, as it has undergone a process known as “decarboxylation,” which activates components of the cannabis plant that imbue it with psychoactive effects. Live resin is produced using frozen, whole cannabis plants that have not yet been decarboxylated.

Live resin is known to be slightly less potent than other concentrates, but the benefits are made apparent in the quality, flavor, and aroma of the resulting substance. For this reason, live resin is often more expensive than its counterparts produced with dry bud, as the unique profile of the cannabis plant is preserved for a luxurious experience.

How to Smoke Resin

For those wondering how to smoke resin, it is used just as one would use any other concentrate. Dabbing rigs are the most common method of using concentrates. These can be purchased from a wide variety of smoke shops and dispensaries. Before purchasing a dabbing rig, it’s recommended to thoroughly read reviews and gather as much information as possible on the item you intend to buy, as dabbing equipment can be more expensive than other forms of cannabis consumption.

Vaporizers can also be used to consume resin, though this only applies to vaporizers specifically designed for cannabis concentrates. Wax pens and other specialty vape pens can provide a convenient, quick means of putting resin and other concentrates to good use.

The Benefits of Live Resin

Many users of concentrates swear by live resin for its enhanced terpene profile, which captures the peripheral qualities that make the experience of smoking cannabis enjoyable. Live resin is a gourmet cannabis concentrate, which is why the rare dispensaries that currently stock resin offer it for prices higher than typical concentrates.

Overall, resin produces a fuller, more desirable cannabis experience than the alternatives, owing to its richness in terpenes. Terpenes are the compounds within cannabis that lend cannabis its distinct aromatic qualities. Resin contains up to five times more terpenes than its counterparts, so it’s readily apparent why resin has become such a sought-after quantity in the cannabis space.

Clear Choice Cannabis has a large selection of cannabis concentrates to choose from, including a variety of live resins from the top concentrate manufacturers in the state of Washington. Check out our online dispensary menu to view our full assortment of cannabis products.