Butane Hash Oil: What's Going On?

BHO is the new way to medicate for many

BHO vaporizer "Dirty Rico" in use. Photo by Bonnie King

(PORTLAND, Ore.) - New terms like "shatter" and "dabbing" have been getting more common in the medical marijuana community. This refers to the use of BHO, Butane Hash Oil. Many marijuana patients are using this new process for extracting the Cannabinoids from marijuana, but some don’t seem to completely understand the safety requirements of the use of Butane for extraction.

First of all, Butane is highly volatile. Much more so than gasoline, and it is also much more explosive if there is any kind of a spark or flame nearby. This could be a gas water heater, or anything with a pilot light, or someone taking a few tokes from a joint.

Most people should not attempt to make BHO, leave it to the professionals (since there are so many). Several people have been severely burned by not taking a few necessary precautions.

BHO can be made in small, medium, or large amounts, completely safely, but ignoring a few simple warnings can be horribly catastrophic from the volatility and explosiveness of the Butane used for extraction of the Cannabinoids.

THC, CBD and CBN and the other Cannabinoids are completely soluble in Ethyl (drinking) alcohol, and Isopropyl alcohol (from your friendly neighborhood pharmacy); they are also completely soluble in Butane, which again, is much like gasoline.

BHO "shatter"

A mixture of marijuana buds, leaves or "shake" with Butane will completely extract the Cannabinoids in a few minutes and filtering the extracts through almost any kind of filter, will separate out the plant extracts and leave the BHO. The better the cannabis, the better (higher THC) the BHO.

If you are not in a hurry, you can pour the extract on a dinner plate (not plastic) and the Butane will evaporate fairly quickly at room temperature.

Large scale BHO producers have special "vacuum chambers" that purge all the butane trapped within the oil. Butane is bad to inhale so this is very important. How long it is exposed to vacuum and heat in the purging process gives the BHO different textures. Each has a name, like "wax", "shatter", and "crumble".

Regardless of your technique, absolutely no toking while you are doing this. No flames or sparks should be anywhere close.

When the Butane evaporates, there will be a thin, whitish to tan, greenish or grey, or whitish powder adhering to the plate. This can be easily scraped off best with a razor blade or even a knife blade. I wouldn't be surprised if there are tools made, specifically for this purpose.

The end product is almost pure THC (up to 80%), with small amounts of CBD, CBN and others. This is the real McCoy!

It can be used in any type of a smoking device. Apparently the most common device is the “dabber” or "dab rig", a small water pipe to vaporize hash oil.

Just remember, it is concentrated THC and the usual effective dose for a person is less than half the size of a rice kernel. I advise users to use the smallest amount, comparable to two or three grains of salt to find the correct dose for your medical problem.

How widely this process is now in use is not known. It is used in Oregon, Washington, California and Colorado now but several severe burn injuries have occurred because the high volatility and explosiveness of Butane. In Colorado, there have been almost three dozen explosions since Jan. 1st, caused by people making BHO at home.

Apparently there are several high volume producers of BHO who use spark-proof, explosive-proof means to make commercial grade BHO, which has become available in the Medical Marijuana Dispensaries (or stores, as the case may be).

BHO can also be used in the new E-cigarettes instead of Nicotine or any other substance. In fact, according to users and sellers, these portable devices may soon be used more than smoking joints. There's no smoke inhaled or exhaled, just vapors.

Patients say the effects of BHO are much faster than any other form of Cannabis use, even beating the use of the pharmaceutical “Marinol” which some people inject into regular tobacco cigarettes.

I learned about BHO thirty years ago, from a fourth year medical student. It’s been around a long time, but now they've perfected the process. Still, safety first.

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