Resin

Whether you use it for medical or recreational reasons, marijuana has always attracted mixed reactions. With many parts across the US legalizing its use, people have become creative regarding its use. Smoking resin is one of them. 

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Resin is the leftover or the material that accumulates in a smoking pipe after prolonged use. Cannabis resin exists in three forms; reclaimed, hashish, and rosin. Cannabis resin is potent enough to be smoked, and the effects depend on your ability to prepare it. 

Cannabis resins exist in many forms and have different effects on a smoker. In this article, we will look at the resins, their effects, and the dangers of smoking them. 

Type of Cannabis Resin

When discussing cannabis resin, differentiating between various types, their use, and how they affect a smoker is critical. There are three common cannabis resin preparations;

• Rosin
• Hashish
• Reclaimed or Resin 

Rosin and Hash

With the extracted directly from the plant, they aren’t usually referred to as ‘resin.’ However, they are impossible to leave out when discussing cannabis resin. 

Rosin and hash are extracted from the flower and plant and require heat and pressure. They are then converted into a pressed powder. 

People who are looking to smoke something concentrated often go with this option. New cannabis smokers are often discouraged from using rosin and hash, as they might not handle it well. 

Known as strong and will longer-lasting high, rosin and hash are a level higher than the traditional preparation. 

Pro

• They have an immediate impact
• You get pure cannabis effect
• There are no harmful chemicals

Cons

• Not suitable for new cannabis smokers
• The high can last for days 
• Requires specialized skills

Reclaimed or Leftover Rosin

Often referred to as resin, this substance comes from the cannabis leftovers found in either bong or smoking pipes.

The majority of the people smoke it to avoid wasting any cannabis leftovers.

Instead of smoking it, some people prefer to dispose of the resin when cleaning their smoking pipes. 

Despite being leftovers, resin does contain some amounts of THC. Even though it’s not much, the amount of residual THC can still get you high.

However, to achieve the same level of high as smoking the actual weed, you have to smoke a considerable quantity of resin. 

Pros

• It’s cheap and readily available in smoking pipes
• A small quantity cannot cause much harm

Cons

• It has an unpleasant taste
• Not suitable for your health

Is Resin Potent?

The potency of resin depends on the quality of the buds. Smoking resin can give you the high, even though it will not be of the same level as smoking typical weed. 

Cannabis resin extracted from the plant tend to have a higher concentration of THC.

Compared to the pipe resin, cannabis resin is ‘pure gold,’ and will keep you feeling high for long. Let’s look at the potency of each cannabis resin.

Hash – As we have seen before, hash is very strong. This cannabis resin is achieved by compressing the trichomes of the cannabis into bricks and balls.

You can either smoke it through a pipe, bong, or sometimes eaten straight. The THC from hash is absorbed immediately, which means it takes seconds to kick in.

It’s used to deal with pain, nausea, and gives you a relaxed feeling.

Butane hash Oil – BHO looks like honey and is known to kick in fast. It’s the safest and the most common way of smoking cannabis resin. 

Rosin – Rosin oil is similar to BHO minus the solvents. This means it maintains its purity and is more potent. 

Live Resin – A lot of resin properties are destroyed when preparing it. However, with live resin, the cannabis plants are immediately frozen upon harvesting.

This helps them to maintain as much resin properties as possible. Some solvents might be used, but not as much as those used when preparing BHO. 

How to Scrape Pipe Resin

With a slight difference in smoking pipes, scraping resin will rely on your creativity.

The process can be messy, and you should watch your clothes and avoid contact with skin. Cleaning resin from clothes isn’t easy.

Use the following tools to scrape resin from your smoking pipe or bowl. 

Paperclip or Bobby Pin – Reaching around curves when scraping resin can be hard, and that’s why you need something you can bend into any shape.

Paperclip and bobby pin happens to be easy to bend, which makes this scrapping method a no brainer. 

Parchment Paper – Resin exists in the form of tar, which makes it a bit sticky and can ruin surfaces.

Parchment paper is a disposable non-stick surface that makes it easy to store resin once you have scrapped it from the pipe. 

Lighter – Scrapping dried resin can be a difficult task. Using the lighter to dry hit the pieces will warm up the resin, which makes it easy to scrape.

This method requires much patience and can take you several attempts to get it right.

You still have to deal with the stickiness, dripping, and the awful smell that comes out of heating resin.

Smoker’s Multi-tool – It’s not necessary to have them, but they can come in handy when they’re around.

They’re designed specifically for such tasks and make it easier to scrape resin from the bowl. 

Scrapping Precautions

If you must scrape resin, be sure to only do so on hard metal and glass pipes.

Plastic pipes are not ideal as they break down over time, which means you might end up smoking small pieces of plastic.

This might cause health problems. 

Is Smoking Resin Bad for Your Health?

The answer is YES. Resin is not good for your health. 

Generally, smoking is not good for your health. Cannabis resin contains harmful carbon byproducts such as tar that are harmful to your health.

Compared to typical buds, smoking resin can cause a variety of health issues when smoked over a prolonged period. 

Cannabis resin contains tar, ash, and carbon. These byproducts when ingested in high quantity can cause the following side effects;

• Difficulty breathing
• Sore throat
• Headache

The severity of such conditions worsens if you have been smoking reclaimed resin for a long time.

Resin smokers have complained of consistent headaches even after receiving proper medication. 

Depending on your environment, the resin can also absorb other substances such as heavy metals, toxins, and pesticides, which causes health problems to you. 

Respiratory system problems such as difficulty breathing and persistent cough usually follow, and if left unchecked, it might cause severe lung problems. 

Without sophisticated laboratory equipment, there is no way you can gauge the chemical contents in reclaimed resin. 

Even in the absence of toxins and additives, resin on itself is dangerous when done over a long time.

It’s the dirtiest way of administering THC and doesn’t have the same effects as the typical cannabis. 

Are there Safer Ways of Smoking Resin?

Smoking resin can be done safely when you observe all the precautions. For starters, you have to prepare resin in a clean and safe environment free of any chemical substances. 

Avoid using plastics and heavy metals when scrapping and preparing resin.

This helps to keep any toxins away from it. Contrary to what you might think, using chemical additives to improve its potency might have the opposite results. 

Use a bong with water filtration to eliminate anything toxic entangled in the resin. Bongs are relatively safer compared to other smoking methods. 

The Best way to Smoke Resin

Despite knowing that resin is harmful to your health and contains little THC, you might still want to smoke it. The following recommendations will help you smoke resin easily. 

Joint – This might not be an ideal resin smoking method. For starters, compared to bud, resin burns slowly.

Its compact nature means that air cannot pass through easily, making it hard to smoke through a joint. Blunts also get the same experience. 

Pipe – It gets better if you’re using a bong or a bubbler as they have water filtration.

The water helps to cut down the harshness of smoke, which eliminates chocking.

However, the awful resin taste will remain. If the bowl has some resin accumulation, you might smoke it without scrapping. 

Vaporizer – Not really a great method as the resin will leave behind its nasty smell.

You will also be required to increase the heat as the resin is known to burn at higher temperatures.

If you’re not careful, you might end up damaging your vaporizer. 

Resin Tea – It might sound ridiculous, but some people are known to make resin tea. Boiling the smoking pipe in water helps to scrape the resin.

However, very little is known about this method, but only that experiencing nausea is the common side effect. You will have to deal with the unpleasant resin taste in your tea. 

Conclusion

Smoking resin is not something new. People have been smoking for years, and that isn’t about to change. Prolonged use might be harmful, but as we have seen, there are safer ways of smoking resin.

You might have to deal with unpleasant taste and smell, but it goes away once you get used to it.