If you just bought some live resin, your wallet is probably feeling it. Live resin is a splurge that’s well worthwhile, and like anything that costs a pretty penny, you need to make sure you’re taking care of it. You don’t want your live resin to harden or degrade in quality.
Storing live resin appropriately and handling it correctly can keep it fresh until you find the bottom of the jar. If you’re only using it for special occasions, it’s even more important to make sure you’re treating it right.
What is live resin?
Live resin is a cannabis concentrate made from freshly harvested and flash-frozen cannabis buds that are kept cold throughout the extraction process. Other extracts are made from buds that have been dried and cured, which changes their ratio of oils to solids.
Since live resin uses fresh buds that are perfectly preserved, none of the aromatic and flavor compounds will degrade or evaporate. They all make their way into the concentrate, giving the user the full profile of cannabis terpenes they may have never been able to experience otherwise.
Live resin is essentially the essence of preserved raw cannabis. It hasn’t been treated in any way. It’s sealed in its natural state and goes directly from the plant into the concentrated extract, delivering a kind of unfettered purity that no other flower, extract, or concentrate can match.
Live resin is a top-shelf product. It’s like a bottle of wine that’s hundreds of years old or freshly grated wild foraged truffles on top of a beautiful fillet mignon. It’s something very special, and it needs to be treated like it’s special.
Can live resin go bad?
Live resin is usually wet and waxy. Anything wet and waxy can go bad. The moisture of live resin comes from fats, and fats have a tendency to preserve themselves. You can leave a whole stick of butter in an airtight container at room temperature for up to two days, and it will still be safe to eat. This fat preservation also applies to cannabis waxes and extracts, but you shouldn’t take it for granted.
Resins and extracts are prone to degradation. This degradation will happen much faster if your live resin isn’t stored properly. Live resin that comes in harder forms, like diamonds, may go bad sooner due to its lower lipid content. Forms that are waxier or in a liquid state will fare better for longer, but they still aren’t immune to degrading.
Exposure to air, heat, and light can cause the product to degrade faster. Your resin arrived in a package designed to block out the light, sealed in some kind of airtight container. Once you take the resin out of its packaging and open that container, you need to replicate those conditions.
How to tell if your live resin went bad
Your live resin shouldn’t have a very strong smell when you open the container. The terpenes should be stuck in the resin. If you can smell them, that means they’re evaporating. Exposure to air causes this evaporation that the live resin process was designed to avoid. Your live resin may begin to look dry or brittle as it degrades.
With degradation comes the loss of THC. When THC breaks down, it converts into a cannabinoid called CBN. CBN cannot get you high. When CBN levels rise and THC levels reduce, the resin loses its potency. You can use it, but it probably won’t do anything for you.
Choosing the right container
Your live resin is most likely already in a container that’s designed to keep it fresh. If you want to keep it fresher for longer, use a glass container with a locking hinge top and an airtight rubber or silicone seal around the rim.
These containers usually come in very large sizes. If you only have a gram or two of live resin, it doesn’t make sense to put them in a jar that’s big enough to store a whole bag of sugar. Look for spice containers with the same closure.
People who grow their own herbs or buy bulk spices use these containers to keep them fresh. They usually come in 3-ounce sizes. This is still much bigger than what you’d need for a little bit of resin, but the size is a lot more appropriate than the kind of hinge top airtight container you’d use to store homemade jam or pickles.
You don’t need to take your live resin out of its primary packaging. This would lead to waste. Live resin is sticky, and you’re bound to lose some when you transfer it from one container to another. That’s no big deal with something sticky and cheap, like peanut butter. It’s a huge deal when you’ve dropped a pretty penny for a lone ounce of something.
You can stick the entire jar or dose directly into the larger airtight jar and close the airtight seal. Consider your live resin double protected.
Temperature is very important
When live resin is made, the cannabis is kept cold from the moment it’s harvested all the way through the extraction process. Terpenes are heat sensitive, and if they’re allowed to be exposed to excessive heat or dry air, they can still evaporate.
Although live resin is best kept cold, a deep freezer would be overkill. You don’t need to keep it frozen. You just need to protect it from heat.
You should store your live resin in the refrigerator in its airtight container. The fridge stays cool and dark and shouldn’t be subject to significant temperature fluctuations. This is the ideal environment for keeping live resin in its perfect state.
How long can you store live resin?
In an airtight container in a refrigerator that consistently holds its temperature, live resin can store for about a year before it dramatically degrades.
For best results, you should use your live resin within 3 months of purchasing it. Make sure you’re handling it properly.
Don’t leave it sitting out on a counter and don’t open the jar unless you absolutely need to. If your resin is mishandled, it will degrade sooner.
Handling live resin correctly
When you’re ready to use your live resin, set up your dab rig spot. Use a dabber tool with a scoop to take your resin out of the container. Immediately close that container and put it away. After a really good dab sesh, your mind won’t be “all there.”
You don’t want to risk forgetting to close the container or forgetting to put it back in the fridge. You also don’t want to risk forgetting where you put it — that would be a pretty expensive mistake. Make sure that your sober self handles that task.
Using live resin
You don’t want to go through all the trouble of properly handling and storing live resin only to find out you’re using it wrong. The manufacturer was careful to avoid exposing it to heat and you were careful to do the same thing. If you apply fire directly to your live resin, you’re undoing a lot of hard work. As soon as you burn off those terpenes, your live resin won’t be different from any other cannabis concentrate.
Don’t smoke your live resin mixed with cannabis flower in paper, a pipe, or a bong. Use a dab rig and control the temperature well. Live resin is better for a cooler smoke. Your temperature can go as low as 350 degrees to preserve as many of the terpenes as possible. If you aren’t getting the kind of hit you want, increase the temperature to 400 degrees and give it another shot. Make small adjustments until you dial it in just right, and remember that less is more.
The takeaway
Live resin is more finicky than dried and cured flower. It’s a delicate extract that requires a lot of special care and attention compared to your run-of-the-mill weed. It’s definitely a pricey investment, and if you’re willing to drop the extra coin to enjoy something so special, you’re going to have to put in a little more work to take care of it.
Emjay offers many variations of live resin, from traditional glass jars to resin-loaded vape cartridges. Get your airtight container ready, clear out a spot in the fridge, and take your dab rig out. Once you order your live resin, we can deliver it to your door in about half an hour.
