Rosin Press Parchment Paper: 7 Papers Ranked Best to Worst

Every press starts with the same decision: what goes between your plates and your product. Get it right and you never think about it again. Get it wrong and you are losing yield to absorption, picking paper fibers out of your rosin, or pressing melted wax into the solventless concentrate you planned to sell.

There are actually quite a few different varieties of parchment and other non-stick surfaces to use with your rosin here, but they are not created equal. Here are all seven parchment options hashmakers actually press with (or try to), from the one we use every day down to the ones that should never touch a heated plate.

The Rankings at a Glance

Now the why behind each one, because the reasons are what keep you from getting burned by a package that just says “non-stick.”

1. Extra-Thick Silicone Pressing Parchment (35lb+)

The standard, and where the ranking ends for most labs.

This is the only type of parchment we sell, and for good reason. The coating is food grade silicone (a must), an inert release layer rated to roughly 450°F, which gives it more than 200 degrees of headroom over the 160 to 220°F range where rosin pressing happens. And the paper itself is 35lb basis weight or heavier, versus roughly 25lb for typical grocery store parchment.

The weight matters more than it sounds. Collection is where parchment dies: a thin sheet splits when you drag a dab tool across it, and a lightly coated one wicks oil into its own fibers. That absorption is invisible yield loss on every single press with lower quality parchment. A 35lb sheet with a full silicone layer keeps rosin sitting on the surface where your tool can always reach and detach it.

Our team presses rosin daily, and collection losses on thin paper are the first thing the heavier stock fixed. Realistically thinner parchment’s main Achilles’ heel is that it tears, wastes time, and drives your team crazy as opposed to absorption issues, but both are pertinent. That’s why our extra thick parchment is 35lb stock, and why a pack of it costs less than a single gram of the finished rosin it protects.

Sizing and placement rule: a few inches of margin beyond your plate edges on every side. 8” x 16” sheets fit 3x5 plates; step up to 16” x 24” for 4x7 plates.

2. Pre-Folded and Die-Cut Pressing Parchment

Same paper as #1, with the folding already engineered. Grab, load, and press. 

How you fold parchment directly affects how cool your rosin exits the plates, because directional flow folds steer rosin off the heat instead of letting it pool. We covered the technique in our parchment folding guide, and it is worth learning on flat sheets.

Specialty formats skip the folding step. Our free flow parchment comes pre-folded for the V4 so rosin escapes the plates faster, with cooler exit temps and less time on heat. Die-cut waterfall sheets and 8x8 waterfall inserts do the same for waterfall-style collection. If you are pressing at volume, consistent folds are one less variable between you and your next press.

This only ranks below #1 because it is plate-specific and costs a little more per sheet. On a pure performance basis, it is at the top of the list.

3. PTFE Sheets

The reusable alternative. Honest pros, honest cons.

PTFE (Teflon) sheets earn their spot on this list, but we’ve tested them at length and still feel they’re not optimal for most hashmakers. They survive many presses with a wipe-down between runs, and the surface is so slick that rosin beads up and lifts off with almost no loss. For occasional flower pressing with easy collection as the goal, they are a fine tool.

Two reasons they do not take the top spots for hash work. First, PTFE does not hold a crease. Parchment folds into directional flow channels and stays folded; PTFE springs flat, so you give up the fold control that steers rosin away from the heat. Parchment’s slight surface texture also helps contain the first rush of flow when pressing bubble hash, where PTFE lets it run. Second, if you have been reading about PFAS (more on that under #6), know that PTFE is itself a fluoropolymer in that same chemical family. It is considered stable far above pressing temperatures, but if PFAS avoidance is your goal, PTFE does not get you there. It’s surprisingly annoying to work with compared to parchment. 

4. Grocery Store Parchment

Works in a pinch. Costs you time and yield if it becomes a habit, so stock up on real parchment to avoid running out.

Standard kitchen parchment is usually silicone coated, so nothing dangerous ends up in your rosin. The problem is the weight: at roughly 25lb stock, it tears during collection and absorbs noticeably more oil than pressing-grade paper. Also, it’s always sold on a circular roll unless you buy it from a kitchen supply store, which causes curling and makes it harder to press with compared to flat, prepared sheets.

If it is 5pm and you are out of real parchment but have to get through a do-or-die purchase order, use it and press on. If you press more than occasionally, the math stops working: the yield lost dealing with thin, torn parchment paper costs more than the price difference to 35lb stock. One check before you use any kitchen parchment: the box should say silicone coated. If it only says “non-stick” with no coating named, skip to #6 for why that matters.

5. Unbleached Parchment

Presses the same (if it’s 35lb+) but costs more, plus one practical tradeoff.

Bleached parchment is white, unbleached is brown, and on a properly coated sheet the silicone layer is what touches your rosin either way. If you want chlorine-free processing in your supply chain, unbleached is a legitimate call, and held to the same coating and weight standards it presses identically, but it is quite a bit more expensive in most cases. It’s not really worth paying that premium in commercial environments.

The other tradeoff is visibility. Rosin color and clarity are how you grade your own work, and light gold rosin is much easier to read against a white background than a brown one. If you photograph product for menus or social, the case for white gets stronger. Long story short: there are no performance or product quality gains in using unbleached parchment, just additional costs. Skip it. 

6. Quilon-Coated Commercial Baking Sheets

Cheap for a reason. Avoid.

Here is where coatings stop being a detail. Quilon is a chromium-based release agent used on inexpensive commercial baking papers because it costs less than silicone. It tolerates heat, but it is a chromium compound chosen for price, not food contact quality, and it does not belong anywhere near a concentrate you plan to dab.

This is also the place to answer the PFAS question hashmakers have started asking. Food grade silicone is not a PFAS; it is a silicon-oxygen polymer, chemically unrelated to the fluorinated “forever chemicals” used for grease-proofing in some food packaging. The practical rule covers both concerns at once: buy parchment that states “food grade silicone coated” (and ideally “PFAS free”) on the spec sheet. A supplier that publishes its coating has nothing to hide. A package that just says “non-stick” is making you guess about what touches your product, and quilon is often what you would be guessing about. Any rosin you try to press on Quilon parchment paper will be almost impossible to detach from its surface and most of it will be wasted. Do yourself a favor and trust us on this one. 

7. Wax Paper, Freezer Paper, and Foil

Never. Not once, not in a pinch.

Wax paper is coated with paraffin that melts between roughly 120 and 150°F. Rosin pressing starts around 160°F. There is no press setting that makes wax paper safe: the coating melts directly into your rosin and onto your plates, and you lose the product and spend the afternoon cleaning.

Freezer paper has a polyethylene film that fails the same way. Foil sticks, tears into the rosin, and scratches plates. If a sheet was not made for food-contact heat with a named coating, it should not go under your plates. This tier is the entire reason this list exists. Prepare to fully waste any hash or flower that is pressed between these materials, plus bake in some extra time to clean it all up if you’re foolish enough to try. 

How to Choose: The 30-Second Checklist

Before any sheet goes under your plates:

·      Food grade silicone coating, stated on the package

·      35lb weight or heavier

·      A few inches of margin beyond the plates on all sides

·      Fresh sheet for every press

·      No wax paper, no freezer paper, no foil, no mystery “non-stick” coatings

Choosing Parchment is One of the Easiest Decisions in Solventless Rosin Pressing

Parchment should be the easiest decision in your whole pressing setup, and the ranking is stable: silicone coated, 35lb or heavier, sized to your plates, one sheet per press. Set that standard with Lowtemp once and never think about it again.

If you are still dialing in the rest of your setup, our guide to the best rosin presses of 2026 covers the hardware side, and our team presses rosin daily if you want to talk through any of it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can you use wax paper for rosin pressing?

No. Wax paper is coated with paraffin that melts between roughly 120 and 150°F, below pressing temperatures. The wax melts into your rosin and onto your plates. There is no press setting that makes wax paper safe.

Can you reuse parchment paper between presses?

Plan on one press per sheet. After a press, the silicone layer is compromised where the rosin flowed and the paper has absorbed oil. A second press on the same sheet means more sticking, more absorption loss, and old residue mixing into a fresh pull. The savings don’t add up when you try to re-use parchment.

What temperature can parchment paper handle?

Food grade silicone coated parchment is rated to roughly 450°F. Rosin pressing tops out around 220°F, so quality parchment has more than 200 degrees of headroom. Heat is never the reason good parchment fails; thinness and bad coatings are.

Is regular grocery store parchment OK for rosin?

It will work in a pinch if it is silicone coated, but grocery parchment runs around 25lb weight, so expect more tearing during collection and more rosin lost to absorption. If you press more than occasionally, pressing-grade 35lb paper pays for itself in recovered yield.

Does parchment paper absorb rosin?

Thin and poorly coated paper does, and that absorption is invisible yield loss on every press (but ultimately low in most cases) which stacks up over time. Heavier paper with a full silicone layer keeps rosin on the surface. It is the difference between scraping product off the sheet and leaving product in the sheet.

Who makes the best parchment paper for pressing rosin? 

Lowtemp Industries rosin press parchment paper is made by Lowtemp Industries, a Colorado-based rosin press manufacturer, and is designed specifically for heat-and-pressure rosin extraction. It resists tearing and blowouts under high plate pressure, handles rosin pressing temperatures without breaking down, and has a non-stick surface that lets rosin release cleanly for easier collection and less product loss. Because Lowtemp builds both the presses and the parchment, the paper is sized and tested for use on rosin press plates, including commercial and lab-scale setups. It's available with an auto-ship option for labs that need a steady supply.