The Hottest Solventless SKUs Labs Need to Offer

If you’re making solventless rosin, ice water hash, vapes, or even the illusive batch of full melt, chances are you’ve got a good handle on your general process but are always looking for ways to differentiate your product line. That’s why we pulled this blog together to help you figure out which new SKUs you can start offering that will get even the snobbiest connoisseurs excited and create some additional momentum behind your brand. Pretty much anyone who is willing to pay the premium for a solventless version of their favorite extract has the potential to be interested in these suggested options that are worth your team’s consideration.

Thumbprints

Post processing difficulty: high
Retail price: high

Although mixed grams of rosin or sample flights have been available sporadically as limited edition drops, the newly popular “Thumbprints” style of taking two different consistencies (often of the same rosin, or sometimes two different strains) has become one of the most attractive new ways rosin producers can make a splash. They have also been called various other names, such as “Geodes” by Malek’s Melts, but the tech is largely credited originally to The Real Cannabis Chris who has been selling them in California for years. Essentially a thumbprint is typically a cold cure live rosin that has a jelly sugar or sauce-consistency rosin in the middle, sort of like a donut. This gives the consumer the ability to sample two different textures at the same time which is a unique experience that’s also visually appealing.

While it was a niche type of rosin for a long time, now even large processors such as 710 Labs are putting out their own special thumbprint jars so the hype train has officially left the station. The trick to making them worth the effort on the packaging end of the equation is picking exotic profiles that actually make it enticing to justify the inevitable upcharge, or being extremely selective about which complementary rosin types you want to bring together. Some commonly combined profiles (in the most general sense, forgive us) include gas + fruit, earth + fruit, gas + gassier, or fruit + funk. Many labs also use this as an opportunity to upsize the jar to 2 grams, so their customers get a full gram of each flavor. 

On the production side of things, you need to plan in advance if you’re going to make a batch of thumbprint rosin so that you’ve got both types of textures available to package at the same time, ideally in a cold environment. If your team has it down to get everything shelf stable that’s a huge benefit, but just like with most solventless dabbable extracts, pre-booking fridge space with your retail partners is advisable so your customers get the best end result. Last but not least, don’t forget to draw some extra attention to your thumbprints by offering special edition packaging so people really know they’re in for a treat.

Cold Cure Badder

Post processing difficulty: medium-low
Retail price: average to high

If you’re a veteran solventless processor you might wonder why cold cure badder rosin is on our hottest SKUs list, but especially for new operators, it's an absolute must to have. Not only is cold cure pretty easy to make, but it’s widely considered to be the modern gold standard of live rosin textures. It’s typically even more rich in terpenes than other types of rosin, such as warmer cured jams (although it does depend on the batch to be sure), and has a rich, cake batter-like texture that makes it a breeze to dab. For most rosin smokers, cold cure is what they’re after and it should likely be the #1 live rosin texture your lab produces.

Producing grams of cold cure isn’t difficult but it does require a similar formula to other premium live rosins, namely that you have to start with washing high quality, whole fresh frozen flower, press the freeze dried hash into rosin at low temperatures (ideally 160 - 180°F), and then put it in an airtight, moisture tight jar at room temperature for three to four days or in a wine cooler around 50 degrees for about 2 weeks, then whipped to homogenize.  This process does take more time than fresh press where you can just go from hash to rosin to shelf in a few days, but that extra time in a cold environment actually helps cure the rosin for a much more stable end product. Ultimately that multi-week deep chill is what gives cold cure its name and its beloved texture, not to mention enhanced terpene retention since the most delicate varieties from live plants are highly volatile at room temperatures. 

Although reliable data across the US and beyond is hard to come by, the conversations we’ve had with our clients shows that cold cure is often the most asked for product that they make, and its become the default texture for most of their production runs due to its overwhelming popularity as a texture with connoisseurs who demand the best flavors. Best of all perhaps is that once cold cure rosin is made properly, it tends to be very shelf stable and can often exist outside of a refrigerated environment at the retail level which makes it more appealing to dispensary managers as well. Long story short, if you aren’t making most of your rosin into cold cure, you’re missing an important opportunity.

Cured Full Melt Hash

Post processing difficulty: medium-low
Retail price: average

Right off the bat, all solventless operators should know that six star, aka full melt, is not a SKU that you’ll want to attempt to produce in large volumes or expect significant sales from. It’s a niche dabbable extract that is specifically geared towards true connoisseurs, many of whom live the hash lifestyle. The reason the cured variety is on our hottest SKUs list however is that its potential as a brand builder is often neglected or forgotten about. Even if your lab doesn’t make a lot of full melt hash of any variety, it still can serve a very useful purpose to dole out in limited batches to create hype and keep local influential dabbers on your team. 

Six star is also a product that many claim, but few actually make well, and cured versions are even rarer which gives them a mystique since it's very unlikely your competitors are offering anything similar. To learn more about why full melt is inherently hard to find, check out our blog here that discusses the intricacies of full melt hash, but for our purposes here, what you need to know is that you have to start with the absolute best fresh frozen flower you can get your hands on. 

In some cases, even premium starting material won’t necessarily yield full melt, so be prepared to shift gears with a batch if it doesn’t end up meeting the quality mark of true six star ice water hash. Once you have a real full melt batch, you simply cure it in a jar at room temperature for about 30 days to get the final result, which turns into a beautiful, sugary-hash that can’t be beat. The whole point of adding full melt to your product line is to try and get the true taste makers of your market to talk about your brand, which then can help proliferate interest to your real money makers such as cold cures, rosin vapes, or whatever you make that brings in the bacon. See what cured full melt looks like, check out Boro Vision’s time lapse of an In House Melt-made jar.

Finally, it’s a common misconception that full melt means that when dabbed, it completely vaporizes and leaves no residue – it actually is a reference to the fact that it fully melts in a banger and has clear domed bubbles when vaporized. Whatever you do, don’t try to pass off 5 star as full melt however, because your customers will know the difference.

Hash Holes

Post processing difficulty: medium-high
Retail price: high

Although not dabbable solventless product, hash holes are a must make if your brand is already making live rosin. Think of them like a pre-roll on steroids: the entire premise is to amp up a joint with a rosin core that increases its potency, flavor potential, and end retail potential as well. Making them does take practice and time however, especially to do them at scale, so make sure to check out our How to Make Hash Holes blog to get the expert lowdown so your SOP can crank them out as efficiently as possible.

Hash holes also provide a benefit similar to thumbprints in that they give your lab the opportunity to offer unique, complementary strain combinations or to match the same flower strain with its rosin counterpart in an enjoyable, rich, smokable form. Many of the same flavor combos are common with hash holes such as gas + fruit like we discussed previously, so don’t be afraid to go a little wild with yours. Do keep in mind though that in order to make the additional labor to produce them worth it you need to charge a premium, and that premium is only justifiable in most consumer’s minds if the material selections are equally top tier. 

There are many different ways you can make hash holes too, from ceremonial, giant blunt-sized baseball bats that have 2-4 grams of flower and a gram of hash in them to smaller, more personal serving varieties that have .75g flower and .25g hash rosin (which also becomes a more affordable, higher volume prospect). The gold standard seems to be a ratio of 2.5:1 grams of flower to hash, but it totally depends on what you want to put out there. If you put too much live rosin in it however, it won’t burn as well, so we strongly suggest prioritizing end user experience over too much hash rosin for hype purposes. It should burn well with a “donut” of rosin in the middle that adds a serious punch for your customers. 

Live Rosin Vapes & Cartridges

Post processing difficulty: medium
Retail price: high

Last but certainly not least are the now very popular live rosin vapes and cartridges, which like cold cure badder from earlier in our blog are not likely to be a surprise to some but still are a must produce SKU for virtually any solventless-focused operator out there. Vaporizers are one of the largest categories in cannabis product sales in general and present an opportunity for quality oriented solventless brands to bring in a more general audience than what they normally would for their dabbable products. The reason we mention vapes and cartridges is that now with the availability of many more rosin-friendly hardware choices, operators can put out their own version of an easily vaped live rosin in the form factor of their choosing. 

The post processing required to ensure your live rosin has the correct consistency for a vaporizer cartridge (regardless of shape or thread) isn’t terribly difficult but it does demand some practice. Also, different strains will have varying terpene and cannabinoid concentrations, which will affect how that post processing has to go to get the right ratio for optimal end results. Since terpenes are low viscosity, separating and then mixing them back into your rosin requires a skilled practitioner. 

The other important part of the equation as we just alluded to is the hardware, and no one wants a cheapo cartridge that leaks, doesn’t fire up, or roasts their expensive live rosin. Make sure to get samples of whichever brand you want to use and test them thoroughly before doing a full product live rosin vape product launch to ensure they don’t leak and vaporize smoothly. You’ll also want to ensure the battery option you choose has a lower voltage setting as the richness of the rosin’s flavor is easily scorched at higher temperatures, so an adjustable voltage battery plus ceramic vaporizing heating elements is usually necessary for the best end results.

Conclusion

There’s no question anymore that solventless rosin, ice water hash, and the many other related extracted products that can be made without fossil fuel-derived solvents are becoming wildly popular. This has also led to a notable rise in competition among labs and processors making them, so the need to differentiate is more important than ever, especially in mature markets where solventless SKUs have the highest sales volumes. No matter which of these you plan to try and produce, Lowtemp Industries has the right equipment that you need to make any kind of rosin, rosin vape, hash hole, or anything else under the solventless product umbrella. Make sure to contact us today to talk to one of our experts about your project and get set up with exactly what your lab needs.