Nikka T has created an enduring legacy within the realm of hash. After studying the methods to craft ice water hash from the Dutch grasp who perfected the shape, he went on to open the primary licensed hash firm within the U.S. He’s gained greater than 15 Hashish Cups, modified the vernacular of how we discuss hash with the time period “solventless,” and is among the most well-respected artists and lecturers within the focus neighborhood.
Nicholas Tanem’s journey in direction of changing into the hash grasp referred to as Nikka T contains expertise judging hashish competitions worldwide. He’s a hashish guide and producer, and a reggae DJ. He based his Colorado-based firm, Essential Extracts, in 2009 and expanded to the California market in 2018. Alongside the Important Extracts staff, he has competed in quite a few hashish competitions, such because the nation’s first rosin-specific competitors at Chalice in 2015 (he credit the assistance of a cultivator known as “The Mile Excessive Man, AKA Kenny” for that win.) Nikka T’s quite a few achievements are huge and function an intensive reference to the excellence of his product.
The 2018 Excessive Instances Visionary Award winner shared a wealth of details about his craft in a current interview, together with how he realized to gather trichomes with a hash legend, what it takes to know if a pressure is reduce out for concentrates, and what’s in retailer for the longer term.
Studying From The Masters
Nikka T’s fame is a testomony to his drive to try for the very best and his fixed work to enhance his craft.
He grew up in Northern California and was raised in a supportive and liberal household, which led to hashish changing into part of his life early on. When he was attending junior school, he realized that hashish flower wasn’t fairly sufficient for him and found a love for hash—ice water hash specifically.
The hashish flower is roofed in resinous trichomes. These trichomes are additionally on the trim (leaves left behind when the flower is manicured). Hashish extractors can accumulate trichomes in a number of other ways, and one of many oldest types is thru making conventional hash. There are two fundamental methods to make hash, dry sieve and water hash. Dry sieved hash is if you run the flowers over a steel grate to dislodge the trichomes. Water hash is created by mixing hashish trim or flower in water and ice and gently stirring the combination to knock off the trichomes. As soon as the trichomes have washed away from the plant materials, they’re collected and dried. Often known as water hash, ice hash, ice wax, and bubble hash, when hash melts away totally with out leaving any residue, it’s thought of the best high quality and known as full soften.
Within the late Nineteen Nineties, Nikka T traveled to Northern California, particularly to Willits, California, the place his uncle owned property and cultivated hashish privately. His uncle and different neighboring farmers usually discarded their trim in trash luggage and left them on the facet of the highway—and he collected these trim-filled trash luggage to make hash. Ultimately, he even started to trace when the trim luggage have been omitted to attempt to collect them up once they have been nonetheless contemporary. Being a day or two late meant that the trim was seemingly moldy and unusable.
Nikka T’s curiosity in making hash continued to drive him ahead. He traveled overseas and embraced the teachings of Mila Jansen, a well-known hash grasp out of Amsterdam broadly referred to as the “hash queen.” Searching for out Jansen was all about bettering his ability set and data about his craft. Jansen is a pioneer in perfecting the type of modern-day water hash.
“I wanted to study extra methods. I wanted to hone in my abilities. I wanted to create a better echelon for the merchandise that I used to be producing. So Amsterdam was the place to journey to,” he mentioned.
Whereas there, he spent on daily basis with Jansen, as much as eight hours per day, consistently asking her questions.
“There wasn’t quite a bit that was written down,” he mentioned. “Lots of this was oral custom. So I bugged Mila for that oral custom, and she or he obliged, and she or he was very affected person and humble and prepared. She taught me quite a bit. I had already been making hash for a bit of bit, however she taught me some key methods such because the rinsing approach, the place I used to be in a position to go from partially melty hash to virtually full soften hash each single time.”
From Solvent To Solventless
Within the early 2000s, butane hash oil (BHO) extraction rose to widespread reputation. Initially, Nikka T deliberate to make the sort of butane-extracted focus to share along with his buddies at his residence in Boulder, Colorado, however he wasn’t content material simply making the BHO—he wanted to know extra about what was within the product, too.
On the time, it wasn’t straightforward to persuade anybody to share their check outcomes, however he discovered solutions by an worker working at a coffeeshop in Amsterdam. It was the primary place to share a certificates of research, and he was shocked by the outcomes. He discovered isobutane, isopentane, numerous metals, and different issues he’d by no means heard of inside the BHO merchandise.
“You understand, I’ve been a naturally consuming, health-conscious particular person all my life. So initially, once I heard the concentrates have been being made with hydrocarbon, I didn’t suppose that it was the most secure for consumption. I additionally didn’t suppose it was the most secure for our surroundings. I didn’t suppose it was the most secure for a manufacturing staff to supply in a lab.”
Nikka T estimates that someday between 2009 and 2010, he coined the time period “solventless.” Within the case of hashish, solventless applies to concentrates the place trichomes from plant materials originate with out assistance from solvents, akin to butane.
A solvent is a substance that dissolves a strong (hashish flowers or trim) right into a liquid resolution. When that is finished to hashish the residual solvent, usually butane, a flammable hydrocarbon that simply transforms to liquified fuel, should then be faraway from the ultimate product to be secure to dab. The temperature and pace at which that is finished end in concentrates of various consistencies. Consider it like making sweet. Boiling sugar at completely different temperatures can create crystalline rock sweet or creamy caramel. Nikka T performs with the presentation of his solventless concentrates and makes them seem in numerous types which are sometimes discovered on the solvent facet of the road.
“So when the time period earwax was common, we made a solventless earwax. When shatter turned common, we made solventless shatter,” he mentioned. “When this moist batter kind consistency turned common, I took it upon myself to attempt to recreate that moist batter consistency [and] colour with out using any chemical solvents. And that’s sort of the place all of it erupted.”
On the time, these improvements when it comes to the shape that conventional hash may take have been nonetheless new to the neighborhood, and the concept concentrates could possibly be “solventless” was questioned.
“Initially, folks have been like, ‘What is that this? This isn’t water hash. This isn’t bubble hash. It doesn’t appear like butane, and water is a solvent. So what are you doing, child?’” he mentioned. “I had plenty of backlash. It took a bit of bit for folks to catch on. I began explaining to folks like, ‘Hear, I’m utilizing water merely as a vessel to hold or transport these mechanically separated trichome heads to their vacation spot. I’m not utilizing the water as a solvent.’”
The argument right here is that conventional strategies for separating the resin glands from the buds depend on bodily agitation, whereas butane extraction dissolves the cannabinoids and terpenes inside a puddle of liquid solvent that should nonetheless be eliminated.
The Solventless Choice
For Nikka T, there are two fundamental the reason why he continues to embrace ice water hash. Firstly, the considerations of security having fun with hashish concentrates have been on his thoughts ever since he realized concerning the extra dangerous substances that make their method into concentrates by different strategies. Secondly is the truth that ice water hash is safer to supply than unstable strategies of BHO extraction.
“On the lab facet or the manufacturing facet of issues, the security distinction between solventless and hydrocarbon is huge, and I like that side of it,” he mentioned. “Particularly as a result of I’m not solely consulting for licensed services. I’m additionally consulting for the house producer, the house person that desires to learn to make this themselves. So security is a giant situation and a giant concern and sort of why I lean in direction of the solventless facet of issues.”
He additionally prefers the consequences of a solventless product over one produced by butane extraction.
“The most important purpose that I’m a proponent of solventless is I favor the full-bodied excessive that a number of cannabinoids and terpenes give me,” he mentioned. “After I’m working hydrocarbon or using butane, it appears to tug increased THC ranges, however perhaps not as a lot of that broad spectrum. As a result of so far as the excessive goes, I get far more of [an] all-over physique excessive. It’s hitting all of the factors that I’m in search of it to hit once I’m consuming solventless, in comparison with once I’m consuming butane.”
Excessive-High quality Hash
Probably the most widespread questions Nikka T is requested is what he seems for in a pressure for making hash. For him, staying on high of the tendencies and newly rising terpene profiles is among the most necessary issues to think about.
“One of many first issues I search for is that terpene content material, or the scent of the plant itself, the scent of that cultivar, and that’s actually necessary proper now to sort of watch the market and see which fashion ‘smells,’ if you’ll, which aromas are capturing the market as a result of it fluctuates.”
Nikka T additionally has a couple of different key qualities that he seems for in a washer—a time period used to explain a super pressure for being washed within the ice water hash course of. Strains with extra space construction make it simpler to take away trichomes throughout the washing course of. Nikka T factors to strains like GMO, Gorilla Glue #4, Kushman by JBeezy, or Key Lime Pie providing extra viability when it comes to yield and efficiency.
He additionally mentioned three key factors of a pressure’s needed tactile expertise make it best for ice water hash. First, if a pressure’s consistency is like sandpaper, sand between the fingers, or cheesy, they’ve the best texture for laundry (akin to Gorilla Glue #4). Alternatively, a pressure that feels greasy, akin to motor oil, isn’t best for that goal (akin to OG Kush).
Nikka T seems for the best trichome construction that can present an optimum yield.
“I’m in search of a construction within the trichome on that particular plant that has a really giant, bulbous head and has a thinner stalk, however not too skinny,” he mentioned. “If it obtained too skinny, perhaps that trichome falls off the fabric a bit of too straightforward, and it breaks plant materials with it. If it’s too thick, it needs to carry on to that plant materials and that trichome doesn’t need to be launched for us to gather it. So that you need to discover a good steadiness.”
He additionally refers to hashish crops with “weak neck traits,” a time period drawn from the skilled pot photographer referred to as Shwale.
“He discovered that sure cultivars have what we name ‘weak neck traits’ the place the inventory of that trichrome really is fairly usually fastened, however then it will get actual skinny proper earlier than the pinnacle of the trichome, permitting us to mechanically take away that head with none of the stalk or plant materials that a lot simpler.”
The ultimate deciding issue that seals the deal is trichome density.
“So when you have all these issues we mentioned—you’ve obtained a pleasant gritty really feel, you’ve obtained that massive head with the weak neck trait, however there’s just a few trichomes on that plant or in your peripheral view—it’s nonetheless not going to be viable and subsequently not a washer. However when you have excessive trichome density with these different elements that I discussed, I can virtually assure that we’ll have one thing viable. That’s what we’re in search of.”
Hash To The Future
With the pandemic subsiding, Nikka T has plans to journey extra overseas this yr. Most lately, he judged the Masters of Rosin competition in Barcelona, Spain, in March 2022 (which additionally occurred to be the primary rosin-specific competitors in Europe).
Important Extracts can also be on the trail to growth within the U.S., with plans to launch in Missouri someday this yr and some initiatives in Canada.
“I like consistently evolving and consistently creating higher merchandise,” he mentioned. “I’m not afraid to say that we’re consistently studying. So, you recognize, I’m by no means going to say my merchandise [are] the very best. I simply gained’t. As a result of I believe that it’s nonetheless on the market.”
This text seems within the July 2022 situation of Excessive Instances. Subscribe right here.