# Why to decarboxylate the cannabis before making Bubble Hash



## Hackerman

I am getting ready to make some hash and I remember someone saying she always decarb'd her pot before making bubble hash. Something about some of the canabanoids being water soluble but I don't remember exactly what it was and I can't find that thread anywhere.

Does anyone decarb their pot before making (ice) bubble hash?

Thanks


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## JustAnotherAntMarching

Ive never heard of that...   usually you decarb when your gonna be making edibles....


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## ston-loc

I had this question before too, jaam, because I make hard candies with bho. They're already potent. Just wonder if they'd be more potent if I decarbed first. 

Hackman, look in the cooking section, I believe that thread was in there. Like jaam said, it benefits when making edibles


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## superman

When you're making bubble hash all you're doing is separating the trichs from the plant material. Why would you want to separate the oil from the trichs before you filter for them. You evaporate the oil and THC when you burn it to smoke it.
  When you decarb it you are getting the trichs and oil to release the THC to put into food so your digestive track can retrieve it.
  Peace, SM


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## pcduck

THG decarbs everything I believe. I am sure she will pop in and explain.


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## Hackerman

This was the thread... http://www.marijuanapassion.com/forum/showthread.php?p=888965#post888965

This was the post...



The Hemp Goddess said:


> I doubt it will make a significant difference if you are making BHO. _I decarb when I make bubble hash because THCA and CBCA are water soluble_.


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## The Hemp Goddess

The purpose of decarbing is not to get the trichs and oil to release the THC.  Decarbing is meant to turn THCA and CBCA into THC and CBC.  Some of the THC and CBC exist as acids that are water soluable and are not psychoactive.  Heating the bud releases the extra carboxal group and turns the THCA into THC and CO2.  That is also part of why we cure bud.  The curing process will also do this over time.  

Here is a link from Marijuana Culture with more info and lab test results showing the difference in THC and CBC levels before and after decarbing:  http://www.marijuana-culture.com/t267f19-Decarboxylating-Cannabis-Turning-THCA-into-THC.html


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## superman

The Hemp Goddess said:


> The purpose of decarbing is not to get the trichs and oil to release the THC.  Decarbing is meant to turn THCA and CBCA into THC and CBC.  Some of the THC and CBC exist as acids that are water soluable and are not psychoactive.  Heating the bud releases the extra carboxal group and turns the THCA into THC and CO2.  That is also part of why we cure bud.  The curing process will also do this over time.
> 
> Here is a link from Marijuana Culture with more info and lab test results showing the difference in THC and CBC levels before and after decarbing:  http://www.marijuana-culture.com/t267f19-Decarboxylating-Cannabis-Turning-THCA-into-THC.html


 OH, so it induces the release of the unwanted carbon atom? Which occurs when normally smoked or vaporized from the heating process. Huh.
 Peace, SM


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## Hackerman

I have looked and looked and I can find nothing on the water solubility of THC and THCA. I even found the MSDS sheets (yes, they now have MSDS sheets on cannabis. LMAO) and the data for water solubility was "No Data Available".

I did find one post in a forum where someone claimed it was .3% but he didn't have any footnotes so it could have been conjecture, opinion or plain bull.

In my reading I did find something odd. Several laboratories claim that during the drying and curing process heat and light help to convert the THCA to THC. Why do we all dry our pot in a cool dark place?

_Found in the trichomes, Tetrahydrocannabinolic acid (THCa) is the acidic precursor to THC, which actually exists in only minute quantities in the living plant. In living cannabis, THCa is the most abundant cannabinoid and terpenoid, potentially reaching over 30% of the dry weight of any cannabis plant. Immediately after harvest, the THCa begins to be converted into THC, a process quickened by exposure to heat and sunlight. _


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## The Hemp Goddess

When they are speaking of heat, I believe that they are saying that the conversion can be hastened by heat....by heating the bud, like in decarbing.  I did not take this statement to mean that we should be drying and curing our bud with heat and light.  In fact, just the opposite.  To me it says that you can heat the bud or you can wait for it to convert naturally with time by curing.  

I don't know about the sunshine part.  I would like THEM to explain to US how they expose to sunlight without the THC degrading.

Hackerman, did you read the thread from MC with the lab test results?


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## Hackerman

Yeah, I read it but it didn't say anything about the THCA (or any other canabanoid) relevant to water solubility (which is what the original post was about). 

If you have a valid point and the THCA is water soluble, we are definitely washing away [potential] THC by not converting (decarbing) first.


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## The Hemp Goddess

Are you saying that you do not believe that THCA is water soluable?


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## Hackerman

Everything is water soluble. How much is what would be important here. I would consider anything under 1% as negligible and anything near 5% as incredibly important.

None of the lab data I can find says anything about water solubility. Most of it says, "No Data Available". 

Actually, it's the same thing with THC.. nothing regarding water solubility.


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## The Hemp Goddess

No, everything is not water soluble.  I guess that I just don't understand questioning the water solubility of THCA when there are tons of places on the net discussing decarbing that make this assertion.  Do you think that they are all wrong or someone at some point made this up and the 'rumor" just got started?


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## Hackerman

Hey, no reason to get angry at me. LOL


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## Hackerman

The Hemp Goddess said:


> No, everything is not water soluble.  I guess that I just don't understand questioning the water solubility of THCA when there are tons of places on the net discussing decarbing that make this assertion.  Do you think that they are all wrong or someone at some point made this up and the 'rumor" just got started?



I did not find a single thing on the net discussing the water solubility of THC or THCA. Maybe you could post a link from the tons.


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