May 6, 20214 min read

Heady Halos: "Out-Sourcing" for Solventless Hash Supports Legacy Market Farms

[Written November 2020]

Health-Halos are created through savvy P.R. and advertising campaigns to influence consumers under false or misleading pretenses. They take advantage of what researchers call "cognitive misers," or the inherent bias's helping to stream-line our conceptual thought and decision making. This is especially true when inundated with a barrage of choices and information, very much like shopping retail cannabis.

As cannabis goes mainstream, the same savvy P.R. and marketing departments create new fields of consumer manipulation under the guise of these "Heady-Halos." Like "health-halos," "Heady-Halos" can take on numerous identities, capitalizing on our "cognitive misers" or bias' through the use and misuse of simple terminologies. In an effort to combat corporate cannabis and empower consumers, I will get back-to-basics to clarify catch-phrases, claims, etc, and define terminologies used by the top producers in California's recreational cannabis industry. Having started with an article on single-source, we now turn to out-sourcing cannabis material for hash.

Outdoor Humboldt County Hash by @papas_seelect

Single-Source or Out-source?

When full-melt hash was finally scaled to spread the benefits and joy with the people of California, there was plenty to learn. The intricate, hand-made process of modern ice water hash seemed best suited for indoor flower, grown by the same people who washed it as single-source. It didn't take long for the Emerald Triangle and California hash makers to show us another level of quality and community by focusing on the art of trichome preservation and outsourcing fresh-frozen cannabis from many of the best legacy market farms.

Emerald Triangle Hash is Elite

Outsourcing from farms across Northern California has allowed Papa's Select to find another gear for hash. With others following suit, it has become apparent that outsourcing fresh-frozen cannabis from top cultivators makes for exceptional hash. Both Cannabis Cup and Emerald Cup winning Water Hash comes from the best Norcal growers and hash makers two years in a row. This is providing rare access to some amazing and diverse genetics from generational farmers.

I wasn't sure how smaller farms would compete before realizing solventless hash is best sun grown. Cannabis seems to auto-correct now and then, with Solventless demand leveling the playing field to overcome the consequences of chemicals and capitalism. Thanks to solventless hash demand, a community of legendary cultivators is beginning to shine.

A Shared Vision

I'm drawn to the core ideals of counter-culture and cannabis that remain throughout the region. Ideals of peace and community, with a shared interest and utilitarian use of labor. Lentri Anders, the author of “Beyond Counterculture,” wrote in 2012 about the changing culture of Humboldt:

“I believe I realized much earlier than most that, if there was indeed a shared vision, it was in grave danger of being swamped, distorted and subsumed by the advent of the growing industry.”

In 2012 I was witnessing legalization in Colorado and a nation's worth of smokers came pouring into the state. The concern was even bigger in California, but hash companies like Papa's Select, are helping to preserve the heritage of cannabis by showcasing some of the original Emerald Triangle farms. Rising demand for solventless hash, is helping to support craft quality, small-batch farming and their distinct micro climates. They are working to build a culture transcending cannabis or a single brand.

“I feared early on that the entire geographical area, mainstream and hippie alike, would come to be defined by the outside world through the lens of the marijuana industry”.

With the domino effect of cannabis legalization sweeping the nation and the world, solventless hash has provided a lens through most of the bullshit. A culture of cooperative efforts and newer solventless methods continue to reveal the best small-batch, craft-cultivated, Humboldt and Emerald Triangle farms. Their cannabis exposes a depth in flavor and complexity, rarely experienced elsewhere. This community and sustainable culture, aided economically by cannabis, has been the core of the cannabis market all along.

Hash Makers Support Legacy Farms

The diverse micro-climates of the Triangle produce high yielding, distinct, and uniquely flavorful plants. The new demand for hash has put many legacy growers and their genetics into the spotlight, with independent hash makers outsourcing the finest cannabis on Earth. A quality that mainstream cannabis can't touch.

The areas legendary cannabis is best experienced as an ice water hash or rosin, where plant material is removed from the equation. Dabbing only the milky-white, amber, and clear trichomes that cover the surface of the plant is unlike all prior methods of consuming cannabis. Thanks to incredible Legacy farms across the Emerald Triangle, brands are producing Emerald Cup winning hash that keeps getting better.

To Conclude

With outdoor cannabis from Emerald Triangle farms producing the highest quality hash and rosin I've come across, supporting this community and culture is automatic. It has only been through cooperation that this plant has survived generations of war, after-all. It would only make sense to support coalitions and cooperative farming practices today. We get a taste of the best cannabis growing, meanwhile supporting "the outlaws" who are now considered "pioneers."