Over the last decade, the form factors in the hemp & cannabis spaces have shifted dramatically, and with it comes terms like full-spectrum, isolate, live resin, distillate, and broad-spectrum. These are all slightly different kinds of cannabis extracts, with some common denominators.
When it comes to vaping & edible inputs, distillate and live resin are the predominant forms. So what are the differences when it comes to a live resin vs. distillate cartridge? Is one better than the other?
Live resin is made from fresh flowers of the hemp or cannabis plant. At the peak of harvest, the plants are cut down and flash-frozen to preserve the valuable trichomes. The trichomes are the essence of the plant – it’s where the terpenes and cannabinoids are born and live. The frozen hemp flowers are extracted into what is known as live resin. The plant’s terpene profile remains intact when using fresh flowers, providing a rich flavor and complex aromatic extract. It’s bursting with terpenes, tasting like fresh fruit, musky mangoes, or astringent herbs. The terpenes are genuinely alive in live resin in that they were never “cured” or dried.
Once a hemp plant is cut, dried, and cured, it can be extracted into oil. Distillate is made from another type of extract. When making distillate, the crude oil undergoes a process called fractional short-path distillation. Using heat and pressure, you can extract all of the cannabis compounds individually since they each have a different boiling point. Usually, the goal of distillation is to separate the desired cannabinoid (CBD, THC, etc) to make a highly potent product in the form of a clear, odorless liquid.
In short, Live Resin = a vast array of terpenes, flavonoids & cannabinoids. Better taste + broader high. Live Resin is also a product that has the ability to provide a strain-specific experience. This experience would be the closest resemblance of the effects that you would get from smoking hemp flower. Distillate = high potency, specific cannabinoid and has the benefit of being clear & odorless (terpenes are distilled out during the extraction process), making it highly valuable as an edible input for those seeking something that doesn’t taste like cannabis.
The Vaping Experience
When debating live resin-infused distillate vs. pure distillate, it ultimately comes down to the user’s preference for taste and experience. Sometimes you want to vape a vibrant, juicy live resin that leaves you salivating with taste and an experience left more well-rounded by the additional cannabinoid content. Sometimes you need to be a little more discreet and want an odorless distillate or crave botanically derived (non-cannabis/hemp) flavors such as fruit flavors.
When it comes to the experience associated with each, live resin-infused distillate tends to produce similar effects to what you would feel if you smoked the dried hemp flower. In the case of Live Resin infused distillate, it provides the most cannabis-like experience while still maintaining compliance. The distillate will produce a more intense experince at first, but it tends to be short-lived since there is a lack of other beneficial cannabinoids and terpenes to engage the entourage effect.
Cherry Blossom Hemp’s Live CBD
Our live resin is made from curated cultivars selected from top breeders and chosen for their beneficial cannabinoid and terpene profiles. After processing our fresh frozen, whole plant material, we then potentiate it with live CBD distillate. Our reasoning for this is that it creates a product that gives you the best of both worlds. High potency, high terpene content, variety of cannabinoids & directed and a strain-specific experience.
