Trichomes

In short, trichomes are the sticky part of weed that gets you high and delivers flavor. They are what we work tirelessly to extract from fresh-frozen cannabis to make our solventless concentrates.

Trichomes occur naturally in thousands of organisms, serving myriad purposes. As these trichomes emerge from an epidermis, they may present themselves in a hairy manner, with varying consistencies depending on the plant. The trichomes on cannabis, however, are stalked and glandular, secreting an oil. This oil is a combination of cannabinoid metabolites, terpenes and flavonoids – primarily THC (by the time it reaches your body). 

But before flower is cured, processed, and smoked, a trichome’s chemical makeup is quite different. Whereas THC and CBD constitute a large portion of the cannabinoid metabolites in freshly smoked flower, they are relatively minimal in flower tissue immediately post-harvest compared to THCA and CBDA. As flower cures, however, degradation alters the trichome’s composition to favor THC and CBD, reaching a pinnacle as the product is smoked and the trichome’s very constitution is converted via decarboxylation.

Most trichomes are located in the bracts of the cannabis flower. The cannabinoid profile these trichomes present, though largely dependent on genetics, is ultimately determined by the environment in which they are grown.