By Lisa Black
New to the Florida market with an additional retail location opening in Lake Placid this month, Insa continues to expand product offerings by bringing premium live rosin concentrates, darts, and carts to medical cannabis patients. You may have heard of rosin from a fellow patient, it probably sounds familiar, and you may have even seen it on a menu before. But what is it, and why do experienced users seem to get excited when it is an option?
Rosin is a type of concentrate – a powerful product that is strong in cannabinoids. The majority of concentrates are made with a solvent, a chemical such as alcohol that strips the cannabis flower of the good stuff like THC and terpenes, those essential oils that give cannabis strains their distinct smell and effects. The solvents are then purged to leave behind a high potency product that can be up to 3-4 times stronger than flower. This is how resin, not to be confused with rosin, is created. Experienced users and those with tough to treat ailments often gravitate towards concentrated products.
Rosin, however, is different from most concentrates in that it does not use a solvent when it’s made. Instead, rosin is created with a little bit of heat and a whole lot of pressure. At Insa, once the meticulous cultivation process is complete, the flower heads to the laboratory team. Using the most-up-to-date technology, the lab creates a very refined hash – a material that is made up of trichome heads – the part of the plant where cannabinoids like THC and terpenes are created. The lab team then puts the squeeze on it, which happens between two heated industrial plates, melting the trichomes to create a final product that is easy to dab.
Not only is rosin solvent free, but it is very rich in terpenes. This is especially true of Insa rosin, as the flower that is used has been immediately frozen upon harvest. This is what puts the “live” in “live rosin.” Using a product that is high in terpenes such as live rosin means the effects from Insa’s flower are increased … same goes for flavor!
Some rosins go through an additional step called the cure phase. This process solidifies the rosin into a specific texture. The two different cures are named from the methods they use; cold curing is done at room temperature; warm curing is usually done around 100ºF. A Cold Cure Rosin tends to have a thicker consistency, like wet clay. Warm Cure, or Live Magma Rosin, has a wetter, stickier consistency and is sometimes called Rosin Jam.
To use these potent concentrates, it is best to vaporize them. This is usually done in a specialty pipe such as a dab rig or an electronic vaporizer. The Live Rosin, Live Rosin Darts and Live Rosin Carts are now available in Insa’s dispensaries in Tampa, Orlando, Hudson, Tallahassee, and Clearwater – but patients can be on the lookout for the Live Rosin Cold Cure and Live Magma products that will be arriving in the Florida market soon.
Visit any of these locations and ask a trained associate for more information about Insa’s live rosin products or visit www.insa.com. Note availability may vary by location.
Lisa Black is Head of Training and Education at Insa.
