MJBiz - July 2023 - 35

Field and Flower
That TLC begins with the flower that
Papa & Barkley uses for its hashes and
rosins. The company sources flower
from dozens of outdoor cultivators in
and around Humboldt County, home to
Papa & Barkley's manufacturing plant.
Rocourt buys whole flower, trim,
popcorn buds and other grades of
cannabis for the brand's hash- and
rosin-making.
He believes that compounds found
on cannabis flower-such as esters,
ketones and terpenes-are " a lot
more pronounced " in outdoor-grown
flower. So, when it's time to harvest in
the fall, the flower will " have a more
complicated, richer profile. "
It's best to harvest flower for hash
in the early morning, when it's cooler,
because the trichomes are less brittle,
Rocourt noted.
It's also important to send
knowledgeable harvesters into the field
because how the flower is handled is
also important, he said. If a harvester
handles the flower carelessly, breaking
up buds or mixing in leaf or stem
matter, then chlorophyl could leach
into the water used to make ice-water
hash, giving it a darker, less appealing
color.
Making Ice-Water Hash
Hash-makers collect flower either in
buckets or in bags; then it goes into a
large container with cold water and ice.
In the days preceding cannabis
legalization and even in the early
days of regulated marijuana, product
manufacturers used large rubber trash
cans to make ice-water hash. Today,
companies such as Pure Pressure and
Low Temp sell stainless-steel vessels
equipped with valves to drain the water.
Some are jacketed with automated
coolers that keep the water cold.
The ice water freezes the trichomes,
making them brittle. Next, the
hash-maker uses a paddle to " slowly
agitate the flower and encourage all
those trichomes to fall off, " Rocourt
Kief and Rosin
While rosin has traditionally been
pressed from whole flower, a growing
number of rosin-makers are pressing
rosin from kief.
Papa & Barkley gets its kief from
flower that's already dried and cured.
The flower is also stored cold so that
trichomes become brittle and fall off
more easily when agitated. That flower
is then tumbled into a silkscreen
drum, where the trichomes are
collected.
Guy Rocourt is the CEO and chief product
officer of Papa & Barkley. Courtesy photo
Some of that kief will go through
lipid infusions using coconut oil that
will then be infused into gummies;
the rest will be used for rosin
manufacturing.
explained. Agitating the flower in ice
water separates the trichomes from
the flower.
After the agitating step, the water is
poured through so-called hash bags
(or Bubble Bags), which are fine mesh
bags typically ranging from 70 to 120
microns that catch the trichomes while
they are wet. Rocourt said he prefers
Boldt brand bags.
Once the trichomes are bagged,
they need to be dried. Traditionally,
hash has been air dried and cured, but
freeze dryers are increasingly used to
take out the water without removing
terpenes and damaging the product,
Rocourt said.
Papa & Barkley sells the resulting
hash as a stand-alone concentrate and
to create infused gummies.
The company's hash-makers practice
their craft in cold rooms, where the
temperature is typically below 60
degrees. There are also several cold
rooms where the hash is stored, as well
as refrigerated trucks for delivering
hash and other concentrate products.
If stored at room temperature, the
sandy bubble hash will " butter up, "
Rocourt explained. It's still good, he
noted, but less visually appealing.
" Texture and appearance are very
important to some of these hash
heads, " Rocourt said.
The kief destined for rosin
manufacturing is " packed " into a
mesh " sock " or " bag " that is about
1.5 inches in diameter and 6 inches
long. The bags are expensive and can
be used only once, Rocourt said.
The sock full of kief is then placed
between two plates in the press and
squeezed.
" The cool thing about most modern
presses is that when we started, we
were hand-pressing the hydraulics.
Now these presses have electronics
and pneumatics, where you have
recipes by varying degrees, " Rocourt
said. " There's going for yield and then
there's going for quality and all those
nuances. "
For inhalable-grade rosin, Papa &
Barkley presses the kief at a much
cooler temperature and at a much
slower, steadier rate of pressure.
When trying to maximize yield for
rosin that will be decarboxylated and
go into chocolates, the company uses
high heat and high, quick pressure to
" squeeze all of it out. "
" I expect people to understand why
they're paying a little bit extra. You're
paying a little bit extra because I'm
doing it right. I'm not trying to just
get you THC. I'm trying to get you
awesome, whole-plant cannabinoids, "
Rocourt said.
mjbizdaily.com | July 2023 35
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MJBiz - July 2023

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