Here at bigOIL we have completely revamped our storefront and listings. We have become one of the main bulk extract vendors on the DNM's, and have come to realize that the only way to offer accurate product descriptions when firing through so many different batches of oils, is to implement a TIER system for rating oil. Throughout the last several months we have learned a ton about vending online. About what the DNM consumer wants, and about all of the things the DNM consumer DOES NOT KNOW about extractions, and oil in general.
Link to breakdown of Tier system and Quality Levels: https://www.reddit.com/r/DankNation/comments/6852ug/bigoil_changes_their_whole_storefront_new/
Some thoughts, some insights, and some facts about the Extraction/Concentrate production process
Many people outside of the legal states have very little ACTUAL FACTS about oil and oil production. To be honest, most standard consumers know very little about the actual facts of oil that live IN the rec/medical states.
In our first month and a half in business on here, we have answered thousands of questions. Many of them repeats, and many of them based off the same misguided rumors.
bigOIL is going to take a shot at explaining Extraction 101.
The single biggest misconception/misguided set of beliefs revolve around what oil is produced with.
Trim. has become a dirty word. Everybody wants NUG RUN. Here at bigOIL, we admit, that we bought into this same system of defining oil quality for our first 6 weeks online, but hey... we were the new guys on the block, and one has to conform before one can break the mold completely.
An awful lot of the BEST oil we produce is made with trim. Oil made with trim doesn't have to be bad. It actually isn't really any different than oil made with pure nugs. What matters is the following:
1.) The QUALITY of the material. Trim can take a thousand different forms. There is indoor trim. There is greenhouse trim. There is outdoor trim. Within each of the categories above, there are hundreds of variants. a.)There is really good outdoor flower. There is really bad indoor flower. There are an infinite number of combinations and potential quality levels. Defining oil as either nug run, or trim run, is unrealistic. B.) There are hundreds of variants for the type of trim. There is outdoor trim with the fan leaves still in it. Outdoor trim that is pruned properly and is just the tight sugar leaves. Outdoor trim that is just sugar leaves/close trim. c.) Indoor trim that is just sugar leaves and little tiny pieces of bud. ID trim that is so beautiful most people on the east coast would put it in blunts, and ID trim that has no nose, and too many fan leaves d.) Trim that is essentially every leaf of the whole plant. These big leaves have no thc, and lots of chlorophyl. The more of them, the worse your oil is going to look. Trim can take many, many forms.
2.) The FRESHNESS of the material. Whenever we have a customer who thinks our oil is on the darker end of the spectrum, they typically assume that we sent them "oil made with trim" instead of oil made with nugs. If you run a batch of old nugs, you're going to get the same dark, goopy oil you would get from running a batch of old trim. FRESHNESS IS THE PRIMARY FACTOR that influences the color of the finished product. NOT trim versus Nugs. a.)As the material breaks down over time, the parts of the plant that get stripped, or extracted, by the solvent become more accessible. Many of these are things that we don't want in our finished oil. Such as chlorophyl, lipids, other plant molecules, etc. If one uses extremely fresh material, the material hasn't had much time to decompose, and the only thing the solvent strips is the THC. This results in the finished product being much more clear/yellow.
3.) The Style of Trim and Storage of Material. Trim that was produced via hand trimming, tends to run with a much lighter color than machine trimmed material. Here's why.
a.) Some say that the oils used to lubricate the blades of the trim machine end up in the oil. This is possible, but I consider it to be a small factor. Possibly influencing texture more than color.
b.) The more important factor IMO is that the material is cut up into exponentially more pieces using the blades of the trim machine. The more pieces, the more surface area. And just like an apple that is cut up into 20 pieces, it is going to brown/rot much faster than an apple cut into 4 pieces. As this rotting/decomposition process takes place, the material breaks down further, and more crap gets stripped by the solvent along with the THC.
c.) for examples sake. One could run two month old indoor NUGS. And get oil that looks worse than 1 month old OUTDOOR hand trim. The YIELD of the nugs would be higher than the yield of the outdoor trim. As there is more total THC in the nugs. But that doesn't affect the end customer in any way.
d.) The Dry/Cure/Storage of the material: In outdoor season, most growers are so busy with their harvest that they just throw their trim in trash bags in the closet. This material isn't dried completely. It isn't cured completely. And it isn't cared for. As one can guess, material that isn't stored CRISPY DRY. Is going to go through the decomposition process faster. Leaving you with shitty broken down trim. We have seen stellar indoor material get stored like shit. And it came to us smelling of basements/mildew. Guess what? It RAN LIKE SHIT.
4.) The Age of the Harvested Plant: When farmers are monitoring their plants to decide when they're finished, they typically use a microscope to study the trichomes. Trichomes(THC molecules), start out clear. As they're approaching completion, they begin to become cloudy, and eventually turn to an Amber/Brown color.
a.) Farmers usually try and harvest as the trichomes are just turning cloudy.
b.) Sometimes circumstances, or greed, inspire the farmer to wait longer. Maybe the plants need more time to fill out. Maybe the weather was poor, and the plants needed to dry out before getting cut. Maybe they just wanted the nugs to fill out more to get more weight.
c.) Whatever it is. If the extract artist runs a batch of material that aged longer on the plant, and is full of amber/brown trichomes, then the finished oil, which is essentially a big pile of the trichomes, is logically going to have the same amber/brown characteristics. This can apply to bud, nugs, littles, sugar leaves, trim, etc.
5.) Stability of the Finished Product: Much like every other aspect of this breakdown thus far, the stability factor comes in many, many different forms. Much of it is out of the extraction artists hands. At least when it comes to a single solvent(single process) extraction. Hopefully we can clear up some severe misconceptions about stability. a.) Each strain has their own characteristics, that often extend to the stability of the finished product. b.) some sour strains always seem to come out runny or goopy. some hash plant strains come out dark and glassy. It can vary exponentially. c.) The more stable the oil, the more stuff removed from it besides THC/CBDs. This sounds like a good thing, but removing everything else removes the flavor, as well as many of the intangible components of the marijuana plant that make it special. It's essence so to speak. Many of these factors are what make the medical benefits of the cannabis plant so real. d.) What the farmer sprayed his crop with can have a HUGE influence on the stability of the oil. Some farmers use neem oil. Some use pesticides or chemicals. Some are just spraying organic compost teas that leave a slight residue on the buds and leaves. Whatever is used, ends up in the oil, and affects it's texture/stability. Trim run doesn't in the least imply unstable oil. e.) Some people use secondary extraction processes to further remove contaminants. For instance after running a butane extraction, we can take the finished product and Winterize it.
Winterization is the process of dissolving the extracted oil into pure alcohol. Freezing it for app. 48 hours. As the dissolved thc and other junk freeze, the junk solidifies and rises to the top. THC bonds with pure alcohol very well. The rest does not. By scooping off the junk(like cream rises on milk), we can separate many of the contaminants.
We then allow the alcohol to evaporate off, leaving a much refinded THC product. This will produce much glassier consistencies, however there is one major Issue. The TERPENES come off with the junk. One is left with a product with virtually no flavor. But great stability.
6.) TERPENES: Terpenes are the flavor molecules in the marijuana plant. (they're actually the flavor molecules in anything that has... flavor.) There is SO much emphasis placed on stability, and glassy shatter, that the market has effectively denied itself of flavor. Flavor is just starting to matter again. Silly stuff. Which is why there is a resurgence of Terp Sugars and Crumbles. 1.) Terpenes are naturally "oily" molecules. When you see something seeping into your parchment, it's typically the terpenes. 2.) The more flavorful the oil, the more terpenes it contains. These terpenes impact the STABILITY of the oil big time. Strains that have more terpenes, are more likely to sugar up, butter up, or crumble. Also more likely to never get to a glassy consistency. 3.)These molecules respond very rapidly to any agitation, or stress. As they react, they begin to "nucleate." This is the cloudiness you have sometimes seen in your shatter. The nucleation process. TOO MANY TIMES TO COUNT, customers have accused us of not "purging out all the butane" because their shatter wasn't completely translucent glass. It had some cloudiness. 4.) Crumbles, Terp Sugars, Butters, and Honeycombs always win cannabis cups for most flavor. This is because the terpene content is highest. If a batch doesn't have enough terpenes, one can't even make it into a crumble. 5.) Via various processes, primarily with co2 setups that use extreme pressures, the extract artist can remove the terpenes. This will help produce a glassy oil, or shatter, however doing so removes the flavor. 6.) People love to complain about a small section of their oil buttering up. Our extraction team ONLY SMOKES the buttered up part. It is where all the flavor is. At the very least, the buttered section should be tangible proof that butters, crumbles, etc. are just as good as shatter. They come from the same slab most of the time!
7.) Pictures of OIL. The last major area where we experiecne constant confusion/issues is with pictures and images of oil. Most people haven't had to take lots of pictures of extracts, but if they ever do, they will realize pretty quick that it is VERY easy to make the oil look very different. Many, many factors go into how a batch looks in photos. I absolutely guarantee that I can convince you, via a different environment, flash, overhead light source, etc. that the SAME batch of oil, is 5 different batches. Here are all the factors that play into it.
1.) Oil, on top of parchment, on a solid surface. Such as a counter, table, desk, etc. Will look exponentially darker than that same oil held up vertically. So the light can shine through it. 2.) Oil viewed indoors, in a room with traditional fluorescent bulbs, will look VERY different than the same slab viewed in a room with LED overhead lights. 3.) Oil viewed indoors will look very different than the same slab viewed outdoors. In the shade. BOTH of those "images" will look VERY different than the same slab viewed outdoors in sun. 4.) Photos taken of oil on a table, with a flash on. Will look NOTHING like photos taken with a flash, but the oil held up. 5.) Oil will look COMPLETELY different if it is held IN FRONT of a light source. COMPLETELY.
BigOIL at FIRST, thought the best way to remove all the variables was tl take pics inside of a product picture photo booth thing.
We have come to realize that customers find that deceiving. When they open their slab, in their dark bedroom or house, they assume it's different oil. It isn't. It's just a different setting.
HOW TO SOLVE THE LIGHT PROBLEM? Going forward, bigOIL pics will ONLY be taken outdoors, in full sun. This is the ONLY setting in which we can guarantee that both the shop, and the customer, have the exact same set of variables.
How to describe each batch accurately? With so many variables going into rating each batch of oil, it's very difficult to have one specific product listing for a price point. A batch may be lighter yellow, but have no flavor and lack stability. A batch may be dark brown but glassy. A batch might be a good orange color, but be a little cloudy. One day, the batch might be super stable, but with limited flavor. By the time the customer reorders, the product has changed, and even though it still falls into the same category, price point, and quality level, they flip their shit.
Again. This is the reason bigOIL has converted to a TIER system. By guaranteeing that your product will FALL WITHIN A GIVEN RANGE, or TIER. We can keep everyone happy.
In Closing: So yea. I'm sure the r/dnm readership will hunt through this for the single factual error and harp on it for days. I'm sure the trolls of the internet will find a way to turn this into some self-serving scam. I'm sure the masses will talk shit until oil is legal everywhere, and bigOIL no longer has a place in the community.
But I wrote it anyways. I hope that it offers some insight and clarity to you all. Here at bigOIL we believe an educated customer base will be a happier one. We believe it will result in more customers getting the products they want, and even possibly saving a bit of cash in the process.
Thanks world. -bigOIL.
Damn BO, what a post.
This is some solid information.
Cheers to you and I hope business keeps boomin