Want to get high fast? Add some kief to your smoke. You’re bound to have kief somewhere; it may be at the bottom of your grinder, in which case you can add a sprinkle to a joint. If you keep your buds in a jar, there’s a high possibility that the jar walls may be lined with a coating of those fine, potent crystals. It’s going to be a lot harder to gather from there than your grinder, so in this article, we’ll show you how to get kief out of the jar.
What is Kief?
If you said “the guitarist from The Rolling Stones”, put your hand down and go to the back of the class. Technically, you’re correct - just not in this instance. Kief is the fine, powdery material that falls off your buds when you touch or grind cannabis flowers. It’s essentially trichomes – the rich, potent jewels of the cannabis plant that contain the highest concentration of THC, cannabinoids and terpenes. Everybody has a name for it, whether it’s dust, pollen, crystals, powder or chief. The name – kief - comes from the Moroccan Arabic ‘kif’, meaning ‘joy’.
How do you get Kief?
Where there are buds, there will soon be kief. Agitating buds of cannabis flower in any way will eventually generate kief, as the trichomes will fall off the buds, leaving a dry, powdery substance behind. Many cannabis grinders have a separate chamber at the bottom to collect the kief generated by grinding buds. This process takes time, and depending on how much you smoke, it can take weeks to build up a decent amount of kief. If you keep your buds in a jar or a tin, the simple act of the buds rubbing together or against the side of the jar is enough to generate small amounts of kief.
Kief is significantly more potent than bud, and it’s pretty standard practice to sprinkle some on top of your ground cannabis flower to add an extra kick to your smoke. If you have some at the bottom of your grinder, add it to your next smoke and see what it does for you – but be warned – it’s powerful stuff!
If your only access to kief is the film around the inside of your stash jar, getting it out can be altogether more challenging. So, how to get kief out of the jar? Fortunately, there are a few methods.
Scrape the Kief out of the Jar
The simplest way to get kief out of the jar is to scrape the substance off the inside of the glass. Use a plastic spoon, a piece of card or something small enough with a hard edge. Run it around the inside of the jar, and it should loosen off the kief quite happily. Much of the kief will stick to the scraper, making it easy to remove and collect at the end. Then, turn the jar upside down and give it a good shake and a few heavy taps on the bottom. You’ll free off some of the stuff that gets stuck at the bottom of the jar.
The degree of success will likely depend on the size of the jar. If it’s a small jar, you may be unable to get your hand inside to give it a good scrape – so a spoon comes in handy.
Freeze the Jar
Empty your buds out of the jar and stick the jar in the freezer for a short time (30-60 minutes or so). When trichomes are frozen, they become more brittle, making them easier to collect. Then, all you need to do is dump them onto a plate or into a container, give the jar a few good taps on the bottom and gather up all that lovely kief.
Use a Toothbrush to remove Kief
This method works whether your kief is stuck to a jar or a grinder. Take a toothbrush (a new one, please - and use it only for this task) and agitate as much of the kief as possible with the bristles. Much of the kief will stick to the head of the toothbrush, and some will fall to the bottom of the jar. After that, it’s simply a case of inverting the jar to empty the loose kief out and carefully freeing the remainder from the toothbrush's bristles. A series of taps against the side of a bowl or plate should do the trick here.
Use Isopropyl Alcohol to remove the Kief
Some people pour isopropyl alcohol into their jar, screw on the lid and give it a good shake. This is enough to collect up all the kief, and then pour it on a plate. After this, allow the alcohol to evaporate (this could take anywhere from a few hours to overnight) and leave behind nothing but kief. The kief is smokeable because once the isopropyl alcohol has evaporated, you’re left with only kief. Make sure you use 90-99% isopropyl alcohol, ensure it has evaporated completely, and the bowl and kief are completely dry before you even think about consuming it.
What to do with Kief
Now that you’ve collected all your kief, there are plenty of ways you can put it to use. Remember, kief is far more potent than bud, so for that reason, you may want to use it in more conservative amounts. If you’re a relatively new smoker or an occasional smoker, your tolerance will be lower so take care when dosing kief, as it can have a heavy effect that may be overwhelming. It’s all well and good getting high, but be careful not to get wasted and put yourself in a bad spot.
Add it to your joint/bowl
To ‘up’ the effects from a smoke, take a little of your kief and dust it on top of your joint before sealing. Or, sprinkle some into your pipe – this is known as ‘crowning a bowl’ and is an easy way to maximise your high when smoking cannabis.
Make Moon Rocks with Kief
Ever heard of moon rocks? This is where you dunk your buds in hash oil, and then roll them in kief. The hash oil makes your buds sticky enough that the kief will adhere to the buds. Moon rocks are ultra potent, easy to make, and a sure-fire way to get high.
Use Kief in your homemade Edibles
If you want to add an extra kick to a recipe, load a little kief into your cannabutter, and voila – extra potency in your edibles. Mix the kief in with the flower before decarboxylating, then add it to your cannabutter.
Make Hash from Kief
You can make your own hash in a few easy steps if you have enough kief. You’ll need the following items:
· Kief
· Parchment paper
· Glass jar or bottle with lid
How to make hash from kief:
· Place the kief in the centre of the parchment paper, and fold the paper over into a square or rectangle.
· Fill the jar or bottle with hot water and place the lid on tightly to avoid spillage.
· Using oven mitts or a towel to protect your hands, roll the jar or bottle over the kief in the centre of the paper. The heat will press the kief into a block after around ten minutes.
Check your kief, and once it’s turned into a solid block, place the package in the fridge and allow it to cool for up to an hour. This will make it easier to remove from the paper without sticking.
The above method is a reasonably safe and easy means of turning your kief into hash, but other heating and pressing methods are equally popular. Some people go so far as to use a clothes iron for the same job, setting the iron to a lower heat and essentially ironing the paper until the kief forms a solid block. Make sure to take adequate steps to prevent burning yourself – or anything else.
There are loads of way to extract kief, and even more way to use it. The main thing to know is that the potency of kief is a step up from using buds alone, so if you’re new to using kief, experiment and have fun, but take it easy at first! A little goes a long way.
