Why is my shatter green?

Green concentrates are thankfully becoming less common, but they still pop up from time to time. Some dispensaries have even tried to tout their green shatter as a good thing, marketing it and branding themselves as selling “green shatter.”  The truth is that it is an error in processing that is inspired by greed. Green shatter or wax can be caused by two factors, machine trimmed weed and soaking product in an extracting solvent for too long.

When a bud goes through a machine trimmer, each leaf that sticks out from the bud is subjected to multiple cuts per leaf. This means that chlorophyll (the stuff that makes leaves green) has more opportunities to be extracted into your final product. Like a dye, once it is there, it is impossible to remove without re-processing the product. It is not unsafe to smoke, but it is unpleasant and off-putting.

Another reason a concentrate product might be green is due to greed. Wax and shatter are made by taking butane, or less frequently propane, and soaking cannabis in it. The hydrocarbon solution absorbs the THC and terpenes and is then evaporated out, leaving you with your wax or shatter depending on the process used to evaporate the solution. 

Sometimes a processor lets their product soak in the solution for too long in order to try to pull out an extra few grams. When that happens they will pull the chlorophyll out of the plant and deposit it in the concentrate. Fortunately this is a trend that is becoming more and more rare. Hopefully you will never encounter green shatter. But if you do, don’t be fooled by sales tactics. If you see green products, walk out.

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