Navigating Infused Pre-Rolls

Hey folks! Welcome back to another Circa 1818 blog post where I take you on a rollicking romp through the vast world of cannabis knowledge. Over the last couple of years, the industry has been bombarded by a veritable slew of different infused pre-rolls, many with different styles of infusion. As a result, we get asked pretty frequently what the different infusions mean, how they’re made and how they translate over into the smoking experience. So, in the spirit of disseminating knowledge to the far corners of the land, this blog post is going to be all about navigating the oft times confusing world of infused pre-rolls.

An Infusion of Information

            Alright, so first things first, for those who don’t know, infused pre-rolls are pre-rolled ready to smoke joints that have been super charged by virtue of adding cannabis extract to the flower or the paper of the joint. They often have pretty intense flavours added to the mix as well to make them even more palatable, although that’s not always the case, with quite a few of them rocking an infusion style that amplifies the natural terpenes of the flower their being infused into. Sometimes you’ll even encounter a pre-roll that has been infused with a variety of different forms of cannabis concentrate, thus turning these joints into tiny rocket ships designed to take your brain to Mars and leave it there.

                So, that’s what infused pre-roll joints are, but what kind of stuff is used to infuse them?

Infusion Styles

                The most common type of infused pre-roll you’ll run into out there in the wild is one that has been infused with THC distillate.  If you’ve been keeping up with my little blogs here, you might remember that distillate is made by isolating THC from the rest of the chemicals present in the plant and concentrating it into a liquid or crystalized form. It is then added to the joint to increase the THC percentage, sometimes exponentially.

                Another type of infusion that you’ll often find is a kief coating. Kief is the name for the trichomes of the plant once they have been harvested from the bud. These delightful little guys carry the vast majority of the THC. Often the kief is combined with the distillate and coated on the surface of the joint to create a powerful combo infusion. For example, General Admission infused pre-rolls rock this particularly potent combination.

            Up next, we have liquid diamond infused joints. These are very similar to THC distillate in the sense that it is strictly a THC infusion that doesn’t carry the natural terpenes and other cannabinoids. Side note: sometimes you’ll see the term “Botanical Terpenes” listed on the packaging of distillate and diamond pre-rolls. This means that terpenes were reintroduced to the concentrate in order to emulate a particular flavour profile but is not the same as having the natural occurring terpenes present. Anywho, if you’re looking for sky high THC numbers, liquid diamonds are the way to go. They’re derived from THCa which is THC in it’s pre activated and most crushingly potent form. Examples of this style of infusion includes the Jeeter line of infused pre rolls, which are incredibly popular.

                Now onto the resin and rosin infused pre rolls. I’m looping these into one because in terms of effect they’re very similar. Both feature the “essence” of the plant in the sense that not only are the THC traits carried over into the concentrate, but also the terpenes and cannabinoids; creating a potent and true to flower flavour concentrate that is then liberally applied to the pre roll flower. The difference between them comes down to how they’re made. Resin is produced using some kind of chemical component (like isopropyl alcohol or co2 compression) to separate the trichomes from the plant and render it into a viscous form. This is the most cost and time intensive means of producing an infused pre roll and in my humble opinion, results in the best product. A good example of a resin infused pre roll would be the Dabs Bod line of joints.

Enthused about the Infused

                That about wraps up the different infusion styles you’ll encounter. You will probably find some alternative infusion styles out there, like shatter infused pre rolls etc. Any form of concentrate can theoretically be added to a pre-roll to give it some extra oomph. I didn’t include them because honestly, I didn’t want this list to become epic in its proportions. Anyways, hope everyone has a great rest of the week! Stay warm out there folks.

              Have you got infused pre rolls on the brain now? Don’t worry, our menu has you covered!