Canna Bumps: The Industry’s Newest Controversy
The cannabis industry is undoubtedly the fastest-growing industry ever. The global weed market expects to gross at least $200 billion by the end of 2030. In all fairness, the projections mentioned earlier were formulated before the cannabis boom of late 2020. Towards the latter end of last year, recreational cannabis markets in Michigan and Illinois shattered sales records simultaneously. Additionally, five states requested to join the cannabis party; some states are treading new waters. All of these factors breathe innovation into new and established cannabis markets. However, not all innovations are created equal.
What are Canna Bumps?
Canna Bumps is a new product that made multiple headlines during the first week of May. Hip readers may have already deciphered the term Canna Bumps – the product is marketed as a ‘unique’ (snortable) cannabis concentrate. The product is manufactured by a cannabis company based in California known as ‘THC Living.’ While inspecting the Canna Bumps packaging, the product promises 600mg of a unique cannabis concentrate. Canna Bumps also provides the consumer with 3 grams of ingestible cannabis powder (nearly 8-ball…). It is also worth noting that Canna Bumps comes packaged in a glass vial reminiscent of the 80’s coke dealers. So there’s that.
What’s the problem with canna-coke?
Naturally, the internet did not take kindly to the marketing associated with Canna Bumps. Most consumers believe products such as Canna Bumps invokes the taboo of cannabis many worked to remove. Cannabis has been falsely compared to cocaine since the Reagan Administration and the D.A.R.E. program. Nobody (except maybe the citizens of Oregon) believes that Canna Bumps are a necessary type of cannabis concentrate.
What Are Cannabis Concentrates?
Cannabis concentrates are pretty self-explanatory. These are cannabis products that have been crafted to provide highly concentrated levels of cannabinoids such as THC, CBD, and more. There are a multitude of methods available to create cannabis concentrates. Most of them are dangerous and should not be performed at home. These processes of creating cannabis concentrate often produce a product that does not look like the typical dry cannabis flowers. They range in color from yellow to amber-like gold. They also can appear dry and crumbly or wet and highly sticky.
Traditional forms of cannabis concentrate
Before THC Living’s Canna Bumps, cannabis companies provided a variety of cannabis concentrates. Cannabis concentrates an integral piece in the global weed economy. Here are some of the traditional forms of concentrates.
Wax
Wax is a form of cannabis concentrate sometimes referred to as ‘sap’ is a soft, nonreflective, and crumbly concentrate. Wax often has properties similar to that of concentrated cookie crumbs. Although it looks dry and non-translucent, giving it an ‘earwax’ appearance, this form of cannabis concentrate has a loose consistency. Cannabis consumers in possession of great wax sometimes encounter high-end names such as ‘budder’ or ‘sap.’
Shatter
Shatter is a firm, reflective cannabis concentrate with physical properties similar to broken glass or hard candy. This is where it gets its moniker of being ‘shatter.’ Cannabis concentrates with this type of consistency are often the byproduct of hydrocarbon extraction, such as Butane Hash Oil (or BHO.)
Shatter forms when the raw extract is placed onto a thin, flat slab while remaining unphased during the extraction process. Shatter products are often held in high regard for being a manageable concentrate. However, shatter is known to become loose gooey when exposed to undesirable temperatures like excessive heat. Ideally, the ‘pull-and-snap’ consistency will possess the shatter properties cannabis consumers have come to know and love if stored in cooler climates.
Crumble
Similar to how transparent cannabinoid-extracted oils engulf the spectrum between concentrates such as shatter or sap, wax can take on a variety of consistencies depending on variables like heat, moisture, and the overall texture of oil before Cannabis Extraction (or the method in which solvents are removed from the cannabis.) Runny oils with excess moisture tend to create gooey waxes sometimes called ‘budder.’ Conversely, the more complex forms of cannabis concentrates are likely to form a soft, brittle texture known as ‘crumble’ or ‘honeycomb’ The word “wax” can be used to describe all of these more delicate, solid textures.