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Decarboxylating Hash: Expert Advice on How to Prepare Hash for Decarbing 

By Cheri Sicard
September 4, 2019

Dear Cheri,

When decarboxylating hash in an oven should it be broken into pieces, or crushed using mortar and pestle? Or should it be decarbed as is in a solid brick?  I'd imagine the heat would be better distributed if it were in smaller masses, but I figure it never hurts to ask someone else's thoughts.

Good question.  My inclination was the same as yours, but I could not find anyone else who had written about this, so I went to the decarb expert Shanel Lindsay, inventor of the Ardent Lift Decarboxylator to get the straight dope on decarboxylating hash.

Shanel wrote me back and confirmed our theory.

Regardless of whether you are decarbing hash in the oven or using the Ardent Lift decarboxylator, hash that has been pressed into a hard brick should be broken down before decarbing to allow airflow between the pieces.   So break the hash into small pieces, decarb using your method of choice, and you should be good to go.

More on Decarboxylation, Hash, and the Ardent Lift Decarboxylator

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About the author

Cheri Sicard is the author of Mary Jane: The Complete Marijuana Handbook for Women, and The Easy Cannabis Cookbook.  Her online courses at Cannademy.com have educated 1000s of students about marijuana, cannabis cooking for home cooks, and making infused topicals.

    • Not exactly no. But you should use the oil anyway as a lot od decarbing will have taken place during the process of making the oil. Could you have made it more potent by decarbing first? Probably. But it will still be useful and could still be mighty potent.

  • I have a concoction we refer to as Death Pellet. It’s a jar of all the kief from a long parade of cannabis flower strains, plus a rather large amount of wax/crumble/liquid concentrate from a vape. Can I decarb this even with portions of it already being processed?

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