This board covers extraction with solvents and the concentrates it produces. A solvent is a liquid that dissolves the cannabinoids and aroma compounds out of the plant. A concentrate is the oil, wax or resin left once the solvent is removed. Methods that use no solvent at all, such as ice-water hash and rosin, have their own board: Solventless and Hash.
What you can post here
- The three main solvents: ethanol (drinking-grade alcohol), hydrocarbons (light fuel gases such as butane and propane) and supercritical carbon dioxide. Supercritical means carbon dioxide held under high pressure and temperature, so it dissolves compounds like a liquid but flows like a gas.
- Winterisation: mixing the crude extract with ethanol, chilling it, and filtering out the waxes and fats that settle.
- Distillation: heating the extract under vacuum to separate the cannabinoids from everything else.
- Safety questions and licensing questions about any of these methods.
How the three solvents differ
Each solvent gives you something and costs you something.
- Ethanol is easy to work with, and small mistakes rarely ruin a run. But it also pulls out chlorophyll (the green leaf pigment) and plant waxes. These have to be removed later.
- Hydrocarbons are selective. They take mostly the target compounds and leave more of the plant behind. They are also highly flammable. Home-made equipment for hydrocarbon extraction is genuinely dangerous, because a leak and a spark can start a fire or an explosion.
- Carbon dioxide can be tuned. Changing pressure and temperature changes which compounds it dissolves. The equipment is expensive, and each run is slow.
All three have one thing in common. The first, crude extract is not a finished product. It still needs cleaning steps such as winterisation or distillation before it is usable.
For a fuller comparison, read Cannabis Extraction Explained: Solvent and Solventless Methods Compared. Method-specific guides are CO2 Extraction of Cannabis and Ethanol Extraction of Cannabis.
Two limits that apply to every post here
1. Extraction concentrates contaminants too
An extract holds the cannabinoids from a large amount of flower in a small volume. Pesticide residues and other contaminants become concentrated in the same way. So flower that passed a residue test can produce an extract that fails one.
What to do: test the flower for pesticide residues before you extract it, not only the finished extract. This tells you early whether a batch is worth processing. See Pesticide Residues on Cannabis: Testing Standards, Common Contaminants, and Remediation Limits.
2. In Thailand, most extraction is not a home project
The Ministerial Regulation on Cannabis or Hemp Extracts B.E. 2569 has been in force since 26 April 2026. Extracts above 0.2% tetrahydrocannabinol (THC, the intoxicating cannabinoid) can be licensed only to:
- Thai juristic persons that are not “foreign” under the Foreign Business Act B.E. 2542;
- state agencies;
- the Thai Red Cross Society.
An individual working at home cannot hold this licence. For the full detail, read Thailand’s Two Ministerial Regulations of B.E. 2569 (2026).
Translator’s note: before you buy extraction equipment or invest in an extraction project, check that the company you will work through qualifies under this rule. Ask to see its registration and licence documents. If it does not qualify, it cannot legally make extracts above 0.2% THC, whatever its equipment.
Where to start
- Rick Simpson Oil: What It Is, Where the Claims Came From, and What the Evidence Shows
- Reading a Concentrate Label: Live Rosin, Shatter, Budder and Distillate
Have a question about a method, a safety problem or the licence rules? Post it as a new topic on this board, and include your setup and what you have already checked.