Choosing Cannabis Products
Potency of Cannabis Concentrates
As with any form of cannabis, there are many factors to consider before consuming cannabis concentrates, including the potency of the product. Here’s what you need to know before trying concentrates.
Last updated February 19, 2025 | Published on April 28, 2021
Cannabis concentrates can provide a smoke-free alternative to consuming dried cannabis. However, there are many considerations when it comes to the potency of cannabis concentrates and how much you should consume. Here’s what you need to know — and why you should always buy legal cannabis.
What type of concentrate should I choose?
Cannabis concentrates come in all shapes, sizes, colours and consistencies.
Here’s a look at the most well-known formats:
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Resin and Live Resin: A golden-coloured extract ranging in consistency, resin is known for its high concentration of terpenes and cannabinoids. Live resin is made with fresh, not dried, cannabis.
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Rosin: Cannabis is pressed between heated plates to extract an oil full of cannabinoids and terpenes in just minutes. (When fresh buds are used, the result is live rosin.) The translucent, sap-like extract is rosin.
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Shatter and Wax: Shatter is made by extracting cannabis trichomes with butane and evaporating excess oils over low heat, forming a hard, translucent sheet. To make wax, shatter is whipped to incorporate air and produce a creamy texture.
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Hash: One of the most traditional cannabis concentrates, hash is made up of the plant’s sticky trichomes (also called kief), which have been pressed into a ball or brick.
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Kief and Sift: Kief (also known as sift) is a green powder made up of the cannabis flower’s trichomes.
The type of cannabis product and consumption method — inhaling or ingesting — depends on the desired effect and your experience with consuming cannabis.
Concentrates are an especially potent form of cannabis. If you choose to consume concentrates, start with a low dose.
Methods of consumption
Cannabis concentrates can be consumed in a variety of ways. Choosing a method of consumption depends on personal preference. Many can be vaped in a concentrate-specific vaporizer (or one that has a concentrate attachment), added to dried flower and smoked in a joint, or inhaled using a dab rig.
If you are new to cannabis, dabbing is not recommended. Dabbing involves consuming a cannabis concentrate in oil or wax form by placing it on a very hot surface (called a nail) that is attached to a dab rig. The vapour that is produced is then inhaled through the rig. It is a complicated process that can produce strong, immediate effects, and it may increase your risk for experiencing negative effects, which could include toxic psychosis, orthostatic hypotension (a sudden drop in blood pressure) and acute impairment.
How much should I consume?
The way you consume cannabis concentrates will alter the onset, duration and intensity of effects, so even if you have consumed cannabis before, start low and go slow.
To avoid consuming too much, start with a very small amount, especially if you are trying a new product, and wait at least two hours to see how it affects your body before taking more.
To avoid consuming too much, start with a very small amount and wait at least two hours to see how it affects your body before consuming more.
Although there are rough estimates of the intensity and longevity of the effects produced by cannabis concentrate products, they depend on many personal factors, such as your weight and sex, how much food you consumed prior to consumption and your metabolic rate.
Potency of concentrates vs dried cannabis
Cannabis concentrates are typically much stronger than dried flower. Because of the way they’re made (extracting the cannabinoids and terpenes from the plant), the result is a super-concentrated product.
While dried flower typically has THC levels between 10% and 25%, concentrates can surpass that with THC levels over 50%, sometimes even reaching 90% or higher.
Tips for navigating the potency of concentrates
Here are some ways to help navigate the potency and dosage of cannabis concentrates.
- Learn your tolerance. If you’re new to cannabis concentrates, it’s hard to know how your body will react to them. Start with low doses to understand your tolerance.
- Start low and go slow. Since concentrates tend to have higher amounts of THC than other formats, begin with a low dosage, and, if you choose to, increase gradually.
- Read the labels. All legal cannabis comes in packaging that includes the THC and CBD content. For concentrates, this would be indicated as milligrams per gram. Learn more about understanding the cannabinoid content on product labels.
Why buy legal?
When you purchase a cannabis concentrate from the legal market, either through OCS.ca or an Authorized Cannabis Store, you can be sure the THC and CBD content in the product is correct. Cannabis concentrates can be highly concentrated — the latest extraction methods can create a product that is over 90% THC — so there is the potential for overconsumption. Concentrates available through the OCS that are meant to be inhaled can contain no more than 1,000 mg of THC per package.
Buying legal cannabis concentrates ensures the product does not contain any harmful solvents that may be found in products in the illegal market.
