What is Weed’s new CRC technology and can it harm you?
“Gold is good” used to be the common wisdom when it came to buying cannabis extracts, but not anymore.
The advent of new methods of making hash, as well as cleaning up dirty hash, means the old tricks don’t always work. Thanks to the “Color Remediation Column (CRC) technology” or “CRC tech” or “CRC” for short, the color of an oil extract is no longer a guarantee of its quality or origin.
This new post-extraction process allows hash makers to dramatically lighten the color of marijuana oil and remove unpleasant odors and even pesticides.
Like any new technology, CRC has sparked controversy. Some claim it is safe and just another way to clean up low quality cannabis oil.
Others say it’s a scam: it makes low-quality, dirty distillate look like premium living resin. Safety data are limited and tests for CRC contamination are lacking – even in legalization states.
What is CRC Technology?
CRC Tech, which stands for Color Remediation Column Technology, primarily refers to butane hash oil, a popular type of marijuana extract.
Many legal and illegal hashmakers now use a “paint remediation column” – often a steel bottle (column) filled with a filter medium such as sand – during extraction to filter out contaminants. CRC changes the color of an inferior hash oil from almost black or dark brown to light gold or even white.
The use of CRC technology appears to be both widespread and controversial.
- States with legal cannabis programs generally do not require disclosure of the use of CRC technology.
- Laboratories are generally not required to test for contamination of CRC media.
- And just as sneakerheads avoid buying fake “Abibas”, serious Hashheads don’t want to be tempted to buy them living resin that’s not really live.
CRC technology is not a thing – it is a whole class of devices and methods of post-extraction processing that is being expanded daily.
There is no one size fits all for CRC and a wide range of substances can be used for filtration, including:
- Activated carbon,
- Bentonite clay,
- Magnesium,
- Kieselguhr,
- and silica.
Often a combination of different filter media is used, sometimes in several steps.
Marcus Moates, the owner of Nature’s Lab Extracts, has been making extracts on the legal market since 2008. He has worked in California, Nevada, and Oklahoma.
Moates said CRC is a workable tool. This allows extractors to remove the green-brown plant pigment chlorophyll, “and other things that you get with inferior material”.
It was clear to him that there is “no standard” for CRC and that everyone has their own CRC method.
CRC is more than just color
Although it is a “paint cleanup column,” the equipment is not used solely for paint cleanup, experts told Leafly.
Some manufacturers may only use it to lighten the color of an oil. But industry experts said CRC is being used even more often to remove pesticide residues, off-flavors, or even by-products from processes like the synthetic conversion of CBD or ∆9 to ∆8-THC.
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Who uses CRC technology?
Aside from everyone having their own method, CRC is literally everywhere.
“I don’t think there are many who don’t use CRC,” said Moates, estimating that over 90% of the national market use some CRC elements.
“In Oklahoma, I’ve been to hundreds of labs and they were all CRC,” and in Nevada, “it was like pulling teeth to get people to quit CRC.”
Besides NLE, Moates could only imagine one other large company that does not operate CRC.
How old is CRC technology?
While public awareness of CRC is just beginning to explode, serious industry leaders have known about it for years.
Victor Pinho is a longtime activist and co-founder of Emerald Farm Tours from the Bay Area. Pinho first heard about the method in 2016.
“Extractors realized that they could run oils through a variety of media that could lighten the oil.”
Moates confirmed Pinho’s timeline: “CRC started going mainstream in 2017, but there were already people using it but no one talked about it.”
How secure is CRC hash?
Thanks to online discussions on places like reddit.com, some people googled “Can CRC wax kill you?”
Research and safety data on CRC technology products certainly remains thin.
We have some long term studies of bentonite clay and diatomite miners. Workers in caves breathed high concentrations of this fine sand daily for years and toxic levels were quantified. It can cause respiratory damage if inhaled, the seller said. Silica gel too.
GRAS label not relevant
Many CRC materials are labeled “Generally Recognized As Safe” by the Food and Drug Administration. But “GRAS” applies to foods intended for the lining of the stomach, not to inhalation products that are burned and sprayed on lung tissue.
Some GRAS materials, such as bentonite clay, have been used in the processing of food oils for years. But the FDA has also issued warnings about certain brands whose clay contained high levels of lead.
California’s extremely strict laboratory testing requirements would trap all heavy metals in legal pot products. Contamination of CRC media can also fail visual inspections.
CRC media not tested
However, the regulatory authorities do not require a test for CRC media.
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Moates finds it “interesting” that CRC has been adopted en masse without there being a test. “No laboratories yet test the substances in the filter media,” he said.
Pinho supported CRC but also emphasized the importance of testing.
“At the end of the day, if it passes the tests and there’s nothing harmful to people, it’s just a cleaner product.”
Industry expert Victor Pinho, Emerald Farm Tours
“It’s just another remedial means,” Pinho told Leafly, adding that the sulfur from a sulfur burn with pesticides can be removed by running the oil over charged copper balls.
“At the end of the day, if it passes the tests and there is nothing harmful to people, it just makes a cleaner product,” he said.
A clean CRC hash is possible
On the other hand, experts say any decent hash lab can remove CRC media from an oil by simply filtering it with a 0.45 nanometer filter.
Repeating Pinho, Moates said, “I know there are a lot of concerns about the media itself getting into the finished product, but as long as you pass it all through a fine micrometer sieve, nothing will get through.”
However, due to a lack of testing on CRC media in the illegal or legal cannabis market, there is always the possibility of contamination.
The main harm from CRC is less terpenes
Pinho noted that the main disadvantage of CRC is that it removes terpenes, as there is no evidence that CRC media could end up in extracts. But if someone runs a distillate, it doesn’t matter because it is already terpene-free.
While he said that if CRC is found to be harmful in any way, “it should be disclosed,” there is currently no harm from which we can go beyond reducing terpenes.
How to recognize CRC wax
A big question people want to answer is how to tell if something they just bought was made with CRC. Experts gave us some tips.
For one, CRC tech products can usually be found in BHO trolleys and dabs. In contrast, many people prefer natural or solvent-free extracts – like bubble hash, kief, rosin, and live rosin.
Sniff for synthetic smells
Veteran cannabis journalist Jimi Devine says “the dead giveaway is a lime-aid smell,” since CRC removes some of the terpenes, many extractors will replace them with non-cannabis terpenes.
“I want to build a Margaritaville CRC line for customers,” joked Devine. Custy is a slang term for an unsuspecting customer.
Moates also commented on the taste aspect, saying, “If you put too much CR material in a column, you easily overdo it and it can taste like chemicals.”
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Indicates unnatural colors
Instead of focusing on what to sniff for, Moates focused on what to look for. He said that “a uniform white color is a dead sign that something has been done with CRC.”
Mature trichome heads are naturally amber in color, Moates explained. Even high-quality extracts have a slight yellow tinge.
The bottom line is that it is more difficult than ever to match the quality of the eyeball. And it’s always worth asking your budtender and hash maker more about what’s going into your cart and, with it, your lungs.
Mitchell Colbert
Mitchell Colbert is a freelance journalist who has written for Cannabis Now, Hemp Magazine, Green Flower Media, High Times, the Wine Industry Advisor, and other cannabis and alcohol-related publications. He heads the political strategy firm Full Spectrum Strategy, where he helps cannabis vaporizer companies make products more sustainable. He is also a senior lecturer at Oaksterdam University teaching everything from business administration to income methods.
TW: @MitchellColbert | IG: @MitchellRColbert
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