What is kief and how do you use it?

Kief is a term that refers to trichomes that have been separated from the cannabis plant. Cannabis kief contains significantly less plant matter than whole cannabis flowers and is rich in cannabinoids, making it a highly potent cannabis product.

Kief is also commonly referred to as “keef”, “cannabis crystals”, “chief” or simply “dust” due to its particulate nature. It can be harvested from marijuana leaves, flowers and plants by dry sieving cannabis with a kief box.

Another common way to extract kief is to grind marijuana with a 3-chamber grinder; The powdery substance under the mesh screen is kief.

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How to smoke kief

Kief is a powdered substance, so it’s best to combine kief with cannabis flower when smoking. A popular way to smoke kief is to roll a kief joint, where you mix your bud with kief and then roll a joint. If you want to smoke kief without cannabis flower, you can use a pipe, bong, or dry herb vaporizer. Many kief lovers prefer vaping kief.

How to use kief

There are many ways to use kief, even if you don’t want to smoke it. Here are some ideas to inspire you:

Kief makes it easy to infuse your kitchen creations with cannabis. Use like cannabis flower, but be careful as kief is stronger than flower. Another great reason to make edibles with kief is that kief contains less plant matter. As a result, the flavor of cannabis does not overpower the flavors of the main baking ingredients.

Whip de-carbonated kief with milk or cream, mix with your coffee or tea and enjoy a delicious kief-like concoction.

• Use kief to make weed oil

Infuse olive oil or coconut oil with decarb kief to make cannabis oil. Read this if you don’t know how to decarb weed. Follow our recipe (substitute kief for cannabis) to make weed oil at home and store your infused oil out of direct sunlight for two to three weeks.

Hash is often made with kief. Non-solvent hash is easy to make, and you can easily make it with a kief press and a heat source. Here are the steps to make a non-solvent hash:

1. Using a kief scraper, scoop kief into a mold.
2. Heat your kief mold with an indirect flame.
3. Pour the heated kief into a kief press.
4. Squeeze or press on the press. Keep the pressure up until the kief turns into bricks, blocks, or balls.

Here’s how to make hash at home.

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Photo by James Kaliwae/Wikimedia Commons

Start your cannabis wellness journey

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Sam Anderson is Content Director at Jointly, a cannabis wellness company powered by a proprietary data platform to help people reach their full potential. The company was founded on the premise that purposeful cannabis use is the key to a better you. This article originally appeared on Jointly and has been republished with permission.