What is 3x filtered?

From Rowjay (in High et fines Herbes) to CBD shops, the hash world now has just one word on its lips: triple-filtered, also known as 3x. But is the quality of this technically-derived product always up to scratch? And does it guarantee quality?

Deciphered by our sieve and marketing experts.

What is 3x filtered?

To get to the filtered 3x, let's first go back to the hashish-making techniques. Historically, and particularly in North Africa, hashish is created by threshing dried cannabis plants. A sieve is then used to filter the trichomes that detach from the plants. The sieve also serves to prevent as much plant matter as possible from polluting the result of mechanical extraction.

The trichomes, These small resinous glands, which contain the active ingredients of cannabis - cannabinoids and terpenes - have predefined sizes. It is generally estimated that they range from 25 to 200 microns in diameter. Once separated from the flowers and compressed, they give rise to cannabis «resin», or hash.

While the hashish manufacturing process has always been manual, a technical innovation perfected the separation of trichomes in the 1980s: the hash oil separator. Pollinator. This kind of washing machine drum separates the trichomes from the plants using centrifugal force. A sieve is included to filter the trichomes from the plant material. In parallel with this development, water extractions have also made this part of the work easier and the bubble bags, sieves, which overlap one another, were invented to harvest different sizes of trichomes.

These two innovations have made hash and hash lovers« work easier, and introduced a diversity of sieves. Generally speaking, hash producers use sieves ranging from 190, 160, 70, 45 to 25 microns. Not all material before or after these sizes is used. Screen sizes are sometimes noted as 90u, 120u, which corresponds to the symbol »µ" (micron)...

The 3x filtered is therefore simply the assembly of 3 different qualities of sieving with filtrations between each to remove the maximum amount of plant matter or waste.

Is filtered 3x better than another hash?

Each size of sieve filters different trichomes. Depending on their size, the composition of the trichomes changes, and with it their proportion of cannabinoids. or terpenes. At this stage, and even if 90 microns are generally considered to be only «top quality», there are no definite rules for determining what is «best».

Depending on the phenotype, or whether a variety has been grown outdoors or indoors, the sieve size can change for an equivalent result in terms of organoleptic quality.

In the end, there's no accounting for taste. The only sure thing is that 3x filtered, When done seriously, it brings out tastes and effects that a whole-plant hash will find harder to achieve. It is also longer and more meticulous to produce. And that's why it's often more expensive and highly promoted in legal stores.

On the other hand, when a 3x filtered hash contains 220 microns (or anything above 160), this is tantamount to saying that it's made with the «waste» from extraction. Much less saleable when you know it 🙂