Crumble wax

Crumble, sometimes called crumble wax or honeycomb wax, is a cannabis extract identified by its malleable texture that falls apart, or “crumbles,” when handled.

Unlike other weed concentrates, such as shatter, wax, budder, resin, or cannabis oils, crumble is quite versatile. Not limited to dabbing only, you can easily add it to joints, blunts, or spliffs, or sprinkle crumble over the top of marijuana buds in a bowl or pipe.

The dry, fragmented, and crumbly texture that gives this concentrate its name results from its unique production technique, which involves processing at lower temperatures for a much longer period of time than other concentrates.

While its crumbly consistency can make it harder to handle than concentrates like shatter or budder, crumble wax has a reputation for giving consumers an especially potent and tasty experience.

Photo by: Gina Coleman/Weedmaps

More about crumble

Crumble is an extract, a form of cannabis concentrate produced using a solvent such as butane or CO2 in combination with heat and pressure. But unlike other concentrates, which are generally more viscous, this one is — you guessed it — dry and crumbly. In fact, it is one of the driest extracts on the market.

Brands make crumble using either dried and cured cannabis flowers, or fresh flowers that are quickly frozen at an extremely low temperature. In this case, the end product is technically classified as a type of live resin.

Crumble wax is generally light yellow in color. It typically has the consistency of dry crumbs, but can also have a honeycomb structure that easily falls apart into its more distinctive crumbly texture. Over time, it tends to change color, going from light yellow to amber.

Because it's so crumbly and falls apart so easily, crumble wax can be a bit more difficult to handle than other extracts and concentrates. But its unique solvent purging process may leave intact a very high proportion of the original terpenes and other key compounds such as THC, producing effects that can be ultra flavorful and potent.

How to dab crumble and other cannabis concentrates

Dabbing is by far the most popular way to consume concentrates and extracts. Because concentrates are more potent than flower, dabbing is known for producing a much stronger range of effects. Additionally, because dabbing uses high temperatures to vaporize cannabis rather than burning it, the flavors and aromas you get from this method tend to be much cleaner and more robust. 

Dabbing crumble follows the exact same process as any other concentrate: heat the nail, scoop some crumble onto it, and inhale the vapor. The key difference with crumble is that it's much better to use a spoon-shaped dabber as opposed to a flat-tipped dabber. This makes it easier to scoop the crumble out of its container and get it onto the nail without any crumbles falling off.

You can also use any vape pen that allows you to dab actual globs of concentrate and doesn't restrict you to using cartridges only.

Photo by: Gina Coleman/Weedmaps

How to smoke crumble

Versatility is one of this concentrate's biggest benefits, and there are several simple ways to consume crumble. In addition to dabbing it like any other marijuana concentrate, you can also easily incorporate it into other smoking techniques.

One option is to add it to joints, blunts, or spliffs. Make sure your extract is broken down into relatively small crumbles, then fill your rolling paper or wrapper with flower and sprinkle your crumble evenly across the top of the flower. Finish rolling, spark up, and smoke your crumble-enhanced joint, blunt, or spliff the same way you always do. The flower/crumble combination contains much more THC than flower alone, producing significantly heightened effects.

You can also smoke crumble out of a bong or pipe. Simply pack the bowl with flower, top it off with a bit of crumble, apply heat, and get ready for liftoff.

How to store crumble

As with any form of cannabis, properly storing crumble helps maintain its aroma, flavor, and potency, and slows down the natural degradation of the extract.

Exposure to high temperatures, moisture, oxygen, and light speeds up the degradation process, damaging THC and other cannabinoids. If this happens, you may notice your crumble become darker in color. You may also notice your crumble beginning to lose quality in terms of taste, smell, potency, and effects.

The best way to ensure the longest shelf life possible is to store crumble in an airtight, lightproof container, away from direct light and out of extreme temperatures. Glass or silicone is ideal for this.

How crumble wax is made

Part 1: The basics

First, a warning: the manufacturing of crumble and other cannabis concentrates should only be performed by professionals as these processes can be extremely dangerous and illegal in many jurisdictions.

For health and safety reasons, producing extracts should be left to professionals, as the setup and materials require precision and accuracy, and many of the substances involved are volatile, highly flammable, and can quickly become dangerous.

Crumble can be made with a number of solvents, but butane or supercooled CO2 extraction methods are most common. Propane and ethanol can also be used as solvents.

Whatever the specific solvent used, the extraction process for making crumble is generally the same as shatter, budder, or any other extracts:

1. Begin with dried and cured flower, or for live resin extracts, fresh flower that is quickly frozen at an extremely low temperature immediately after being harvested.
2. Mix the plant matter with the solvent, so that the solvent can extract cannabinoids, terpenes, and other vital chemicals.
3. Separate plant matter from extracted cannabinoids and terpenes.
4. Add heat and/or pressure to vaporize away the solvent, leaving behind a rough cannabis concentrate ready for final processing. 

Photo by: Gina Coleman/Weedmaps

Part 2: What makes it a unique cannabis concentrate

The purging process is the point at which crumble diverges from other weed concentrates. Specifically, crumble is unique in the world of extracts because of the lower temperatures used in the final stages of the extraction process.

After the steps above are complete, distillers pour the extract onto a pan and place it inside a vacuum oven to purge any residual solvents — and to ensure that only marijuana compounds remain in the final product.

Compared to other cannabis extracts and concentrates, crumble is purged at a lower temperature, for a longer duration. In most cases, crumble is purged between 110° Fahrenheit to 135° Fahrenheit (43.33 degrees Celsius to 57.22 degrees Celsius). This low and slow technique essentially dries out the extract, creating the distinctive dry and crumbly characteristics of crumble.

As a slight variation, some producers also whip the initial extract before putting it into the vacuum oven. This gives the final product a lighter, airier texture.

Frequently asked questions

Is crumble the most affordable concentrate?

Another key reason many people like crumble is that it is often one of the most affordable concentrates on the market. According to research conducted by Weedmaps, it's fairly normal to see shatter run somewhere around $40 per gram. Even more expensive, live resin and other types of concentrates typically considered top-shelf can go for as much as $60 per gram or higher.

Photo by: Gina Coleman/Weedmaps

Crumble tends to sell at much more affordable prices. In many parts of the country, you can expect to see prices somewhere around $37.50 per gram. For many fans, that price becomes even more valuable when you consider the versatility of this concentrate. If you're into dabbing, crumble will likely have better prices than anything else you can find to drop onto your nail. And if you're looking to add a huge boost of THC to your joints, spliffs, blunts, or bowls, this is one of the most affordable ways to do it.

Is crumble better than wax?

It depends on what you mean by better. In general, crumble is slightly more difficult to work with than wax, shatter, or other concentrates. That's primarily because the dry, crumbly texture can sometimes be tricky to scoop up, handle, and drop onto your dab nail. However, for many crumble fans, the tradeoff includes benefits such as robust flavor with a potential edge in cannabinoid content, THC levels, and potency — at a lower price point.

How do you make crumble wax?

Making crumble wax is more or less the same as making any other type of cannabis extract in the sense that it involves solvents such as butane or CO2 to extract important chemicals and oils out of cannabis flowers. In a process best left to professionals, crumble gets its unique characteristics from the final purging stage. Purging the wax at lower temperatures for a longer period of time dries out the original wax- or shatter-like extract, creating a dryer, more crumbly final product. The less intense heat in this stage of the process may also leave intact a greater proportion of cannabinoids and terpenes, creating a final product with huge flavor and potency.

Why did my wax turn into crumble?

Technically, your wax did not turn into crumble wax. Rather, your wax probably just dried out and naturally developed a more crumbly texture. True crumble is created by purging an extract at lower temperatures than other concentrates for an extended period of time.

Does crumble wax smell?

Crumble wax tends to produce very pure and strong flavors and aromas. Expect crumble wax to have very strong odors of the terpenes found in the original cannabis flowers used to produce it.