The modern cannabis user is a far cry from the Cheech and Chong stereotypes of decades ago. They can be your boss, your neighbor, or even your parents. They are doctors, confidently recommending cannabis because they use it themselves. They are comedians flashing their vape pens on camera or writing about them in columns for the media. As various as the strains of marijuana they use, contemporary cannabis users come from all walks of life. However, they can still agree on one point: smoking isn’t the healthiest way to ingest their cannabinoids.
Enter Beyond Buds, Ed Rosenthal’s new book on everything dealing with smokeless, extracted cannabis. Covering a cornucopia of topics, from removing and collecting kief to making concentrates, edibles, and tinctures, Beyond Buds is the most functional book you will buy this year. This isn’t some coffee table time waster. Ed gives comprehensive treatment to what are often complex and difficult methods and concepts, but presents them in a way useful for everyone, from the novice to the expert.
This textbook like publication is packed full of easy to follow step-by-step processes that are clearly written and illustrated with helpful photographs; many sections even include websites where materials can be obtained. One of the most playful of all the how-to’s in the book taught the reader how to make “Hashimals”, in this case a sculpture of a fish carved from hash. Beyond Buds isn’t just an instruction manual, though. It also contains reviews of popular products, such as trimmers, bubble bags, vape pens, and dab rigs — again complete with pictures and websites. There are also pop outs answering popular questions or giving snippets and facts about interesting topics, like storing tinctures and pressing hash.
Vaping, the new darling of the industry, is prominently featured in Beyond Buds, and Ed reveals the mechanics behind vape pens and dab rigs and how to use them properly. All the while, he makes one enduring point. The exceptional potency of dabbing isn’t so we can all get higher, it is so that patients can medicate less — a distinction too often lost on the uninitiated. Concise instructions are given for BHO extraction methods, but not before warning against the dangers of inexperienced BHO extraction. CO2 and solventless procedures are included as safer alternatives. The instructions are incredibly detailed but still simple to follow regardless of experience level.
The other fastest growing medium for cannabis is edibles, and Beyond Buds does the topic justice. Again Ed includes insider tips to produce the best results, as well as warnings about safely respecting potency, a serious concern as new users become curious. Recipes are included for making basic cannabis infusions in oil, butter, flour, and even milk, as well as more complex menu items like pesto, salad dressing, and guacamole.
Rounding out the chapters are the lesser known means of medicating, like topicals and tinctures. For the skeptics out there thinking these are nothing but snake oil, Ed lays out the science of their absorption and makes a case for their use.
Long before prohibition, cannabis was eaten, sipped, and taken in tinctures and pills. Hashish was far more popular than flower, which was rarely smoked before prohibition. The war on drugs more or less quelled these complex manufacturing techniques, forcing users to inhale smoke in order to get their cannabis. Now that prohibition is nearing its logical conclusion, these traditional methods of consumption are returning. For growers often inundated with trim and shake at the end of the growing season, this gives them a way to use this valuable THC. For the rest of us, it opens up a brave new world of medicating possibilities. There is a smokeless cannabis revolution upon us, and Ed Rosenthal’s Beyond Buds is the handbook.
Order your copy here.
