Hand Rub Hash

Marijuana Horticulture

by Jorge Cervantes

Hand rubbing hash is simple and easy, but horridly inefficient and wasteful. All you need to hand rub are a good pair of hands, adequate cannabis buds, and desire. Much of the resin falls to the ground or becomes lost deep within buds or sticks to other foliage. Overall hand rubbed hash is lower quality and contains more debris than sieved or water-extracted hash.

Hand rubbing is most common in the Himalayan Foothill regions of Nepal, India, and Kashmir where “charas” (the Indian word for hand rubbed hash) are fairly common. Most small-scale and commercial growers collect the little bit of hash from their hands and tools during manicuring. This is the closest thing to hand rubbed hash most growers experience.

Plants that are best suited to hand rubbing have sticky resin that adheres to hands much better than it sticks to other foliage. At the same time, the resin must be relatively easy to roll into little balls to remove from hands.

Collect hand rub from healthy, strong, mature plants with green leaves. However, some large leaves may already have started to turn yellow. Remove brown, crisp, and dead foliage before rubbing. Remember, cannabis plants are generally pretty tough and can take vigorous but not abusive rubbing.

Once collected on hands, resin must not be allowed to collect other debris or foliage. Any foreign matter that sticks t resin -laden hands should be able to be brushed off easily.

Gather resin by rubbing individual flowering branches firmly between hands. Slowly move hands up from the bud, continually rubbing back and forth. Rub palms and fingers in between resin covered flower clusters so they come in contact with as much resin as possible. Each branch should be rubbed 20-30 seconds or more. After rubbing a few branches, you settle into the intoxicating, hypnotic rhythm. Aromatic fragrances are released as you rub the buds.

The resin sticks to hands slowly at first, but once they are covered with a light sheen of resin, the accumulation process speeds. Brush off any foliage or debris from hands as soon as it sticks so the resin remains reasonably pure.

To remove the resin from hands, rub your palms together so the resin clusters together into sticky little balls. At first the resin will ball up relatively quickly. Lump the balls together to form a single piece. Use this piece to rub on resin that is still n your hand to hep remove it. If hands are mist or sweaty, soak up moisture with a paper towel before removing hash.

Once collected, knead it in your hand until it reaches your desired consistency. Hand rubbed hash is best enjoyed within a few weeks f collection. Collecting hand rubbed resin is time consuming. An average collector can rub all day and collect a mere five to ten grams!