Can Marijuana Concentrates Go Bad?

Have you ever found a leftover gram under the couch or in an old backpack and wondered to yourself: “Does wax go bad?” While cannabis concentrates don’t go bad in a way that will make you sick if you use them, they do have a shelf life. Here’s everything you need to know about old dabs and whether or not you can still smoke them.

What happens when dabs age? 

When dabs age, they degrade just like flower does. The cannabinoids transform and the color will change. For example, THC degrades into CBN which doesn’t offer the same type of high and is instead a powerful sleep medicine. Your once light-yellow or honey-colored concentrates will degrade into a darker amber or rust color, indicating that the cannabinoids are changing and the terpenes are evaporating out.

Speaking of evaporating, concentrates go through what is known as nucleation as they degrade. Simply put, nucleation is when parts of the concentrate start to separate. Factors like time, temperature, and the contaminants and lipids in the concentrates all affect the rate of nucleation.

For example, THC and THCa like to separate during nucleation. Terpenes also like to separate and congeal, which makes a product sugary. Sometimes extractors force this process when making different textures for their concentrates, though with time this happens naturally as they degrade.

So how fast do things nucleate? For ordinary cannabis flower, one study found that cannabis loses 17% of its potency kept at room temperature outside of an airtight container for one year. Other reports suggest up to 50% of THC is lost in things like hash or kief in the same amount of time. However, once crystalized THC is typically pretty shelf stable when its kept away from light in an airtight container. While we don’t have an official report, it’s safe to assume that the THC in concentrates degrades somewhere in between.

Ultimately, when dabs age they lose potency and flavor. They also change color. They don’t go bad in a sense that will make you sick, but they won’t feel like they did when you first got them.

How to store your concentrates to best preserve them

Ultimately, all concentrates are better when they’re used fresh. Realistically speaking, you’ve got about 6 months to enjoy your concentrates at peak freshness if you’re just storing them in the gram container you purchased them in. There are a few things you can do to slow down degradation for longer term storage, though.

To slow down degradation, it helps to keep your concentrates at a cooler temperature and away from sunlight and air. Light exposure can transform the terpenes and other compounds or contaminants and change your concentrate from a fresh golden color to a dark brown. It also speeds up the rate that THC degrades and turns into CBN.

Cooler temperatures increase the shelf life, flavor, and potency of your dab by slowing down the rate that your concentrates nucleate. It also helps to retain the consistency and texture of your concentrate. Keeping your concentrates in an airtight container also prevents them from being exposed to elements like moisture which can cause respiratory problems when dabbed.

Ultimately, this article outlines all the different ways to protect and store your dabs both in the long term and in the short term. We suggest refrigerating your concentrates and placing them into airtight, UV-resistant containers to keep them smelling and tasting fresh for up to a year.

Should you still use older concentrates? 

After a year though, things get a little murky. While some types of hash and solventless concentrates have been known to actually get better with age, most don’t. Most concentrates become dry, off-colored, and less potent.

However, if you estimate losing about 40% of your potency in 2 years, you can still rely on it to get you high. At that point, 40% of your THC will have degraded into CBN, so the concentrate will feel very sedative. You’ll still feel high though, so it’ll get you by in a pinch.

Just take care to avoid the lipids. As a concentrate nucleates, the lipids will separate from the concentrate and congeal together in blobs of white and yellow. Don’t dab those. Those are bad for your lungs and could make you sick. Luckily they’re pretty easy to spot so they’re easy to avoid.

All in all, your mama’s mantra still rings true: when in doubt, just throw it out. With so much good hash out there, there’s no need to waste energy on an ancient gram that won’t look, smell, or get you as high as well as it used to.

FAQ:

Does wax expire?

Wax does not “expire” as such, but it will gradually degrade in flavor and potency over time, especially when exposed to light, heat and air.