The prohibition on cannabis destroyed the cannabis, hemp, and medical cannabis industries – losing centuries of cannabis farming knowledge. With the legalisation of medical cannabis and industrial hemp, Australia’s cannabis industry is rebuilding itself – including establishing standard definitions (i.e. nomenclature).
To help you navigate this budding field, here are eight popular cannabis farming terms and what they mean in an industrial context.
Flower
Cannabis ‘flower’ is the portion of the cannabis plant that blooms during the flowering stage of growth. Cannabis flower is the juiciest part of the plant, as it is denser in trichomes, terpenoids, and cannabinoids than cannabis leaves and stalks.
Bast
Cannabis ‘bast’ is the name for fibres extracted from the outer cell layer of the stalk of the cannabis plant. Bast is used in industrial cannabis manufacturing, as it has an extremely high cellulose content.
Trim
‘Trim’ is the name for the plant material removed from cannabis flower during harvest. Trim is technically not a harvested product but can be used in making cannabis tinctures.
Fibre
Cannabis ‘fibre’ is the portion of material obtained from the stalk and outer bast of the plant during processing. The term is mostly used in the production of industrial hemp.
Hurd
‘Hurd’ is the name for any material extracted from a cannabis plant through a solvent-based extraction method. This includes waxes, cannabinoids, terpenes, and lipids.
Distillate
Cannabis ‘distillates’ are cannabis oil solutions with a high quantity of a single compound – like CBD. Distillates are used in the manufacturing of edibles, topical products (like skincare) and in cannabis medicines.
Isolate
Cannabis ‘isolates’ are substances that only contain a compound of interest. This includes pure CBD oils. Both isolates and distillates are very potent, but isolates are more carefully refined.
Tincture
Cannabis ‘tinctures’ are highly-potent solutions made by dissolving cannabis in alcohol. Tinctures are taken orally as medicine and are often used in the production of edibles. Cannabis tinctures were first documented in an 1843 medical journal.
