How To Store Cannabis Concentrates

Concentrates such as oils, shatter, waxes, and tinctures are great ways to enjoy cannabis. You can dab them, make them into edibles, use them orally, or with a vaporizer. But what if you don’t finish your stash all in one sitting? Most types of concentrates can go bad if you don’t store them properly. Before you know it, your quality concentrate has lost its flavour and potency. You obviously don’t want this to happen!

Cannabis, just like the foods you keep in your fridge, is a natural product that contains many compounds responsible for its potency, taste, and aroma. You may know about the cannabinoids THC and CBD, but cannabis also contains aromatic compounds called terpenes. What’s important to know is that all these substances are quite delicate, and they can spoil or degrade over time.

Since even the biggest stoners will unlikely use all of their concentrate in one day, you want to protect these substances to retain the utmost quality. With proper storage, you can do just that.

WHAT CAN HAPPEN IF YOU DON’T PROPERLY STORE YOUR CONCENTRATES

A lot of bad things can happen to your concentrate if you decide not to put effort into storage. Moisture and humidity in the air can lead to the growth of mould and mildew; heat and exposure to light will break down the cannabinoids, causing it to lose potency. In addition, your product can also become stale, harsh, or lose its flavour.

There is also, of course, the risk of your concentrate being spoiled by environmental contaminants such as dust, pet hair, bugs, and other foreign substances. Not only are these gross to ingest, they can even be harmful, especially if your concentrate comes into contact with any household cleaners or other chemicals.

HOW LONG CAN YOU STORE CONCENTRATES?

How long you can keep your concentrates will primarily depend on the method of storage. Although concentrates should retain their potency indefinitely (with some natural degradation of cannabinoids), it all depends on how well you’ve set your product up for successful storage.

For example, if you just want to keep your concentrate for a few weeks, a suitable silicone container with a lid should do the trick. Simply keep it in a cool and dry place, and you should be fine. If, on the other hand, you want to keep your concentrates fresh for many months, you’ll want to look into other methods, such as freezing your concentrates.

HOW YOU CAN STORE YOUR CONCENTRATES

Now let’s look at the best storage options for your cannabis concentrates, depending on how long you need to keep them fresh:

ONE WEEK

If you just need to store your concentrates for a few days, up to one week, the best way is to use non-transparent silicone containers. Silicone is optimal since it won’t allow your waxes or other concentrates to stick to the sides of the container. Optimally, you want your storage container only as large so it can hold your concentrate, with as little air possible left in the container.

The other important thing for short-time storage, aside from using proper containers, is where you store them. Although this may not be as important if you only want to keep your stash for some days, you should still place your containers in a dark and cool location like a cupboard. Make sure to keep them away from light and heat.

SEVERAL WEEKS

For medium-term storage, such as when you want to keep your concentrates fresh for up to one month, it needs a little more work. First, make sure that you have suitable glass containers with an airtight lid. If you have a larger amount of concentrate, it is better to split your stash into several pieces. Wrap each piece in non-stick baking paper and then place into a ziplock bag that you can seal up. Place each bag into the glass mason jar or similar, and store in a cool, dry location like a basement or cupboard.

LONG-TERM STORAGE (SEVERAL MONTHS)

Many types of cannabis concentrates won’t keep for several months unless you freeze them, but freezing comes with its own downsides (see below). Then again, you can keep alcohol-based cannabis tinctures for some months if you use clean glass bottles. How long you can keep them will normally depend on the percentage of alcohol in the tincture and whether the tincture also contains other spoilable ingredients. Stored this way, tinctures may keep for several months, up to one year.

Tip: If you obtain ready-made tinctures or oils from your dispensary or elsewhere, they usually come with recommendations on how to best store them, and for how long. So make sure that you read these recommendations. Most of the time, keeping them chilled in your fridge will be the best thing for keeping them fresh and potent for as long as possible.

FREEZING YOUR CANNABIS CONCENTRATES

If you have wax, shatter, or oils and are looking to store them for a very long time, you do not have many options aside from freezing your stuff. Freezing, on the other hand, can be a little risky since the process can affect the quality of your weed if you’re not careful. One issue with freezing is that it may expose your concentrates to humidity, which will degrade its quality. Moreover, freezing can damage the volatile chemicals inside, which means your concentrate is at risk of losing potency.

Here is how you can go about freezing your concentrates with as little risk as possible.

As with the medium-term storage method above, make sure that you have glass airtight containers that are suitable for keeping in the freezer.

Start out with wrapping your concentrates in non-stick parchment paper first, and then put your wrapped goods into resealable ziplock bags. Then, put the entire bagged package into your airtight containers and place the containers into the freezer.

When you finally want to use your frozen concentrates, the critical part here is that you allow them to thaw slowly since the process will create moisture that could ruin your concentrate.

Extra tip: No matter how and for how long you want to store your concentrates, you will likely end up with a bunch of containers in all kinds of places. But your well-meant storage efforts may be for nothing if you end up forgetting what is in what container, and for how long it has been there. But there is an easy solution for that: always mark your storage bags and containers with the date. This allows you to use the oldest concentrates as you need them so you can make optimal use of your stored concentrates!