While California and many other states with an abundance of cannabis flower have seen more and more of it become bubble hash or full melt, those hashes are generally not made using the traditional techniques of Moroccan hash making. Due to the unique, traditional methods employed by Moroccan hash makers, the hashish they produce has been found to be one of the only sources of hashishene in nature.
First Discovery of Hashishene in Hash
In November 2014, a team of French researchers looking at samples of hash they believed to have originated in Morocco noticed the presence of an “unusual monoterpene” that had previously been “reported only once in the past as a minor constituent (<0.1%) of the essential oil of Mentha cardiaca L [Scotch Spearmint Oil].” While previously identified as a minor terpene in Scotch Spearmint, that terpene was unnamed, and due to the large amount observed in the samples of hashish (10.2% median value per sample), the researchers called it hashishene.
This preliminary study was done looking at just 15 grams of hash, and it is possible that a larger sample size may have had different results, but no follow up studies on hashishene have been completed. Those 15 grams represented just 11 different samples of hashish, which is a pretty small sample size, out of those, the hashishene total ranged “from 1.1 to 14.9%.” To clarify for anyone not familiar with hashish, it is a solventless concentration of cannabis trichomes, generally not decarboxylated, which is very different from BHOs, CO2 oil, Iso hash, distillate, and all other sorts of chemical extracts of trichomes.
Conversion from Myrcene
You might now be wondering, “where does hashishene come from?” The answer is from the terpene myrcene, specifically, through a process similar to decarboxylation, where UV light and exposure to oxygen causes the myrcene to convert to hashishene. Both terpene molecules have the exact same atoms but in a different arrangement. According to the researchers “During the hashish manufacturing process, beta-myrcene (a natural hydrocarbon found in the cannabis plant) is rearranged. This occurs through photo-oxidation in the presence of light and oxygen.”
That photo-oxidation is the main thing that separates traditional Moroccan hashish from the more modern methods like bubble hash and full melt, and why hash made in America is generally assumed to be devoid of hashishene. In Morocco, once the cannabis plants are harvested “The Sun dries these plants on the rooftops of the same shacks they use to process and package all their material.” Beyond that initial drying of the plants, the hashish itself is then dried in the sun between multiple steps of sieving and then more drying in the sun. The resulting hashish is known by many names around the world, in Spain, it is known “as “pollen” if it’s dirty-blonde and crumbles, or “paki” if it has a play-dough consistency along with a darker color.”
In the U.S., that process would generally not be possible, as it exposes the plants to all kinds of contaminants that would result in failed tests. A study of contaminants in Morrocan hash revealed shocking amounts of contamination by e coli and other serious adulterants, likely from the production and transportation methods used.
Other Plant Sources of Hashishene
As trace amounts of hashishene were found in a sample of Scotch Spearmint, it is possible it converted from myrcene in the plant when exposed to UV light. If that is true, then it is possible that there are trace amounts of hashishene in all kinds of plants with myrcene, but if that were the case, it wouldn’t be as rare in the scientific literature and would have been observed in mangoes, hops, and other common sources of myrcene.
Medical Effects Are Unknown
Even though hashishene was discovered nearly a decade ago, no research has been done to observe potential medical benefits or potential harms of it. Presumably, it may function similar to myrcene, but there is no way to know for certain without more and better research.
If a consumer wants to experience hashishene, and they live in a state with legal homegrowing, they should look into traditional Moroccan hashmaking methods, and do their best to re-create those, as it is unlikely any company in any legal state market is using them to make hash. In California, Nasha’s hand-pressed temple balls are the closest, but it is unclear if their cannabis was cured/dried in the sun, which is a critical step for hashishene formation. With some experimentation, it could be possible to recreate the right amount of UV light to produce hashishene in a controlled, pest-free setting (unlike cannabis left to dry on a rooftop).
MISCALCULATIONS AND INCORRECT ASSUMPTIONS IN THE ARTICLE:
“due to the large amount observed in the samples of hashish (10.2% median value per sample), the researchers called it hashishene.”
&
“…the hashishene total ranged “from 1.1 to 14.9%.””
Suggesting that the hashish analysed had a median hashishene content of 10.2% is WRONG; in fact the paper actually states that “…compound 11 (hashishene) was detected among the most abundant volatile compounds present in the headspace, ranging from 1.1 to 14.9% (median value: 10.2%)…”
This is actually saying that the hashishene represented up to 14.9% of compounds vaporised (the volatile headspace) for the Gas Chromatography method of analysis and thus the hashishene is actually in much smaller amounts in the hashish i.e. it forms a large portion of the volatile compounds (essential oil) of the hashish, but this is actually only a tiny % of the hash weight (as it is of the whole cannabis flowers too).
“…through a process similar to decarboxylation, where UV light and exposure to oxygen causes the myrcene to convert to hashishene.”
In fact this photo-oxidation cyclisation (ring forming) reaction, where the same number of carbon atoms are preserved, has absolutely no similarity to the THC-A to THC decarboxylation reaction which forms more than two molecules from one and a carbon atom is lost (forming CO2) from the original THC-A ‘skeleton’.
“As trace amounts of hashishene were found in a sample of Scotch Spearmint, it is possible it converted from myrcene in the plant when exposed to UV light. If that is true, then it is possible that there are trace amounts of hashishene in all kinds of plants with myrcene, but if that were the case, it wouldn’t be as rare in the scientific literature and would have been observed in mangoes, hops, and other common sources of myrcene.”
In fact your assumption is WRONG, since that’s just not how phyto-chemistry research works. It is in fact highly dependent upon the ability of the analytical machines available, which have improved dramatically in the last few decades to allow the detection of much smaller concentrations of molecules as well as very unstable molecules.
The first commercial GC-MS machines were only released in 1968, so it was still considered ‘new’ technology in 1972, the year the first study found hashishene in another plant in trace amounts (<0.1%) and it is highly unlikely that it was added to any available mass spectrum database (used to identify compounds via MS) at that time and this seems to be confirmed again by the research paper stating (section 3.2) that the hashishene was identified “…by its mass spectrum available in ONLY ONE commercial MS databank (Massfinder 4.0, Germany).” In other words no-one (researcher) has been even ‘looking’ to find or identify some obscure trace terpene molecule (now named hashishene) amongst thousands of others in thousands of species of plants being analysed.
My guess is that hashishene will indeed be found as a trace component in many (if not all) species of plants which produce myrcene, essentially as a natural (non-enzymatic) environmental (UV light) degradation product of that myrcene.
In fact hashishene truly is such a ‘trace’ compound: on page 201 (section 2.2) of the research paper it states that hashishene represented ~4.5% of a 1.1 gram fraction isolated from 15 grams of hashish – that’s 4.5% of 1.1 grams divided by original 15 grams of hashish i.e. (0.045 X 1.1)/15 X 100 = 0.33% hashishene w/w content in the hashish.
Interestingly that figure is remarkably similar to the <0.1% hashishene content found in Mentha cardiac essential oil in 1972.
“Presumably, it may function similar to myrcene…”
That’s a totally unfounded presumption, since all available knowledge about the pharmacology of terpenes shows radically different pharmacological activity with very minor changes in structure. In fact Myrcene is used to commercially manufacture (in very few steps) other terpenes as well as terpenoids such as menthol, citral, citronellol, citronellal, geraniol, nerol, and linalool – all of which have different smells, tastes and other pharmacological properties.
Wrong
Great article! I’m a relatively new cannabis user and I’ve been wanting to learn more about hash. This article was really informative and it helped me to understand the different types of hash and how they’re made. I’m definitely going to try some hash soon!
This is what we called the medium type of hash and the best of all was skunk from Afghanistan 2nd was the black temple balls .last time I saw them in the process of getting made Nepal for the hand ✋️ rubbing live bud’s. Lebanon has the same place as the Moroccan red Hard to get ahold of was Columbian brown, known as Coffee bean and extremely strong.