The History of THC Wax: From World War II to the Modern Cannabis Market

Learn about the history & origin of THC wax from World War II up until today's modern cannabis market. Discover how it was used as an interrogation method & how it has evolved over time.

The History of THC Wax: From World War II to the Modern Cannabis Market

Hashish arrived in Europe during the 18th century and pharmacists quickly used it to make various forms of cannabis concentrates. The origin of these modern concentrates can be traced back to research conducted in the mid-1940s. Dabs, under different names, began to gain a lasting reputation in the 1970s. It is remarkable to think that the concentrates that now dominate the cannabis market and culture originated just a few decades ago. The history of dabs is rather obscure, and most of it comes from anecdotal stories shared over the past few decades.

Its first real use dates back to World War II, when a man named George White used it as an interrogation method for prisoners of war as a “truth serum”. After the war, he continued to use these techniques, even under scrutiny, in a CIA program known as MK Ultra. Most of the brushstrokes are done with an ornament or a flower as the starting material. When cannabis plants are harvested, the sugar leaves and other plant materials are trimmed from the buds, which is called trimming. A batch of concentrate made with this trim is also called trimming.

According to various sources, Ronald Hadley Stark has been considered a covert CIA agent sent to subvert the counterculture, a dishonest KGB agent sent to foment a new American revolution, a ruthless career criminal disguised as a child with flowers of peace and love, and a shrewd snob who transformed the Brotherhood of Eternal Love from idealistic hippies into international drug traffickers and then helped the government to put an end to them before leaving with all the loot. The extraction process begins with trichomes, the resinous glands of the cannabis plant that contain cannabinoids such as THC and CBD, and terpenes, which are basically the compounds that make you feel high and provide flavor. It then goes to a third chamber called a dewaxing column, which cools between -40 and -90 degrees Celsius. Manufacturers are also looking for new methods to extract THC from cannabis plants, including color correction, in order to improve the appearance and color of the extracts. Processing adjustments can result in extracts of different consistency, which adopt descriptive names from a textual point of view such as breaking, crumbling, battering and throwing and clicking. These are consumed with a spray pen, a bucket of quartz honey, a waxed joint or some other oleoresin roasting platform with an inscrutable name.

Hashish oil with supercritical CO2 tends to leave other cannabinoids such as THCA, CBD, CBG, THCV, CBN and CBT in the final product while other solvents can remove them. As the market has grown, wax has come to mean a softer consistency than crumble but harder than bud. There are several extraction methods that separate trichomes from cannabis plant material to create a cannabis extract. These can have a texture and consistency such as oil, sap, wax, butter, candies, sauce and much more. Gold would incorporate Roger Adam's first discoveries about the conversion of CBD into its THC analog for which it was so popular - also known as isomerization - to create more powerful versions of concentrates for which it was already popular because it was a pioneer. The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and its methods for converting CBD into THC would be used by several pioneers of concentrate art.

He began using hashish in its processing creating hashish oil - a more powerful extract in its final form than due to its higher concentration of THC in hashish. The buds float on the surface of water making it an easy way to separate THC from plants. Wax is a BHO extract that has a more solid texture and generally refers to many textures and types of touch. Cannabis concentrates contain high levels of THC ranging from 40% to more than 90%, higher than high-quality marijuana which normally measures around 20% THC. With such a wide range of THC levels and flavors available it's no wonder they're becoming so popular. To differentiate himself in the burgeoning new legal market of California he had to develop an incredibly efficient manufacturing line to produce his sticky and disgusting wax.