CBD Shatter vs Wax: What's the Difference?

If you’re here, you’re pretty far down the CBD rabbit hole.

You may be looking for an anxiety management solution, or you may want to start a home business making CBD vape pens with your own custom terpene blend.

Regardless, perhaps you’re interested in the world of CBD concentrates upon realizing the unfair price inflation for many consumer CBD products.

In that case, you’ll want to know about CBD shatter vs wax.

Stay with us and we’ll cover FAQs like what the types of CBD concentrates are and the benefits of each.

What is CBD Shatter

CBD “shatter” products are products made up of concentrated CBD.

You can make shatters of varying cannabinoids.

Shatter is just any cannabinoid that has been crystallized into powder and then pressed. When handled, the solid will “shatter.” It should have the consistency of hard candy.

Usually, you’ll find shatters yellowy and translucent. A CBD Shatter is more likely to look whitish in color.

A CBD “shatter” can then be vaped, put in a dab pen, or consumed sublingually. The benefits of CBD shatter include its pleasing texture and how easy it is to consume and handle.

How Shatters Are Made

Marijuana and hemp plants have frost-like silver hairs called trichomes that contain terpenes and cannabinoids. Producers dissolve these trichomes in a pure solvent. They will then vaporize a solvent that contains the desired cannabinoids.

The next step is to chill a tank of the solvent to condense the vapors, and from there they will process the solvent (usually butane hash oil) into shatter.

Cannabis shatters gain the translucent glassy texture from a purging process of 24 hours at low temperatures.

What is CBD Wax?

CBD wax is another form of cannabis concentrate. In terms of how to use CBD wax, it can also be dabbed, vaped, or consumed sublingually.

CBD wax is commonly a byproduct of other cannabis extraction methods, but it is no less potent.

You can find it in many potencies, ranging from 5%-20%.

Both shatter and wax belong to the family of concentrated CBD products; isolated, extracted, and lab-processed CBD. The essential difference between CBD shatter and CBD wax is that users consider CBD wax to have a different texture. Instead of shattering when handled, the wax may crumble instead, or exhibit a range of textures in between.

How to Handle Wax and Shatter

Users often prefer to shatter to wax because they consider shattering more stable and easier to work with.

Some like to shatter the solid, while others use a hot knife to break off small pieces. Shatter is a lot easier to work with when it is heated; it can even stretch like taffy.

Wax can be more crumbly or “buddery.” A convenient way to use CBD wax would be to put it in a vape or dab pen.

Both of these products can also be consumed sublingually. You can heat up some peanut butter, oil, or honey, and consume it together with the isolate for a more pleasing experience.