What is Kief, and How Do You Use It?

If you zoom in on your favourite bud, you can feast your eyes on its glitter of trichomes: the crystals that grow on the cannabis flower that contain THC, CBD, and other terpenes. If you sift these from your bud, and collect them all together, you've got what's known as kief!

Why Use Kief?

Kief is known not only for its high potency, but its potent aromas. Kief is high in terpenes and offers a more concentrated form of cannabis.

Many people enjoy kief because it’s easy to collect and offers a different and more powerful experience. Regardless of your preferred method of using kief, it typically leads to a stronger high. While there are a lot of concentrated cannabis options available, some of them can be tough to create yourself. Kief is potent, easy to collect, and chances are, you already have it at home.

Kief is also a preferred choice because it doesn’t require any extra tools or special knowledge to collect or use it, and doesn't require that you use chemical solvents for extraction.

How to Collect Kief

Before you use kief, you have to learn how to collect it. There are a few popular ways of collecting kief, including:

• Use a Kief Catcher: You can use a kief catcher to catch kief when grinding cannabis. The kief catcher is below the cannabis grinder and catches the resin glands. The best grinder for collecting kief is a three-chamber grinder.

• Use a Kief Screen: Kief silk mesh screens can also help collect kief. Micro screens come in small wooden boxes, sometimes referred to as kief boxes.

• Buy Kief in Stores: If you don’t want to wait to collect kief with other methods, you can always buy it in a cannabis store.

• Kief Sifter: You can freeze your bud and then use a kief sifter to dry sift through it.

The good news is if you have cannabis, you already have kief. You just have to collect it for use. Learning how to separate kief from the cannabis bud is easy. Grinders are also cheap and easy to use. As you learn how to collect kief, you’ll also get better at it. You’ll learn to recognize the different kief grades and eventually how to filter out pure kief. Pure kief refers to the parts of the cannabis that are 99% pure trichomes.

How Do You Use Kief?

Once you've got enough kief for use, either through kief catchers or buying it in bulk, it’s time to enjoy its potent effects. Here are a few favourite methods of using kief:

Add Kief to a Bowl or Joint

You can sprinkle a few pieces of kief on top of a packed bowl of cannabis. Smoking kief by crowning a bowl of dried flower will increase its potency, and dial up its flavour. You can also sprinkle some kief on top of a rolled joint or blunt. Add your favourite weed to the bottom of the joint, and then add kief to the top.

If you want an even stronger hit, consider rolling a joint or blunt with just kief. Keep in mind that kief is much stronger than most dried flower, so take care to portion it right. You can also use the cornering method to increase potency, which means lighting a specific portion of the bowl or bong, so it doesn’t burn up as fast.

Keep in mind that kief continues burning after you light it. This means you’ll want to only add the amount of kief you intend to use!

Cook Kief into Edibles

It’s also possible to cook kief into edibles. You can also create kief coffee or tea for a morning or afternoon pick me up. The heat reacts with the kief and activates the cannabinoids, leading to a better experience.

All you need is some parchment paper, a heat source like a hair straightener or rosin press, and you’re ready to use kief in the kitchen.

Make Cannabutter

Some people cook kief into dishes like edible cannabis oil butter, which you can then use to cook brownies or cupcakes. Cannabutter is a product that mixes cannabis buds together with kief. You can make cannabutter ahead of time to use it when baking. If you plan on this DIY method, be sure to decarboxylate the kief to activate the THC first. You can do this by baking it in the oven for 4-8 minutes at 300 degrees.

If you want to learn how to make cannabutter, check out our cannabutter guide here!

Dab Kief

You could also dab kief using a cannabis concentrate with kief oil or hash oil. If using kief alone, make sure your smoking gear is good to use with kief, like dried flower compatible devices. Because kief is larger, it can easily clog up your dab rig or vaporizer. Cleaning your dab rig or vape pens in between uses can help them last longer.

Create Moon Rocks

If you want to get creative, making moon rocks is a fun way to enjoy kief. You can create moon rocks by coating nugs with your favourite concentrate. Then, roll the coated nugget in kief using a piece of parchment paper.

Ready to start playing around with kief? Grab some of your favourite dried flower and get started!