On November 4, 2022, Alchemist Ventures became the first-and-only social equity lab in the state of Maryland. While cause for great celebration, it was after the approval of their license that the hard work really began.
Successfully launching several brands with different product lines, in an already established market, is no easy feat – but this company gracefully slid its way into the scene and onto the shelves of stores statewide, before solidifying their status as one of Maryland’s finest concentrate producers. Since then, they have continuously pumped out fire drops of hash rosin, temple ball hash and live resin. Their solventless brands include Eden Solventless and Temple, while their hydrocarbon counterpart goes by Alchemist Concentrates.
Diving into the labor of love that is hash rosin, you start with flower that is fresh frozen immediately after it has been harvested. At Alchemist, this flower is run through a PurePressure Bruteless hash-washing system. Essentially, this is a 65-gallon drum filled with reverse osmosis water and ice. The fresh frozen Cannabis is dumped into the mixture and the trichomes are broken off of the buds via agitation. At this point, a slurry of ice water hash is scooped onto trays for drying. Once dry, it’s time to transform it into hash rosin.
The process begins by placing the hash in micron mesh bags, and then into a large piece of parchment paper. Moving over to the rosin press (consisting of two heated plates that press together), the parchment paper containing the mesh filled with hash is placed on the bottom plate. A button is pushed and the plates squish together, releasing a beautiful oil through the screen and into the surrounding parchment, while keeping what is left of the plant matter in the micron bag. The resulting glistening and golden oil is hash rosin – one of the most delectable forms of dabbing known to mankind.
Not all of the bubble hash is used for hash rosin though, as some of it is made into their temple balls – a form of hash which has been used all over the world for thousands of years. Typically temple balls are rubbed into hash by hand, taking large amounts of ice water hash and rolling it into a smooth consistency that can be thrown into joints, topped on bowls or smoked with a glow wand. This is taking the artform back to its roots, and hash heads have definitely flocked to this product from Alchemist.
Lab Director Shawn Toronto gets his expertise from the traditional market, along with attending Oaksterdam University and graduating in 2016. He has been killing it on the solventless side, but we can’t forget about the outstanding quality of the hydrocarbon extracts coming out of this lab. The Dosidos 22 live resin apple sauce they produce remains one of my favorite BHOs I have ever smoked. Those cakey and doughy flavors are always a ticket to a comforting, zen-like state. After witnessing the evident “passion for hashin” that Shawn and his team members bring to their work, the impeccable quality of the products they produce makes all the more sense. These people love making and smoking hash, and they’re the exact individuals we want to see producing it for the masses.
While it can be easy to lose yourself in the sea of hashy delights coming from Alchemist, the social equity aspect of this lab – including watching the diverse team of dedicated professionals, who have all been trained by top tier hash makers – is where the already great work being done turns to gold. Without a doubt, this is a highly empowered group of hash heads … and a team you can’t help but root for.
