Bubble Hash vs. Temple Balls: What's the Difference?
How bubble hash and Nepali temple balls are made, how they look and feel, and how they compare with kief, pressed hash and hash rosin.
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Hash is one of the oldest ways of working with cannabis, and two of the best-known styles could hardly be made more differently. Bubble hash is a modern, water-washed concentrate. Temple balls are hand-rolled and aged, a tradition from the hills of Nepal. Both start in the same place: the trichomes, the tiny resin glands that cover the cannabis flower.
What is bubble hash?
Bubble hash, also called ice water hash, separates trichomes from the plant using only ice, cold water and movement. No solvents are involved.
- Washing. Cannabis is stirred gently in ice water. The cold makes the trichomes brittle, so they snap off the plant.
- Filtering. The water is poured through a series of mesh bags, each finer than the last, measured in microns. Each bag catches trichomes of a different size.
- Drying. The collected resin is dried slowly, usually by freeze-drying or air-drying, then broken up or left as a loose, sandy powder.
Bubble hash ranges from a light, sandy blond to tan or brown. The cleanest grades are called full melt, because they melt almost completely when heated. Bubble hash is also the starting point for hash rosin: pressing bubble hash with gentle heat squeezes out a sticky, solventless oil.
What are temple balls?
Temple balls come from a much older tradition, associated with Nepal and the Himalayas. Hash is worked by hand, rolled into a tight ball, and then cured: left to age, often for weeks or months.
- Collecting. Resin is gathered by hand-rubbing or sifting.
- Rolling and kneading. The resin is warmed in the hands and worked until it is smooth and pliable, then rolled into a ball.
- Curing. As the ball ages, the outside forms a firm, glossy shell while the inside stays soft. The aroma deepens and changes over time, much as cheese or wine changes with age.
A good temple ball is dark on the outside, often with a polished sheen, and softer and lighter inside when broken open. The aroma tends to be rich, earthy and spicy.
Side by side
| Bubble hash | Temple balls | |
|---|---|---|
| How it's made | Washed from the plant with ice water, filtered through mesh bags | Resin hand-worked, rolled into a ball and aged |
| Solvents | None | None |
| Look | Sandy, crumbly or creamy; blond to brown | Dark, glossy outside; softer, lighter inside |
| Texture | Granular powder to soft paste | Firm shell, pliable center |
| Time to make | Days | Weeks to months, because of the cure |
| Aroma | Close to the original strain | Deeper and earthier as it ages |
How they compare with other hash
- Kief is the simplest form: dry trichomes sifted from flower through a fine screen, as a light, fluffy powder.
- Pressed hash is kief or resin pressed with heat and pressure into a dense block or coin.
- Hash rosin is bubble hash pressed into a solventless oil. It's used in vapes, gummies and drinks.
Find them at New Mill
We carry several of these styles in Bethel. What's in stock changes, so check the menu or ask your budtender:
- SKMS Nepali Temple Ball (see Concentrates): hand-rolled in the traditional Nepali form, 7g.
- Nano Retreat Classic Hashish, pressed: a dense, pliable traditional hash.
- Bethel Blend Kief: dry-sift kief from New Mill.
- Hash rosin vapes, gummies and drinks: see Concentrates, Vapes and Edibles.
Not sure which to choose? Our budtenders can tell you how each one is made, how it's sold and how it's typically used.
New Mill is a medical cannabis dispensary in Bethel, Maine, serving qualifying patients 18 and older from Maine or another state, with a valid medical cannabis certification and photo ID from the same state. This article is general information about how these products are made, not medical advice.