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Golden cannabis oil on a card

Honey oil (often shortened to oil, and sometimes referred to as BHO, or butane hash oil, which is particular to the method by which it is made) is an essential oil that has a viscosity ranging from thick to runny, extracted from the cannabis plant. It is commonly smoked using hot metal blades or plates, inhaled using specially designed vaporizers, or smoked from a bed of ashes. Honey oil is considerably more potent than cannabis itself, due to its extreme purity and lack of other vegetative matter.

A closeup image of a drop of cannabis oil on the end of a needle

Honey oil is a psychoactive drug in the same class as cannabis, from which it is derived, and contains a similar blend of THC, cannabidinoids, and cannibidinols (in the UK, cannabis, including cannabinol, cannabinol derivatives and cannabis oil was reclassified as a Class C drug in January 2004). The THC content of honey oil is variable based on the particular strain of cannabis from which it was derived, and is similar to that of hashish. The name honey refers to the colour and consistency of the oil; there is no actual honey involved.

Honey oil is made by separating the resins of a cannabis plant from the plant material, using one of a number of industrial solvents, such as butane, hexane, grain alcohol and denatured alcohol, naphtha, and various mixtures of these chemicals. Solvents are selected based on their ability to evaporate completely and cleanly, leaving no chemical residue, as well as which substances they more readily dissolve.

The purest, most potent grades of honey oil are made using only the flowers and leaves of the female cannabis plant which contain trichomes. This material is placed in a metal sleeve and washed in chemical solvents to separate the resin from the plant material. The solvent slurry is optionally filtered, then reduced by evaporation, resulting in paste that varies in colour from amber to dark green. This paste if filtered will be translucent and runny. If the paste is not filtered, it may by very thick, and opaque.

The most common solvent used in the preparation of honey oil, particularly for home made is drinkable ethanol (i.e. alcohol), as THC is highly soluble in it. It offers the advantages of being easy to buy, a natural product, and not too dangerous. The drawback is that as ethanol is always mixed with some water, evaporation of it is quite slow. ethanol extracted oil contains plant sugars , which caramelize when smoked to produce a harsh taste. A separation with light solvents will further decrease the amount of undesirables in the oil.

Main article: Health issues and the effects of cannabis#Effects

The effects of butane-extracted resin are comparable to marijuana, except intensified. The initial effect is typically a very strong and sometimes overwhelming sensation that typically lasts anywhere from 20 minutes to 8 hours in duration with progressively less intensive effects. The reduced intake of cannabis for some medical users by the inherent potency of butane extracted resin is seen as a possible health benefit.