What Is Kief?

Where does kief come from?

Look closely at a cannabis flower and you'll see it's covered in tiny, sparkly hairs. These are trichomes, small glands that produce the plant's resin, including most of its cannabinoids and terpenes. When dried flower is handled or sifted through a fine screen, the tips of these trichomes break off and collect as a light, sandy powder. That powder is kief.

Wikipedia's article on kief (opens in a new tab) covers its history and traditional uses.

Why is kief added to pre-rolls?

Because kief is concentrated trichome material, a little goes a long way. Coating the outside of a pre-roll with it adds flavor and intensity without changing the flower inside. It also gives infused pre-rolls their distinctive frosted look.

Jeeter uses kief as one of the layers in its infused pre-rolls. In Quad-Infused pre-rolls, it's the final coat over flower infused with diamonds and rosin; see what Quad-Infused means.

How does kief compare with other concentrates?

Kief is the least processed of these: it's simply the plant's own resin glands, collected. Our posts on live resin vs live rosin and THCa explain the others.

Does a kief coating change how a pre-roll smokes?

Yes, in a few small ways. The coating can flare briefly when you first light it, so keep the flame just below the tip rather than in it. It adds flavor, especially early in the session. And because it adds intensity, a kief-coated pre-roll can feel stronger than you expect from its size, so take a puff or two and wait a few minutes before having more.

Our guide to lighting an infused pre-roll covers the technique.

Is kief the same as hash?

They're related but not the same. Kief is loose trichome powder. Hash is made by pressing or otherwise compacting that resin into a solid or paste. Think of kief as the raw material and hash as one thing you can make from it.

Both are made from the same trichome resin, so they share the strain's flavor; the difference is mainly texture and how they're used.

Can you collect kief yourself?

People who buy whole flower sometimes collect kief at home with a multi-chamber grinder that has a fine screen at the bottom: over time, loose trichomes fall through and collect in the lowest chamber. That's an option with whole flower, like Jeeter's Red Label range, but it's not something you need to do with pre-rolls, which come ready-made.

If you do collect kief, store it in a small airtight container away from heat and light, just like flower, and keep it out of reach of children and pets. It's concentrated, so use only a small pinch, and start low when you try it.

Which Jeeters have a kief coating?

Many of Jeeter's infused pre-rolls use kief, including the layered Quad-Infused line, which comes as a 1g, an XL 2g and Baby Jeeter half grams. The product page for each strain describes what's in it. If you'd prefer a flavor-led pre-roll built around live resin or rosin instead, look at the Cannon range.

Keep kief-coated pre-rolls upright in their tubes, away from heat, so the coating stays put; see how to store pre-rolls.