How to choose the best cannabis press

The best cannabis press will depend on your own circumstances, such as your budget, the quantity of flower/bud or hash you’re pressing, whether it’s for personal or commercial purposes, and any space restrictions storing the larger cannabis press machines.

The main features to consider and compare when buying a cannabis press are:

Pressure types

The main pressure types you will come across are:

  • Manual
  • Pneumatic
  • Hydraulic

Some modern rosin press machines also have hybrid pressure types where you can select from either manual, pneumatic or hydraulic.

I will compare each of these pressure types in more detail below:

Manual pressure

These make the best rosin press machines. A manual cannabis press applies pressure by pulling or twisting a lever. They can usually apply pressure between the 1000PSI to 3000PSI range.

You’ll need a little bit of strength to do this yourself with a manual weed press. So, if you’re disabled a friend or family member will need to help operate the machine.

Hand Crank Rosin Press Machine

I reviewed the manual hand-crank rosin press machine and upload my results for you to see.

Hydraulic pressure

A hydraulic weed press uses hydraulic pressure to generate force between 5,000PSI to 20,000PSI. They’re the best entry-level cannabis press after the manual press and are also suitable for home use.

Hydraulic presses are usually smaller and lighter than the pneumatic press. They use an external hand pump instead of an air compressor.

6 Ton Hydraulic Heated Rosin Press

Pneumatic pressure

A pneumatic weed press offers low maintenance and reliability. They use an air compressor to provide power, so by the push of a button, you can precisely increase and decrease pressure.

Most importantly you can press high volumes with a pneumatic press. These bad boys are usually large, heavy and noisy machines. Making them more suitable for commercial use.

Pressure range

The total pressure of a cannabis press machine is measured in PSI or Tons. You can experiment with your own pressure ranges to see what yields best results, however, the guidelines below will help to get you started:

What’s the best pressure for optimal yield?

The honest answer is you don’t need an expensive 10,000PSI weed press to get decent results pressing rosin at home.

Actually, too much pressure can burst your micron bag and will contaminate the extracted concentrate. And that would be an awful waste!

Depending on the quality of the flower you’re pressing you can expect a return of up to 35%. Pressing dry shift hash or kief will yield even higher results.

What’s the best pressure for bud/flower?

The best pressure for making rosin from bud or flower is within the 600PSI to 1,000PSI range.

What’s the best pressure for kief?

The best pressure for making rosin from kief is within the 300PSI to 700PSI range.

What’s the best pressure for dry sift hash?

The best pressure for extracting oil from dry sift hash is much lower within the 300PSI to 700PSI range.

In our video guides, you will see us doing a “second squish” where we like to apply slightly more pressure when pressing a loaded bag for the second time.

Rosin plate size

It’s best to have rectangular shaped plates rather than squared when pressing higher volumes of Rosin. This is because the rosin can run off the plates as opposed to sitting on them as heat from plates will deteriorate quality.

The plate size dictates the volume of plant material the rosin machine can press effectively. The small machines with 1.25″ x 2.25″ plates are only capable of pressing one gram of flower at a time.

If you exceed this volume on these small plates then the plant material is pressed outside the plates causing wasted unpressed plant material that will catch any oil that had been pressed out.

The best weed press will have the correct plate size depending on the volume of cannabis being pressed. To press 5-7 grams of plant material the ideal plate size would be 6 inches.

Rosin plate heating

Some rosin press machines have single temperature control. Meaning you can only set one temperature for both plates.

With dual controlled plates you can set the bottom plate at a slightly lower temperature so your rosin is not sat on a hot plate oxidising. It’s recommended you find a cannabis press with dual heated plates for this reason.

What’s the best temperature for pressing flower/bud?

It should be made clear that the ideal pressing temperature is completely subjective to the strain and user preference.

However, our recommended temperature range for pressing rosin from flower or bud is 88-120 degrees Celsius. 

Increasing the temperature may increase the yield and reduce the pressure needed at the expense of strength/quality. With a lower temperature producing a lower yield and higher quality rosin. 

Alternating the temperature on your cannabis press changes the constituency of the rosin with it flowing more freely at higher temperatures and more crumbly at the lower temperature range. 

Generally the higher the temperature the darker the rosin and the lower the temperature the stronger and lighter in colour the rosin. 

On average pressing cannabis flower has yielded anywhere between 0 – 25.5% depending on the quality of the bud. 

The quality is defined by the THC content and cannabinoid profile. The moisture content of the bud will also affect the yield. 

What’s the best temperature for pressing hash, kief or dry sift?

The ideal temperature range for the hash, kief or dry sift is 78-90 degrees Celsius. 

Again this recommended temperature range is subjective depending on user preference and strain. The rosin constituency, yield and strength being affected in the same way as flower or bud.

We found that pressing high-quality kief and hash yielded anywhere between 30% – 70%. So the return is generally greater when pressing hash when compared to flower/bud.

What’s the best moisture content for pressing flowers?

The flower or bud needs to be in an environment of 58% humidity for at least a few hours if dry before pressing.

As the dry flower is not suitable for pressing and will yield disappointing results. If your flower is too dry you can easily rehydrate it by using the weed rehydration technique.

Built-in timers

A timer built-in is a handy addition so rosin is not forgotten and left to bubble/oxidise between hot press plates.

It’s not essential you buy a cannabis press with a built-in timer as you can just use a separate 1-minuet egg timer for this purpose.

The timer is only a guideline, you can look and see if the rosin is still coming out when pressed, it’s then your own personal judgement as to how long you wait.

For bud or flower, the average time to press is 60 seconds, although this depends on the temperature and the pressing capabilities which we will discuss in more detail below.

For pressing hash rosin the average time is much less at 30 seconds, again subjective to strain, temperature and press capability.

Weeman

Paul (Weeman)

Official job title: Cannabis connoisseur & rosin pressing expert

I've been using cannabis rosin to self-medicate for the past 6-7 years. Despite my life-changing spinal injuries, I'm successfully able to reduce muscle spasms and improve sleep to enjoy a healthy lifestyle.

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