PurePressure is changing the way cannabis professionals view solventless extracts, turning what was once viewed as a niche category into a mainstream, top-shelf product for consumers seeking a more flavorful experience than mass-market concentrates.
“Solventless is your craft beer, your craft wine, compared to other budget options that are produced en masse with medium or lower-grade material,” he says. “Solventless really is the craft end of the spectrum in cannabis concentrates.”
Unlike traditional extracts, the rosins made simply from heat and pressure are “the pure essence” of the cannabis plant, says Vlosky, who calls solventless extracts an opportunity for brands to stand out in an increasingly crowded market.
The key to a rosin press is its simplicity. Instead of using butane or CO2 to dissolve the trichomes, a rosin press applies heat and pressure — and that’s it — to any cannabis material to produce a solventless concentrate. Flower can be used, but dry sift and bubble hash, or ice-water hash, create the best products because the cannabinoid-rich trichomes are preserved.
“The heat and the pressure open up the trichome heads and release the oil,” Vlosky says.
The oil is then filtered through a fine micron screen, which leaves behind all of the plant material and debris to create a pure extracted oil, free of solvents that would need to be purged. The process takes 2-5 minutes, depending on the amount of material being pressed.
When Josh Rutherford and Ben Britton founded PurePressure in late 2015, rosin as a commercial product was almost nonexistent. People were still using hair straighteners to apply the heat and pressure needed to strip the trichomes off of cannabis. Rutherford was getting his Kush Masters brand of “connoisseur extracts” off the ground in Colorado and realized he needed a better rosin press. Seeking a machine built specifically for cannabis, Rutherford contacted Britton, a family friend and mechanical engineer.
“The rest is history,” Vlosky says. “They came together and built one of the world’s first purpose-built rosin presses.”
Since then, PurePressure has become an industry leader in the sector, designing, building and selling four different presses from its factory in Colorado. The company has grown to 16 employees and now ships its presses all around the world. And business is booming, even in spite of the pandemic.
The company currently offers two presses in its “commercial” series, both named after famous mountains in Colorado: the Pikes Peak and the Longs Peak. The Pikes Peak is a 5-ton press, while the Longs Peak is an 8-ton press. According to Vlosky, each machine gives operators a higher level of control than other companies’ rosin presses.
“We really spend our time and our brainpower giving control to the user,” Vlosky says. “At the end of the day, consumers are looking for an extremely consistent product, and it can be very tough to have a consistent product if you don’t have good variable control with your equipment.”
There are also fully automated versions of both presses available, complete with LCD touchscreens to control variables like heat and timing.
“You can press and walk away, whereas none of our competitors have that ability,” he says.
The company also makes two small, “artisan” presses — the Helix and Helix Pro — aimed at “serious home-growers and labs looking for smaller throughput.” The smaller machines are manual, twist presses, but Vlosky says they are “the most precise rosin presses in the world.” They feature the same touchscreens as the commercial machines, but are much more affordable.
All of the machines come with pre-programmed recipes based on the material being pressed and allow new formulations to be saved to ensure consistency in each batch.
Vlosky says the company is working hard to develop scalable solventless systems to make products that will compete with solvent-based products, which still dominate the marketplace.
But at the same time, PurePressure is keeping an eye on small cultivators and home-growers who want to make their own concentrates.
The company is also planning to expand its line of bubble hash and ice-water hash machines later this year, in order to meet a higher level of compliance and safety standards.
Vlosky says the company is deeply ingrained in the concentrate community and is always open to feedback from users on how to improve the presses.
“We’re evolving with the industry and with the needs of our customers,” he says. “The possibilities with solventless extraction aren’t just limited to making a dabable concentrate, you can use that oil to make a premium infused cannabis product of just about any variety.”