Highten Sifter: Extract Kief With Ease

The Highten Sifter is the first table-top kief extraction machine that allows you to shake trichomes off cured cannabis within as little as 30 seconds. Create your own custom edibles, rosin and hash without harsh chemicals, using a ton of flower, or extensive processing times.  By saving the integrity and minimizing plant material after extraction, the Highten Sifter allows consumers to enjoy premium kief using all qualities of cannabis. Less plant material equals a cleaner taste and overall high.

After years of triathlon training and participating in numerous Ironman competitions, Highten Sifter founder Chad Johnson started using cannabis to alleviate muscle pain. He began consuming kief at home using a traditional grinder. Wanting a more efficient way to extract kief, Johnson created a hand sifter to process more flower at once. However, Johnson had holes in his rotator cuffs from training, and the vigorous and tedious movements needed for hand sifting were becoming too painful for him. Not ready to give up, the idea of an automated sifter was born.

Cannabis Now teamed up with Grizzly Pine, a Bozeman, Montana-based dispensary, to review the Highten Sifter and see what benefits come with automated sifting.

Skye Norquist, a professional chef of 10+ years, recently joined the Grizzly Pine team as their Edibles Manager. While generally infusing with BHO or isolate, she’s excited about the possibilities of a cleaner-tasting edible. Specifically, she’s working on a spice blend and infused salad dressing using freshly decarbed kief, and she’s also creating custom tastes using multiple strains.

After grinding some Platinum Pound Cake buds, we prepared the herb for the Highten Sifter by taking the recommended following steps:

1. Freeze the material for at least 30 minutes.
2. Grind material and freeze for another 30 minutes.

After running close to a full ounce in the sifter, we decided to take some material out, as it was looking heavy and not moving a ton. The second attempt produced much more kief. The machine’s combination of back-and-forth shaking motions and vibration had the material bouncing around like Flubber!

After running freshly ground buds for the first test, I decided to grab a quarter ounce of shake for the second. I grabbed a mixed strain bag from another local Bozeman dispensary, Sacred Sun Farms, and tossed it in my freezer once I got home. Wanting to get the highest yield possible, I let the shake freeze overnight.

The next day, I emptied the bag into the sifter and ran it for 60 seconds. This was a significant improvement compared to the freshly ground buds. Still hoping to extract more kief, I ground up the shake and refroze it for another 30 minutes. After running the sifter for about 10 minutes, approximately one gram of kief was extracted!

To complete the second test, I decided to bust out my handy tCheck to analyze the kief and remaining shake. The shake originally tested at 19.33%. After extracting one gram, the kief tested at 25.3% THC, and the shake 12.3%, giving me more bang for my buck.

I now had a gram of higher testing kief to turn in to hash, decarboxylate for an edible infusion, enjoy raw, or to top on a bowl. Additionally, while the shake tested at a decent percentage, it was still low enough for someone who is sensitive to THC to enjoy.

Excited about the results, I instantly packed a bowl of fresh kief and took a hit. The terpenes and resins came bursting through my brain like the Kool-Aid man, and I happily hit the brick wall before being sent further into existential tranquility.

After landing back on Earth, I noted a few key takeaways:

1. Using fresh or sticky buds will yield less results.
2. The longer you freeze, the easier the kief will fall off the plant matter.
3. Run dry buds or shake for faster, higher yields.
4. You can extract at least one gram of kief from a quarter ounce in 10 minutes, saving hours.

The Highten Sifter is safe, user-friendly, easy to clean, and has durable construction. While there is an audible noise, it operates at 70 decibels, which is the the same level as a conversation, and it can be easily tuned out. Also, cleanup is a breeze. Just wipe off the stainless-steel trays with rubbing alcohol and toss them in your dishwasher. In comparison to a traditional grinder, the Highten Sifter can extract at least one gram of kief per quarter ounce of cannabis in around 10 minutes, saving the average consumer or dispensary hours. It’s also less expensive than other extraction methods, as you don’t have to purchase solvents or dispose of washed plant matter. You get an instant return by turning shake, popcorn buds or colas into a delicious, ready-to-use concentrate.

The Highten Sifter retails for $420, and the pack of four additional finer micron mesh trays, can be purchased for $150. The additional trays range from 70 to 150 microns, which extracts a finer kief, resulting in a more concentrated product best used for making hash or rosin. With a reasonable price point, the Highten Sifter is a great product for the daily cannabis user, home chef, or the canna-curious to all try. Highten is also launching a commercial-sized sifter, which can process up to 100 pounds per hour. How will you use your fresh kief stash?