Ed Rosenthal’s Beyond Buds

Photo courtesy of Leafly.com

Ed Rosenthal’s newest book Beyond Buds: Marijuana Extracts—Hash, Vaping, Dabbing, Edibles and Medicine is the first resource of record detailing exactly how almost every marijuana product beyond the bud (the dried flowers of the plant) is made.

This year Rosenthal is celebrating both the release of the much-anticipated Beyond Buds as well as 40 years of “changing marijuana policy one book at a time.” Rosenthal’s books have sold over 2 million copies worldwide, establishing him as the world’s leading expert on cannabis cultivation. Shockingly, Ed says he doesn’t really smoke marijuana anymore.

“I can’t say honestly that I have totally quit, but I have limited the amount of weed I use in favor of concentrates,” Rosenthal says. “I like tinctures, edibles, dabbing, CO2 oils and water hashes. I really try to be all inclusive.”

Rosenthal is the type of teacher who makes sure his students love science as much as he does. For over 40 years, he has been converting marijuana-lovers who may think they don’t like to learn into amateur scientists. While Rosenthal does teach formally as a professor at Oaksterdam University, his books have become the go-to guide for everything involving growing, processing and consuming marijuana. Beyond Buds is no exception. It’s entertaining, educational, accessible and full of the kind of beauty shots that ensure it won’t sit on a shelf for long. Even more, this book is a must-have resource for doctors, lawyers, and patients.

The introduction to Beyond Buds reminds the reader that the world beyond buds is evolving quickly. Personally, Rosenthal anticipates the extractions markets to keep evolving at their current rapid pace for years to come. He says he expects the products made for the medical market to start going a drastically different direction than those for the adult-use market.

“Medical use products will get more specialized [to the disease or symptom], for adult use it will get more defined,” he says.

And that is why it is so important to have a resource like Beyond Buds. Most people who don’t work in the industry or frequent dispensaries have probably never heard of the broad range of products now being manufactured and marketed in legal storefronts. Knowledge is power. Knowledge prevents people from eating ten doses of a high-THC edible without prior cannabis experience. Many consumers run the risk of sounding uncool by admitting they don’t know what all this stuff is. Beyond Buds demystifies the experience and explains how everything works—from the bud to the body.

“The more information that people have, the safer things are and the better equipped they are to make intelligent decisions,” he says. “In the book we give all kinds of warning about dangers and how things are made so consumers know how these products are made and what they are ingesting and inhaling.”

While the market has grown rapidly in recent years, so have horror stories about amateur oil makers blowing up residential homes. It’s about time someone stepped in, and who better than the world’s most respected cannabis cultivation expert, Ed Rosenthal?

He doesn’t take an abstinence-only policy towards amateur oil makers, but instead specifically points out what behaviors and situations could cause explosions and strongly urges the public to leave the production of these types of extracts to the professionals. But, if people are going to do it anyway, and Rosenthal acknowledges that they will, they should have access to accurate information that could prevent explosions.

“They are available on the market and people are making them. I think it’s our duty to cover the material and discuss it,” he says. “Whether you are for or against it, you can’t hide from it.

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