How to get into Black Market Rosin

Do you want to get into black market rosin? The legacy market, as they call it? — Basically getting jars straight from hashmakers instead of going through a dispensary or some sort of website.

There's three different markets when it comes to rosin these days. There's the dispo, there's the THCA websites, and then there's black market. Thanks to the 2018 Farm Bill, brands like Shop Hello Mary here have been able to ship THCA products all across the United States, and it's been a booming industry over the past few years. But come November, it seems like that bubble might be about to pop.

With the THCA market disappearing, if you haven't ever dabbled in the black market — where you're getting stuff basically directly from the hashmaker or from one of their reps who gets it straight from them — you might want to look into that, cuz it'll be worth checking out.

We don't know what's going to happen here in a few months to our Farm Bill loophole. Hopefully these brands can continue doing their thing and we can continue to have access to this plant like we're supposed to, where we can have it sent across state lines and on a website where it's public facing and people don't have to feel like they're doing something wrong by getting the stuff and potentially risk getting in trouble too.

Because when you do dabble in this market, the black market, you could get in trouble. You're talking about stuff that isn't going to be tested to be under .3% delta 9 THC, which makes it federally classified as hemp, just like our THCA products. We're not going to have COAs or anything like that — which is a certificate of analysis, often included in these hemp products that are shipped across state lines to show that what they're doing is legal, for anyone who's concerned about it. And so when this window closes, it also could make it a little bit harder for us to ship in other markets.

Anyway, enough hypotheticals. Regardless of whether or not the THCA market disappears, when you get into the black market and you start working with some of these hashmakers more closely, you're going to get access to higher quality stuff and at lower prices — especially if you're buying in quantity, which unfortunately I can't do myself with big purchases, so I haven't been able to take advantage of that much. But I know there are people out there that spend a good amount of money and can really save a lot. And I think it goes even more so when you're working directly with the people making the products.

I'm going to break down how to get into this market step by step for you guys here in a moment. But first, I'll talk about my experience with the black market here in Colorado, cuz I'm a bit spoiled.

My Experience with the BM

So, the way I've personally gotten most of my jars directly from hashmakers is by going to cool events. I talk about it a little bit in my step-by-step guide, but the biggest tool in your tool belt to getting into some of these awesome hashmakers and brands, or getting to know them, is just to be able to make friends. You need to make friends with dabbers who are also seeking out the best hash. That is the best way for you to find local people who are killing it, or find these events where you can actually sample these guys' stuff and maybe purchase it directly from them at a little table or something like that.

That's always been where I've gotten my favorite jars from brands like Soil Sagrado or Wormhole. I've got reviews of all these different brands on my channel, so if you want to know specific brands to try out, most of the ones I know and review are here in Colorado. But I'm not going to go into specific companies in this video — we're just going to talk about the best ways to get some of these jars yourself.

So, for me here in Colorado, I still spend most of my money at the dispensary just cuz it's most convenient for me and it has the widest variety of options. And there is something to be said about the ability to shop a menu without having to talk to someone — I'm just a bit asocial. If you're kind of like me, where you're maybe not the best at hitting up someone you've never talked to before or reaching out to someone in a DM on Instagram, that's why THCA has been so dope — cuz it's removed that social barrier of entry where you got to be able to talk to people. And that's why I said being able to make friends in this market is one of the best assets, whether it's friends of people who also like this stuff or friends with the hashmakers or reps themselves of these brands.

So, more on my personal experience — coming into this video, I wanted to do a little bit of extra research for you guys, cuz I've had the benefit of being able to meet a lot of these dudes in person or buy these jars in person. So when I grabbed this stuff, I wanted to try to pick up something extra special just for this video, to see how tough it was.

There's this dude who I've heard of many times but never gotten any hash from myself — Terps Over Yields, based out of Denver. He's been super hyped up lately because he got third place. It was like a clean sweep by Colorado hashmakers — first was Miners Melts, second was Lulu Melts, third was Terps > Yields. I hit up all three dudes. Two of them didn't hit me back, and Terps Over Yields was kind enough to respond, and I was able to snag a bunch of fire jars from him. I got three tier-one jars and two tier-twos — Honey Banana, Blueberry Paradise. My favorite one is the Zoz #4, 29 out of 43. This is some special stuff, dude.

And really, it just took me sending a message. We took the conversation over to Signal, and then I had to coordinate a meetup to grab it from him. The coordination of the meetup was the hardest part, honestly, and oftentimes that is the hardest part.

So, another thing when it comes to working in this market — you tend to need to have a little bit more free time. If you have less free time, it's harder to coordinate this stuff, send these messages, and do what needs to be done to seek out the best stuff. When you have more free time, it's a lot more accessible to you. But for people who have less time, the convenience of a THCA website or a dispensary might be a lot more appealing, and it kind of makes sense why they all exist and have their own different place.

Step 1: Start Dabbing

So, time to get into the steps — how to get into black market rosin.

Step number one: start dabbing. At least have dabbled in some dabs and vaporization of concentrates before you try to seek out this market. Really, what this is about is seeking out the best of the best — the best possible hash we can find.

Step 2: Expand the Palette

Step two is to try lots of dabs. You have to have tried the best you can find, because if you don't have a good basis for comparison, you could get scammed really easily. Someone could tell you they're giving you fire rosin, but it could actually be really bad — how are you going to know the difference? Are you going to know if something is worth spending $120 on if you have nothing to compare it to? So you really should do the best you can to try the best concentrates you have access to, whether it's at a dispensary or online or whatever, before you go seeking this stuff out. Then it'll really be worth it to you, and you'll know whether or not it's worth your time and money.

Step 3: Learn

Step three — the big one, and the most important one — is the learning of the process. You need to learn about hashmakers, learn how rosin is made, so that when people say things like "Oh, this is 90u" or "this is my tier 2 because it's second press" or "this is living soil," you know what all these different terms mean. Because if you don't, it might confuse you, or it could make you feel less worthy of a hashmaker's time or a rep's time. They might think, "Oh, this guy doesn't know what 90u is," and potentially just ghost you at that point.

So, the more you can learn about this stuff, the more of an appreciation you can build for the art of hash-making, and the better off you'll be at seeking out what's actually good, what's worth spending your money on, what kind of stuff you want.

Another big part of this is making friends and following local influencers so you can find out about local events or sesh where you could maybe meet hashmakers in person and try some of this stuff. Or, like I said, making friends — maybe there's a dude who lives down the street from you who's buddies with the best hashmaker in town, and you don't know either of these guys. If you become friends with the people also seeking out the best hash near you, it'll help you find these people, because local is always the way to go. When you're not shipping stuff across the US, it's a little cheaper, and it's also easier to preserve stuff like full melt or fresh press, which is more volatile and harder to preserve in the shipping process. But of course, this market is big on moving stuff across state lines, and it's one of the best ways to try stuff from California or other markets and see how it compares to what you have nearby.

One more part of step three is finding the digital spaces where dabbers hang out — my channel, for instance, or my website, but also the different subreddits that are applicable to you. For Colorado, we have the CoWeed subreddit — a great place to figure out what rosin most people around town smoke. Not many people talk about black market on there, but you can find a few people in the know who can help you figure out what's actually worth the hype.

Or, before you try something, post about it. Like, if I was worried about trying this guy, I could have posted in the subreddit and said, "Yo, has anyone tried Turpps Over Yields? What do they think?" And I'm sure he would have gotten nothing but glowing recommendations.

Also, you can find YouTubers who are nearby you — that could be a good way to find nearby hashmakers. For anyone in Colorado, for instance, watching my content is a great way to figure out what some of these local hashmakers are, if you're not already tapped in, or if you're not going to any of these local events, or if you want to. There's got to be people similar to me in your local area who are in the know and like to share that knowledge — usually on Instagram, I've found, but could be a Discord, or depending on what state you're in, it might be a little more of a private channel sometimes.

Step 4: Pick a Brand

All right, step four. Now it's time to decide what brand or hashmaker you want to try, and do some research. Figure out if it's a legit thing. And then the main thing is figuring out the main channel to communicate with them — got to find the real Instagram page or the real X handle. There are so many fakes out there.

One of the best moves, on Instagram for instance, is to make sure that people you trust and respect are also following the hashmaker — that's a good sign they're legit, in my experience. But you can also message a buddy and say, "Yo, have you ever seen this brand? What do you think of them? Is this the right page to talk to them?" and utilize resources like Reddit that we talked about earlier.

Step 5: Hit 'Em Up

Step five, the hardest part for me — reach out via Instagram DMs or X DMs, and be prepared to move the conversation to a more secure app like Signal or Telegram. A lot of times they won't even want to discuss the fact that they're selling or offering products until they take it off the platform.

So, a lot of times when you reach out, you might want to say something vague, like "Hey man, I'm a big fan, do you have any stuff available right now?" or "Hey, do you have a menu I could view, or any reps in said area?" If you're talking directly to the hashmaker and it's a bigger one, a lot of times they'll have reps. Like, if you know they're in California and you're in Minnesota, you could say, "Hey, do you have any reps in Minnesota?" A rep is basically someone who gets product from that person and distributes it to their local area — we'll talk about what that looks like in the next step in a moment.

Telegram and Signal are pretty basic and straightforward, easy to use — they're just more secure, and you don't have someone like Meta or X looking at what you're talking about, because they probably use that algorithmically somehow, who knows what they do with it.

This is the part I have the least experience with, especially hitting up someone I've never met or talked to before. Like I said, that's the hardest part for me specifically, and where I have the least experience — so that makes sense why it's hard. But if anyone has more experience and specific advice on the best ways to reach out to these people or how to find legit reps for these brands, please leave a comment below and share the sauce with everybody. I'm doing my best to share my knowledge here, but like I said, I'm very spoiled here in Colorado, so it's different for me.

The further you are from the source of the good stuff, the higher the odds are of you getting scammed. And I really don't want anyone to lose any money — but remember, this market has the highest risk of that. There's no insurance on any of this, and the odds of getting a refund are almost non-existent.

Step 6: Make a Small Purchase

Step number six, make a small purchase. We don't want to send someone we don't trust $700 — unless you've just got cash to blow, or you're super duper confident, you've met this person, or your buddy has been working with them for a long time and is standing over your shoulder saying, "Yes, that is the right account."

There's a big chance of people getting scammed in this stuff, so you've got to tread carefully and slowly ramp it up once you're confident in the quality and integrity of wherever you're getting it from — bigger purchases, or just slowly developing that relationship over time. That will probably end up saving you money in the long run, too — they might be willing to give you good deals or first access to the best stuff, all sorts of cool stuff, who knows. Or maybe you could even say, "Yo, I really love this strain, if you could ever hunt down and grow some of this." You could get to that point when you get that close with these people, especially if they live near you.

Step 7: Coordinate the Pickup

All right, the final step, step number seven, is to coordinate the pickup. This part is also kind of tricky — everybody's got different schedules. That's why I was saying earlier in the video, it's very helpful to have more free time, cuz a lot of times you'll just be on someone else's time. You're waiting for them to respond to you, or waiting for them to show up in a parking lot.

Very rarely is this market going to ship directly to your door. A lot of times it might ship across state lines, but usually if that's happening, it's going to a rep — someone experienced and trusted who's willing to take on that risk — and then it's distributed in person beyond there. Usually that means just meeting someone at a third-party location. Not your house, not their house. Odds are, stuff like that always comes with its own risk too, especially if someone knows you're showing up with a lot of money. That's why making a small purchase in the beginning is probably really important — and that's something I personally have never really had to think about, the dangerous side of it.

So please be wary and take into consideration the cannabis culture around you — if you're going to a sketchy part of town where people always get robbed, maybe that's not the spot. Maybe have them meet you somewhere you feel more safe.

Cuz hash is super dope, and it's fun to smoke, but it can also be very medicinal and benefit our mental health and our lives in a lot of different ways. But it's certainly not worth going to jail over, getting in big trouble, getting hurt, or risking your life. None of that. So run the other way anytime you smell any sort of nonsense like that, because it is not worth it.

Wrapping Up

I think that's pretty much it. Join my Discord if you want to discuss this stuff further, or want specific recommendations for brands to check out in your area. You can either get them from me, or there are other hash heads all over the country — all over the world now, actually — in my server. So make sure you get in there, and we can build the resources for each other on the best hashmakers to shop with, spend our money with, support, and the safest ways to do it.

And thank you again for reading, keep those Terps Up, dudes. Peace out.

- Jack

PS. If you like this, I've also got my top 10 brands on Colorado dispensary shelves