Low THC terpene sap - Why is it getting me so high?

Ok so I had a few ounces of flower left over from last year's harvest....It wasn't that great -average at best.

I made rosin from the leftover flowers (all nicely-trimmed bud).

Dabbing the rosin was definitely an improvement over smoking the mediocre flower in terms of flavor -much more floral and lemony/pine (typical of many modern strains).

Then I stumbled onto a video of how to make THCA crystal by re-pressing the rosin through a 25 micron mesh. I decided to try it out and followed the procedure in the video to a 'T'...

While the guy in the video was able to produce a slab of rock-hard THCA crystal, my results were completely opposite. I got nothing from my efforts except a few pieces of 'garbage' that had been in the rosin (leaf flecks and a couple hairs)....but absolutely no THCA crystal.

I know I did the experiment correctly, so all that was left to conclude was that my rosin had no THCA in it to begin with.

However, I have been dabbing the apparently THCA-less sap and I'm catching a really significant high from it -especially if I dab some of it in the morning! What does this imply? Am I fooling myself? I don't think so, but it did get me thinking that maybe there is something else in this sap (or in marijuana in general) -otherwise, how am I getting high if there is such an insignificant amount of THCA in the rosin? Is it the terpenes, alone? Could the terpene sap be reactivating the THC that's already in my stored body fat?

Theories?

My guess is something went wrong in the process. Not talking shit. I just started reading up on making thc-a crystals myself. I'm going to give it a try next run. Pressing can be finicky in my experience. I've pressed buds that were over 20% thc and nothing came out, sometimes it's strain dependent. Good luck man.

"getting high "
are you smoking it?

only becomes active if it is dry or heated.

old bud has less thca....

gb123 said:

"getting high "
are you smoking it?

only becomes active if it is dry or heated.

old bud has less thca....

Click to expand...

Dabbing (vapor)

Yes, it's been heated. The initial press was at around ~200F...then three, subsequent presses at ~125F, ~150F and ~160F

If I remember correctly, decarboxilization takes place at around ~220F so I'm not sure if the pressing heat was enough to decarb....probably not. But when the sap hits the nail, it decarbs instantly.

And it's bud that's been stored in vacuum-sealed Mason jars and kept in a cool, dark spot for a year. When the buds were broken up, they really smelled strong -but not the kind of flavor I like. Thus, the reason I have been using them for this experiment....figured I had nothing to lose and everything to gain in terms of experience. Problem is....I got no results!

heat ONLY speeds up the process of decarboxilation.
once the herb is BONE DRY 100% Its said to be decarbed. No heat needed anymore.
Now..if it is inactive THCa and you eat it..it will not get you high unless it is activated..either by smoking it which heats it or if it is decarbed before hand by heating it..if it hasnt already been decarbed initially before making the medication.

gb123 said:

heat ONLY speeds up the process of decarboxilation.
once the herb is BONE DRY 100% Its said to be decarbed. No heat needed anymore.
Now..if it is inactive THCa and you eat it..it will not get you high unless it is activated..either by smoking it which heats it or if it is decarbed before hand by heating it..if it hasnt already been decarbed initially before making the medication.

Click to expand...

my brain hurts