The Heylo Cannabis Blog

What is RawX? Why Does Heylo Cannabis Follow This Extraction Method?

What is RawX? Why Does Heylo Cannabis Follow This Extraction Method?

Published
October 25, 2018
The aim of RawX is to create cannabis extracts, like vape pens, that are “as close to the plant” as possible. That means full-spectrum, native terpene oils. But how do we do it and why is it so important?

RawX™ - The Essential Oil of Cannabis Flowers

At Heylo our mission is to create the essential oil of cannabis flowers for recreation and wellness.

The aim is to create cannabis extracts, like vape pens, that are “as close to the plant” as possible. The closer we get to the chemistry of the plant, the closer your experience will be to smoking flower. We believe keeping the thousands of active compounds like cannabinoids, terpenes and flavonoids together, in their native ratios, is crucial to both wellness and fun.

RawX is our proprietary process to create the essential oil of cannabis. It can be broken down into two basic steps:

  1. Source the finest full-bud, sustainably-grown cannabis (ideally pesticide-free)
  2. Respect the plant at every stage of extraction and post-processing

For great oil start with great flower...

full-bud flower before RawX extraction by Heylo
Sky Master flower by Washington Bud Company before RawX extraction in the Heylo Cannabis Lab.

To make great cannabis oil you must start with the highest-quality full-bud cannabis. This is non-negotiable. For Heylo, this means going to the farms, helping with harvests, understanding pest management programs, extensive sampling, and developing relationships directly with the growers.

Pesticide-free is the way to be

If you care about pesticides in your food, at all, you should care about them a lot more in your cannabis. If you’re smoking pesticides they are going through the capillaries in your lungs directly to your bloodstream and brain. And if you care about pesticides in your cannabis flower you should care about them even more in your concentrates like vape pens. Pesticides do not go away during processing – instead they get concentrated.

If you care about pesticides in your cannabis flower you should care about them even more in your concentrates like vape pens

Going under the sun takes you above the clouds

Cannabis is happy growing under the sun and outdoors. Not only is it easier to grow pesticide-free outdoors, but the plants love it. It makes sense, as the plants evolved outdoors, developed their rich terpene profiles to protect themselves outdoors, and interact with their environments in the great outdoors. Plus, outdoor growing is generally tremendously more sustainable. Electrical usage for indoor cannabis growers in Washington State alone accounted for nearly 2% of the states total electrical usage, enough to power 2 million homes for a year. Not chill. Fortunately there are some indoor growers who have developed sustainable methods – see Burnwell, Trailblaizin’ and Ayra.

Respect the plant and ye shall receive

R-E-S-P-E-C-T take care of THC

Aretha would be ashamed of the way many companies process their cannabis. The medical and recreational cannabis industries have both catered to higher-and-higher levels of THC to accommodate consumer demand. But super high-THC extracts often don’t give people the fun experience they seek. When companies optimize for THC, they neglect the other parts of the plant that contribute to wellness, relief, and contentment, like CBD, minor cannabinoids (CBG, CBC) and terpenes.

According to Heylo CEO Lo Friesen, RawX is a "scientific process with a bit of art and philosophy." At every stage the extractor is required to ask herself what can be done to keep the oil as close to the plant as possible. During the CO2 extraction, this means processing at relatively low pressures and temperatures for an extended period of time. Post-processing is minimized, and in some cases is zero. "We realized early in our journey that the less we did to the plant, to really beautiful flower, the better the results," Lo echoed.

"RawX is a scientific process with a bit of art and philosophy." - Lo Friesen, CEO

Bringing it Back to Education and Transparency

The Heylo mission of creating the essential oil of cannabis flowers goes back to our values of education and transparency. We believe there is so much to be discovered about the potential of cannabis both as a medicinal and recreational plant. To get the most from the flower we must share what knowledge we have while being transparent about how we produce and what we don’t yet know. As a process, RawX is the manifestation of our mission and values.

Above, Sky Master RawX Cannabis Oil by Heylo, from DOH-certified Sky Master flower by Washington Bud Company (pesticide-free).


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