Pollen Press

What is a Pollen Press?

A pollen press is a piece of equipment that compresses plant material into a puck, brick or disk (different terms used to describe the result of what the pollen press forms). The purpose of a pollen press is to compress starting material into a puck in order to increase the yield of rosin extracted from the puck whilst being pressed in a rosin press machine. Pollen presses are either hand cranked or hydronic driven. All pollen presses essentially share the same output, a compressed puck of material ready to be pressed in a rosin press. A pollen press is also known as a pre press mold or a pollen press mold. 

Pollen presses are commonly used for pre-pressing a starting material such as lavender or dry herbs before being used in a rosin press. The process of pollen pressing squeezes out the air holes within your starting material and hence produces a condensed brick / puck of material which in turn makes it easier to extract rosin from and ultimately increases the yield to produce the best rosin yield possible (the amount of rosin produced as a ratio of material used).

How to use a Pollen Press?

Pressing pollen is a simple process and can be done using the 4 steps listed below:

1. Take apart the three pieces of the pollen press and place the mold cylinder onto the mold platform (see product images for diagram).
2. Grind your material and drop it into the mold cylinder of your pollen press.
3. Insert the mold weight into the mold cylinder and compress either using body weight or a hammer.
4. Insert the puck into a folded parchment paper sheet ready for pressing using a rosin press machine.

What’s the purpose of a Pollen Press?

Pre-pressing using a pollen press mold, is the process of pressing and densely compacting your material in a dry mold. This process isn’t necessary however it increases the yield of your press, hence reducing wastage. We highly recommend pre-pressing with a pollen press before heat pressing. Without using a pre pressing your pollen it is highly unlikely that you will be able to achieve the best rosin yields.

What is a Pollen Press used for?

Pollen presses are most commonly used for 2 products. One of them being to press hash into disks, these are also known as coins. The other is to prepare loose herbs into pucks, cakes, disks or pellets by compressing it with the pollen press.

People use pollen presses to do these 2 jobs for many reasons, perhaps for storage purposes or it could be to prepare these things for using them in other devices such as rosin presses.

What is meant by Maximum Yield or Best Rosin Yield?

Both of these terms refer to the maximum amount of rosin which can be extracted from a given amount of starting material. There are a number of variables which determine whether you can achieve the best rosin yield which include the quality, humidity and density of the starting material as well as temperature, compressive force and technique of your press. 

The pollen press mold has been specially designed to maximise the yield of your rosin press. It’s a common misconception with pollen presses that the bigger they are the better they are, but this couldn’t be any further away from the truth! 

When pressing flower for example, the idea Platen PSI is between 550-1500 PSI. Any less than 550 PSI then there will not be enough pressure to extract the rosin, and too much pressure then you risk causing blowouts and can also lead to a higher percentage of fats and lipids in the rosin decreasing its quality. Therefore it is important to know the equation for Platen PSI is:

Platen PSI = Force of Rosin Press / Surface Area of Puck

This means the smaller the surface area of your puck, in other words, the smaller the area of your pollen press mold then the larger the compressive force will be on your dry herb puck.

So when using a rosin press with lower compressive force then you would need to use a smaller pre press mold / pollen press to achieve the best rosin yield. Our cylindrical pollen press has a diameter of just 3cm which allows you to maximise the yield of your press due to the compressive force being maximised. Essentially, you don’t need a bigger press, you just need a smaller mold.

What are the benefits of Pre-Pressing Pollen?

There are many benefits of using a pollen press, regardless of what you are using it for. So let’s look into the benefits of using a pollen press:

• • Pressing trichomes and buds into hard discs or pucks prevents the herb from losing those trichomes and also makes handling it much more convenient. Trichomes are very light and powdery and are easily lost usually as they’re difficult to handle, so pollen presses offer a very practical solution to this issue.
  • By compressing your buds or hash into discs / pucks, they take up less space and are much easier to store.
  • Using a pollen press to compress hash helps to preserve the freshness of the hash therefore making it last longer.

• The same goes for the potency of the trichomes, when they are pressed it also preserves the trichomes making them last longer.

• Using a pollen press makes packaging and shipping those hard pucks / discs is a lot easier than packaging and shipping loose powder. 
• Pollen presses can also be great for branding if you own a dry herbs company. You can press the dry herbs into a particular shape with your company’s name or logo on it.
• Pre-pucking flower with a pollen press will also make the process of the collection after extracting rosin much easier to accomplish.

Why Pollen Presses are the perfect match for our Rosin Presses

Pressing your herb into discs / pucks with a pollen press works great with the Nectar Rosin Press as you get even higher yields than the high-yielding rosin already provides, hence achieving the best rosin yields possible. Here’s a quick summary of the many benefits pressing your own rosin provides, making it a fast-growing segment of this market.

• Solvent-free – first and foremost, pressing rosin involves no additives or solvents like harmful butane. The result is clean, natural, healthier concentrate.
• Fast, simple – Making rosin at home might sound high-tech but it’s really quite simple. Rosin can be made in a matter of minutes, and if you follow the instructions carefully, it’s very simple to operate.  
• Strong potency – Rosin is very potent and a little goes a long way. The richness of the terpenes content also means the effects take hold quickly, so make sure to dose gradually.  
• Safer – Without solvents the process is so much safer than methods that use butane for example. Butane is highly flammable so explosions are not out of the ordinary. But with a diy rosin press, there are no such risks, making the process of making rosin much safer and more enjoyable. 
• Efficient – A rosin press machine is highly efficient in that it allows you to produce high quantities of rosin. 
• Versatile – Rosin concentrates are very versatile – use them in your dry herb vaporizer, make edibles like brownies, or why not try your hand at making topicals like salves. 
• Consume immediately – you can consume your rosin as soon as it’s made, no need to wait or do something else with it. 

So as you can see, rosin is natural, potent, simple, quick, versatile and more!

How much flower can I use in a Pollen Press?

It really depends on what you are using it for, if you are using the pollen press to prepare your bud before placing it in the rosin press then do not exceed the amount of bud that the rosin press can take. However, do not use less than 1g.

The mini mold has been designed for smaller loads making it a great pre press mold for home use and those who are using smaller amounts of flower. It’s perfect for anyone still getting to grips with pressing essential oils.

Loading size: 1 to 7g materials

What are Pollen Presses made of?

Our  pre press mold is milled out of aluminium and finished with a brushed effect. Pre pressing your material will help you reduce blowouts and significantly improve your yields, helping you to achieve the best rosin yield possible.

Can a Pollen Press only be used for flower?

Although it is mainly used for flower, it can be used with other materials too. A Pollen Press is mainly used to compress your starting material by reducing the pockets of air between any solid bits of material. Doing so creates a denser puck which in turn increases the yield when being pressed in a rosin press.

Why is it called a Pollen Press?

The same parts of the dry herbs can be given different names when it comes to the different stages of dry herb production. For example, we have Trichomes, they are the little white-yellow translucent hairs that can be seen growing all over the leaves and buds of the plant.

When trichomes are removed from a plant, they are then referred to as “pollen”. It’s this “pollen” that will then be dried out to make dry herbs.

So, rather than referring to the end product that a pollen press could be used to produce, manufacturers of pollen presses have chosen to use the term “pollen”. 

What if there is an issue with my Pollen Press?

If for whatever reason you find an issue with your pollen press then not to worry as we offer a 1-Year Warranty: 96% of people keep their Nectar device, but just in case we offer a 12 month limited warranty (extendable to 3 years at no charge), 14-day money back guarantee & 24/7 customer service. The warranty can be claimed for defects due to faulty workmanship or materials arising from normal use of the device. To claim, please contact us via email (info@nectarrosinpress.com) or WhatsApp (+44 203 916 5216). Moreover, if you just fancy a chat or would like more information then feel free to call us (+44 203 916 5216).

Same day dispatch, 7 days a week, except on public holidays.