What is static hash? Sorted by charge, not by mesh
Static hash, or static sift, is a resin made without water. Dried flower is sifted first; a surface charged with static electricity then lifts the trichome heads and leaves the leaf fragments behind. Neither water, solvent nor freezing is involved. The "90u" or "120u" on the label gives the mesh of the original screen. The cannabinoid content appears only on the lot analysis.
- 01Definition: a dry sift sorted a second time
- 02The process: a screen, a charged plate, dry air
- 03"Static 120u", "90u": what the number says
- 04Static, dry sift, ice-o-lator, frozen: the table
- 05Recognising static: what the eye sees, what the analysis says
- 06Is static hash legal in France?
- 07Frequently asked questions
Key takeaways
- Screens separate particles by diameter. Static charge then splits what a screen let through together, which makes static a dry sift sorted twice.
- Heads measured in 2023 were 40 to 110 microns wide, so most of them fall through a 120 mesh.
- A 2025 study saw electrostatic sorting lift first-pass purity from 40-50% to 80-95% trichome heads.
- Freezing cancels the charge and humid air drains it away, so the sort is done dry, at room temperature.
- French rules cap the resin at 0.30% Δ⁹-THC.
Definition: a dry sift sorted a second time
Hash is a concentrate of hemp trichomes, the tiny glands on female flowers that make cannabinoids and terpenes. Each method has its own way of detaching these glands and separating them from the rest of the plant. Ice-o-lator works with ice water and filter bags. Dry sift rubs dried flower over a stack of screens. Static takes that dry sift as its starting point and sorts it once more.
A screen measures one thing, diameter, so a trichome head and a leaf fragment of equal size go through the same mesh. The two particles still differ in mass and in the electric charge they take on when rubbed, and the screen registers neither. Hold a charged surface over the powder and it lifts the heads, while the plant fragments stay where they are.
Practitioners call the hand method "static tech": dry powder is rubbed over a nylon screen. A Canadian team that studied the technique found it labour-intensive and impossible to scale up. The static sift entry in the Phytogrammes lexicon puts the same point in terms of output: an ice-water setup processes kilos of material, while static output is counted in grams per hour.
The process: a screen, a charged plate, dry air
Everything begins with ordinary dry sifting, the traditional way resin has been made in Morocco and Afghanistan. According to the UNODC manual on identifying cannabis, sieving is an important part of the process in both regions. Dried flower is rubbed across stacked screens, ordered from the widest mesh to the finest. Trichomes snap off and fall through; the plant matter stays on top. The heads collect in the middle fractions, which are the ones kept.
The second step uses the triboelectric effect. When two surfaces touch and then come apart, charges pass from one to the other; a rubbed balloon sticks to a wall for this reason. The Canadian study, published in 2025 in the Journal of Cannabis Research, measured these charges on a sift of 74 to 250 microns. Plant matter became positively charged and trichomes negatively charged, from 20 to 100 picocoulombs. Since the two groups carry opposite charges, an electric field is enough to separate them.
The study put figures on the gain. After one pass, conventional sifting gave a powder of 40-50% trichome heads, against 80 to 95% for the electrostatic prototype on its first pass. Done by hand, the movement is identical and slower. A plate or card is charged by rubbing, held over the sift, emptied, charged again and brought back.
The result depends on dryness and temperature. Damp material makes the resin sticky, and the heads stay attached. Temperature works against intuition: in the 2025 study, trichome charge dropped to zero at −18 °C, and the authors advise sorting at room temperature. Cold helps trichomes break off during sifting, yet it gets in the way of sorting by charge. Humid air also drains the charge faster, according to a 2017 study of surface charge decay, and the sort weakens.
"Static 120u", "90u": what the number says
The figure after the name is the mesh, in microns, of the screen that held the fraction back. "120u" describes a powder that went through the screen above and stopped on a 120-micron mesh, or 0.12 mm. It tells you nothing about CBD or CBG content.
What a mesh holds back depends on how large the heads are. A Canadian team measured them under the microscope on two cultivars and published the results in the Journal of Cannabis Research in 2023. Capitate-stalked trichomes carry most of the resin; their heads measured 40 to 110 microns across, with averages of 75 and 90 microns depending on the cultivar.
Most heads therefore pass a 120-micron mesh. A "120u" fraction collects the largest heads, heads still attached to a piece of stalk, resin clusters and some debris. A "90u" or "73u" fraction comes closer to whole heads. Electrostatic sorting leaves the number as it was, so a "static 90u" is a 90-micron fraction refined afterwards by charge. The 90u or 120u guide walks through the whole mesh scale.
Static, dry sift, ice-o-lator, frozen: the table
Static is a finishing step. It names neither a cultivar nor an official grade, and no standard controls how the word appears on a label. "3x filtered" is in the same position: it claims three filtrations in a row, and the 3x filtered hash in the catalogue carries this trade name with no standard behind it. The table compares the four terms you meet most often.
| Term | Starting material | Sorting agent | Usual look |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dry sift | Dry, cold flower | Stacked screens (diameter) | Powder from pale blond to brown |
| Static sift | Dry sift already screened | Electrostatic charge | Fine blond powder, few fragments |
| Ice-o-lator | Dried or frozen flower | Ice water and filter bags | Resin of varying lightness, dried, then pressed or not |
| Frozen | Plant frozen right after harvest | Ice water, sometimes dry screens | Light, fragrant resin that softens with warmth |
"Frozen" names the state of the raw material; the method can vary. Its selling point is aroma. A study published in 2024 in the journal Plants found that monoterpenes are more sensitive to drying than sesquiterpenes: D-limonene lost 15 to 58% of its content, depending on the cultivar and the method. Freezing the plant without drying it is meant to reduce that loss, whereas static always starts from dry material. The frozen, piatella, 120u, static comparison sets these terms next to the cannabinoid levels and prices in the catalogue.
Recognising static: what the eye sees, what the analysis says
Looking at static gives you clues, and none of them is proof. A well-made static is a fine blond powder with hardly any visible green fragments, and it clumps as your fingers warm it. A greenish tint means plant matter came through with the heads. A sticky or greasy powder has been exposed to heat or moisture. The Phytogrammes lexicon recommends storing it dry, cool and in the dark, ideally unpressed, since pressing alters the texture and adds nothing to purity. Our article on the colour of a resin covers what the shade can tell you and where it stops.
Cannabinoid content, THC and contaminants cannot be seen. They are on the lot analysis, where three lines are enough to begin with: the main cannabinoid and its percentage, the Δ⁹-THC, and a lot number that matches the product on sale.
Take Hash CBG 90µ in the catalogue, collected on a 90-micron mesh. For lot PG-26-83EF its page shows a reference profile, and no laboratory certificate had been published as of 18 October 2026: 19.3% CBG, 4.2% CBD, 0.4% CBC, 0.4% CBN and 0.1% Δ⁹-THC. On 23 September 2026 the displayed prices ranged from €8.45 per gram at the 2 g tier to €2.02 at the 100 g tier. The CBD resins and hash category lists other dry fractions. The more technical lines, pesticides, heavy metals and solvents, are explained in our guide to the certificate of analysis and on the laboratory page.
Is static hash legal in France?
Yes, if it comes from hemp and the finished product stays under the THC limit. The order of 30 December 2021 only authorises Cannabis sativa L. varieties listed in the official catalogues whose Δ⁹-THC content does not exceed 0.30%, and sets the same ceiling for extracts and for products containing them. The order also banned the sale of raw flowers and leaves, a ban the Conseil d'État struck down on 29 December 2022.
The legal status does not depend on the method. A static made from THC-rich cannabis is a narcotic, as any other resin would be. Our article on whether CBD hash is legal gives the full picture. These products are reserved for adults and are not meant to be swallowed.
Frequently asked questions
Static hash is a hemp resin produced without water. After a first sifting of dried flower, a surface charged with static electricity draws up the trichome heads, while leaf fragments of the same size stay put. Water, solvents and freezing play no part in it.
The label refers to a static sift made from the fraction that a 120-micron mesh held back. Trichome heads usually measure 40 to 110 microns, so this fraction collects the biggest heads, resin clusters and a little plant matter. Potency cannot be read from the number.
Dry sift is sorted by diameter on a stack of screens. Static sorts that sift again with an electrostatic charge, because trichomes and leaf fragments take on different charges. The result is paler, finer and produced in far smaller quantities.
On a label, it usually means static that went through two electrostatic sorts. No standard defines the term or the purity it should reach. For an order of magnitude, the 2025 Canadian study reported 80 to 95% trichome heads after the first pass and about 98% trichomes after two passes or more. As with "120u", the wording tells you nothing about cannabinoid content.
You do not need to. Pressing turns the powder into a slab, which changes its texture and does nothing for purity. Store it loose in an airtight container, somewhere dry, cool and dark.
Not for the electrostatic sort. Cold makes trichomes brittle, which helps them break off during sifting, yet a 2025 study measured no charge at all at −18 °C. Its authors advise sorting dry material at room temperature.
Written by the Phytogrammes team
Each journal article draws on cited primary sources: ANSM, EFSA, EUR-Lex and peer-reviewed publications. Product profiles are distinguished from documented laboratory results. Our approach.
Article published on . CBD is not a medicine.