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iCell Filling/Capping SOP

Filling SOP, iCell Ceramic Snap on Cartridges

Thank you for your interest in the Ascent iCell ceramic snap on cartridge. These cartridges are known for their world class power and flavor, but a lesser known fact is that any operation that desires to fill iCell in scale must be very sophisticated and efficient:


Necessary Equipment:

  1. 1x Fast moving filling machines like the Vape Jet or any of the Cart Farmer fillers.
  2. 4x 12mm socket wrenches with 3/8” drive
  3. 4x 6” Socket extensions with 3/8” drive
  4. 1x Homogenizer suitably sized to handle the entire batch being processed
  5. 1x Filler Operator
  6. 1x Capping Engineer (2 are preferred if keeping up with the Cart Farmer series fillers)
  7. 1200w Microwave oven

Process:


To begin make sure your filling machine is set up properly:

All heat pads should be tight and securely fastened, you do not want any heat slipping out between any possible spaces between the heat pad an material vessels (lines, reservoir, and fittings). As you are setting up your product I.e homogenizing/mixing you should be pre heating your filling unit.

  1. Your line heat pads on the cart farm unit should be set to 80-100c
  2. Your reservoir heat pads on the cart farm unit should be set to 50-80c

Allow your cart farmer to preheat for 10-15 minutes

Mixing

Mixing to full homogenization is extremely essential. For complete homogenization, the material being mixed must be in liquid form with viscosity similar to olive oil. 1200W Microwave Ovens cook distillates and diamonds to homogenization temperatures (90c) within minutes:

  1. Heat your base material to mixing tempurature
  2. Once totally liquified, your starting material vessel have pre-weighed batches of terps dumped in.
  3. Once the terpenes are mixed in, you can place the homogenizer probe in and mix. (Your homogenizer should be adequately sized to mix the entire batch in less than a minute.)

Filling

Now that you have the product mixed and up to a temperature of 80c you can pour your product your reservoir:

1. Once you have all product in your reservoir you can begin to prime your gun:

  • To do so begin by bringing the gun to the top of the reservoir and depressing the plunger to push all the volume in the dispenser out.
  • As you continue holding the plunger all the way down on the gun bring the gun below the reservoir and than let it refill.
  • Repeat process approx. 5-10 times.

Remember: even when the material starts to flow freely, continue to prime the dispenser a few more times afterwards to make sure that all material going through lines is to the correct temperature.

2. Now you are ready to start filling. With either your crushed/round 8ga or crushed/round 14ga needles, you can begin to carefully fill your cartridges

  • DO NOT!! rest the needle on the glass and pressed up against the post.
  • Every fill should be with the needle directly pointed down into the cartridgeto avoid placing stress on either center post or surrounding glass.

Capping

There is a 5minute time limit on caping the cartridges. The filler operator must be able to to do the amount needed to fill a tray done in under 3-4min. This is because each individual cartridge must capped within the first five minutes of filling it.

It is the filling team’s job to get the product off heat as fast as possible for the best color and flavor so set the filling space up to be efficient from filling to capping. The cappers should be directly opposite of the filler, with the filler starting closest to the capper and moving left to right, so the capper has easy acces to the cartridges without obstructing the filler.

  1. When the filler starts their fill, they announce “FILLING” to the team. The capper then starts a clock and marks the first cartridge filled to ensure correct capping.
  2. The capper should be equipped with both individual caps and a 100 tray of caps, to ensure capping occurs whether the filler is finished or not.
  3. The capper places either an individual cap or full tray.
  4. The capper then aligns the cap over the cartridge, and presses down with the capping tool (12mm socket wrenches).
  • With individual caps, the capper can place caps with their left hand and cap with their right
  • With the entire rack, a capper can place the tray with both hands and then dual wield capping tools (12mm socket wrenches) to cap extremely quickly.

Acent full ceramics are the only cart farm cartridges that can be flipped after filling to offset capping pressure without flooding the coil. This allows for a fuller looking cartridge.

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Types of Cannabis Cartridges

There are many types of carts out there, and one may get overwhelmed by all the nomenclature and jargon. Here is a concise guide of safe cartridges to clear up any confusion you may have. Only cannabis cartridges have been included, as botanical terpenes are not made for vaping.

Cold Distilled Terpene Blends

This is the current pinnacle of cartridges/extracts. These blends boast the truest to form taste and highest potential potency.
Example Brand utilizing this technique

HTE/FSE Blends

FSE blends are usually decarbed butane extracts. Sometimes they are not decarbed, leading to cloudy cartridges
HTE blends are usually the terpene fraction of hydrocarbon extracts, blended in to distillate or decarbed isolate
Example Brand utilizing this technique

Steam Distilled Cannabis Blends

Steam Distilled terpenes offer flavorful profiles and cannabis sourced flavor at a fraction of the price of other options
Example Brand utilizing this technique
Hemp Steam Stilled source

Anything not listed here (botanical blends, rosin pens, vitamin e/mct) is not safe for their respective reasons.

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Heating

Heating one’s starting material for blending is the first step to producing an oil blend. Due to the natural high viscosity of the starting material, it is necessary to heat it to liquefy it enough to mix in flavoring compounds. Once flavors are blended in, heat is also required to expedite transfer and allow reliable and expedient filling. There are many ways to skin this particular cat depending on:

  • the vessel holding the material
  • the amount of work the operator is willing to put up with
  • the amount of time one wants to spend
  • the amount of risk the operator is willing to take

For spherical flasks, a heating mantle can be utilized to provide an even heat. Most times, starting material will come in a cylindrical container like a jar, media storage bottle, or beaker. Cylinders can be heated by oil bath, heating pads, forced air, and microwave radiation.

  • Oil bath is the slowest, because the vessel must be cleaned prior to transfer to prevent contamination.
  • Heating pads are faster, but may overshoot and take time to assemble dissasemble
  • Forced Air (as simple as a heat gun) can be very fast, but if not properly preformed can overheat cannabanoids. This is also the least uniform heating method.
  • Microwave radiation is the fastest possible process. There is no risk of contamination with this method. There are two disadvantages to this method. (1) Short bursts (10-25 seconds) must be utilized to prevent overheating and (2) the equipment will take unavoidable damage over time. This is due to the magnetron being tuned for water and not oil.
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Cart Farming 101: The Oil Blend

Blending is a simple process, but has the potential to make or break a product. Cart Farming is an art as much as it is a science. The most important aspects of one’s blends are:

  1. Cleanliness of starting material
  2. Quality of flavoring additives
  3. Technique used when mixing

Your starting material should be clean. This means deodorized and free of diluting agents. Clean material gives your blend the best head start possible, as you will have complete control of viscosity and flavor. Your starting material should have no distinct odor, and should not flow freely when flipped for at least 45 minutes at room temperature.

There are two ways to flavor your material. Some operations like to utilize terpenes for a true to for cannabis oil. Other operations utilize flavor concentrates and diluents (for correct viscosity).

  • Botanical terpenes can be harsh when used excessively. To remedy this, some producers will utilize cannabis or hemp terpenes, either as a stand-alone product, or to add to the flavor of botanical terpenes.
  • Flavor concentrates typically require very low concentrations to impart huge flavor. They rarely add harshness themselves; the diluent used to thin the oil to correct viscosity typically does this. Our producers have reported that C8 caprylic acid has been the smoothest cutting agent.

Mixing is where an operation can be made or broken. Utilizing a hotplate/magnetic stirrer to heat and mix one’s solution is often utilized by inexperienced Cart Farmers due to the excessive costs of the correct mixing solutions. Magnetic stirrers take a very long time to heat a solution, and even longer to mix it. Even after the ~45 minutes it takes to blend, the oil will have uneven concentrations of terpenes and cannabinoids throughout. This will lead to some cartridges having not enough flavor, and some cartridges having too much.

A better solution is heating one’s material in the glass container it came in utilizing heating pads and the aforementioned hot plate. Once to the correct temperature (80-100c, dependent of viscosity and equipment) the flavoring components can be added to the mixture and be mixed. A more dangerous, but quicker solution is microwaving the material in 15-20 second bursts until the correct temperature is achieved.

A uniform mix can be achieved by utilizing a homogenizer. Most of these mixers take 20-45 seconds to evenly disperse the constituents in the oil. The oil to be mixed MUST be at the correct temperature, otherwise, it will damage your equipment. Most homogenizers require 1-5 minute cleaning/lubrication after usage to prevent friction and contamination when mixing successive batches.