I’ve been reading an excellent book about the history of cannabis use and the drug war (“Smoke Signals”, by Martin A. Lee), and it describes the “Club des Hashishins” in Paris, who, in the 19th century, made hash eating popular in Europe. Nowhere does it say anything about heating the hash to decarboxylate - obviously they know little if anything about the chemistry of cannabis - but they describe very strong hallucinatory effects of eating large amounts of a “greenish paste made from cannabis resin mixed with fat, honey, and pistachios.”
So, unless the hash was heated at some point to decarboxylate the THCA, how was it so psychoactive? Did hash making involve a heating step? or can decarboxylation happen some other way?
I’m not familiar with the history, but THC-A must be converted (via heating) to THC for the product to be psychoactive. THC-A is not psychoactive. THC is.
I watched one video, one time of hash in a vat being simmered. Now, whether it was actually hash or a heroin operation, I couldn’t say. It was just a clip. I would imagine, though, that they were aware of some heating process needed. The fats used would need to be reduced via heating to combine ingredients and through trial and error they more than likely discovered what we now know as the decrab process. Unless they were scoopin lard like Blue Bell and using copious amounts of hash.
This fat soluble property is why it takes so long to clear for a THC piss test. THC accumulates in your fat cells over time and it takes many weeks (4 to 6 for most people) to liberate the THC stored in your fat cells.
Maybe it was heated at some point while making the food and just didn’t describe it. I imagine maybe the ingredients had to be heated to make the ingredients stick together… just like most stuff we make (even no-bake cookies, we heat the butter and that might be sufficient if the ‘green stuff’ was put in the butter).