Shearing vs. Tearing Cut

In the rapidly evolving world of commercial cannabis production, the time has come to take a really close look at trimming. What does the actual cut of your flower look like, and how does it affect your bottom line? From saleability to versatility, a cleaner cut = added value.

With the rapid influx of supply in the marketplace, scissor-cut flower commands a higher price than flower trimmed with conventional trimming machinery – and for good reason. Let’s take a look at the actual cut.

tearing-vs-shearing-cannabis-hemp-trimmer-1Think about the last time you mowed your lawn and emptied the trim-catcher into your compost or yard bag. The rotary action of your average lawn mower is like hacking the grass with a machete, and the result is a gooey, wet mass of torn leaf. It’s a function of the mechanics, and the mowed lawn’s shredded ends are susceptible to oxidation (browning).

Compare and contrast that to the relatively clean cut of a professional reel-style mower used by golf courses. The helical cutter running against a stationary rigid blade produces a far cleaner cut, thus less oxidation, but it still isn’t a true scissor cut. While the relationship of the reel touching the rigid blade gets you a long way down that road, scissoring only happens when one blade flexes against the other.

DOES OXIDATION MATTER?   

tearing-vs-shearing-cannabis-hemp-trimmer-closeup-1

The cleaner the cut, the less surface-area is exposed, therefore less oxidation (browning) occurs. Less browning means a higher-value flower and greater versatility in end-product. Golden yellows in high-end products like Live Resin and Shatter just aren’t achievable with an oxidized flower. While the efficacy of the product may remain the same, rootbeer-colored goo isn’t nearly as marketable as its beautiful, golden counterpart.

IS HAND-TRIMMING THE ONLY OPTION? 

No! At a recent Road Show stop in California, our host was a high-end producer whose top-shelf product realizes $2400/lb (compared to a typical high-end California market price of maybe $1700 – $1800/lb). We ran a portion of the host’s product through the Mobius M108S. The rest of that crop was hand-trimmed as usual. A handful of material hand-trimmed by their Trim Team and a handful of Mobius-trimmed flower were set beside each other in front of their QC peeps, who couldn’t tell which was which.

THE MOBIUS ADVANTAGE 

Unlike any other trimming machine, the Mobius M108S was engineered to scissor-cut. The key is our Tri-Flex Blade System (patent-pending) coupled with the ultra-low profile of our patented AirThread Tension Tumbler , which rides less-than 30 thousandths of an inch above the action. Our bedknives flex against the helical blades to provide the only true scissor-cut available, while our perfectly-cylindrical tumbler (the ONLY perfectly round tumbler on the market), gets the flower as close to the cutters as possible. The result is cleanly-sheared tight buds, indiscernible from hand-trim.

SHEAR PRODUCTIVITY = SHEER PROFIT   

The market has become over-supplied with product, leaving many producers to bank on top-shelf hand-trimmed flower to be their differentiator. Only Mobius Trimmers deliver the top quality today’s consumers demand and unparalleled productivity. If you aren’t trimming with Mobius today, what does your tomorrow look like?

The tuning of these machines is so precise that you can actually get a perfect cut ready for bag with just a small tweak of the after product. The actual trim is absolutely perfect every time. The result is comparable considerably to a hand-trimmed product. You won’t get better results.” 

Joshua Milns, Pure Sunfarms

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