The Resurgence of Essential Extracts and the Solventless Story

When we first connected with Nick Tanem—better known in the industry as Nikka T—he was already a decade deep into shaping the solventless scene. A DJ, producer, and founder of Essential Extracts, Nick has been pushing the craft since 2009, when he started making hash with car jacks and became the first licensed, tax-paying hash company in Colorado.

A lot has changed since those early days, but one thing hasn’t: Nick’s mission to elevate the quality and culture of solventless hash. You can’t stand still in this industry, and if there’s one theme that defines Nick’s career, it’s momentum.

This year, we had the chance to work closely with him on two major milestones: the launch of Essential Extracts in New Jersey and a limited drop collaboration for Terp Basel in Miami. Along the way, we sat down with Nick to unpack the roots of solventless, the cycles of the industry, and what it means to build a legacy in cannabis.

The Wild West Days of Hash

Nick launched Essential Extracts in 2009, and by 2010, it was the first licensed hash company in Colorado. At a time when dispensaries were just figuring things out (one of the first in the Vail Valley didn’t even have a lock on the door), Nick was pioneering a craft that few understood.

He was pressing hash with car jacks and molds, turning resin into hockey puck-style bricks. It wasn’t glamorous, but it was groundbreaking. These were the early days of solventless, before rosin presses, before fancy tech. Just raw passion and experimentation.

From Bubble Hash to Solventless

When Nick started bringing his hash into dispensaries, it didn’t look like anything else on the shelf. His product was golden and translucent, a far cry from the dark bubble hash budtenders were used to seeing. It stood out, in a good way, but there wasn’t language for it yet.

So Nick coined a new term: solventless. Then came solventless wax. Solventless shatter. Solventless batter. His goal was to give people a way to understand what made his product different.

All the while, he was studying the hydrocarbon side and recreating those consistencies with water, ice, and heat. His goal? Deliver the same textures and experience without the solvents. It was about safety, but also about preserving the plant’s integrity.

While distillate still dominates the market, Nick has stayed committed to solventless. To him, it’s not about owning the biggest slice of the pie, it’s about protecting the process and serving the consumers who care about what they’re inhaling. Solventless may still be a small niche, but for Nick, it’s where craft lives.

Innovation by Necessity

One of Nick’s biggest contributions came from an accident in the grow. A row of plants in his grow hermed out early, and he didn’t have time to wash them all fresh. So he froze the material.

What came out of that first wash was some of the clearest, most terpene-rich hash he’d seen. That’s how the term fresh frozen was born.

Fresh frozen eventually became the new standard. But getting cultivators on board wasn’t easy. Why freeze premium flower when you could sell it dry for $4,500 a pound? Nick had to pitch them on a new way of thinking, just like he had to pitch solventless to the market.

A Shift Toward Education

As Essential grew, Nick’s role started to evolve. By 2017, Essential was in 250+ dispensaries across Colorado. But when the market shifted, so did he.

By 2018, he had fully leaned into consulting, helping new markets design solventless labs, source equipment, and train staff. From temperature-controlled washrooms to avoiding cross-contamination in vertical grows, Nick was now exporting his expertise across the country and beyond. In 2020 alone, he worked in nine different countries.

His goal remained the same: to reach more people with quality solventless products, and to teach others how to do the same. There was never competition, just education.

A New Chapter: Essential on the East Coast

2024 marked a new era for Essential Extracts with a long-anticipated launch in New Jersey. The project had been in the works since 2022, and by early 2025, Essential products were finally on the shelf—including a cold cure live rosin and an all-in-one live rosin vape.

Nick doesn’t have financial backers. Just him and a trusted advisor running the show. That makes every drop personal, every decision intentional. And as always, he’s doing it with the people he trusts, many of whom have been with him since the early days.

When it came time to bring Essential to New Jersey, Nick turned to us at Vert. We helped build out the packaging strategy across multiple SKUs, producing some product domestically and other components in Mexico to balance speed and cost. The goal: keep brand consistency across formats without compromising timelines or aesthetics.

And it wasn’t the first time we’d worked together. Back in Colorado’s early days, Nick was one of the first to experiment with solventless shatter—and we were making the mylar bags to hold it. In those days, most operators were ordering packaging in bulk, overbuying to hit minimums and scrapping thousands of units when the regs changed. Our pitch was different: buy what you need, when you need it. Nick got it. And over the years, that alignment around agility and quality has made working together feel natural.

The Terp Basel Collab

Around the same time as the New Jersey launch, we teamed up on a creative drop for Terp Basel in Miami, a limited release collab that brought together AVD hardware, artist Lenny Vuitton, and Essential’s signature solventless rosin.

The whole thing came together in five weeks, with packaging produced through our supply chain to meet the tight timeline without compromising on the look. For Nick, it was his first time leaning into a more playful, art-driven aesthetic. And the end result? A package that stood out at one of the most culturally rich events in cannabis.

The Road Ahead

As Nick looks toward the future, he’s still blending music, hashmaking, and education. Touring as a DJ. Judging competitions. Launching brands in new states. And consulting with operators who want to do solventless the right way.

For us at Vert, it’s been an honor to support the next chapter of Essential Extracts. Nick’s legacy is proof that you don’t need to follow the rules to lead the way. You just need to keep moving.