Holy Tincture!

Onkruid

New Member
Today I bottled and tried my first tincture.

Using two oz's of main cola material from a very successful White Widow grow, I ground the bud to a medium flake consistency, decarboxylated it at 220°F for 2 hours, then placed it in a clean 1qt mason jar with just enough Absolut 101 vodka to cover it once the bud had absorbed all it could. Left about 25% headspace in the jar. Then I shook it for about five minutes and placed it in the freezer for two weeks, where it was shaken daily.

Next, I poured the thick, ice cold slurry through a strainer to remove the gross particulate matter. The weed was mashed very firmly in the strainer with the back of a broad spoon to remove all the liquid I could recover. It was then poured through a double thickness of panty hose to refine the filtration. What remains is a little over a pint of bright, gold, lightly syrupy tincture, one ounce of which was placed into a 1oz dropper bottle. The balance was returned to the freezer in a tightly sealed clean jar.

Time for the test. Wanting to start off safely, I placed two drops under each side of my tongue. By virtue, medicine doesn't taste good, so I had no expectation that this would. I was wrong. That isn't to say that it was delicious, just that it had a distinctive, herbal-tea quality to it that wasn't objectionable. It tasted homeopathic and healthful, and that taste lasted merely seconds. In fact, the flavor lasted no longer than the light burn of the alcohol. Testimony to the speed at which liquid is absorbed through the salivary glands.

Onset came fairly rapidly. Within a couple minutes I began to feel a lightness in both upper body and hands. It progressed in intensity and leveled off at a wonderfully comfortable high that lasted about three hours, then slowly dissipated into a nice, relaxed feeling.

Having made countless edibles with this same strain I was very familiar with these effects, but I have to add that the tincture certainly had a much more rapid onset accompanied by a euphoric elation I'd never experienced with the edibles. +1 for team tincture.

Between the convenience and enjoyability factors I'm sold on tincture and will never be without it. Further, I'll be making a tincture from each strain grown from this point forward.

It's clean, discreet, stores indefinitely, is highly concentrated, and is supremely efficacious.

Enduring pain from injury and maladies is something I'm sure I have in common with many here. Others who may not be familiar with tinctures would do well to look into this delivery method. No smoke in the lungs and no smell in the air. No mess. Clean, discreet, economical, and sensible. No wonder it was the most widely prescribed medicine in the U.S. from 1837-1937, when it's prohibition began.

Therefore, it comes as no surprise to me that cannabis, having been made illegal, perfectly coincides with the rise and dominance over society that the pharmaceutical companies enjoy to this day.

The wonder drug was free all the while. :green_heart:
 
Nice works Oinkrude. I like holy oil too, especially when made with premium nuggets of marijuana and using my homemade moonshine for extraction. Delicious stuff
 
Thanks Onk - very informative and clear. Sounds simple and wonderfully effective. Do you think this method would work with glycerin replacing the alcohol?
 
Thanks Kbomb. Yes, it will work. When researching how-to's and recipes for tincture I consistently ran into sites mentioning glycerin's use. A simple search will tell you everything you want to know: glycerin cannabis tincture <<Copy/paste.

If you make it, drop a follow-up note as I'd love to gain firsthand knowledge on the matter. Good luck either way!
 
Have started one along the same lines of yours - my first go, with the rest of some jack herer I had left. Only a small amount and decided to just go with alcohol (bacardi 151), because I need something that will be effective, til I have the luxury of experimenting with glycerine.

My searches of glycerine mostly result in recipes that are hot, or simply left at room temp but for min 60days. I found none with the extreme cold method like yours, and not sure if that method would work. I can logically see how heating would facilitate absorption, and how without heating, just allowing more time for absorption would help. But I can't see how putting it in the freezer would accelerate the process/extraction.
 
Thanks Kbomb, I appreciate your follow up and knowledge.

I'm with you in expecting heat to be a better facilitator of extraction than cold with glycerin. It just seems to make better sense.

My choice and apparently yours were guided by the speed and totality of the alcohol process. Have to think that your tincture will come out great considering your use of 151 proof. Nice call on the Bacardi. FWIW, I often add tincture to a rum and coke with impressively effective results.

Best to you! :thumb:
 
6th day in the freezer...I see many posts that claim it'd be fine to try now but i'm resisting and will give it the full two weeks. Absolutely right re: need for speed at this stage. My usual administration is with homemade chocolates, after decarbing and heating the weed in butter in a double top boiler then melting dark chocolate in the mix (I leave the weed in - finely ground you don't notice it and I actually think it makes for a decent taste; I also tend to add chopped nuts for texture and flavour - almonds are my favourite), and only have a couple of weeks' worth left.

So i'm keen to try tincture - as you say, longevity, ease of use and storage and portability (not always easy to take chocolate with me places, especially on hot days!) is a big bonus. Bacardi 151 is the strongest alcohol I could get locally that will also prob taste ok - not a rum drinker personally, but in this form should be ok. My preferred drink is scotch and I have some very smoky scotch at 48% which I will probably try next - the alcohol content should be ok, and i'm keen to see how a smoky scotch tinc will taste...might even be reminiscent of my old smoking days ;-)
 
great write up!

good to know i dont need to hold out for 95% alcohol since the 50% will work - might be a good way to start out before i distill my own like vlad :p haha

ive considered also an organic olive oil extraction, but havent tried it.

having tried ethanol tincture before, i hope to probably switch exclusively to vape/tincture, so this was an insightful read!

cheers
 
Kbomb- Just another week. Smokey scotch... Mmmm.

Thanks Kingsnake235. For me olive oil hadn't worked out. Not for any shortcomings in potency or efficacy, but more due to it's flavor. Being handy in the kitchen I found the flavor uncomplimentary to the dishes where I used it. For me it was better used as a recipe additive in gross measurement, such as baked goods. I also found it difficult to titrate with reasonable accuracy when used freehand.

High from dinner is great. Too high is not.
 
Thanks for the post Onkruid. I was wanting to try something different from the cookies. This seems like a nice and easy process and will give it a try. I would imagine a pint of this stuff is going to last a little while. Cheers :Rasta:
 
Thank you Snoop429. It was very simple to make. A pint will last as long as it lasts. Enjoyment, experimentation, and sharing will dictate that sure enough.

When talking about infused olive oil earlier I should have mentioned that besides chocolate, I found it's seemingly most natural pairings among citrus. Pineapple, lemon, lime, grapefruit, and orange.
 
Potency indeed varies each time. I can generally gauge the strength of my chocolates with 'rough' amounts of each ingredient put in, but always test it with a little slice first, then go from there. 70% cocoa is nice, melted with unsalted butter and of course the healing herb.

I imagine i'll just give this a drop or two and see what happens. Like the fact also that the onset of action is swifter and not as influenced by other factors such as food intake (which always delays the edible onset by some time I found).

What sort of citrus products did you make Onkruid? drinks, foods, etc?
 
Potency indeed varies each time.

on that note! i have some calculations for anyone who's on the fence, considering whether tincture will be worth it for their needs or not..

first a couple quotes from another thread, here -> Tinctures - How to Extract Cannabis (tutorial)

A standard tincture is at a ratio of one gram of cannabis to 35ml (1 ounce) of pure grain ethanol. At this strength, a dosage of 1.4ml of extract (2 squirts) mixed with water is barely noticeable, although it is a very effective appetite stimulant.

its incorrect only in that 1 oz = 30mL not 35 mL (U.S. fluid ounces that is) but gives us a good jumping off point to know whats "standard"; i'll reference here that there are 20 drops in 1 ounce of fluid since i'll be reducing calculations to single drop ratios.

A tincture of seven grams ... in 50ml (1.5 ounces) of ethanol is definitely psychoactive at a dosage of 0.7ml (one squirt). Upon doubling the dosage to 1.4ml, I achieved a Buddha-trance state, ideal for serious meditation...

i dont know about you, but i dont want a buddha-like trance state every time i dose myself, hahahaha

2 ounces herb to 1 pint (16 fl/oz)

then the above recipe from Onkruid that equates to a nice middle ground.

therefor:
1.0g:1oz = 0.033g/mL or 33.3mg/mL = 47.6mg/0.7mL dose (1.65 mg/drop) * Standard
3.0g:1oz = 0.100g/mL or 100 mg/mL = 70.0mg/0.7mL dose (5.00 mg/drop) * Control *
3.5g:1oz = 0.116g/mL or 116 mg/mL = 81.2mg/0.7mL dose (5.83 mg/drop) * Onkruid
4.2g:1oz = 0.140g/mL or 140 mg/mL = 98.0mg/0.7mL dose (7.00 mg/drop) * Buddha
7.0g:1oz = 0.233g/mL or 233 mg/mL = 163 mg/0.7mL dose (11.7 mg/drop) * Concentrated *

0.7mL doses are noted for one full dropper, then reduced to per drop

i added an extra "control" ratio to keep calculations easy on that one and a "concentrated" ratio to give some perspective of the higher end of things.

using the above chart, you can adjust dosage/ratio to achieve the desired effect based on mg intake.


i personally want to make a concentration that allows for 1-2 drop doses 2-4 times daily

with that in mind, some quick calculations based on Onkruid's recipe will reveal just how much we're using and saving with this method of consumption (in theory)

001mL = 20 drops
030mL = 600 drops
480mL = 9600 drops

averaging 2 drops, 3 times daily = 6 drops a day, therefor:

600 drops = 100 days per fl/oz = ~3 months (rounded down to 90 days for increased dosage occasionally)

2oz dry : 16 oz wet x 3 months per ounce = 48 months, or 4 years/patient just from one pint of tincture
4oz dry : 32 oz wet x 3 months per ounce = 96 months, or 8 years/patient just from 4 ounces of dry herb

thats incredible.

even if you double your ratio or your dosage or supplement with edibles and smoking/vaping the savings are astounding compared to smoking/vaping exclusively.

of course this is all strain dependent, but once you have that nailed down you're golden.

apologies for the wall of text, but i love having this kind of information on hand; hope someone else does too!

:high-five:
cheers!
 
I'll have to try your chocolate recipe Kbomb. 70% is the magic number around here too.

Couldn't quite get the infused oil married in either typical or vegan preparations of pesto, which was surprising given the basil and garlic.

Marinara sauce is a winner.

I occasionally use cannaoil in stirfry and offset the flavor with a touch of sesame oil.

Pineapple (w/or w/o orange) upside-down cake. Place a perfect fan leaf face down and centered on the bottom of your baking dish before assembly. It will of course end up on top. Beautiful in both appearance and flavor.

Lemon Pudding cake w/Orange glace is a good flavor mask... Perhaps too good.

Apple Cobbler ala cannabutter.

Juices are greatly enjoyed here. Guava w/Tinc is a favorite. Apple-Kiwi w/tinc. Strawberry-Banana w/tinc. Apple-Carrot w/tinc.

Corona w/Lime and tinc.

Tincture dripped over morning grapefruit half. Simple and tasty.

My favorite cannabev: Take a one pound bag of frozen mixed berries (Strawberry, Raspberry, Black Rasberry, and Blueberry), 1-tablespoon sugar, rum and tincture to suit. Blend until smooth and pour-able.

Tincture works very well in Tom Collins, Long Island Iced Tea, Bloody Mary, Tequila Sunrise, Screwdriver. Really, any drink high in citrus or acid seems to be a good fit. Creamy and milk-containing drinks also go very well. Think Bhang.

I don't love or dislike the flavor of canna butter/tincture/oil and feel it's place in the kitchen needs to be respected and worked with carefully. Especially if avoidance of it's particular flavor is to be minimized or masked.

Dosing really is everything. Overdoing it either playfully or accidentally really can waste good bud, good food, and better times.

It's crucial to remember that whatever you choose to make, pay the strictest attention to preparation temperatures as too high will render your kung fu powerless.

While keeping a journal on here a few years ago I made electronic acquaintance with an emminently creative canna chef. His name was "peace man" (two words). If you searched him out you may be inspired by his creations. His platings were something to behold.

---------------------------------------

Outstanding post Kingsnake235! No apologies. Very pleased that you posted such helpful reference material for all. I recall looking far and wide to find much of that info and foolishly never put it down for others. Of particular interest are your comments on savings, an important and previously overlooked merit.

Nice job! Thanks. :thumb:
 
Outstanding post Kingsnake235! No apologies. Very pleased that you posted such helpful reference material for all. I recall looking far and wide to find much of that info and foolishly never put it down for others. Of particular interest are your comments on savings, an important and previously overlooked merit.

Nice job! Thanks.

hey, no problem, that's what we're here for right! The savings on product is a huge thing, it took actually doing the calculations myself to even realize it, as i hadn't seen any mention of it in the past.

those are some really amazing sounding recipes as well, i love the pineapple upside down cake idea, i'll have to try some of those one day!
 
Love the discussion, sharing of ideas and knowledge - esp as someone really just starting off on the path to 'enlightenment'. Thanks to you all!

Kingsnake, your flag (my own flag of birth too, though I live a long way from there now) made me think of another potential use/idea for my cannachocholate (and in fact it was making the top layer of these that led me to my own way of making my choc edibles) - nanaimo bars. Yum yum!
 
mmmmm, cannaimo bars.

good idea, they're so rich most people cant eat more than one anyways, that'd be a great way to do it!

a nice special chocolate layer with the cannabian flag, hehe. i'd love to try one of those
 
OK, so I bailed early and strained at day 10, but medicine was required!

Not as potent as i'd hoped, but then I used much less than you - prob only just over 1/2oz. But I thought if I simply covered it with alcohol (the bacardi 151) as per your plan, the concentration would be relatively the same. I think a tad more 151 went in than I hoped i.e. not just covered but perhaps 0.5cm above level? It was filling and soaking up...then suddenly a fluid level appeared - I probably poured it too fast.

Tested at day 10. 2 drops straight up. felt a cerebral lightness within 30mins. Not much more after another ~20 mins so another 3 drops. Def more effect but then decided to have a small toke of the original Herer (kept a small bud aside just in case), as work loomed the next morning and didn't wan't to be too groggy.

Few days of work so no meds but last night tried 5 drops straight up. Quick onset of lightness and a nice relaxed feeling. 1hr later still relaxed but could definitely do with a stronger high so took another 5 drops. Definitely added more 'oomph' over the next hour, and felt nice and relaxing, but still not as strong as my chocolate has been...though I have to say the high climbed a bit more over the next few hrs.

So all in all, it was certainly effective. I would agree that mine didn't taste bad. I will definitely try to make a more concentrated tinc next time I have the herb to do it with. That's the main drawback - it takes quite a few drops to get a decent buzz and I'd prefer a drop or two only - minimise the alcohol that I have to put under my tongue. I'm also keen to try the glycerine for this same reason, which i'll also do for sure when a generous harvest next comes through. I'm considering another method though - just heating the glycerine in a double top boiler with the decarbed weed in it...for how long I don't know, but that's how I do it with butter and that is quite effective (after only ~10-15mins).
 
Thanks for the great follow up Kbomb. Your detail and control are appreciated.
I wouldn't think that a slight abbreviation of soaking/chilling time or a meager overage of alcohol would reduce potency too greatly as those stages are reduced to eyeballing and may even be subject to the moisture content of the herb; something I hadn't even considered until this moment. Mine's kept at 62% (Boveda).

Please take NO offense by this: One other consequential variable is initial potency. In my experience it seems many growers place a higher quality value upon their product than an objective party might. With that in mind, do you feel that your Jack Herer is genuinely high-grade? I ask because I used a White Widow that's been tweaked over a period of years until I arrived at what I feel is the plant's maximum. The increase in potency from the first grow to the most recent is startling. Most here place their limit of that at 1-2 tokes.
Given your grasp of the subject matter I somehow feel that question is moot, but it should be known for control's sake.

Our thoughts on heating glycerin remain shared. To my very rudimentary chemistry it just makes sense that something with such high lipid solubility and low aqueous solubility would simply experience greater success in a compatible medium of increased temperature. The double boiler seems like a very sound approach.

Did I understand your post to say that you decarb your pot prior to making butter? I've never tried that and have always simmered it at the lowest possible boil for 4 hours. Never been disappointed, but it sure would be nice to not smell the place up for that long.

:thumb:
 
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