Tinctures included but not limited to cannabis tinctures, have been used by humankind because of their mighty health benefits ever since 1000 AD.
It was none other but the ancient Egyptians who are known to have started making tinctures shortly after alcohol was distilled for the first time.
We can’t wait to get down to sharing how to make highly fantastic cannabis tinctures straight in the comfort of your home with only a few basic items and no hard work or lengthy cooking involved! Cannabis tinctures can be stored for years while fully preserving all the active cannabinoids and terpenes. Not the least, a weed tincture can work wonders for creating those often-hard-to-infuse-properly edibles, such as candies and cannabis cocktails, among others.
Before we get down to the practical side of sharing the secrets of making heavenly fantabulous weed tinctures, we will reveal a handful of useful and curious facts about herbal tinctures, so that you can gain a proper, in-depth understanding of the intriguing ways herbal tinctures, including but not limited to marijuana tinctures, can help one cope with a whole array of physical and mental concerns, while being an easy and discreet means to get medicated literally anywhere as needed.
What is a Marijuana Tincture: Introduction to Herbal Tinctures Basics
Quintessentially, a marijuana tincture, just like all herbal tinctures, is a highly concentrated herbal extract in liquid form.
Different plants’ parts can be used for prepping herbal tinctures, such as flowers, leaves, stems, and/or roots. In the case of prepping cannabis tincture, you want to stick with using only the cannabis flowers, although if you happen to grow your own cannabis plants, you can make fantastic use of your sparkling trichomes-coated trimmings, too.
Various healing plants can be used (or even mixed together) for making an excellent herbal tincture, several examples being yarrow, marigold, chamomile, nettle, dandelion, and walnut, among many others.
In order to prepare just about any type of herbal tincture, herbs need to be steeped in alcohol(aka ethanol or ethyl alcohol). Alcohol breaks down the cell wall of the plants. More importantly, alcohol does not merely help in breaking down the plants’ cell walls but by doing so, alcohol further allows for the bio-active compounds to be released, and subsequently, stored, into the alcohol.
For years, herbal tinctures have been among the most convenient delivery systems for medicinal herbs, and that’s because alcohol allows for the active compounds present in plants to be absorbed very quickly into the bloodstream. In the case of working your way with marijuana tincturing, the short time to get the active cannabinoids delivered into your bloodstream thanks to the sublingual methods of use makes up for easy, comfortable dosing.
Vegetable glycerin(glycerol) can also be used for the preparation of weed tinctures but you want to keep in mind that glycerin fails to extract the active cannabinoids as efficiently as alcohol does.
The time required to steep the herbs to achieve a high-quality tincture varies. Usually, the longer the herbs are steeped, the higher the potency of the tincture because of the prolonged time bio-active compounds’ alcohol extraction can take place, therefore, extracting and storing more of the beneficial active ingredients.
Following the old but gold herbal tinctures gurus’ best practices, we found out that cannabis can be steeped for as little as about an hour to 3 months on an average for creating a delightful DIY pot tincture.
For instance, one of the recipes that we are about to share below allows you to make an excellent weed tincture within as little as about an hour or so (but some cooking is involved) while there’s also an easy-peasy, tried-and-tested marijuana tincture recipe that takes about 3 months for the extraction process to be fully accomplished (with barely a trace of cooking involved).
Do mind that the alcohol content present in the type of alcohol used for preparing a herbal tincture also plays a crucial role in the extraction process (in fact, a no less crucial role than the time for steeping the plants’ parts). Different strengths of alcohol are needed for extracting the active compounds from different herbs with a mind to making the most effective tincture remedy.
For example, calendula flowers contain resins that require steeping in the alcohol content of at least 90% in order to be successfully extracted. Other herbs, such as peppermint, can be turned into a well-working tincture even if sticking with 40% alcohol content. Best of all, working your way with DIY cannabis tinctures gives plenty of room for tailoring the tincture’s potency based on your personal taste and demands.
https://www.youtube.com/watchv=f2aVum_7kWs
How To Make A Tincture – Herbalism Basics 3 – Rickvanman – Variety Channel
Source: youtube.com
Brief History of Herbal Tincturing&Weed Tinctures as an Over the Counter Medicine
The history of herbal tinctures is profoundly related to the history of distilling. It is known that the ancient Chinese were distilling a rice beer-based beverage as far as back into 800 BCE, however, herbal tinctures did not become widely-spread before alcohol distillation started turned into common practice across the globe.
As the know-how of alcohol distillation was spreading worldwide, so was the knowledge of preserving plants’ active compounds and creating highly effective plant-based medicine using alcohol for both extraction and storage purposes.
It was in 1025 when The Canon of Medicine (The Al-Qanoon fi al Tibb) was published. The Canon of Medicine explained a big number of medical topics, herbal tinctures included. It was the very basis for the teaching of medicine in the West during the 12th-17th centuries. It is fair to state that not until making the discoveries of distilled alcohol and herbs infusions medicinal uses before distilled alcohol was ingrained in Western medicine.
Before marijuana prohibition laws started to take a global grip, weed tinctures were widely available as an over the counter medicine used for the treatment of pain and insomnia, among other health concerns, varying from physical to mental ailments.
Interestingly, cannabis tinctures gradually ranked among the most popular herbal tinctures out of the many available at the time. One of the most famous cannabis tinctures created and sold pre-1937 was manufactured by the American Druggist Syndicate and labeled “Fluidextract Cannabis Indica,” featuring 60% alcohol content.
And indeed, it was in the 1920s when cannabis Indica tinctures were sold in just about any average US pharmacy. The elixirs and other medicines advertised back then were, in fact, either tincture of cordials. However, the usage of herbal tinctures greatly declined in general, and that had nothing to do with the ban on marijuana but instead, it was due to the emphasizing on pills advertised as pharmacology moved on into a new era of development at the turn of the 21st century.
Cannabis Tinctures: The Rebirth of Traditional Herbal Medicine
Weed tinctures are an age-old method of medicating with cannabis. Despite being neglected or poorly understood by many, traditional herbal medicine is as ancient as humanity, and what we are currently witnessing is a beautiful journey backward to our very roots thanks to a rising number of highly educated scientists and researchers digging into the immortal secrets of herbal medications by making spectacular use of modern-day technologies for the preparation of miraculous, all-natural remedies that approach humans’ health holistically.
Nowadays, a pharmaceutical preparation closely related to the herbal tincturing methods of the past making use of the sublingual method for ingesting the active cannabinoids has turned into one of the top modern-day cannabis-infused oral medications.
Scientifically known as nabiximols, and sold in licensed pharmacies under the trade name “Sativex” allows patients to administrate their dose orally as the cannabis-infused medication is available in the form of an oral spray. “Sativex” is the very first cannabis-based medicine to have been licensed in the United Kingdom, thus, being available for the treatment of multiple sclerosis-related symptoms such as spasticity and neuropathic pain after the mouth spray was officially approved as a botanical drug in 2010.
Interestingly, weed tinctures consumption for recreational use remains quite a rare practice up-to-date but experts are positive that things are about to drastically change. While years ago it was difficult to tailor a weed tincture’s potency because of the limited information, nowadays, a cannabis tincture can be created in a wide range of THC to CBD concentrations. In fact, you can even choose to make a THCA or CBDA weed tincture (THCA and CBDA being the raw acidic forms of THC and CBD that do not provide psychoactive effects but are full of health benefits). Both CBD-rich, as well as THC-rich weed tinctures, can allow you to microdose your cannabis intake throughout the day with ease and confidence, (yup, even while you are sitting at your work desk).
Cannabis Tincturing 101: Benefits vs. Downsides of Preparation and Use
It is hard to talk about cannabis tinctures’ downsides because there is actually a single major con to these amazing marijuana-infused herbal elixirs. In a nutshell, you need to embrace a trial-and-error attitude to DIY weed tinctures. It may take a few attempts before you manage to achieve the best-working cannabis tincture according to your needs, as different types of alcohol, as well as different preparation methods, and nonetheless, the use of different cannabis strains and a different ratio of flowers-to-leaves-and-stems content will result in tinctures of varying potency.
Not the least, we must acknowledge the fact that every person’s body is absolutely unique, and therefore, no two cannabis tinctures will work exactly alike on two different individuals. That’s exactly what a trial-and-error attitude towards weed tinctures is all about: having fun experimenting with the creation of the perfect cannabis tincture for you and your beloved ones.
What are the Most Common Effects after Consuming a Pot Tincture
The most accurate way to administer weed tinctures sums up to the term “sublingual.” Shortly put, when consuming a tincture sublingually, you place a drop (or several drops) under your tongue. Next, you simply hold the tincture in there for several seconds until it absorbs into the mucous membrane located beneath your tongue, therefore, bypassing the first-pass metabolism which refers to having the tincture processed through the liver before entering your body’s general circulation. Because of the benefits of sublingual administration, weed tinctures work significantly faster than edibles.
The effects of weed tinctures’ sublingual consumption are somewhat less stoney than the effects of smoking marijuana. However, the effects last longer than smoking the herb, giving off waves of euphoria and a fun head high that rarely has something to do with the typical couch-locked effect, even if your weed tincture is made using an Indica strain that is known to make you happily stick to the couch for hours. Of course, a couch-locked state of body-and-mind is not impossible to achieve when medicating with weed tinctures, but you’ll most probably need to administrate a higher dose in order to do so.
Ultimately, we must not forget that consuming marijuana is a highly nuanced, strictly individual type of experience, so the best way to understand how a pot tincture makes you feel like is to try it for yourself!
Quick Tips for Achieving the Desired Weed Tincture’s Potency
1. Keep notes.
It’s a great idea to write down the exact preparation method of each weed tincture recipe you choose to try out, neatly listing every step of the preparation process you followed. Write down the exact dose you take, as well as the effects experienced after consumption, so that you can track down the desired potency. In time, you will learn to develop formulas that are unique to you and your family to get the results you want. Nonetheless, always make sure to label the contents of your weed tincture, including the amount of weed to alcohol used, as well as the date of preparation for ease of storage and accurate dosing.
2. Pay attention to your body.
The differences you feel after administrating a particular dosage from your DIY weed tincture matter a lot, even the subtle ones, so don’t disregard them. Pay attention to the way your body responds to the dosage and always keep in mind the weed tincture recipe you have followed so that you can gain an in-depth understanding of the benefits of each cannabis tincture preparation method for your well-being. As a rule of thumb, if it is your first time to try a weed tincture, it is best to do so on a free day at home (just in case it’s too strong, as well as for the sake of being able to tune with the flow better than you would if consuming your weed tincture in an uncomfortable environment).
In the case your marijuana tolerance is low, (or if you have no idea what your tolerance level to weed tinctures is), we recommend starting with a single drop to see how it affects you.
3. Choose the right strain.
Different cannabis strains will result in preparing weed tinctures of different potency. Also, different cannabis strains will give way to a (slightly) different array of effects revealed after consuming your weed tincture. Not the least, the flavor of the strain you choose to work with does play a role in the subtle notes of your weed tincture, so it is worth to experiment with your favorite strains.
Based on the accumulated experience with weed tinctures prior to compiling this article, we dare to note that Northern Lights and White Widow gave way to some truly amazing weed tinctures. With their high THC potency and high medicinal value, we sincerely recommend that you give both of these strains a tincturing try.
We cannot skip commenting on yet another important factor when choosing the right strains for DIY pot tinctures. Weed tinctures offer the discreet medication at a fraction the cost you would typically pay for a readily-available cannabis tincture sold in stores, with savings significantly increasing for those of you who happen to grow their own cannabis. The truth is, a weed tincture is one of the most cost-effective ways to consume just about any of your favorite strains.
For the record, a 100 mg THC weed tincture can be found in stores for about $20 while cannabis growers can produce a DIY weed tincture of the same potency and quality for about $5! CBD tinctures can get even pricier, and can hit $50 for 1000 mg of CBD to 100 mg of THC potency, which can be achieved by crafty cannabis growers for less than $10 on an average!
THC Tincture vs. CBD Tincture vs. THCA Tincture vs. CBDA Tincture
In a nutshell, different active cannabinoids provide different benefits. Because of this, it is worth choosing the type of weed tincture that will work best for reaping the desired physical and/or mental benefits accordingly.
A THC tincture is made by using high THC strains (well, not necessarily high in THC but at least higher in THC than in other active cannabinoids), several of our favorite strains on that note being Gorilla Glue, White Widow, Purple Kush, and Bruce Banner.
A CBD weed tincture is effortless to prepare, as long as you have a high CBD strain handy. We felt extremely lucky to be able to try out a DIY CBD pot tincture using our homegrown CBD beast Kali Cush, topping 20% CBD vs. only 1% THC. If you wish to experience a perfect blend of THC to CBD, we highly recommend that you give a well-balanced hybrid such as Auto Critical CBD which features 5% THC to 5% CBD.
A THCA weed tincture is a tincture made with cannabis flowers that have not been subjected to heat, hence, THCA has not been converted into THC (respectively, CBDA has not been converted into CBD in the case using a high CBD strain). To make a THCA/CBDA tincture, you basically follow the exact same steps for making a THC/CBD tincture but skip on decarbing your weed prior to submerging it in alcohol.
Mind that both alcohol-based, as well as glycerin-based weed tinctures (regardless of whether your tincture is high in THC, CBD, THCA or CBDA), can be also applied topically. You won’t experience a sense of high when applying a pot tincture topically, though, as active cannabinoids require a carrier chemical such as magnesium stearate in order to pass into the bloodstream through the skin barrier but you can still enjoy positive effects on treating localized pain and/or inflammation.
4. Don’t be afraid to experiment in customizing the weed to alcohol ratios.
When it comes to the weed to alcohol ratio one needs to use when making cannabis tinctures, there’s quite some bit of opinion. The thing is, the exact amount of pot to alcoholpresent in a particular weed tincture can vary greatly based on what effects the person wants to experience.
Below are some starting guidelines you can try first. If necessary, you can adjust the weed to alcohol ratio for your specific case as to make it work best for you, regardless of whether you are about to use your weed tincture for medical or recreational purposes.
In order to enjoy a weed tincture of mild potency, stick with adding 1g of weed to 30ml of alcohol (respectively, 1oz of weed mixed with about 850ml of alcohol).
For mixing a cannabis tincture of medium potency, try a combination of 1g of weed to 20ml of alcohol (respectively, 1oz of weed added to about 570ml of alcohol).
For creating a marijuana tincture of strong potency, you can try a combination of 1g of weed to 10ml of alcohol (respectively, 1oz of weed to about 280ml of alcohol). Most importantly, do keep in mind that none of these measurements are set in stone (although most of these measurements are, indeed, sure to get you stoned).
And so, if you try one of these weed to alcohol ratios and it feels too strong for you, just move to one of the milder versions. And try it again.
Remember, weed tinctures are very customizable. You can simply add more alcohol to make a strong weed tincture a bit weaker. If you don’t want to add more alcohol but still need to make your cannabis tincture weaker in potency, you can add glycerin instead. In order to increase the potency of a weed tincture that seems too weak for your needs and preferences, you can evaporate some of the alcohol.
5. Don’t be shy off from experimenting with different types of alcohol.
Depending on the type of alcohol you choose to use, your weed tincture’s potency and flavor will vary.
Using190 proof grain alcohol like Everclear makes the most potent weed tincture (aka the Green Dragon) but we wholeheartedly admit to having enjoyed the flavor of a brandy-based weed tincture a bit more than that of the Everclear-based tincture.
However, using brandy definitely brings down a weed tincture’s potency, as compared with using Everclear. As a rule of thumb, make sure you use 50 – 80 proof vodka, brandy, or rum (vodka works great if you plan to use your tincture for prepping edibles or cannabis-infused beverages as the taste is not as detectable like that of a brandy-based pot tincture).
Please, mind that you must only work with edible types of alcohol, no exceptions on that note!
6. Always start small and get to know your medication’s concentration better.
Since a weed tincture is a concentrated type of cannabis edible infusion, you’ll only need a single drop or few to experience the desired effects. Start with as little as a single drop of weed tincture and work your way up based on your personal prudence to marijuana. Typically, you won’t need more than several drops to experience efficient pain relief, promote restful sleep, target stress or anxiety and/or fight off bad moods since a pot tincture is, quintessentially, a concentrated cannabis extract.
As a rule of thumb, if the desired concentration of your weed tincture is 10 mg of THC per one ml. of a tincture, then 1 gram of 15% THC decarboxylated marijuana in 15 ml (about 1 tablespoon) of alcohol solvent is what you need. If you use 28 grams of 15% THC weed in 420 ml of an alcohol solvent, then you will achieve the same result in terms of potency. That being said, the quantity of weed you need to use to achieve the desired effects upon consumption is determined by the volume of tincture you are looking forward to producing, as well as the desired concentration.
Weed Tinctures = Fast Action, Convenience of Use &Extreme Dose Control
Finding the dose that works wonderfully based on your personal prudence to marijuana is not that much of a complicated task with weed tinctures. Unlike other methods of ingesting cannabis which often tendsto be very tricky due to the prolonged, as well as the varying time needed to fully experience the effects of edibles, cannabis tinctures work their way into your body much more quickly.
Cannabis tinctures are a true blessing for having extreme control over each dose. Once you intake the cannabis tincture by placing one or several drops under your tongue, it’s very easy to learn how much is the perfect dose you’re looking for. It is effortless to keep your weed tincture usage within your marijuana tolerance levels in quite a similar manner like knowing how many glasses of wine are too much or too little for you.
Best of all, since a weed tincture is very fast-acting, you can quickly decipher whether you need to take another dose (or not).
Please, mind that the sublingual method of ingesting your weed tincture is the most fast-acting one. Typically, you’ll need as little as about10 – 15minutes to experience the effects of your cannabis tincture intake when ingesting it sublingually. The effects of ingesting weed tincture sublingually typically last for roughly about 2-4 hours.
If you choose to add weed tincture for preparing edibles, such as, for instance, pot brownies, you need to wait for at least 45 minutes -2 hours before the full effects take place. The high of ingesting weed tincture-infused edibles can last up for 4 and up to 10 hours based on potency.
For the sake of staying away from consuming a higher dosage than needed, though, we do recommend to patiently wait before administrating another dose. The way active cannabinoids affect your body and mind is related to a very wide number of strictly individual factors, such as body weight, the type of food you’ve indulged in recently, your current emotional state, the environment in which you consume the green medication, and that’s just to name a few, so it is always better to play safe instead of ending up overwhelmed because of ingesting more of the cannabis tincture than actually needed.
A weed tincture requires no preparation once made, and that’s what makes it perfect for the busy bees out there.
Weed tinctures are convenient to carry around, hence, they are super travel-friendly, too. Being highly concentrated, you only need a small dosage of marijuana tincture which is effortless to administrate under your tongue on the go. Yet weed tinctures can be also easily diluted in water if you want to hide the taste, and they can be added to your tea, coffee, or any edibles of your choice. Oh, yes, we can bet you already sense what this means: no more lousy edibles microdosing! Weed tinctures make cooking with marijuana hustle-free, simple, and enjoyable in terms of proper dosing your intake (and in terms of saving yourself the fuss, too). A pot tincture can be a great move when it comes to accurately dosing treats such as cannabis-infused gummies, chocolate truffles, candies, and various beverages, among many others.
A Cannabis Tincture = Low-Calorie Edible& No Carcinogens Inhaled
Unlike many edibles such as pot cookies or the notorious pot brownies, weed tinctures are a low-calorie edible, although, this definitely can’t promise you that you won’t experience the munchies after the effects of your cannabis tincture intake kick in.
As far as inhaling carcinogens while consuming weed is concerned, we don’t want to preach. It is already proven by science that smoking marijuana is not even close to the harms of tobacco smoking.
However, we know the game painfully well: heavy cannabis smoking can easily turn into a habit, and no matter how pleasurable it is to unwind with a big, fat joint after a long day, you need to remember that smoking weed does cause gradual negative effects on the respiratory system with prolonged use (vaping weed being the safest way to smoke cannabis as opposed to joints and blunts). There is strong evidence that links long-term marijuana smoking to worse coughs, as well as more frequent chronic bronchitis’ bouts, as highlighted in a report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Here is where weed tinctures step in to help you diversify your cannabis intake routine and bypass the risk of respiratory issues in the long run with ease and joy.
https://www.youtube.com/watchv=0Pwj6BuS8Ds
Video by: Chris Notap – How Smoking vs Vaping Affects Your Lungs
Source: youtube.com
Quick Heads Up
If you get down to making your very own cannabis tincture, we highly encourage you to experiment with making additional DIY herbal tinctures based on your unique needs, demands, and preferences. Below are some examples of fantastic herbal tinctures that can be suitable to add to your health routine alongside a good-quality cannabis tincture.
A chamomile tincture can help to promote restful sleep, treat headaches, and calm your nerves.
A nettle tincture can help in strengthening your nails, hair, and skin.
A lemon balm tincture can work wonders in reducing stress, relieving anxiety and tension, as well as boosting the immune system.
The Ultimate DIY Cannabis Tinctures Guide: Top 5 Step-by-Step Recipes
And so, it’s high time that we get down to some real action, isn’t it Calling all the weed gurus out there! Check out our team’s top 3 favorite weed tincture recipes compilation.
Quick Fun Fact: A cannabis tincture’s old but gold nickname is “the green dragon.” Keeping in mind the mystique powers of dragons, this witty word combination seems more than enough to make you crave for a drop of good-quality weed tincture, doesn’t it
Now, let’s learn how to release the green dragon, bud buddies!
#1. – The Easiest Cannabis Tincture Recipe (No Cooking, No Fancy Equipment)
While this is an old-school cannabis tincture recipe, it is fairly beginner-friendly and fuss-free, despite the rather long time you need to spend waiting for your weed tincture to get ready to indulge in.
Step 1: First, you need to activate THC in your weed. For this purpose, you want to add some heat as to convert the non-psychoactive THCA present in cannabis into THC, or respectively, to turn CBDA into CBD, through a process known as decarboxylation. Grind your marijuana buds and spread them onto a piece of parchment paper on a baking tray. Make sure you have spread your pot in a thin layer. Preheat your oven to 220-235 degrees Fahrenheit (104 – 112 degrees Celsius), and decarb your weed for 30-45 minutes.
Step 2: Once you weed has been decarbed and activated, submerge it into high proof alcohol in a suitable jar of your choice. The more weed you add, the higher the potency of your weed tincture. The higher the potency of the strain you choose to use, the higher the potency of your tincture. As a rule of thumb, you want to make sure the amount of weed you use is fully covered by the amount of alcohol you pour over. While experimenting with this recipe, we decided to stick with 1 oz. of 20% THC weed per 300 ml of alcohol, resulting in a highly potent weed tincture.
Step 3: Once you have combined weed and alcohol, close the jar tight. Keep shaking the jar energetically once a day if you want your cannabis tincture to get ready to use within 1 – 2 weeks. For increased potency, allow weed to soak in alcohol for 4 weeks and up to 3 months, shaking the jar occasionally when the mood strikes you.
Step 4: Once you are done steeping your weed tincture based on your personal preferences, it is time to strain the excess plant material. Using a cheesecloth, strain the contents of your weed tincture jar into a suitable container made out of glass (no plastics!).Without getting any plant material into the glass container, squeeze every bit of the miraculous liquid.
Step 5: Transfer the desired amount of weed tincture into a dark glass bottle with a suitable dropper instead of a conventional lid for easy dosing.
Important Notes
#1.Everclear alcohol works best for prepping highly potent cannabis tinctures because of being both an edible, as well as an extremely pure type of solvent. In the absence of high proof Everclear, the best working type of alcohol is Bacardi 151 rum.Though somewhat difficult to find, Spirytus (a Polish type of alcohol) is a great choice for making cannabis tinctures.
#2. Always keep your weed tincture jar in a cool and dark place, away from light, heat, and air which will cause active cannabinoids, and nonetheless, terpenes, to degrade, therefore, decreasing both the potency and the healing benefits of your pot tincture.
#3. A dark glass container is the ultimate mix-and-store weapon for a high-quality weed tincture. A master tip for storing your weed tinctures the best way is to go for cobalt/amber colored jars as these colors considered superb for keeping light from degrading your green dragon.
#4. If you do not want chlorophyll to be present in your weed tincture for whatever reason, place your weed tincture jar in the freezer as soon as you mix weed and alcohol within the desired ratio, shaking occasionally as described above.
#5. Alcohol tinctures stored in proper containers can last for years. Glycerin-based tinctures can last for a few months but only if refrigerated.
#6. Feel free to add honey, maple syrup or whatever sweetener you prefer in order to improve flavor. Just make sure to add any sweetener only once your weed tincture is completely ready to use.
#2. – Top-Grade Weed Tincture Recipe (Ready in about 3 Hours!)
We got inspired to try out this intriguing cannabis tincture recipe after reading Ed Rosenthal’s book titled Beyond Buds: Next Generation. Even though this tincture can be prepared within about 3 hours, you’ll need to let it sit for at least 2-3 more weeks in order to enjoy its full potency. Ultimately, despite requiring some extra efforts, this particular recipe turned out great, and knowing that those who care share, here we go!
Step 1: Decarboxylate the desired amount of weed (we used 1 oz.)
Step 2: In order to leach out some of the chlorophyll, add the decarbed weed to a strainer, and place the strainer in a suitable metal bowl. Next, full the metal bowl with water up until the level when weed floats above. Now, let the weed sit in this composition for about 1 ½ hour.
Step 3: It’s time to drain the water by pulling the strainer from the metal bowl. Using your hands, collect the wet weed and squeeze it tight while forming it into a ball as to drain every precious drop.
Step 4: At this point, you want to add your weed to a blender. Mind that you want to break it up after it has been squeezed tightly when following the directions listed in Step 3.
Step 5: Add the desired amount of alcohol into the blender and blend the weed and alcohol mixture on low for roughly 5 minutes (We decided to stick with adding about 300 ml of Everclear alcohol).
Step 6. Let the cannabis and alcohol mixture sit for about an hour and then blend it again for another 5 minutes or so (then again, blend on a low setting for best results).
Step 7: It’s time to pour the blended mixture through a strainer. Squeeze any tincture out of the plant material carefully and set the liquid tincture aside. Do NOT throw away the used weed at this point as you will need it to follow the next step (no wasting).
Step 8: Combine the used weed material with some fresh (non-used) alcohol. Let the mixture sit for about an hour to extract all the goodies. Once an hour has passed, you can strain the mixture through a strainer and finally throw away the used weed material. Next, combine the 2 liquid tinctures into a suitable container.
Step 9: Now, you can use a coffee filter to get rid of any tiny particles. However, this isn’t a must-do but rather a cool trick that can make your weed tincture look and feel nicer (and much more professional, of course).
Finally, just pour your tincture into a suitable, dark glass jar and you’re ready to get down to tincturing yourself. Then again, mind that this weed tincture’s potency should increase as time goes by (striking its peak after week 3).
#3. – The Fastest Marijuana Tincture Recipe (Ready within an Hour or so!)
Okay, we know that sometimes (if not most times), it gets so hard having to wait until you can finally get a taste of your favorite green medication! So, for those of you who don’t want to or can’t wait for months of weeks to get their tincture ready to enjoy, below is the best-working fastest cannabis tincture recipe we got to try out of a whole bunch.
Step 1:Decarboxylate the desired amount of weed (for this recipe, we decided to stick with 10 gramswhich are the equivalent of 0.35 ounces of cannabis).
Step 2: Combine the finely grind, decarbed weed with the desired amount of alcohol in a suitable mason jar (we used about 200 ml of Everclear alcohol, which resulted in an above-the-average medium potency weed tincture. For the record, we used White Widow strain).
Step 3:Pour water into a suitable pot and place the pot on medium heat. Mind that gas stoves will not work for this particular weed tincture recipe. Using a thermometer, bring water to 165 degrees Fahrenheit (74 degrees Celsius). This is the temperature that you need to maintain for the following 30 minutes, making sure to adjust it as needed.
Step 4: Without closing or sealing the jar into which you have combined weed and alcohol, place it into the pot and keep cooking it for 30 minutes on 165 degrees Fahrenheit (74 degrees Celsius). Do not let the temperature get any higher. You can let your buds slow cook for longer (up to 4 hours), thus, increasing the tincture’s potency.
Step 5: It’s time to remove the jar and let it aside to cool for about 30 minutes.
Step 6: Transfer your weed tincture into a suitable, dark glass jar with a tightly sealing lid, and you’re ready to enjoy!
#4. – Cannabis Tincture with Vegetable Glycerin
Isn’t it high time for sharing how to make a glycerin-based weed tincture For anybody who wishes to stay away from ingesting even a drop of alcohol, here is a nice weed tincture alternative recipe substituting alcohol with vegetable glycerin.
Please, do mind that does not bond to THC as effectively as alcohol, and because of this, glycerin-based weed tinctures are less psychoactive than alcohol-based ones. However, that doesn’t mean you won’t reap amazing health benefits. A glycerin-based weed tincture can be the perfect choice for daytime use, too.
Apart from being very palatable, a glycerin-based pot tincture can make the perfect kind of mellow introduction to edibles for beginners.Also, we think this type of pot tincture is the best way to start your day medicated and refreshed without feeling the least overwhelmed.
Step 1: Grind your cannabis as finely as possible (for this recipe, we made use of 84 grams (3 oz.) of weed trimmings, which is the equivalent of roughly 70 grams (2.5 oz.) of quality cannabis flowers but you can feel free to customize the amount accordingly).
Step 2: Place the finely ground cannabis into several mason jars with a tight seal, pour glycerin over, and seal the jars (we used a ½ gallon of food grade glycerin to cover the on the amount of weed noted above).
Step 3: Place the glycerin and weed fusion jars on a sunny location such as a window and shake the jars daily to get the active compounds released. With this recipe, you want to use clear mason jars instead of dark glass jars.
Step 4: After letting the mixture sit for about 3 – 5 weeks and shaking it regularly, it will be ready to get strained through a fine-mesh strainer or a cheesecloth, transferred into dark glass containers, and enjoyed!
Despite being a milder version of an alcohol-based weed tincture in terms of potency, do not underestimate a glycerin-based weed tincture’s effects and always start small before switching to higher doses.
#5. – Anti-Anxiety Marijuana Herbal Tincture Fusion
If there’s anything better than a good-quality, homemade weed tincture, then that’s definitely a weed tincture made with the inclusion of additional herbs known to work wonderfully when combined with cannabis.
Combine ¼ cup (about 59 ml) 80+ proof alcohol, 8 grams of cannabis (0.28 ounces), 2 teaspoons chamomile, 1 teaspoon catnip, 1 teaspoon lavender, 1 teaspoon nettle into a mason jar. Seal the lid and shake occasionally within the next 1 – 2 months. Alternatively, you can also follow the steps listed in the fastest weed tincture recipe shared above. Finally, strain and transfer into suitable containers.
Quick Note: You can substitute 8 grams of decarbed cannabis flowers with 1 gram of decarboxylated cannabis concentrate or bubble hash.
How to Make Cannabis Tinctures at Home: The Wrap-Up
It is hard to believe it but there are many experienced cannabis smokers who literally have zero ideas what a weed tincture is. The thing is, modern cannabis culture seems to pay way too much attention on cut-edge tools and cannabis concentrates, although there is nothing like the old but gold, tried-and-tested methods of veterans and gurus in the cannabis niche (which is exactly the case with making cannabis tinctures in the comfort of your home). Or maybe we are just too busy talking about other things cannabis-related rather than weed tinctures, especially when we are witnessing the very rise of such a wide number of glamorous and high-tech cannabis devices and derivatives alike.
Sure, a cannabis tincture is not as ultra-sleek as the hottest vape pen or other gadgets or ready-to-use cannabis products available both online and offline. However, we are positive that learning how to make any of these highly fantastic cannabis tinctures we shared above will not only prove to be a fun and rewarding experience but it will also be quite an educational and valuable asset for you in the long run. We bet that a cannabis tincture can become your favorite home marijuana kit’s gemstone, especially as we acknowledge the fact that this type of cannabis concentrate preserves all the active cannabinoids, terpenes, and flavonoids, granting you quick and reliable access to the healing and recreational benefits of the green medication anytime, anywhere.
