Alcohol Tincture

[Hobbes]

I found good recepies for three methods: Hot Extraction, the quickest extraction of cannaboids (20 minutes); suprisingly the Cold Extraction next (2-3 days); and the Warm Extraction longest (30-60 days).

--

Hot Extraction:

This is a simple and efficient 4 Step process.

Ingredients:
1/8oz high quality cannabis
2 oz Bacardi Rum – 151 proof


Process Summary:

1. Chop cannabis very fine (coffee grinder works great)

2. Place in a shallow pan (pie pan with aluminum foil works great) and bake at 325°F for 4-5 minutes.

3. Remove from oven and place cannabis and place in 2 oz of rum (use a small wide mouth mason jar)

4. Simmer in a water bath for 20 minutes. Maintain temperature of the rum/cannabis mixture between 150°F – 165°F.

5. Strain the mixture and store.


Dosage:
One eyedropper is very nice. Two puts you in space. But you should self-titrate. Effects take about 1.5 hours to begin (at least in myself) and lasted for 5 hours (1 dropper) to 7-8 hours (2 droppers).


Process details—references and rationalizations:
1. Chop the cannabis—more surface area gives means a faster and more efficient extraction.

2. Bake the cannabis.

In whole-plant cannabis, THC content is expressed as THCA (tetrahydrocannabolic acid) prior to decarboxylation into THC, which takes place when cannabis is heated during cooking, and smoked or vaporized ingestion. THCA is a mild analgesic and anti-inflammatory but does not have good affinity with our CB1 receptors, so in order to make a THC-rich tincture that has many of the same therapeutic effects as smoked ingestion (including rapid absorption, quick relief and ease of self-titration), we must convert the THCA in the plant matter into THC prior to extracting it through an alcohol soak. (from Vancouver Island Compassion Society http://thevics.com/cannamist.htm)
​

THC vaporizes at about 380°F. We want to heat the cannabis to convert THCA to THC, but keep the temperature under 380°F. That is why 325°F is used. Between four and five minutes your oven (and house) will start to smell very strong. This is the time to remove the cannabis from the oven.

Notice also that there is considerable misinformation regarding heating the cannabis. It is true that you don't have to heat it to extract both THC and THCA, but the amount of THC in whole plant preparations is relatively small compared to after decarboxylation of the THCA. So if you want to maximize the strength of your tincture you must heat the cannabis prior to extraction.

3. Use the highest proof alcohol available. In my area this was Bacardi 151. The more alcohol the more efficient the extraction will be.

4. Simmer the mixture.
This is one of the areas that seems to be most debated. Many recipes call for placing the cannabis (unbaked of course) into the alcohol and waiting 2 – 6 weeks. The main concern with heating the alcohol is that it is “explosive” (not exactly true...it is however flammable).

The purpose of the simmering is to heat the alcohol mixture to improve extraction rates and efficiencies. Heating during extraction increases the motion of the molecules (basic physics/chemistry) and drastically decreases extraction times. The boiling point of pure ethanol is 173°F (78°C). We will use the water bath to heat the rum/cannabis mixture to just below the boiling point of ethanol.

Heating the alcohol mixture can be done very safely using a hot water bath. You will need an accurate candy or quick read thermometer. Place about 1 inch of water in a wide, vertical-edged pan (9” wide x 3” high). Bring the water to a low simmer. The rum/cannabis mixture should be in a small (1 pint) mason jar. Do NOT cover the jar.

Put the thermometer into the mason jar and place into the simmering water bath. Bring the temperature of the rum/cannabis mixture to about 165°F (I maintain it between 150°F and 165°F). You want the alcohol mixture to be just barely moving (not boiling, but showing active convection within the mixture). If the mixture starts to bubble too much, just turn down the water bath.

You should have the oven fan on high. You will notice that any alcohol fumes are mixed with water vapor from the water bath and vented out the fan. This combined with the fact that you are trying not to boil the ethanol makes the process quite safe.

5. Strain, titrate, and store.
When you are finished with the extraction you will be left with about 1oz of green dragon tincture. Note that one ounce of the alcohol has evaporated.

Now you should test your eyedropper. In my test 34 full droppers equaled one ounce of liquid (this is a little less than one gram of liquid per dropperful as 29g equals 1ounce).

The liquid should be dark green and smell like cannabis.

6. Dosage.
Everybody is probably different. It takes me 1.5 hours to feel the effects of eating cannabis. Similarly this tincture also takes 1.5 hours to take effect.

I had tried a tincture someone had made using the cold extraction method with the same amount of cannabis and found that 5 droppers did pretty much nothing.

Using my Green Dragon technique I find that one dropper will bring effects on in 1.5 hours and last 5 hours with 1.5 hours of lingering aftereffects.

Two droppers gave me a "spiritual dose" (as strong as any brownie I ever had). Effects lasted 7-8 hours with lingering effects for 2 more hours.

This means that 1/8oz of good cannabis yields about 30-34 doses of tincture (1 dropperful is really all I need). And is much more pleasant than smoking (which really is bad for you and your lungs and the reason I've stopped smoking entirely).


This link might be helpful.
Metric Conversion: http://www.worldwidemetric.com/metcal.htm


Enjoy and let me know of your success and/or questions.

Master Wu
__________________
Alchemist

 

[Hobbes]

When I first met this guy online I didn't realize that he was an activist and people on the forum said that he worked with the DEA. I was spooked and sort of avoided him, looked the other way when I saw his posts in the forum, until I found out more about him. He got me cooking with cannabis and suggested tinctures, but I was making honey oil back then (blech!) and now I regret missing out on instructions from one of the most cannabis knowledgeable people I ever met, and one hell of a nice guy.​

Jay R. Cavanaugh, Ph.D.
AAMC, National Director​

Many patients who utilize and benefit from medical cannabis do not wish to smoke due to the perceived health hazards of smoking or for other personal reasons. These patients are in something of a bind. Smoking cannabis delivers the active cannabinoids within seconds. Medicine is absorbed in the lungs and goes directly to the brain and general circulation. The same effect can be achieved with a vaporizer, which is safer than smoking burning vegetable matter. Since the effects of inhaled cannabis are so quick, it is easy for patients to titrate their dose by simply waiting a minute or two in between puffs.

Oral cannabis, such as our Better Bud Butter, is absorbed in a very different fashion from smoking or inhalation. The GI tract gradually absorbs Cannabinoids over the course of one to two hours. Medicine is processed first by the liver, which converts some cannabinoids such as delta nine to delta 11 version of THC. Orally delivered cannabis requires four to ten times the amount of the smoked version in order to achieve the same effect. Orally delivered cannabis can present a problem in achieving the required or desired dose level in any consistent fashion.

Tincture is designed to address the problems of rapid medicine delivery and consistent dosing. Most tinctures are made to be used under the tongue or sublingually. English pharmaceutical companies are presently working on a cannabis extract "spray" that can be used under the tongue in a similar fashion. These sprays are not expected to be approved for use in the United States for years and will be very expensive. Absorption by the arterial blood supply under the tongue is completed in seconds. One trick is to not swallow the dose as, if swallowed, absorption will be in the GI tract. Many patients, though, add their tincture to a cup of tea or cranberry juice for easy delivery. When tincture is used in a beverage, absorption will be slower than if absorbed under the tongue. While tincture absorbed in an empty stomach is accomplished in minutes, conversion in the liver remains, as does the difficulty in titrating dose. Usually, a tincture dose is delivered by means of a medicine dropper or a teaspoon. A rule of thumb on dose is that patients receive benefit from 3-4 drops to a couple of full droppers depending upon the potency of the tincture and the patient’s own unique requirements among other factors.

The methods listed below will detail two major methods of preparing tincture. While the methods are optimized for purity and potency, ultimately these will largely be determined by the purity and potency of the cannabis from which the tincture is made. Another item of note in regard to starting material for tincture is the patient or caregiver selection of strain. A rough rule of thumb is to select Indica dominant strains for cramping and muscle spasticity and Sativa dominant strains for pain relief. The reality, though, is often that the strain is unknown or not well characterized. Trial and error is usually required to acquire the appropriate strain and the proper dose level.

General Rules:
Tincture is an extraction of active cannabinoids from plant material. Cannabis contains many chemicals that can either upset the stomach or taste nasty. One of the goals of extraction is to secure the cannabinoids while leaving out as many of the terpenes and chlorophylls as possible. Both heat and light adversely effect cannabinoids and should be avoided or minimized. Tincture should be stored in airtight dark glass containers kept at room temperature or below. Avoid plastic containers. The ethanol in the tincture may solubilize some of the free vinyls in the plastic.

 

[Hobbes]

Cold Method with Ethanol

Making tincture cold preserves the integrity of cannabinoids. To be potent, this method requires starting material high in cannabinoid content such as flowers or kief made from trim and leaf. The material must be mold free and dry. Drying can be accomplished in the freezer (-4-10 degrees Celsius) or better yet by placing in a liquid proof bag into a dry ice/ethanol ice bath (-70 degrees Celsius). Once water has been removed then the surface area of the starting material requires expansion. This can be accomplished a number of ways but two ways stand out:
Using flowers (bud)- Place dried buds in a coffee grinder and pulse until thoroughly ground but not powdered.

Making kief- Rub dry trim and leaves over a silk screen. Collect the powder the comes through the screen. It should be a very pale green. "Kiefing" is an age old way of extracting trichomes from plant material.
Whether kief or ground bud is used both should kept ice cold for this preparation. Similarly, the ethanol to be used should also be ice cold throughout the process.

Selection of alcohol- ethanol or ethyl alcohol is the form of alcohol that can be used by humans. The proof listed on commercial alcohol refers to the percentage of ethanol that the beverage contains. The proof is twice the percentage, so 80 "proof" means that the mixture contains 40% ethanol. The higher the alcohol content used, the better the extraction will work. Ideally, 200 proof ethanol would be best except that ethanol cannot be distilled to this proof so benzene is used to remove the last vestiges of water. This makes "pure" ethanol poisonous.

Many folks use "Everclear" which stands at 190 proof or 95% ethanol. Everclear has no taste. Apparently, Everclear is not available in all States. A close second choice is 151 proof rum. This is a light amber liquid that is 75% ethanol that has a sweet taste. One of our caregiver writers will use nothing but Korbel brandy because she likes the taste. Others use iced Russian vodka. These "normal" distilled spirits are 40% to 50% ethanol. Some patients find that the higher proofs ethanols like Everclear and 151 rum burn too much under the tongue. If burning is a concern consider a high quality 90-100 proof Vodka.

Cold Extraction and purification- Use at least one ounce of starting material to each pint of ethanol. Place cold powdered kief or ground cannabis flowers together with ethanol in a glass quart-mixing jar. Close the jar tightly and vigorously shake for five minutes then return to the freezer. Continue to agitate the mixture every few hours with refreezing. Continue for a period of two to three days.

Pour the cold mixture through a double thickness of sterile cheesecloth. Save the cheesecloth "ball" for topical uses or use the material to make bud butter once dried. The liquid collected through the cheesecloth should then be filtered twice through a paper coffee filter. Use gloves throughout the process, as it is necessary to squeeze the cheesecloth and coffee filters to facilitate the extraction. Without gloves some of the material will be absorbed on the skin.

If Everclear is used the tincture will be pale green to golden. If 151 rum is used an amber tincture results. Dark green tinctures mean that excess plant material is present. This does not mean that the tincture will not be potent, just taste nasty. When Everclear is used, various flavor extracts may be added (vanilla, raspberry, etc.). Be careful to use only a few drop of flavor extract.

 

[Hobbes]

Traditional or Warm Method

The old fashioned (and effective) way to make tincture from trim, leaf or "shake" is to grind the plant material to expose surface area. A fine grind is not needed and will just make the tincture cloudy. A rough chop will do. Most folks can’t afford to use kief or bud for tincture but may have leaf handy. If so, this is the way to go. Use ethanol as described above in the same proportions. The key difference is that in this preparation the materials are kept warm (not hot). Light must be avoided.


Place the ethanol and chopped cannabis in a large glass Mason jar. Shake at least once a day. Place the jar in a brown paper bag or otherwise shield the jar from light. Leave in a warm spot (near a window) for 30-60 days. The mixture will turn a very dark green. Strain as previously described through cheesecloth. Save the "shake ball" for topical applications.

While this method produces a nasty tasting tincture, it is powerful. It may upset some fragile stomachs. It is recommended that Warm Tincture be used orally in cranberry juice or coffee with sugar. Keep the filtered tincture in light blocking glass jars or bottles in a cool dry place (refrigerator or freezer is fine). The shake ball should also be kept in the freezer. For topical applications, just take out the cold shake ball and apply a few drops of fresh tincture to the cloth then hold it on the affected area for a few minutes with gentle rubbing.

 

[Hobbes]

If you get into tinctures and eventually want to use more potent alcohol, without tracking down Everclear, you can distill regular vodka to have nearly as high an alcohol content as Everclear. Take a look at the Smartstill, like using a coffee maker.

https://secure.brewhaus.ca/index.asp...&CategoryID=31


If you want to stay away from alcohol here's a thread on glycerine tinctures:

https://www.rollitup.org/cooking-cannabis/124769-glycerine-tincture-24-hours.html


If you have advice,other methods, or just stories please post - experience helps.




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[Hobbes]

I thought that since this was a tincture I'd include it in this thread even though it doesn't use alcohol.

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Glycerine-based Tincture

You need to use food grade U.S.P glycerine, this can be relatively hard to find inexpensively but a gallon lasts a LONG time.

Glycerines have a shorter shelf life than alcohol based tinctures and while they can sit on the shelf I refrigerate mine. Vegetable glycerine has nearly no impact on blood sugar or insulin and is very low in calories (4.3 per gram). It's sweet taste makes the tincture more palatable than the alcohol based tincture and is a suitable substitute for those concerned with alcohol consumption.

Add the amount of cannabis that you desire for potency. I added 6 oz of roughly trimmed (finger trimmed the leaves off) cannabis to 1 gallon of glycerine. For your personal preference add more cannabis or less depending on desired potency. I blend mine, using a coffee grinder, blender or if you are lucky enough to have a Vita Mix. Make sure there is no other product matter in whatever you use. I use a clean basting brush to clean out my Vita Mix when I am done powdering my cannabis.

Place in a crockpot on low. Some crockpot's low settings are too high so you may not be able to use yours. A "Keep Warm" setting if you have it is the best choice. Too hot, and you are killing the properties you are trying to extract, you want the mixture to be as warm as possible without boiling, I left my tincture like this for 24 hours. I have heard people leaving the tincture from anywhere from 4-6 hours to 3 days. You can try the tincture at intervals to decide when you are done. REMEMBER that glycerine tincture retains heat VERY WELL, do not burn yourself!!

If you do not have a crockpot you can place the herbs in a clear, sealed jar in a warm, sunny spot and accomplish the same thing over 4 weeks. Some people make their "sunshine tinctures" over 2 weeks. I do not feel that is long enough, especially in colder weather. Some leave them in the sun for up to 12 weeks. I have never seen a need to go that long myself. Shake each day to mix the herbs in.

When ready to strain use cheesecloth and a strainer to extract the cannabis debris, the THC has been extracted and the tincture is ready to use. The best way to store is in a glass amber bottle. A good place to obtain a large bottle for the bulk of your tincture is a brewery store that has supplies to make wine or beer. I also obtained a few small amber bottles with eye droppers for convenience. It takes a lot longer to strain glycerine than it does alcohol, the tincture will drip when strained instead of flow.

AAMC: Glycerine-based Tincture

 

[alishabree]

something else that may make it a bit better would be using a herb press <-------(is the one im buying).


it's that last little bit of tincture in the herbs that have the most concentration of the herb's compounds you want.

Im going to be buying a herb press ill let everyone know how it works out for me.

 

[bubbleinthebrain]

seriously man.... I really think you're wasting your money.

Squish two bowls together for the same effect...

 

[alishabree]

seriously man.... I really think you're wasting your money.

Squish two bowls together for the same effect...

ok i posted my results on my thread but going to put it here too.

my 114lbs ass can not press it like herb press can and for $79 cant beat it.

I tried it with just squishing two bowls at first but all it did was (1)make a mess, and (2) left me with a bunch of wet herbs. so then i put the stuff i couldnt get out by me siting, standing, leaning, twisting, pressing, on, into the press. then got the rest out, the herb was dry. i used the stuff i hand squeezed and it was ok. but the stuff that came off the press was OMG good. well i back that press 100% call it a waist of money if you want but im a believer . not to mention its so much easier to just put it in the bowls and stick it in the herb press and turn the screw.

 

[Hobbes]

Thanks Alishabree, that's a cool press.

Do you dry your bud completely before pressing? Are you getting resin or a water based solution from the plant?

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[poplars]

ahh I forgot to heat the weed at 325 for 5 mins to do THCA -> THC . . . I'm doing a vodka tincture with sugar-leaf trim. but I'm keeping the jar in a cool dark place for 10 days, shaking daily.

does skipping this step basically kill my chances of a good tincture that'll get me high?

 

[Hobbes]

"ahh I forgot to heat the weed at 325 for 5 mins to do THCA -> THC . . does skipping this step basically kill my chances of a good tincture that'll get me high? "

There seems to be two schools of thought on that issue. From your description you seem to be doing a traditional Warm Extraction, which doesn't call for pre-baked buds. And it works. On the other side Dr Jay says:

"In whole-plant cannabis, THC content is expressed as THCA (tetrahydrocannabolic acid) prior to decarboxylation into THC, which takes place when cannabis is heated during cooking, and smoked or vaporized ingestion. THCA is a mild analgesic and anti-inflammatory but does not have good affinity with our CB1 receptors, so in order to make a THC-rich tincture that has many of the same therapeutic effects as smoked ingestion (including rapid absorption, quick relief and ease of self-titration), we must convert the THCA in the plant matter into THC prior to extracting it through an alcohol soak. (from Vancouver Island Compassion Society http://thevics.com/cannamist.htm)

THC vaporizes at about 380°F. We want to heat the cannabis to convert THCA to THC, but keep the temperature under 380°F. That is why 325°F is used. Between four and five minutes your oven (and house) will start to smell very strong. This is the time to remove the cannabis from the oven.

.

Notice also that there is considerable misinformation regarding heating the cannabis. It is true that you don't have to heat it to extract both THC and THCA, but the amount of THC in whole plant preparations is relatively small compared to after decarboxylation of the THCA. So if you want to maximize the strength of your tincture you must heat the cannabis prior to extraction."

.

I don't know what, if any, effect the extraction process has on turning the THCA psycoactive.

Think about it this way - if you took some brownie batter that hardens at room temperature ... and mix in an ounce of primo ground bud ... then let the brownie/ground bud mixture dry at room temperature ... and ate a brownie ... would you expect to get high? I think the effect would be very small, it's making canna butter or oil and heating for hours that make the bud psycoactive.

I'm concerned that 325 F will boil off some resin so I heat my bud at a lower temperature for longer. I've got a Volcano and I'm low on bud now so I'm clipping and vaporizing the same day. I bought a little toaster oven and bake my freshly clipped bud at 190 F for 1 to 3 hours and get a decent high. I'm experimenting with different cooking times, haven't found that 3 hours is any better than 1, but I'll keep experimenting.

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If you're tincture is not potent and you want to salvage the cannaboids for another try ... heat the tincture to around 80-90 C to boil off the alcohol. The Honey Oil will drop to the bottom of whatever water is left (if you're using everclear you may want to add some water before heating). Cool in fridge for an hour, pour off the water, scrape up the honey oil, heat it to turn psycoactive, make tincture.

The nice thing about this extra step is that you leave all the terpins and chlorophile in the water left over from the first extraction. I've done this once when the tincture wasn't potent and got some smokeable honey oil.

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[mannurse801]

I like doing 250 for 10-15 min.... prevent any accidental vap.

 

[patjack]

Hi Hobbes,

Great thread I will be trying this shortly using the heat method ( no patience of course)

My question is this,

When I make thc pills using coconut butter, I use a crock pot with the coconut butter and use trim (all the trim I use has glands no straight fan leaves) what i notice as far as effect is it works great but has a very heavy munchie inducing sedative effect. Very strong yes, but everytime I take them I eat until I am almost sick, and then I am wiped out. So I am wondering what your thoughts are on the water cure with the trim before I do the heat method with everclear. I am wondering if this will get rid of some of the heavy stuff from the dope? Also do you know if after I make the tincture if I can then put a droplet of tincture in my capsule so i don't have to drink it or will this slow down delivery as it will have to be digested versus being absorbed through the blood veins under the tounge.... hope i didn't ramble but i am not to confident about that...

Thanks again this is great info!

 

[Hash Lover]

Here's a good thread also on "Green Dragon", quite a few people sharing their experience. I read the whole thing a while ago, good reading for sure. What I do is like this but I cook it down into something I can smoke. It still has to be decarbed in the oven if it has to much veg matter in it. I tried doing it with out the baking and it can be done but the percent of veg matter has a lot to do with it coming out any good. It doesn't have to do with the thca=thc conversion but rather getting rid of things like the chlorophyll and what else might vaporize out of it when it is baked. I like to use what would be low grade hash when I am running off a batch doing ice water ectraction. Doesn't need baking. And can be cooked down to an oil or keep going to get something easier to use.
http://boards.cannabis.com/concentrates/82380-definitive-green-dragon-revised-updated-combined.html

 

[Hobbes]

hey patjack!

"When I make thc pills using coconut butter, I use a crock pot with the coconut butter and use trim (all the trim I use has glands no straight fan leaves) what i notice as far as effect is it works great but has a very heavy munchie inducing sedative effect. Very strong yes, but everytime I take them I eat until I am almost sick, and then I am wiped out."

Water curing will get rid of most of the terpins and chloriphile, it will make things easier on the stomach if that's what's making you sick.

"So I am wondering what your thoughts are on the water cure with the trim before I do the heat method with everclear. I am wondering if this will get rid of some of the heavy stuff from the dope?"

Yes I believe it will get rid of some of the fuzziness and slightly reduce the sedative effect.

There's a great thread on water curing in the Harvest and Curing section, some guys were talking about ... CBD or CBN perhaps ... being water soluble and many of us from the thread noticed a clearer, more up high with water cured bud.

Another thing to consider is the strain you're using - we could water cure White Rhino until the Great Lakes dry up and it'll still sit us on our ass. If you're strain is known for giving you the munchies and knocking you out, change strains if you want a different effect.

https://www.rollitup.org/harvesting-curing/102641-greenx-how-tos-how-water.html

https://www.rollitup.org/harvesting-curing/102336-comparing-air-water-cure-w.html

.

"Also do you know if after I make the tincture if I can then put a droplet of tincture in my capsule so i don't have to drink it"

Yes, this would be fine if the capsule doesn't disolve. It'd be a race.

"or will this slow down delivery as it will have to be digested versus being absorbed through the blood veins under the tounge"

Yes, if you swallow the tincture without holding it under your tongue for sublingual absorption you will not get high as quickly, but you will get just as high. Or stoned. Just the time difference for absorbing the cannaboids.

http://www.coe.uh.edu/archive/science/science_graphics/sciencegr1.html

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[Hobbes]

Thanks to forum member Scotts A Buzzen esquire for allowing me to steal his intelectual property. +rep

.

Tincture

Many patients who utilize and benefit from medical cannabis do not wish to smoke due to the perceived health hazards of smoking or for other personal reasons. These patients are in something of a bind. Smoking cannabis delivers the active cannabinoids within seconds. Medicine is absorbed in the lungs and goes directly to the brain and general circulation. The same effect can be achieved with a vaporizer, which is safer than smoking burning vegetable matter. Since the effects of inhaled cannabis are so quick, it is easy for patients to titrate their dose by simply waiting a minute or two in between puffs.

Oral cannabis, such as Black Out Bud Butter, is absorbed in a very different fashion from smoking or inhalation. The GI tract gradually absorbs Cannabinoids over the course of one to two hours. Medicine is processed first by the liver, which converts some cannabinoids such as delta nine to delta 11version of THC. Orally delivered cannabis requires four to ten times the amount of the smoked version in order to achieve the same effect. Orally delivered cannabis can present a problem in achieving the required or desired dose level in any consistent fashion.

Tincture is designed to address the problems of rapid medicine delivery and consistent dosing. Most tinctures are made to be used under the tongue or sublingually. English pharmaceutical companies are presently working on a cannabis extract "spray" that can be used under the tongue in a similar fashion. These sprays are not expected to be approved for use in the United States for years and will be very expensive. Absorption by the arterial blood supply under the tongue is completed in seconds. One trick is to not swallow the dose as, if swallowed, absorption will be in the GI tract. Many patients, though, add their tincture to a cup of tea or cranberry juice for easy delivery. When tincture is used in a beverage, absorption will be slower than if absorbed under the tongue. While tincture absorbed in an empty stomach is accomplished in minutes, conversion in the liver remains, as does the difficulty in titrating dose. Usually, a tincture dose is delivered by means of a medicine dropper or a teaspoon. A rule of thumb on dose is that patients receive benefit from 3-4 drops to a couple of full droppers depending upon the potency of the tincture and the patient’s own unique requirements among other factors.

The methods listed below will detail two major methods of preparing tincture. While the methods are optimized for purity and potency, ultimately these will largely be determined by the purity and potency of the cannabis from which the tincture is made. Another item of note in regard to starting material for tincture is the patient or caregiver selection of strain. A rough rule of thumb is to select Indica dominant strains for cramping and muscle spasticity and Sativa dominant strains for pain relief. The reality, though, is often that the strain is unknown or not well characterized. Trial and error is usually required to acquire the appropriate strain and the proper dose level.

General Rules:

Tincture is an extraction of active cannabinoids from plant material. Cannabis contains many chemicals that can either upset the stomach or taste nasty. One of the goals of extraction is to secure the cannabinoids while leaving out as many of the terpenes and chlorophylls as possible. Both heat and light adversely effect cannabinoids and should be avoided or minimized. Tincture should be stored in airtight dark glass containers kept at room temperature or below. Avoid plastic containers. The ethanol in the tincture may solubilize some of the free vinyls in the plastic.

Cold Method with Ethanol

Making tincture cold preserves the integrity of cannabinoids. To be potent, this method requires starting material high in cannabinoid content such as flowers or kief made from trim and leaf. The material must be mold free and dry. Drying can be accomplished in the freezer (-4-10 degrees Celsius) or better yet by placing in a liquid proof bag into a dry ice/ethanol ice bath (-70 degrees Celsius). Once water has been removed then the surface area of the starting material requires expansion. This can be accomplished a number of ways but two ways stand out:

Using flowers (bud)- Place dried buds in a coffee grinder and pulse until thoroughly ground but not powdered.

Making kief- Rub dry trim and leaves over a silk screen. Collect the powder the comes through the screen. It should be a very pale green. "Kiefing" is an age old way of extracting trichomes from plant material.

Whether kief or ground bud is used both should kept ice cold for this preparation. Similarly, the ethanol to be used should also be ice cold throughout the process.

Selection of alcohol- ethanol or ethyl alcohol is the form of alcohol that can be used by humans. The proof listed on commercial alcohol refers to the percentage of ethanol that the beverage contains. The proof is twice the percentage, so 80 "proof" means that the mixture contains 40% ethanol. The higher the alcohol content used, the better the extraction will work. Ideally, 200 proof ethanol would be best except that ethanol cannot be distilled to this proof so benzene is used to remove the last vestiges of water. This makes "pure" ethanol poisonous.

Many folks use "Everclear" which stands at 190 proof or 95% ethanol. Everclear has no taste. Apparently, Everclear is not available in all States. A close second choice is 151 proof rum. This is a light amber liquid that is 75% ethanol that has a sweet taste. One of our caregiver writers will use nothing but Korbel brandy because she likes the taste. Others use iced Russian vodka. These "normal" distilled spirits are 40% to 50% ethanol. Some patients find that the higher proofs ethanols like Everclear and 151 rum burn too much under the tongue. If burning is a concern consider a high quality 90-100 proof Vodka.

Cold Extraction and purification- Use at least one ounce of starting material to each pint of ethanol. Place cold powdered kief or ground cannabis flowers together with ethanol in a glass quart-mixing jar. Close the jar tightly and vigorously shake for five minutes then return to the freezer. Continue to agitate the mixture every few hours with refreezing. Continue for a period of two to three days.

Pour the cold mixture through a double thickness of sterile cheesecloth. Save the cheesecloth "ball" for topical uses or use the material to make bud butter once dried. The liquid collected through the cheesecloth should then be filtered twice through a paper coffee filter. Use gloves throughout the process, as it is necessary to squeeze the cheesecloth and coffee filters to facilitate the extraction. Without gloves some of the material will be absorbed on the skin.

If Everclear is used the tincture will be pale green to golden. If 151 rum is used an amber tincture results. Dark green tinctures mean that excess plant material is present. This does not mean that the tincture will not be potent, just taste nasty. When Everclear is used, various flavor extracts may be added (vanilla, raspberry, etc.). Be careful to use only a few drop of flavor extract.

Traditional or Warm Method

The old fashioned (and effective) way to make tincture from trim, leaf or "shake" is to grind the plant material to expose surface area. A fine grind is not needed and will just make the tincture cloudy. A rough chop will do. Most folks can’t afford to use kief or bud for tincture but may have leaf handy. If so, this is the way to go. Use ethanol as described above in the same proportions. The key difference is that in this preparation the materials are kept warm (not hot). Light must be avoided.

Place the ethanol and chopped cannabis in a large glass Mason jar. Shake at least once a day. Place the jar in a brown paper bag or otherwise shield the jar from light. Leave in a warm spot (near a window) for 30-60 days. The mixture will turn a very dark green. Strain as previously described through cheesecloth. Save the "shake ball" for topical applications.

While this method produces a nasty tasting tincture, it is powerful. It may upset some fragile stomachs. It is recommended that Warm Tincture be used orally in cranberry juice or coffee with sugar. Keep the filtered tincture in light blocking glass jars or bottles in a cool dry place (refrigerator or freezer is fine). The shake ball should also be kept in the freezer. For topical applications, just take out the cold shake ball and apply a few drops of fresh tincture to the cloth then hold it on the affected area for a few minutes with gentle rubbing.

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[HowardWCampbell]

Just want to add my .02

I've done a bit of experimenting with oven temps prior to using the stove method. I've tried 325 for 5 minutes, 200 for 20, 285 for 30, and 245 for an hour. I got these numbers from master wu's thread on another board. In my unscientific opinion, I thought 285F for 30 gave me the best results.

For people who have trouble tracking down high % alcohol, you might consider citrus extracts. Most grocery stores carry them in the spice section. Lemon extract is 84% and I believe orange extract is about 79%. I've used the lemon, and it mixes very well with tea.

Great thread Hobbes, let's keep the ideas coming.

 

[Hobbes]

Howard that's a great idea about the extracts at the grocery store, I never thought that they'd have a high alcohol percentage. To be more precise, I didn't think of them at all. +rep

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I've been experimenting with 150 proof alcohol, glycerin, and using Ice Water kief instead of ground bud. The kief is very high percentage resin and the plant matter is well washed so the taste is very good. I dislike the alcohol taste so I'm concentrating on glycerin.

I bought some chemistry beakers online but I find pyrex mason jars to work much better and will be safer. I've tried: heated alcohol tincture: room temperature alcohol tincture; alcohol dissolved resin mixed in glycerin; and kief and glycerin mixed at room temperature with an electric mixer. I'm going to add heat from my computer fan after my next batch. The next batch will be done with an autoclave.

Stove top autoclaves

I'm finding the room temperature glycerin tincture made with kief to be my favorite so far, but I haven't been able to make it potent enough yet. Hopefully the computer heat will speed up THC absorption by the glycerin.

The quest continues, here's a good glycerin tincture write up:

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Originally Posted by savagepossum

here is something i found on the net awhile ago: PotDrops(CannaGliss) Sticky

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Ok so the following is a recipe/method for creating a very interesting excellent substance, which me and some of my friends have come to call Cannagliss! It is a THC based substance which allows you to get an almost all-body-stone with a method that is easy to conceal!

It increases the potency of your weed 16x, technically, although unless you are very stickly about the directions I am about to give, chances are you wont be able to wait the full time for the drops, or wont have the equipment to get the full and total potential out of the drops.

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What you need:

- 1oz of good quality bud (quality does make a very big difference in this recipe!)
- 1cup Food Grade Glycerine (available from your local pharmacies or drugstores or health shops)
- Cheesecloth
- A glass bottle with a sealable lid… preferably metal.
- A glass dropper bottle
- Your computer exhaust or something to heat it consistently for days on end… NOT A HOT LIGHT
- You can of course use considerably less amounts of pot for this recipe. You can use as little as 1 gram of finely ground weed in 8.5ml of glycerine. Increase amounts in proportion… so 1/4oz would get a 1/4cup etc etc.

Then you have to leave the weed in the glycerine for two full months (that’s 6 weeks!), shaking it each and every single day at least once. My first batch I shook maybe 8 times daily, and had it consistently heated 10-20 degrees Celsius above room temperature.

This whole process can be exceedingly quickly accelerated by the extra heating and shaking. It can go from taking 6 weeks to 2, and if you have the right equipment, it can take as little as 14 hours. By simply putting mine in the exhaust of my laptop and keeping it there 24/7 except for when shaking, it was almost ready in about 2 weeks. If I had left it for another week it would have been perfect. The end product should be a pine green colour, and smell exceedingly strong.

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Once you have let the drops sit for long enough for all the thc to have dissolved into the glycerine, than you can put it into a glass dropper bottle. If you want to check the glands of the Herb to see if there is actually any THC left, examine the Herb under a microscope before putting the bud into the glycerine, then simply take a piece out of the mix when you want to check it and examine it again under the microscope… the change will be very obvious, and you will be able to see if any trichomes remain on the glands. If either you see that there is no more thc left in the pot, or you can see the colour of the glycerine turn dark… or just wait the full 2 months (this is the best bet always).

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You can use pure kief for this recipe as well, when you do this just use about 3x as much glycerine as you have kief, and put the glycerine in the bottom of a very tall and skinny bottle, then put the kief on top. Shake and heat the same as you would the normal drops. With kief you can actually see whether or not it is entirely dissolved, so simply bottle it minus the straining once everything has dissolved nicely

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Autoclave

If you have an autoclave, or a pharmaceutical grade glass beaker with threadlock top, than this next method is for you!

Take 1oz of primo bud, not crushed but de-stemmed and totally and completely dried out. Toss them into a screw seal boiling beaker. Then, you must absolutely ABSOLUTELY use thread lock on the beaker. If you don’t do this, its totally pointless to even try this method.

Put the bud in the beaker with 1 cup glycerine; boil in your oven or on an autoclave at 155C or 311F; leave for 36 hours. It should be boiling for most of this time, but air should not be escaping the beaker. Remove and let cool. Upon cooling it should have separated into a green oily substance (which you want to keep) and a black thick tar, which in this case tested at 12% THC. The green oily substance in this case tested at 88% THC.

The bud should have completely and totally dissolved into the glycerine. That black tar stuff is all the plant material. It can be tossed if you like… or you could try drying it and smoking it, its up to you. (Thanks to Quanium for testing this for us!)

Once you have your drops, you can soak some of your normal bud in it to give it an extra little kick. Or you can put a few drops in a joint, or just on the top of a bowl in a bong. But by far the single best way to do this is to put just a few drops under your tongue and hold it there for about 2-3 minutes. Will make you go absolutely mad. The better herb you have, the better this concoction will be.

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Dosage numbers:

- Approximately 2-3 drops per dosage for a good time… equals about 6 bowls of good weed smoked in a bong, if the recipe is done properly.

- This means that every ounce of herb and a cup of glycerine mixture you have, you will end up with approximately 4800 drops (or 1600 doses) if strained completely.

- For only one gram of herb and 8.5ml of glycerine you will get about 60 doses at 3 drops each.

- This is comparable to a normal approx 97 .3g bowls that you would get out of an ounce on an average basis.

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Then of course there are those of you going "Well this sounds just too good to be true!" Well here is some chemistry for you non believers! Glycerine is a sugar alcohol, and thc is alcohol soluble.

Simple chemistry then shows us then that the thc will be soluble into the glycerine given enough time. Now this said, it isnt a 100% alcohol or anything near it, which is why it takes so long for it to sit.

... then why use glycerine instead of everclear or something like that and just make green dragon? Well unlike other types of alcohols, sugar alcohols are able to be absorbed exceedingly easily by the arteries underneath your tongue! And when the THC binds to the glycerine, this makes it easily absorbed into your bloodstream on a direct path for your brain! The absorption of THC into the bloodstream from smoking joints sits at about 15%, the amount for using a bong ranges from 25-35% approximately, and the amount for using a vaporizer or cooking ranges from about 45-55%. With the glycerine absorption method intake has been tested with various other drugs (mixed with glycerine as tinctures) with up to 90% absorption. This should be about enough proof I think to convice most of the doubters.

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Now we all know that weed isn't unhealthy for you if taken in right, so what about glycerine?

Well, glycerine is in your toothpaste, in lubricants, skin care products, used in cough syrups… So its safe to ingest. Is it safe to smoke? Well glycerine is an almost globally used compound in everyone's favorite flavored smoke - Shisha.

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[dankillerbs]

HAS ANYONE EVER ADDED WATER TO THIER TINCTURE AFTER EXTRACTION? I did this in attempt to dull the everclear sting... instead it just seperated the resin that was previously dissolved in the alcohol... im now left with a weak tincture with globs of dark oil floating around and settling on the bottom... Is there anything I can add to the mix to re-dissolve the oil? Or should I evaporate all the liquid and try re-dissolving in pure alcohol without watering down??? ANY THOUGHTS PLEASE???!!!???