Marijuana Tincture Recipe, How to Make Cannabis Tincture
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I’m quite happy I stumbled upon this site and blog. I’m really eager to start my own chemistry experiment and make a tincture that will hopefully medicinal physically as well as mentally/emotionally. I remember back in the 80′s, when hash was in great abundance and cheap (at least here in Montreal Canada), buying almost a 3/4 oz block every week for consumption. I always enjoyed hash, as it tended to give a much more “relaxed” buzz as opposed to pot, and teh fact that I have anxiety issues, that was a plus. Each week when i bought my new block, i would first take a bite out of it, literally, and eat what I would roughly measure as being about 3 grams. The effects I got from that were extraordinary: extremely relaxing without debilitating somnolence, and effects that lasted for many hours.
Today, I use pot, which I grow organically at my special place in the country, and have over the years developed a fairly stable strain that is quite potent, but in the best of ways. Is it Sativa or Indica?? Good question. I would say it’s a crossbreed. In any case, it works, and that’s the important thing. I’m currently applying for my card here in Canada which would allow me to grow and posess, or purchase if necessary. I’m hoping once I can “legally” play with the stuff, I’ll be able to do some wonderful experiments at little cost. Using an organic product where you are guaranteed a pure product free of contaminants and other “street” additives, I’m hoping I’ll be able to produce an organic tincture.
I’m still a bit foggy on the whole “decarbing” aspect and what exactly that step achieves, but my aim is to produce a tincture that is very potent (fewer drops needed meaning less alcohol burn and longevity of the stock) that is an exceptional anxiolytic and analgesic. My severe back and nervous system conditions are in desperate need, and i’ve been down that long and horrendous life threatening path of benzos and opiates, and don’t want to repeat it. So, I’m hoping I will find my medicine right here :).
I think it might be prudent to repost and modify/update the recipes and directions for the different preparations with descriptions on what benefits each one provides. Not out of redundancy but simply to provide some more clarity.
Thanks so much Dr Frankel for your dedication and passion. You’re helping more people than you know!
Cheers from Canada!
I’ve been reading up on this and found your wonderful site, thank you for this information!
I’m medicating for fibromyalgia, and live in Oregon. I was headed for disability before I found this medicine, and I thank God every day for access to it.
One method I haven’t seen mentioned here is to soak the dried, cured herb in water for an hour (I suppose to get rid of the chlorophyll?), then dry in a food dehydrator to de-carb (whatever that means). When really dry you break up he buds, put into a jar & cover w/Everclear. I’m not sure whether to heat it again or go with the cold extraction, I’m leaning cold. I’ll let you know how I make out.
Great thread.
I was wondering if Propylene Glycol could be used instead of vegetable glycerin.
And to my understanding you could then use the tincture in a personal vaporizer aka electronic cigarette.
I’m new to this site, to everything. Am about to get a medical card. Want to do tincture only. Have insomnia, joint pain, ripping headaches & anxiety. A couple of questions, please:
1. If tincture is alcohol based, can’t drops be placed in a tiny bit of hot water, then taken back up into a different dropper before administering sublingually? I’m interested in lessening the sting.
2. Dr. Frankel, I am interested in making up a glycerine -based tincture & then mixing it half & half with alcohol based tincture–as you suggest in an earlier post. After the last few months’ of ins and outs with testing. people’s experience with various recipes & your insights do you still feel this is more effective in terms of onset and duration? Have you changed your recipes?
3. At one early point in blog, 2010, you said that “shake” or “trim” works well for a tincture that the expensive buds or flowers aren’t necessary. Then more recently referring to your cold recipe (which was at one point was your ideal way for making an alcohol-based tincture) you recommend flowers or “kief”. Please explain.
4 Also, last month/December (I think that’s when it was) you mention you were going to decarb some for 15 minutes at 280 degrees. Sorry, but did I miss the post that provides a recipe and ideally talks about why it’s done?
Thank you so much for everything. I pray to be able to sleep a bit better at night and not wake up with intense bone pain and/or a headache.
(I also have neutropenia/sometimes goes into Leukopenia) +chronic fatigue & panic attacks.
Thanks for reading all of this!
I agree that all mold will be killed – or should be killed. To make tincture as you are doing with or without mold is not a big deal. It becomes more of a deal in the commercial market.
I would be VERY careful about cooking the alcohol. The situations where I have seen combined alcohol and glycerin tinctures, it has been a setting where the alcohol tincture and the glycerin tinctures are made separately and then blended. Again, cooking alcohol can be dangerous!!
I am wondering about the comment early on that the bud has to be mold free. I thought pulling the crystals off with 151 rum or another edible high alcohol (everclear) is a good way to use bud that has molded. Any mold gets filtered off with the greenery right? Or killed in the booze at least? I use a method where I put the cut up buds in a jar then in the freezer for half an hour, remove, pour in 151 rum just to cover it, shake for 30 seconds, strain through coffee filters. That’s it. For my 151 “electric rum” made with only buds, all I need is 1/4 – 1/2 an ounce in a mojito or another rum drink, adding other rum to taste if I want. Effective, quick and easy way to deliver the goods if you can drink alcohol.
Forgive me if this has been asked already. I am wondering about doing an alcohol/glycerin tincture since they both pull out different constituents. Would you soak it in the alcohol first (but not as much) and then place the alcohol and the glycerin in the crockpot together? Is there a good recipe for this and has anyone witnessed it to be more potent? Thank you very much.
I agree with the “stop if you smell smoke”,.. that cant be good.
I’ve de-carbed cannabis at a few different temps. I honestly cant tell any difference from the un-decarbed cannabis.
De-carbing as I’ve read it, is for drying green cannabis that has not been cured. The technique has been repeated and re-quoted everywhere ad nauseum but the reason is not following the technique story. My theory is if its already cured properly,. dry, able to smoke a joint with it, not wet in anyway,..de-carbing is unnecessary if its going into a crock pot.
A while ago I de-carbed a way that has not been profiled on here. I took cured smokable buds and wrapped them in tin foil, poked some air relief holes in the top then baked it for an hour at 250deg. it never smelled much,. certainly no smoke.
Now this was dry cured buds, no moisture discernible,. and when I opened it up they were moist, not sopping but moist. I then froze them on the spot. Once froze solid I then soaked them in Ever clear 151 in the fridge for two days. Took the resulting mash out and put it in a mason jar for a week or so., shook it everytime I passed by the refrig,.. keep it in the dark,. cold seems to be good. After 2 weeks of this I warmed up some honey, cheesecloth squeezed out the liquid, saved the mash for something later and added warm honey and some water to the cocktail and had me a drink. It was rich tasting. Yum and its works well, warming, stoney, lasted about an hour, never got inebriated, but was happy.
Trial? Monday?? You are certainly cavalier. I’ll read up.
I have been a bit distracted with my trial coming up this Monday, but FIRST on my list after the trial is to get the testing done. It will be a good time for me to sit back for a day or two and make some tincture. I will definitely do a 15 minute decarbox at 280 F. However, always stop the heating if you smell anything vapor that reminds you of vaporizing.
Good question. I must say that the level of questions is greatly improving and it makes me “proud”.
So, I actually often tell patients that if they are heating the cannabis and BEGIN to smell that vaporatization “scent” that they immediately stop the heating. It seems to work but we are doing more testing. For the first time, using TheWercShop.com, we are able to distinguish between THC and THC-a, since Dr. Raber uses LC instead of GC/MS. We will be posting more results. Also, perhaps one of you who makes a tincture using my recipe will bring in some and I will send it out to Dr. Raber for testing. Deal??
I have a nagging question concerning the de-carbing the cannabis.
If your using a crock pot full of cannabis covered with water, glycerin, vinegar, or even alcohol on warm (150 deg.) for 24 hours or so why would you need to heat it up in an oven if heat is the de-carbolizer?. I have reservations about heating cannabis up in open air. Heat and oxygen, isn’t the very definition of vaporizing? What heat do those Vaporizers work at? pretty low right?
Any thoughts on this from someone who has actually tried this?
Many respects to Dr Frankel for starting this message board. Its the best one Ive seen and the only one Ive joined.
Peace out
Thank you. You are very welcome.
Thanks for writing up this informative blog!
Thank you for answering my first question.
My second question, is there a maximum amount of thc the ethanol can hold?
If I use 1oz of regular weed, extract and filter. Can I than add another 1 oz and repeat to make it more potent.? Or is it like sugar and water where it can only hold so much before the rest sits on the bottom?
Thanks very much. As you create your tinctures, just be certain to decide whether the tincture is to contain all decarboxylated THC or not. Of course, the more of the THC, and other cannabinoids that are decarbed, the “heavier” the tincture. The ONLY way to determine this is to have a lab measure the THC and THC-A. This can ONLY be done in a Liquid Chromatograph – a GC or GC/MS will decarboxylate everything as it heats the test material, so you have no idea what you really started with.
Best of luck!!
Very nice site, thank you for all the great information. I am a Colorado card holder and maker of bubble hash, activated hash capsules, and several varieties of edibles. I have been tasked with making glycerin tinctures for my dispensary. I am just in the beginning stages of making the tincture and appreciate this great site. If I have any questions I know where to get my answer now.
Ron Richardson
glycerin tinctures are nice, but due to the low alcohol content take forever to make ( 1month with the cold technique). I’m still experimenting & impatient.
As an MD you certainly know the same med works differently on different people. One person I know took 25mg of Seroquel for insomnia, she was groggy for 2 days. I took 600 on a regular basis and still had problems. That might have been a lethal dose for her. I took 9mg of Lunesta with 10 mg Ambien & slept like a baby, that is supposedly a LD to most people.
the important part was CBD rich product seems to be available in LA for the long term.
I am not certain which comment you are referring to for certain, but in general, the dose of a sub-lingual tincture is 1/2 – 1 CC. Most droppers are close to 1 cc, so you are starting with a 1/4 to 1/2 of 1 cc.
A “shot” of alcohol, is generally one ounce. One ounce = 28.5 cc’s. So, at most, you are using approximately 3% of a single shot.
Also, some tinctures don’t use any alcohol. Personally, I like the ones that are both glycerin and alcohol. One other interesting thing to do is to do extractions with both alcohol and glycerin and then mix them together. You tend to end up with a tincture with rapid onset and seemingly a longer effect as well.
LA has CBD rich cannabis ! maybe long term. The Farmacy has 3 location, I went to Westwood. For $55/gram they had Harlequin and True Blueberry OG. They are both about 10% CBD, 5-6 THC. The store does not have an online menu.
I tried Harlequin as a tincture for my insomnia. Poor results. I only slept about 4 hours & then it was off & on. Today I made a batch with the THC cooked off first & I expect better results.
Staff at Farmacy are very friendly, have a very nice clean store, very professional. The website has addresses. The manager at Westwood thinks there will be an ongoing supply of these products.
By the way, when I cook off the THC & fill the kitchen with a cloud of smoke, it doesn’t affect me at all. Apparently I am immune to THC. Except for sleeping tinctures.
In the ever clear approach. How much should a dropper be? I mean if a dropper equals a shot, and you say use two to three droppers, three shots of ever clear would numb my pain even if there was now thc. I’m looking to get slightly stoned. Not drunk. Thoughts?
I would first suggest you get your own crockpot and make sure it has a setting of “keep warm”. “Low” is not low enough. You can find one for under $30. I blogged my personal favorite at:
http://www.greenbridgemed.com/dr-frankel-made-a-tincture/
I’m getting ready to mix up some leaves with vegetable glycerine and I want to try using a crockpot this time. Does anyone know if glycerine can get gummy, crusty or sticky in a crockpot? I’ll have one unhappy wife on my hands if that happens. Thanks…
I forgot to mention the actual technique to make the tincture after preparing the cannabis for max CBD.
I don’t understand why people age the tincture for weeks, months up to a year. we are just doing a simple extract.
Basically I used recipe #1 from this site
http://www.rollitup.org/cooking-cannabis/125137-alcohol-tincture.html
It simmers the tincture for 20 minutes. I’m sure 99% of the CBD is extracted by then, but leave it sit overnight if you want to.
As mentioned above, the cold technique has its fans too. Different strokes.
Some people are afraid alcohol will explode on the stove, it won’t if you a technique similar to a double boiler. I’ve probably done it 10 times without mishap.
Thanks so much. You can add it to your news reader. The icons are beneath every blog. :)
Thanks so much for this. This might sound weird, but I spent the first few years of my teenage lifein Naples, then travelled around the globe. Now I’m living in New Zealand, with my Chinese wife, and son we had whilst in Japan! Truly international, eh? Anyway, I’ve been trying to rediscover the smells and tastes of my youth with some authentic Italian recipe like these, best I’ve found so far! Thanks again, I’ll see if I can add the feed to my google reader tonight, though my son usually does that for me!
So I strained my last batch of tincture using the freezing method and it seems to have the same taste and effect of the batch that was soaked for a few weeks indoors and in the dark.
I am wondering if decarbing works by freezing
I wil need to do another batch using the heating to 325 for decarb. I am also finding more and more info that curing the weed properly has a large effect on decarbing and flavour. Looks like I have a lot of work/fun to get on with:)
Final result with both tinctures I made is a great calming feeling all over and wakeless sleeps.
not getting the same effect at all as you would when smoked but I have heard of some tinctures that will give you the same effect…….sceptical.
I worked with David yesterday & we seem to found a solution. In San Diego hemp is as rare as SOMA so forget that idea . Not to mention it is completely illegal.
After heating cannabis at 325 for the standard 5 min, I heated it up to 365 for another 5. That vaporized the THC & stunk up the house. Ozium works pretty well to kill the smell.
I don’t know the final CBD/THC ratio, but it had to be better than what I started with. I just had to be careful not to go to 390 and vape the CBD.
The tincture make me sleepy in about 15 minutes which I was happy with. My meds take about 2 hours, I am getting immune to them. Now I will taper off them over the next week & just use the tincture.
I will also create a control tincture of the standard cannabis ( 50/50) and see if there is any difference. If there isn’t, that saves some work. It will probably depend what % I start with.
I’ll keep you advised.
Really good question. It is one I am currently struggling with. Until we have more reliable availability of higher CBD strains on a regular basis, the only other idea I have heard is actually extracting hemp. The hemp is pretty high CBD and obviously very, very low THC. In theory, an extra of each combined should allow us to have various THC/CBD ratio tinctures. If you don’t have a great lab available for testing, may I recommend http://the wercshop.com They are clearly the best in my opinion and and really dedicated.
Back in May I asked about making a tincture of the richest possible CBD and lowest possible THC. The CBD rich strains such as SOMA A+ are NOT commonly availably on the market. Even in SoCal only Pineapple Thai is rarely available and that is for a few days in inconvenient locations. I drove from San Diego to Harborside Oakland and all they had was Pineapple Thai and Incredible Romulan. Both of those are less the 10% promised in SOMA. I bought some plants rated at 10% but that doesn’t help my insomnia now. And my meds are not working very well.
So, back to my question, is there anyway to maximize CBD and minimize THC making a home tincture, especially if I have a 50/50 bud ? Can I extract the THC at a lower temp first ? I have all the lab equipment needed.
Thanks.
great. thanks so much. we should consider some online tincture forum where patients could ask questions and post their recipes. I know we do it here, but we need to begin to collect the information in a much better manner.
Am trying the Freezing method now and will report back with results:)
I have heard this from many, many patients. As I now have access to a lab that uses a liquid chromatography machine, we can test for how much THC is still left as THC-A. Call me if you are interested in finding out. I know I am interested
Great! Have you taken your tincture to get it analyzed? What you need to know is how much of the THC was in fact decarbed. The only way to know is to have a lab test it using a LIQUID CHROMATOGRAPHY machine – not a GC. The Gas chromamatographs heat up the same thereby destroying any THC-A. If you are in the LA area, call me at the office and we can talk. The number is 310-821-9600
I am a medical card holder in southern Oregon. I am going to try to use some other strains (Indica) for nightime use but have a theory that my decarbox might need to be longer and lower temp to avoid wasting the green hit i would get in a vaporizer by cooking large batches in oven. I used to get my friends ‘brown’ bud that he considered wasted from his volcano becaue i preferred that until he discovered why i liked it- it is the best in chocolate and my night dose is 0.6 grams and I have a few advanced scientific college degrees…..you are welcome to contact me….decarbox must occur to get an increase of 800% efficacy
I have found if I use a Carnival strain (80%) Sativa and cure properly, then freeze to get extra dry, then preheat oven to 325F and break into small pieces and put into oven on foil sheet (not cookie sheet) for ex actually 5 minutes. This causes decarbox. Then I soak for 20 minutes in EtOh (everclear) and put bud/ethanol mixture in jar and boil (actually keeping it below etoh boil) for 20 minutes in hot water bath while mixture is separate from water. Then strain through a non-bleached coffee filter- I get a tincture that I store in brown lightproof dropper bottles that worksd well. I can get 15 six hour doses with only 3.5 grams of bud. Its the most effecient way I have found. I make chocolates the same way- but MUST decarbox in oven or vaprizer first or it doesnt work well at all. djn175@gmail.com
I am impressed with your site too.Hi I live in southern Oregon just north of Ca. border.I have a brother in southern California but that does not helpYou can call me at 541-469-4936 .It would be nice to talk to a Dr. of internal medicine . I am more on the Brucha (witch) side of things .lolol
I love making potions and lotions.=)
WOW!! I am very impressed. Are you located in the southern california area? If so, can we meet? You can call my office at 310-821-9600.
Thanks for sharing,
Allan
Hi wonderful site.
I am very involved in experimenting with tinctures and balms and ointments. I make balm and ointment for Oregon Medical MJ card holders.
It takes about 5 days to make my balm .I start of with lower grade suger leaves left overs from last batch and vaporizer left overs . this is cooked below simmer for 3 days then strained out of olive oil then I add shake and buds , I use different ingredients I have about 6 different kinds but they all have cinnamon and peppermint in them , exept for the habanaro ointment which is warming, I have tried with good results using DMSO instead of Emu for vegatarians but am not crazy about the artificaility of DMSO product. Squalleen works too but I am apposed to shark use,I have put all sorts of herbs including Italian seasoning in my balms , I have been trying different cream bases too, I am for the first time trying to make glycerin tincture , I make cinnamon drops with safflower oil but I like the glycerin better, It can be put into this cool little vaporizer that look like a cigarette and gives you many hits ,(on cotton ball ) i have freinds who make candy too. I have helped many people with their pain and skin problems.
Anything, including pressure can help with decarboxylation. Freezing will also help. In large part this is the reason why, I believe, the extra cold using CO2 works so well in making tinctures.
I hear that cannibanoids are not active until they have been decarboxylated.
does freezing do this as well as heating?
Hi!!
I am SO impressed that you are TESTING!!! I live in Colorado-betting there isn’t a way to have my stuff tested there, but if it is a possibility PLEASE let me know. Or better yet….open a Colorado office :)
Do you have an instinctual thought on which works better for overall tincture formation-heating in the oven or cooking it altogether with the glycerin? I would like to keep as much of the cannabinoids intact as possible. It would make sense to me that the glycerin only dissolves the trichombs, heat would be needed to decarb, but which process (or maybe it doesn’t matter/no one knows) leaves the cannabinoids better off?
One other ‘newbie’ question-
Can I just use my fresh trimmings or do I need to dry them first? Have all this trim stuff-don’t know what to do with it!!!
Thanks again for a great site!
Great questions. The most important issue is that decarboxylation is mandatory and it can really only be done with heat. So, even with the “”Sun tinctures” it is the heat that is important; the light is destructive to cannabinoids and the jar for these tinctures should be covered with dark paper, which also increases the heating.
By the way, alcohol and other solvents play little if any role in decarboxylation. With the glycerine recipe I posted, the 24 hours of heating is what I THINK achieves decarboxylation. Finally, I have access to a lab that will allow me to tell what in fact is going on. Most labs just use Gas Chromatography to measure THC and CBD levels. This is a useless way to measure them. It is just not as accurate and tends to give low results, but even worse, the heating during the process decarboxylates everything; i.e. you can’t tell how much was decarbed and how much was not. It is only with liquid chromatography where there is no destruction of the native cannabinoids. So, I will post something when I get another batch made and TESTED.
Hi!
GREAT site! Nice to know its not just me who likes the glycerin tinctures.
Questions:
Do you need to dry/decarboxylate the MJ before making the tincture or can you just take the fresh trim and start cooking?
Is there any advantage to NOT heating the mixture-just leaving it at room temperature for 4+ weeks (the “sunshine” tinctures), or does light damage the CBD/Cannibanoids.
I would guess that from reading the information on making glycerin tinctures that somewhere in the process it needs to be decarboxylated, but didn’t know if you got a better mix if you dried/baked in oven/then did tincture at room temperature, versus just crock-potting it.
I am using the tinctures for Fibro/CF/post breast cancer autoimmune issues. Thanks to the tincture I have been able to sleep at night for the first time in 5 years.
I so AGREE with your comment that we have a lot to learn!!! Its like an art more than a science, so many individual components involved between each person and each ‘bud’. Thanks for all your information here!
There are many different types of tinctures. The individual tincture and the dose of that tincture will determine whether you will get “high” or just being medicating your pain or anxiety without much/any psychoactive effects. Probably the primary determinant will end up being the CBD available in the tincture and the amount of Terpenes. We have a LOT to learn.
I have a comment for Ken B, and something to consider in general: besides different strains, do you know what chemicals went into the growing of the marijuana before it got to you? Some of the symptoms (malaise, increased myalgia, muscle tremors) are similar to those of pesticide poisoning.
Is this tested in GreenBridge Medical Laboratories as well? Many people with fibromyalgia also have varying degrees of chemical sensitivities, so I would think this is a very important aspect.
Question on the tinctures: it sounds like the warm tincture is more for leaf and not as much for keif or bud… is that correct? Why?
So using cannabis in this fashion will or will not produce the ‘high’ effects?
Hi Dr., I am looking for ways to use my medicine to stop my epileptic seizures. Do you think alcohol tinctures better contain canabinoids than the glycerine? I’m looking for the best ways to intake CBDs and not THC so much. THANKS!
This is precisely what I am starting GreenBridge Medical Laboratories. My patients, as well as other patients, will be able to get their own medication tested. The data is going into a central database and the clinical comments, such as yours, are sorted against the various strains. We need to also setup a genetics section in the lab so we can finally find unique strains and keep them straight. As you are very well aware, our current naming system really sucks – medically speaking. :)
P.S; Dr Frankel:
The reason I am asking you all this (I hope I’m not pushing your goodwill too far),
Is that applying for a card has some obvious risks, visa-vis being on a list, and dispensary staff, growers, etc. all seem to flip flop, and , sadly,,, lie about what strain does what, and they basically seem to want to sell product.
Knowledge is farcically lacking, from what I’ve seen, and almost entirely geared toward selling hyper potent strains to people who just want to get very high. (strains with names like AK-47 just don’t appeal to someone wishing to keep a few active brain cells!)
Fair enough, i support legalization, but I am viewing this a s a serious medical matter,
But I guess you knew that!
Thanks for listening.