# THC is heat activated



## Green Cross (Sep 15, 2009)

Despite all the misinformation out there, it's a well known fact that THC and unconverted THC acid is activated (and in the case of THC acid - converted) by heat. 

This from "the Art and Science of Cooking With Cannabis" 

"THC acid (tetrahydrocannabolic) is heated to about 212 F (boiling temperature of water) for 75 minutes in a nitrogen or carbon dioxide atmosphere (one free of oxygen), all of these acids will convert to THC.

Traditional cannabis recipes often call for the sauteing of the ganja in oil or butter, before using it. The oil protects the product (from oxidation) while the heat activates the THC; this activation also occurs in the extraction of hash oil from weed and in any hash manufacturing process where heating or boiling is involved."  

"...normal cooking temperatures for normal cooking times can can increase potency by activating the (unconverted) THC (acids)."

Knowing how THC is extracted, and activated (by heat), is of the utmost importance when cooking with cannabis. Once the THC is successfully extracted into butter or oil, this may be substituted for the butter or oil called for in practically any recipe, and you're not left wasting your time try to eat raw plant material... (which won't get you stoned), while making the most of your product.  

I've read that dry plant material can be ground into flower, and mixed with regular flower in baking, but I still see no reason to ingest marijuana plant material. 

Bake On!


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## The Warlord (Sep 15, 2009)

Very true but didn't we all already know this? Or are people running around on here telling you to eat buds strait up without the correct heat/oil processing?


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## Green Cross (Sep 15, 2009)

The Warlord said:


> Very true but didn't we all already know this? Or are people running around on here telling you to eat buds strait up without the correct heat/oil processing?


No we didn't in fact if you google "marijuana heat activated" you'll find many folks still insisting it isn't. 

Even this morning someone was advising others to eat raw product. 

Maybe the anti-marijuana crowd are working these boards trying to confuse issues, and spread misinformation; not sure what other motivation would be for people to give the wrong advice. Could just be ignorance I suppose


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## The Warlord (Sep 15, 2009)

Hopefully it's just ignorance but that can be hard to dispell. ignorance often walks hand in hand with a strong case of "the stuborns".


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## Moldy (Sep 15, 2009)

Good info to know! I haven't cooked with cannabis yet so this helps. Thanks rep+


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## DubRules (Sep 15, 2009)

yeah. its actually all the other cannabinoids that are really activated by heat. 
i make activated thc capsules which requires heating cannabis at 220 degrees f for 20 minutes.
the bitch is that if you heat it too much, it just vaporises and you have worthless plant material.


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## Green Cross (Sep 15, 2009)

The Warlord said:


> Hopefully it's just ignorance but that can be hard to dispell. ignorance often walks hand in hand with a strong case of "the stuborns".


True true 



Moldy said:


> Good info to know! I haven't cooked with cannabis yet so this helps. Thanks rep+


I'm hoping to make some knock your socks off Christmas cookies! 

I suppose hash that is cooked for 75 min, as long as it's in a vacuum, could be used as an edible in just about any recipe, but not sure how to accomplish cooking in a vacuum? 

It just seems like using cannabutter or oil is the best and easiest method out there.


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## theCannabisChef (Sep 16, 2009)

This is true for the most part. However, correct me if I am wrong: High grade, properly cured marijuana contains THC that has already been "activated" (converted from THC acid). If the trichomes are collected and made into hash without using heat (cold water extraction?) and the hash was eaten, you would get high. 

There is definitely much misinformation out there on this topic. Sometimes it is hard to filter through it and find real information. This is the conclusion I have come to. Although if lower grade bud that was not cured or dried well, you would need to manually heat it to convert the THCa into THC.


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## Green Cross (Sep 18, 2009)

theCannabisChef said:


> This is true for the most part. However, correct me if I am wrong: High grade, properly cured marijuana contains THC that has already been "activated" (converted from THC acid). If the trichomes are collected and made into hash without using heat (cold water extraction?) and the hash was eaten, you would get high.
> 
> There is definitely much misinformation out there on this topic. Sometimes it is hard to filter through it and find real information. This is the conclusion I have come to. Although if lower grade bud that was not cured or dried well, you would need to manually heat it to convert the THC into THC.


Hi there CannabisChef. Are you the guy who posted that you're starting a new cooking with MJ site? I saw the post yesterday, but not sure if it was you. 

As far as I can ascertain, there is little usable THC in raw weed. Eating hash (this is as high grade as it gets) may get you stoned, but if it's made into hash butter, or baked it is much more potent. It's always better to cook it, before using it in a cold recipe, like hash Ice cream.

I'm sorry, I don't know more about the chemical process in which heat converts the THC oils into a more usable form.


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## theCannabisChef (Sep 19, 2009)

Green Cross said:


> Hi there CannabisChef. Are you the guy who posted that you're starting a new cooking with MJ site? I saw the post yesterday, but not sure if it was you.
> 
> As far as I can ascertain, there is little usable THC in raw weed. Eating hash (this is as high grade as it gets) may get you stoned, but if it's made into hash butter, or baked it is much more potent. It's always better to cook it, before using it in a cold recipe, like hash Ice cream.
> 
> I'm sorry, I don't know more about the chemical process in which heat converts the THC oils into a more usable form.


Yes I am building a website dedicated to cooking with cannabis, and sharing recipes. There are a few good articles and recipes on there right now, and anyone is welcome to share there recipes on it! http://thecannabischef.com

There is actually a contest setup right now, for the best recipe submission (by november 1st). First place winner is a copy of "Cooking with Cannabis" by Tim Pilcher, and second place is a CannabisChef t-shirt haha. You can check that out if you'd like


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## ipawilzon (Feb 8, 2010)

I was strolling around youtube, and I ran upon this video: 

Bill Spaceman Lee

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAa7PPdSElg

There were a bunch of people who were saying they just eat marijuana straight. I just simply said "You need heat to activate the THC." Basicly baking temp. I also told them you couldn't get high, but meant a REAL high.. I got these responses.. :

miniantti (1 week ago)
WOW! That was the most&#65279; retarded shit i have heard in a long time...Baking temp to activate the thc?? lol... Yes you can eat weed and get high you fucking moron. You don't know shit you idiot.

jimmybrite (6 days ago) 
@ipawilzon Not true&#65279; dude. 

plywood75 (4 days ago) 
your&#65279; wrong. how old are you? 

pubcat5 (6 hours ago)
You're wrong. Speaking from experience here. It takes sometime when you eat it plain, but&#65279; it will get you high for sure. 

itzahazylife (1 week ago) 
and before u call my bluff, i've done it before..i'm speaking from personal experience..i love the taste and smell of cannabis..whenever i used to get shitty bags full of shake, i used to eat it. sometimes by itself and sometimes on food.&#65279; it gets u high.

All I said was the THC needs heat... wow... So I put a link to this site (messed up a bunch of times, bc youtube screws the url up..) What jackasses...


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## vic? (Dec 5, 2010)

DubRules said:


> yeah. its actually all the other cannabinoids that are really activated by heat.
> i make activated thc capsules which requires heating cannabis at 220 degrees f for 20 minutes.
> the bitch is that if you heat it too much, it just vaporises and you have worthless plant material.


 Using a water bath would be a good application for this then.


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## mattman (Dec 16, 2010)

Take a Large pot, a metal stand that glassware can sit on. Use the same glass you would obtain in chemistry class. Fill the pot up with water. Crush up your good stuff and place in high fat content butter. Do all of this in the glass with now water. Place the glass on the metal stand and begin to heat your water to boiling. Water will maintain a temperature around 100 degrees Celsius or 212 degrees Fahrenheit. Leave glass in water at a low boil no violent crazy boil for minimum of 6 hours to 12 hours. Since water will only boil at a temperature of 100 degrees, whatevers in the glass will also stay at that temperature.

Once its done, I let the glass cool down to a touchable temp and then poor cool water into the glass. Mix it up and then pour through cheesecloth. place container in fridge, allow to cool. Check it later and there will be a solid which is less dense than the solution sitting under it. Spoon this out and wala you have perfect made weed butter.

here is a great example of what im talking about http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlybn4x8RUs&feature=related

Its easy to mess up because if you are not using the water as a "shield" to the heat, the thc will just vaporize. Your product will still look similar to the correctly made product but with no buzz.

Also, people go on and.... it takes HEAT to do this activation. Not necessarily true. You could sit and stirr THC in a butter solution for a longer period of time and get the same effect, only adding heat speeds up the process.


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## Lysemith, Lowkey (Jun 21, 2012)

OMG OMG OMG!!!! I have a Sous Vide Machine which vacuum packs your food (meat usually) and then slow cooks it in a water oven!!!!!

I CANNOT FUCKING WAIT TO TRY THIS!

I didnt even bother reading the thread lol!


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## gioua (Jun 22, 2012)

THC is also activated by time and or heat.
Heat speeds up the bonding process to the fats or alcohol 
Time will allow the same thing to happen
add some MMJ to some olive oil put in dark area for 30 days = about the same as 4-6 hours in crock pot.

and again... some folks have 0 tolerance for many reasons and eating a green bud MAY work for them... the effects are going to differ from user to user


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## Lysemith, Lowkey (Jun 22, 2012)

gioua said:


> THC is also activated by time and or heat.
> Heat speeds up the bonding process to the fats or alcohol
> Time will allow the same thing to happen
> add some MMJ to some olive oil put in dark area for 30 days = about the same as 4-6 hours in crock pot.
> ...


this is refering specifically to de-carboxylation, through heat or dehydration - not time but usually they equate to the same thing. but for it to be effective and convert as many cannabinoids as possible to Delta-9 THC, the most effective, it needs to be in an anaerobic environment - with no air.

scientific perspective


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## PUFeNUF (Jun 22, 2012)

if eating raw cannabis doesn't get you high then how come one time i had just bought a gram of some dank ass sour diesel and i got pulled over and ate the gram of sour d i was fucking sooo baked.


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## Lysemith, Lowkey (Jun 23, 2012)

the Placebo Effect even reduces tumors, no shit. 

if you were paranoid and ate cannabis thinking it was going to fuck you up it would.
but I think eating raw can get you high, you are still ingesting cannabinoids, which your body does break down and use, it just probably doesnt have the choicest ratio or delta-9-thc or hydroxty-11 or whatever for ingestion and breakdown in the liver/GI tract


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## Lysemith, Lowkey (Jun 23, 2012)

im trying the experiment tonight with an 1/8 of bud that I have, and a gram of kif, going to heat activate it in raw form in an anaerobic environment for 6 hrs or more, then im going to test it and bake with it and run comparison batches with the same material untreated and then test them blind on some other people.

its gunna be funnnn!


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## Lysemith, Lowkey (Jun 24, 2012)

so the result of my experiment: I havent done anything with the kif yet, but the bud is a little smoother, a little tastier, and stronger. but caveat emptor yall, beware the placebo effect: unless you test the product blind on experienced users, or even more preferable double blind, then your personal perception WILL change how it feels.

i.e. I am NOT an effective person to test my experiment because I really want it to work. but with that in mind, it was very more sativa upity than original, munchies like a mofo, and like i said stronger.


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## Tmeds420 (Dec 6, 2012)

Green Cross said:


> Despite all the misinformation out there, it's a well known fact that THC and unconverted THC acid is activated (and in the case of THC acid - converted) by heat.
> 
> This from "the Art and Science of Cooking With Cannabis"
> 
> ...


.



sorry but you must never heard of tincture where you extract thc in alcohol or vegetable glycerin using no heat and believe me delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol which is found in raw cannabis is very active and gives you the stoned you feel from smoking vaporizing or oral obsorption. The reason you feel more stoned when eating it when delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol passes through your liver it is then converted to delta-11 tetrahydrocannabinol which has hallucinogenic properties 
im no scientician but it doesn't take a rocket appliance to tell you there's active thc in raw cannabis.


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## Tmeds420 (Dec 6, 2012)

I forgot to ad that the dehydration process activates any inactive thc. Heat is not required try ganja ice cream made simply by mixing kef it's killer but a live wet plant contains very active delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol if you don't think so your dog has never eatin some of your fresh cut herb and been so high it couldn't walk straight ( I've seen this a few times never happened to mine I don't condone of dogs being put in the position where they may or will consume cannabis in any form nor do i condone any other form of animal abuse) now let's all pack our bongs eat your treats vape your shit fuckin take an anal suppository for all I care lets just medicate feel great order a pizza bang your girlfriend and have a nice nights sleep peace.


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## charface (Dec 6, 2012)

at what temp does thc degrade


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## TheKansasCityChiefer (Dec 14, 2012)

charface said:


> at what temp does thc degrade


thc will start to degrade at 250F


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## CharlieMike (Aug 28, 2013)

YES it is possible to eat buds and get high because I've done it. I'm not child and I've using for decades and I'm curious as to why people are so fervent about THC needing to be "activated"


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## qwizoking (Aug 28, 2013)

Thca does not readily cross the blood brain barrier.... end of story

You remove the carboxyl group (cooh) by removal of co2 or h2o, in application to weed we focus on removal of h2o, its easiest. Heat is not required thca naturally decarbs overtime infact after 240 days in a dark chilled environment no more will be detected, 140 days at room temp....


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## qwizoking (Aug 28, 2013)

All of them need decarbed. Polar compounds are able to move freely in the plant because of this that's how they are found, but for a drug to cross the blood brain barrier it needs to be fairly lipophilic to diffuse in and out..delta 9 thc is metabolised to 11 but does not get decarbed in the body and neither cross the bb as they are polar acids (relatively)

(Edited, realised I said same thing twice and clarified


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## qwizoking (Aug 29, 2013)

Man eff oakleys. They've had the same shit out for a good 6 years. In tired of seeing people walk around thinking their the shit in stupid clear oakleys or similar and then charging 200 for something that's been out nearly a decade and hasn't changed? Hmmm....... well that's my rant for the day y'all


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