# Cannabis tincture....decarb necessary?



## QueefCollins (Jan 26, 2010)

So I've been looking up various methods of making a cannabis tincture i.e. alcohol, glycerin.

One thing that's still not clear to me is if decarboxylation is necessary or not. I know people do it, but is it a must?

I know THC is not orally bioavailable unless it's heated, which is why brownies do what they do.

But since THC is fat-soluble, wouldn't dissolving it in alcohol or glycerin make it bioavailable as well? Without having to decarb it?


,

Queef


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## growone (Jan 27, 2010)

my limited experience is it's probably a good idea
i tried making tincture without decarb
boiled about a gram of broken up bud with 80 proof vodka
let it boil right down to almost dry, thought that would decarb enough
re-added vodka back to original volume
tincture under the tongue was OK, but nothing i would repeat, mild body buzz from maybe 10 drops under the tongue
i'm guessing decarb in the oven would have helped


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## pattystaff89 (Jan 27, 2010)

I tried making it without decarb and was un-successful. left like 4 grams in a shot-glass of 160 proof for 1 week. felt no effects from the whole shot worth.


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## the beekeepers (Jan 31, 2010)

I love "tincture" it is a nice way to take the edge off without getting really buzzed. Put the weed in a blender and chop it up then put it in a pint mason jar with a pint of vodka. Close it up put it in a brown paper bag then put it in your freezer. Shake it everyday for 5 days then pour it through a strainer lined with cheese cloth. You can get a little funnel and some vials and droppers at the container store. Don't look to get high but it definitely mellows.


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## ak47is1337 (Feb 15, 2010)

You will definitely need to heat the stuff up first. This is not a big deal; just preheat your oven for 325 and let it sit for a few minutes on a sheet of aluminum foil. Whoila, decarbed. After this you will either need to cook it in alcohol (everclear is best) for the speed of extraction/power, or you can just let it sit in a jar for AT LEAST 2 weeks before you drink it.

If you choose to cook it, DO NOT let the alcohol boil (get near 170 degrees) and DO NOT use a flame burner!

If you let it sit, keep it somewhere dark and shake it at least once a day. Do not put it in the freezer - basic chemistry tells us that lower temperatures slow chemical reactions - and thus the cooking method is explained.

Also, decarbing is not possible just by cooking the alcohol and pot together. I'm not sure at exactly what temperatures it occurs, but it's probably slightly different for each of the many, many psychoactive chemicals in pot and 170 definitely isn't hot enough for the THC, which is what you are going after.

A properly made cocktail will put you down for many hours. It is an awesome high.


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## mikejuwanna (Jan 4, 2011)

search the forum if you want to find the best recipes it's not very hard lol.
even hit google. make sure you decarb first!!! i haven't experimented to find the best decarb recipe but i would say 220f for maybe 10 minutes.. but i haven't a real clue!! so find out yourself!!

this guy seems to know what he's talking about

http://boards.cannabis.com/medical-marijuana-methods/101878-decarboxylation-question-3.html


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## redivider (Jan 6, 2011)

yeah you want to heat it up first.

i'm going to have to do one of these 'tincutres'

i'm going to do it with 151 though....


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## IOWNEVERY1 (Jan 7, 2011)

yea decarb it at 300 degrees for 5 min on tinfoil then use a double boiler with a strong fan above for about 20 min and bam you got green dragon. I use and eight of chronic and start with 2 ounces of McCormicks mint extract and it ends up being about 1 1/2 ounces of liquid at the end. I take 2-4 mL at a time and if fucks me up pretty good for a couple hours. Make sure to take it when your hungry and wait till you get high to start eating.


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## JohnnyTHCeeds (Feb 27, 2014)

Must be heated to 150 degrees for about 15 minutes minimum. If you are going to mess with this a good digital hot plate with sealed element is a really good investment
And make sue you do this outside, unless you want to be one of those fools on the nightly news. 
Nuwave Indution Cooktop is the best heat source for a controllable cook top that I have seen. About $100


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## JohnnyTHCeeds (Feb 27, 2014)

170 degrees is pushing it. TOO MUCH HEAT DESTROYS....... Less Heat (150 degrees max) for longer time ... 15 minutes minimum. Higher heat burns the oils and reduces potency (considerably) just like burning while smoking. This is why we are doing this process... to maximize potency.
Visit here: http://www.newcure.org/
& here: http://newcure.org/oil-level/how-we-make-the-oil


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## tip top toker (Feb 27, 2014)

growone said:


> my limited experience is it's probably a good idea
> i tried making tincture without decarb
> boiled about a gram of broken up bud with 80 proof vodka
> let it boil right down to almost dry, thought that would decarb enough
> ...


What was your total volume of tincture once you'd finished cooking it down?


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## JohnnyTHCeeds (Feb 27, 2014)

If you would heat your finished solution to 150 degrees for 15-20 minutes in a water bath. (Pot with 4-5" of water) Make sure lid is tight enough to keep water out. No open flame and outdoors is a good idea. Your effect will increase considerably.

http://newcure.org/oil-level/how-we-make-the-oil ...... another idea



the beekeepers said:


> I love "tincture" it is a nice way to take the edge off without getting really buzzed. Put the weed in a blender and chop it up then put it in a pint mason jar with a pint of vodka. Close it up put it in a brown paper bag then put it in your freezer. Shake it everyday for 5 days then pour it through a strainer lined with cheese cloth. You can get a little funnel and some vials and droppers at the container store. Don't look to get high but it definitely mellows.


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## qwizoking (Feb 27, 2014)

We decarb the extracted hash over a double boiler and watch co2 bubbles..yes it must be decarbed to cross the blood brain barrier and feel the psychoactive effects
Tincture in the cannabis community generally refers to a glycerine tincture for its use sublingually .
Saturate hot glycerine with the hash...put under tongue
This thread is like 4 years old btw


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## stsin (Mar 6, 2014)

You can have excellent results without adding heat, but it will take longer and you really need to use alcohol. The last batch of tincture I made was with everclear and ground up seeded canna (I tried to remove the seeds for future crops). 13 days in the dark (shaking a couple times a day) then filtered through a cheese cloth led to tincture that made the patients / test subjects quite happy  With glyerine based tincture heat is more important, but as THC is alcohol soluble it's not really needed if you're at a decent proof rate (everclear of course is ideal  ) .

But like with everything else, YMMV.... (yes it's an old thread, but apparently there's still discussion....)


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## qwizoking (Mar 7, 2014)

for thc to cross the bb barier it needs decarbed


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## SnapsProvolone (Mar 7, 2014)

qwizoking said:


> for thc to cross the bb barier it needs decarbed


Truth ^^^ no more really need be said on the subject.


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## Ivone (Mar 10, 2014)

Here you go.

http://skunkpharmresearch.com/decarboxylation/


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## spazatak (Mar 11, 2014)

what about making tincture with vaped weed... would you still need to decarb it?


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## qwizoking (Mar 11, 2014)

once its vaporized its decarbed


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## growone (Mar 11, 2014)

tip top toker said:


> What was your total volume of tincture once you'd finished cooking it down?


 old thread, almost missed you question
i had maybe 1 to 2 fluid ozs, been a while so it's a vague memory
couple of grams of bud i think went in there, didn't give me a great result, could be operator error


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## kagecog (Mar 11, 2014)

Alright so at the point of harvest, THC is mostly in the form THCa which is non-psychoactive. Simply put, over time during the curing process, THCa will become THC. But this takes a VERY long time, so to speed up the process, you'll need to decarb. The average weed you'll get on the streets probably contains around 15% THCa and 3% THC at the point of purchase, after a proper decarb you'll probably get it to be around 16% THC and hardly any THCa. To decarb, I recommend a temperature of around 230F for 45 min. This is based on studies done by SC labs and by the fact that caryophyllene is degraded at temperatures above 246F. No other important component of cannabis begins degrading below 270F so you really won't have to worry about anything else. I would completely disregard any answers that tell you to use a temperature below 200 or above 250 because they are basically pulling those temps out of their asses without any scientific backing


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## RAndree (Feb 16, 2016)

I am certainly new to all this. I recently tried my hand at making an oil for my vape. I made a tincture with 3.5 g mj and everclear. I did not decarboxylate due to mixed instructions. Some said that the vape process will take care of the process of decarb. I have two questions. Do I need to decarb before making a vape oil?

I followed the QWISO method on this post:
https://www.reddit.com/r/vaporents/comments/1sjj1r/four_different_methods_for_making_ecig_juice_in/

If so, is there any way to recover? I now have about 5 mL of oil, but have not tried it yet.

Thank you


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