Cannabis Tinctures - Doing It The Wrong Way?

I just watched a YouTube video on making a cannabis tincture. She said to grind the stems, leaves and bud up very fine. I'm not a scientist; I don't even play one on TV, but is not the medicine on the *outside*? If so, what purpose does grinding do except to extract nasty tasting stuff that has no THC content?

Also, I made some cannabis tincture with an oz of dried bud (no shake) and only left it for a couple of weeks. The lady in the video said to let it go for a month. Either alcohol dissolves the medicine or it doesn't. If it takes a month then we need to be looking for a better way in my opinion. You can use glycerin, oil, butter or even milk. certainly you would not soak it in milk for a month or it would not be fit to drink.

What are your thoughts on this? Am I off base or missing something? Or am I right?

I use MasterWu's Green Dragon receipe and I have been able to make Gold out of that which is unsmokable.

I always strain the herb out of my budder and tincture mix through cheese cloth I cant stand bits of herb in my edibles and what not. All the thc has already been extacted from it anyways. I have a question. does anyone have a recipe for sauve rub. whats the process for extrating the thc out for sauve, and lip balm. I use water and butter to get it for edibles, but I cant figure out how to get thc for sauve, and lip balm mix. If someone has a recipe, please share it with me. Thanks

The THC is not water soluble so anything with fats (butter, milk, oil) or alcohol would do it. You could use ethyl alcohol to leech it then reduce it down by slowly heating it. I would use a candy thermometer to make sure it did not go over about 175 degrees F.

i made ticture once with some quality RUM and good buds grinded and formented for about 30 days and then let the alchohol evaporate about 50% it was fantastic.
im not sure if it would be the same if only formented for a few days as i never tried it.. if you ask me i think the main step to making potent tincture is in the evaporating (concentrating)prosess.

I just made some tincture by first becarboxylating in the ovan for 5min at 325F, then I put the weed in Everclear and let it sit. My first try was with about 1 eyedropper and it just buzzed me a bit, yesterday I tried 3 which made me sleep better but no trippy feeling. The bud used was quality herb. Somebody said that 1 teaspoon would be enough if the herb used was any good.

i seen pro made tinctures from a shop the other day, $30 a lil vile and it was crap.

you guys are saying you can take vape'd buds and do this? i have a feeling theirs just wasnt that concetrated.

Tincture is one of those things that everyone has a different recipe and opinion on. Some say leaving it for a week is plenty time to pull out the THC while some say you can leave it for up to 6 months. As for grinding the bud to powder, there is a lot of THC in the actual plant matter and by grinding you release that while expanding the surface area the alcohol contacts allowing it to extract more efficiently and quickly. I have been playing around with my tincture recipe for quite awhile now and have come up with a method that delivers excellent results.

First start with a large quantity of dried bud (you can use stems but its not nearly as good). The exact quantity does not really matter but the more you put in the more you'll get out. Take the bud and completely powderize it using either a food processor or just sitting for a LONG time with scissors and a cup. Once you've done this spread the bud out onto a sheet of tinfoil and place it on a baking pan. Bake it in the oven at 325 degrees for NO MORE than 5 minutes and remove and let cool. Once you have your dried and cooked bud, place it in a mason jar with a resealable lid. Pour in 100 proof alcohol or higher (I use everclear but vodka works too) until the level of alcohol is exactly at the same level as you're weed. You dont want to fill it up higher than this because it would just dilute your final product. At this point it should look almost like a sludge. Shake the bottle vigorously for about 20 minutes and throw it into your freezer. You're going to keep it in your freezer for about 2 weeks taking it out every day and shaking for about 5 minutes. After the jar has been in the freezer for 2 weeks, take it out and put it in a dark warm spot in your room. You can leave it in this spot for anywhere from 1 month to 5 months depending on how patient you are but remeber to shake it at least twice or three times a week. Once this is completed you can strain out the plant matter and let the jar sit open with a towel over it until the solution has evaporated by about 1/4. You will be left with an incredibly potent tincture which should be stored in a dark mason jar to avoid light and will stay good for several years.

This method may take a longer time than simply cooking butter or oil but keep this in mind: THC is lipid and alcohol soluable. The main difference is fatty bases used for extraction reach their maximum levels very quickly wasting a good majority of the THC. Alcohol, especially high proof, has the ability to absord much higher levels of THC and if done correctly will extract nearly all the THC. When I make my tincture I do multiple cycles of fresh bud until the saturation point is unbelievable. Several drops ends up being PLENTY for even the most experienced smoker. Another benefit to this is the tincture (when stored in a dark jar to avoid light degregation) will last several years as opposed to several weeks with butter and oil. All around it does take longer to make but it also lasts longer, extracts much more and does the job better than any other extraction method in my opinion.

see heres my question going the alcohol route, wouldnt u also being feeling the effects of the alcohol? because letting it sit just evaps teh water portion out, but your left with alcohol that has been infused with thc. this is why i think the glycirine is better because if ANY effects it would be just the thc.

If you get a good tincture you should only need a few drops. The amount of alcohol would be negligible and you would not have any noticeable effects from the alcohol. Thanks for the input sfsurfer. My only input to that would be that I think the alcohol is a solvent rather than an absorbing agent.

wild turkey is good to make Tincture 101 proof

potpimp said:

If you get a good tincture you should only need a few drops. The amount of alcohol would be negligible and you would not have any noticeable effects from the alcohol. Thanks for the input sfsurfer. My only input to that would be that I think the alcohol is a solvent rather than an absorbing agent.

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good point! Ya if you make the tincture correctly I doubt you would even register above 0.00 if you took a breathalizer test. Tincture is definitely the way to go hands down although thats just my opinion.

Myself, I have not yet tried it, seen it and talked about it a bunch.

About the alcohol content, Seems it would be zilch to None.
My friends like it on long trips a few drops or lick the stick that goes into the vial.
I'm curious, sounds like a good solution to times when you just can't smoke.