Hi all

I am interested in perfecting tinctures, from cannabis oil.

The first batch of oil I made, I added vodka to a small container with oil in and made some rather potent tincture. The weed I used had already been sieved and was washed with oil, it wasnt filtered through a coffee filter.

This time I used unsieved material, washed with iso alcohol and filtered through coffee filters. The aim obviously to make even stronger and purer oil. Unfortunately it doesnt seem to be disolving in vodka quite so readily, or even at all after a day or two.

It seems possible that I dried out the oil a bit more this time, less runny. Surely that means less iso alcohol remaining which would be good? Im fairly sure that iso cannot be good for you, but that said we must be talking about very small amounts that remain, so im not sure if it is still harmfull in such small amounts?

Can anyone give me ideas for perfecting tinctures, preferrably from oil or any other concentrated product.. any other methods apart from just soaking buds for months on end in vodka would be appreciated.

Many thanks all

http://www.uk420.com/boards/index.php?showtopic=41703

First up, there's quite a few things you can do to up the potency of what you have:

- decarboxylate the weed (turns the THC-A in the plant to the THC we all know and love)
- warming the alcohol will increase its ability to absorb the THC (WARNING: serious risk of fire and harm/pain/badness)

Personally, if the extract is alcohol based (and intended for edibles) I refer to it as Green Dragon (most others do too I think). If the extract is with an oil or glycerine, then it's a tincture.

I've been making green dragon and tinctures for about 6 months now, using a mix of all the internet recipes. So far the GD is way stronger - I used Bacardi 151 (75% alcohol) from the US and baked my weed at 150c for about 5 minutes first, and then reduced the alcohol/weed mix by about 30% at a heat of 80c (the boiling point of ethanol). Strain it out and bottle it.....next time I'd reduce it by 50% though. Just be VERY careful - use a bain marie style and don't do alcohol and naked flames (no joints either, nothing).

However, personally I prefer the glycerine tinctures because I don't drink booze, and strong booze hits me hard - so the GD was prolly getting me pissed as well as high. My latest tincture has gone 2 months, constantly tumbling, with added dry sift, fresh mint leaves and some vanilla syrup (coffee stuff). If it's anywhere near as good as the last one it'll be awesome - it's PERFECT for gigs, flights, cinemas....work even....anywhere you can't smoke. Personally I use it medicinally but friends have loved it for gigs, and another friend uses it for his MS. Definitely effective, just not with the same kind of 'recreational' use as the GD has.

You can make tincture, or GD with oil - there's a recipe out there I've come across which involves putting a gram of oil in a dropper bottle with some high alcohol booze and then heating it gently until the drop of oil dissolves. FInd that recipe - it's a good one I think - but be careful! Heat and alcohol will end in tears unless you're v.v.v.v.v. careful....

HTH

GN

Hi there

The problem with making really good tinctures is getting hold of the bits you need to make them as they are restricted. Take Green Ninja's glycerin example; glycerin is used for making bombs so not a good one to buy if you don't want to be noticed! You can make it easy enough as a bi-product of making bio-diesel when you crack the oil with methanol to remove the (viscous) glycerin.

I've never used it though - I like alcohols.

Ethanol is the best but extremely hard to get hold of so you may be best just using the strongest alcohol you can get hold of like White Rum (without the flavourings or gloopy stuff like in something like absynth).
Then it is best to make BHO with butane rather than with alcohol as you did before. Alcohol oils contain contaminants which will not dissolve as readily and will dirty it, but BHO is fine. Just mix the two together in a small bottle, seal and shake occassionally. Keeping it warm in the airing cupboard or something will speed the process up, but it will still take about a week.

If ethanol is used - hey presto you've just made sativex that you can spray under your tongue, but if strong alcohol is used, only have small shots and wait 1/2 hour before having another.

Try adding a bit of opium (nearly evaporated to solid but still containing water) to the mix. That multi-layered high is exceptional. First a warm alcohol tingle, then 15 mins later butterflies from the opium kicking in then within 45 mins the dope compliments the lot and you're soaring. I like it anyway, but then I'm a loon.

Careful though - you're moving into strong territory.

Hi Grobag

I was just wondering would isopropyl alcohol be any good for this, and if not why not?

Thanks

You can use the ISO to make the oil but you'll make the darker kind of oil I mention.

But when it comes to making the tincture you CANNOT use IsoPropyl Alocohol as it is poisonous and cannot be ingested. That's why I say ethanol as it can be ingested by humans. But as such it is restricted so that piss heads don't drink it!

FWIW I tried locating ethanol for this purpose - because of the taxation on it, most places sell minimum quantities of something like 200 litres (i.e. it's nigh on impossible to get a litre of pure ethanol, unless you know someone). I have some hexane, which produces very very clean honey oil but it's like hens teeth trying to get hold of.

Glycerine isn't anywhere near as hard to obtain, and like Grobag says, can be used for bad things - but is used commonly in the food industry and comes in a 'food grade' purity, which is great for making edibles if you're not into the alcohol thing.

I've got a shitload of spun shake I need to deal with - might make some ISO oil up and then try and tincture it. Just need a sunny day......

Fair enough.

You have Hexane? Lucky bastard, I'd like to use that but haven't had the opportunity yet. Have you? Any pics you can share? That'd be cool as I'm curious and have drawn my own preconceptions having never used it.

Thanks all for the replies, great stuff.

I'll be looking in to these other options, but for now I think I will purchase some 75%+ alcohol and see how the oil disolves in that while keeping it warm and agitating regularly.

Also... I think I may need to be a bit more patient with the disolving stage! my current batch does seem to be breaking down a bit today, going to be quite a while yet though

Thanks again all.

Here's a few. It turned out a lot darker when massed together, but I've no experience of other hex extractions to compare.

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prefare Polish pure spirit to the 151 stuff as you can get it in two proofs 160 and 180 or balkan176 voddy or spirytus delikesowy 95%

e2a green ninja when you say iso oil do you isomerised oil or extracted with iso-propanal

I mean extracted with isopropyl alcohol. I've been checking out that Balkan stuff....the one I found a few weeks ago is 88% which should be plenty - but was about 30 quid a bottle.

Think import strength smirnoff 50% will be suitable gonna try this and some butane oil what sort of amounts you think say 250ml to gram,then heat and leave a fortnight somewhere dark?

id stongly recomend downloading this documentary to EVERYONE - smoker or not, wanting an Eye Opener to the biggest coverup from the MONEY-HUNGRY elites at the top!!
Plus it has a good (yet slightly dangerous) way for extracting what your after (THC hemp oil)
The more ppl know about this docu' the better... -> Google this - phoenixtearsmovie.com
then download or stream it online

Any more info on the hexane method, as I am one of these lucky people that has access to litres of the stuff! Is it just a case of adding enough to cover and shaking? Then I presume you just filter and leave to evaporate as normal?

i only know of this highly flamable way from the- Rick Simpson doco.. myself but lookin around i noticed that DANZIG does alot of cooking

http://www.uk420.com/boards/index.php?showtopic=41703

looks like he knows his Shiaaat, Good luck gerald... fellow yorkshire-man

Cheers M81, have read this before, love a bit of hippy alchemy. I'll just have to suck it and see next time I have some trim.

iv got 3 hermaphrodites seperated away from my Barneys.B.C clones(hopefully in time), probs only good for trim, might give it a wirl. Good luck again on your mission
Peace out Gerald.

Yup....same as for most extractions. Main difference is that hex, like butane, is more cannibinoid specific so you can leave it longer in there to make sure you strip out all the goodness into the hex. Personally I left mine overnight outside for 24 hours with a regular shake, and then filtered and evaporated...I did it because I read it was a good idea to, but perhaps if you want uber purity try shorter exposure?

Where can you get Balkan 176? I've found it on the internet but I would prefer to buy it from a shop.. i've seached everywhere!

We have a polish chap at work who is going back home for the weekend, I asked him to get my some Polish Pure Spirit but he seems to think it is illegal to transport back to the UK... tsk!

If he is part of a polish community in your area then there are often local convenience stores that sell polish goods, including Spirytus or polish pure spirit (95%). The polish traditionally use it for mixing with fruit juice or for preserving stuff. Ask him if he knows of any local stores that sell polish groceries. If you don't mind buying it online then you can find the 95% polish stuff by searching for Spirytus Monopolowy.