Another Tincture Thread - Try it, You'll like it

Dried is best, earl, then you can easily store them, too. I like to chop it up, keeping as many of the fine hairs as possible and any that are too gnarly to chop, I slice the skin to expose the inner tissue. If you use hydro then they're much easier to clean.

I let mine steep 18-24 hours. They'll be deep fried when they're finished and smell woody, very pleasant aroma. If it gets late then I just leave them on warm or turned off until I get up. Then just strain them and then filter the remaining oil through cheesecloth, especially if they were from soil. Your oil should be an offwhite, creamy color. It's pretty easy, all around.

 

3 ounces is quite a bit, at least for me. I hope that didn't take too large of a chunk from your resources. Those all sound like plausible remedies. Good luck and we will be very interested in the results.

 

It sounds like you're networking pretty well there. Tupperware could learn something from you. Oops, I just aged myself with that reference but there really is no better proselytizer than a new medical cannabis convert and somehow the subject just comes up.

It's a great time of year for chili con carne. Just give me some oyster crackers with it and I'm content on a chilly day. Since I've moved to the desert and the days don't get very cool here, my chili making days have taken a hit so have a bowl for me, too.

 

I do, along with the Watkins man. When I was a kid in the '50's that was the way households worked. There weren't any large box stores like now and many home items were bought through the door to door salesmen and things like the Tupperware parties. My mom would drag me to those kicking and screaming. I won't include the milkman in this category since that was a regular commercial route but that milk in the bottles was great.

 

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Happy new year to you, too, smf.

There's not really any difference in the dose technically. 500mg of cannabinoids is 500mg of cannabinoids no matter the method of intake. Your body receives the same dose but the differences come from the mode of ingestion and the bioavailablity of the medium, as Bloomer mentioned above.

Sugars seem to process the fastest, almost immediately after eating but because it's metabolized so fast, it also wears off quicker, more of a burst than an extended psychoactive effect but the physical effects continue. It's as bioavailable as alcohol in my opinion and if a high dose is ingested it can last for quite some time but usually not as long as the other methods. The good thing about this is that you can dose for acute pain on a situational basis instead of being committed to a regimen. Honey and agave do have long term effects but infused sugar and syrups are great for acute situations and recreational use. I think the difference in longevity between honey/agave and sugar/syrup is that the former is fructose and the latter is sucrose,

GD is the best of them all for me. It lasts as long as lipids and arrives a lot faster. Due to the very quick uptake the dose for it is a lot less than other mediums that have to pass further through the digestive system. My dose of GD is less than half of what I use for an edible or a cap for the same effect. That may seem like that's a contradiction to dosing being the same but it's not, really.

Lipids are the best for therapeutic applications, psychoactive and otherwise. and that is due to the way they're metabolized. They pretty much stay in a higher concentration than other mediums since they don't break down until close to the liver where they are processed together. Other mediums are metabolized as they come through which spreads out the rate of assimilation. The higher concentration of cannabinoids provides a bigger punch for pain and other major medical issues. Of course, coconut oil is the lipid of choice.

While I say I only use half as much for a dose of GD as opposed to edibles/oil, I don't use GD the same way. I don't use it to treat chronic issues since I don't really have any other than pain. I may use 15 drops of GD, about 10mg, or a 30mg hard candy for daytime functionality but it's 30-60mg dose of coconut oil for the heavy duty pain to get me through the night. For the same level of effects I would need the same amount of GD. I also use it when pain or inflammation flares and is sticking around for a while; I equate it to when I ordinarily would have taken a high dose opiate. For me, infused coconut oil, whether DO or lower concentration, is my main weapon for pain and inflammation and GD/other edibles is for "breakthrough".

Of course GD and the other mediums have more uses than just pain control and I have a whole array of things I use them for. Interestingly enough, getting "high" is no longer a goal. I'm no longer concerned if I "feel" it as long as the pain, inflammation or other issue responds. I no longer need to keep increasing the doses. I have finally been able to overcome the notion that it's not working if you don't get "high" - a leftover sentiment from the "old school" days when everything was about the psychoactivity.

It's come time in your evolution to start tuning up your personal regimen. You've come a long way and have learned all of the theory and mechanical aspects of cannabis therapy and now it's time to take that and turn it inward If you can put aside a small amount, a gram or two maybe, each month until you have enough for a small experiment and use it in comparison with your normal infusions. Do this over a course of time. Take notes, a journal. It's taken me almost five years to discover the nuances When you reach this level, the learning curve becomes more personal and trying to explain it becomes much more esoteric. I still purposely get "high" but just use toking for that.

 

What's Up?
A Preview of
Coming Attractions

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It's been a really interesting and successful year for us. We've learned a lot of things about a lot of things. A lot of very important decarb knowledge has come from it as well as new and improved knowledge about CBD and the other compounds from cannabinoids to terpenes to using concentrates for tinctures and edibles.

While my economic situation continues on it's downward spiral I still intend to find ways to keep this thread active and involved in continuing exploration into all of the nooks and crannies of cannabis architecture and making what we've learned available to all. I have not come close to running out of questions that I want answered.

Now that we've gotten the decarb stuff pretty well nailed, both THC and CBD, heated and natural, all that's left is for me to do a heated decarb to match OldRose's and I think we can put that to bed as far as a priority is concerned. There will be more coming but the CBD will just be a side note on those.

You may have noticed by the tone of some previous posts that I have become increasingly interested in terpenes and that is the new focus, at least for the immediate future, of my continuing natural process research. This month's last test for the AC/DC will include the terpenes. The new research will not be comparing month to month progression like the THC/CBD but will instead include the raw tincture then the final cured GD after 4 months.

I have been conducting terpene results off and on for a while so I must have had this in the back of my mind all along. I'll go through those and get them in some kind of order then start highlighting those. Many are from heated decarb and I'm not sure I have any from the Dark Star or Pakistani naturals but whether I do or not, I will have others soon, both high-CBD and high-THC.

While this is the main focus for the research, I also want to go through and update the guides. I've been looking at them and realized that they are way out of date and need to be rejuvenated with new, fresh pictures and a video wherever possible. I don't want to substitute concentrate guides instead because whole plant is where the magic is. The concentrate guides are just for convenience and a nod to the new technology. It's going to take a slight miracle for me to get the resources to do things like that but it has been known to happen.

I also look forward to answering the same questions over and over again by new readers. I do not get tired of it. The more that it happens the happier I am. it means more and more people are discovering the wonders of cannabis. I love it. Bring 'em on!

I'm sure there will be many other fascinating topics of discussion as we go forward if the past years have been any indications.

PS. I had the gif of the 3d tunnel at the top but I was afraid that it might trigger a seizure in someone so I made it a jpeg instead. The original is below.

 

If calorie consumption is a factor then capsules definitely have less calories than anything that has so much carbohydrates like cakes and cookies and many other edibles. Hard candy and GD probably have less than most ingestibles.

I would suggest using a strain that you've already made using a heated decarb and that you already use regularly, something you're very familiar with, whether a high THC or low. You'll want to continue to use it regularly as you wait for the natural to fully cure but keep enough aside so that you'll have it for a direct side by side when the time comes. Don't store it in the freezer because you'll winterize it and lose some of those other waxes. Just refrigerate it in a brown or blue dropper bottle.

Use the heated decarb version enough that you know exactly how it affects you and maybe make a simple scorecard to rate the results, similar to the 1-10 scale from the pain doc's office to clarify it in your mind if that helps. Note your dosages in drops, milliliters, ounces or whatever, being sure that you keep it consistent for comparison's sake. Does a 10 drop dose of natural provide a more noticeable effect than the heated and so on and so on. That's something only you can ascertain. I can say all day that I can notice a difference but I can't really explain it easily. It's subtle but strong.

There's absolutely no comparison, though, between concentrates and whole plant extractions with the whole plant taking all the awards. I doubt that natural decarb of shatter and other concentrates is very beneficial overall since terpene extraction with those methods is minimal at best.