How to: "Green Dragon Extract

This is not my original work. I obtained this from another website, and thought we deserved this recipe here as well.






Supplies: Cooking pot, mug or measuring glass, candy thermometer, fork, coffee filter paper, rubber band, and a drinking cup.
Ingredients: 1 fluid ounce citrus extract (lemon, lime, or orange) and ½ gram of weed.

Cooking with alcohol is a fire hazard, but this is a less-dangerous variation using a water bath. Never do this when you're already stoned. Always have good ventilation because concentrated alcohol vapors can explode!

The amount of pot shown here would work for most regular stoners if it's a high-grade marijuana ("chronic"). You would most likely get high enough that you wouldn't be disappointed, but not quite high enough that you would get a panic attack. No guarantees, so each person has to experiment and figure out the right amount. Somebody who has not been high in a really long time would be very sensitive, so they would need to use less pot or use cheaper stuff ("schwag"). A total pot-head would need to use more pot.

"Green dragon" is made with very-concentrated alcohol because the cannabinoid compounds (the stuff that gets you high, including THC) do not dissolve in water, but they do dissolve well in alcohol. Everclear is ideal, but this is not available in some states. For large batches, use liquor with the highest alcohol content that is available. The more alcohol, the easier it is to extract the cannabinoids. For small batches, citrus extracts are ideal because they have a high alcohol content (80-90%), and they taste good when added to a drink. Mint extract also has a high alcohol content but it's incredibly gross to drink. Rubbing alcohol or methyl alcohol will both make you go blind (it's not a myth!), so nobody uses those. Cannabinoids are also fat-soluble, but oils and fats take longer to digest, and it's kind of gross to drink vegetable oil, unless it is so concentrated that you can take a few drops under the tongue (sublingually).
Step 1:
Microwave *dry* weed on medium 3 x 20 seconds with cooling time in between. This converts THCA (inactive) to THC (active). This process is known as "decarboxylation."

Do not put any alcohol into the microwave because that would be dangerous.

A common question: how much to microwave? Over-cooking may result in THC vaporization (that's bad unless you're inhaling). As a general rule, the decarb is complete when the weed is crunchy, but the plate should not be too hot to touch.

Fill the cooking pot with a couple inches of hot tap water and place on a burner. The water helps control the heat so that the temperature doesn't change too fast. And if you accidentally bump and spill the whole thing, it can help prevent a fire. Remove any seeds. Add the weed and extract into the mug or measuring cup, then clip the candy thermometer on the inside of the container so that the bulb is touching the bottom. Place mug or measuring cup in the center of the cooking pot.



Turn on the burner and set the heat to a low setting (light the flame first if you're using a gas stove), and watch the temperature slowly climb. Carefully adjust the flame or electricity to keep the solution between 160 ºF and 165 ºF and maintain this for 20 minutes. Ethyl alcohol boils at 173 ºF at sea level, so the candy thermometer helps to avoid an accidental boil-over. If you see the alcohol boiling a little, then back off the heat a little. This happens when the solution is heated unevenly. You can fix this problem by putting something underneath the container so that it's not directly touching the bottom of the cooking pot, but it has to allow the vapor bubbles to escape without causing vibrations. Alternatively, you can use a floating steel bowl instead of a glass measuring cup. If the temperature goes above 165 ºF, and you turn down the heat, but the temperature is still climbing and getting close to 170 ºF... then just lift the cooking pot off the burner, let it cool down to 160 ºF, and then put it back on the burner. While the solution is being heated, it's important to stir with a fork once in awhile, just in case some of the weed is not completely covered by the liquid. Some alcohol will inevitably evaporate. How much is lost depends on surface area.



Cool off the solution by slowly adding tap water into the cooking pot and repeating a couple times.



Put coffee filter paper inside and around the drinking cup, wrap rubber band around the outside to keep it in place. Pour the solution onto the filter paper and let it drip into the drinking cup. Once it's done dripping, grab the filter paper and the weed and squeeze out every last drop.



Now you have "green dragon!" The high alcohol content makes it unpleasant to drink straight, so it's better to add it to something. For an exciting high, add to coffee. For a relaxing high, add to chamomile tea. With soda it tastes really good! A marijuana drink is faster than eating marijuana in food, but not quite as fast as smoking it. On an empty stomach you'll get some immediate effects, with a peak high at 60 to 90 minutes. This will slowly wear off over several hours. If you make a large batch, then you'll know how strong it is after the first time, and then you can easily decide how stoned you want to be the next time...