Pot Chocolate - What Did I Wrong?

 Edibles can provide stronger, longer lasting effects from less material than you'd usually smoke, but activation or decarboxylation is only the first of several very important steps when making a cannabis edible
 
 To begin with, I would have decarbed at a lower temp (220f - 104c/105c) and for an extra ten minutes or so, as directed in the guides I'll provide you below, from the CannaPharm sticky or 'pinned' thread.
 
 
 But just as important, after activating it, you then need to actually extract that glandular material, and then continue processing in your oil or 'edible solvent' to promote bioavailability.
 
 
 Otherwise, as you experienced, most of your potency simply goes in one end, and out the other without absorption!
 
 
 
Cannabis glandular material is notoriously difficult for the digestive tract to process and absorb all on its own, even when it's been extracted and it's in the form of a pure concentrate such as BHO. We use the edible solvents we do, not just to extract that glandular material, but to facilitate its rapid absorption and delivery!
 
 
 Here are some tutorials that will help you create high quality and medical grade edibles
 
 
 
 But first to get your appetite going, here are a few photo excerpts from the CannaPharm thread....
 
 
 
   This entire Thanksgiving Dinner, including the turkey, was fully medicated!
 



 
 
(Canna chocolate can be made by simply melting your favorite store-bought brand of chocolate, then adding the desired number of doses of canna oil, or hash oil! But if you feel up for it, you can start from scratch like we often do, and make your own with select chocolate liquors, cacao powders, cacao/cocoa butters, and hash oil or canna oil, preferably still made with coconut oil or clarified butter, but for a 'gourmedible' and a more pure chocolate, at the cost of some absorption efficiency, you can even make your canna oil from cocoa butter! We use pure cocoa canna butters sometimes for weddings, anniversaries, and even just around the holidays )
 
 
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Canna S'mores, made with marshmallow, PB Canna Cookies, and Hashy Bars...











 
 
 
Capsules are one of the most simple edibles, no further cooking required, and they may be enterically coated for patients who may specifically benefit from the release of cannabinoids below the stomach, in the duodenum. Alternatively, they may be used as suppositories to directly treat even lower regions.  
 
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Fast & frozen wash concentrate..
 

 
 

 
 

 
 
 
And just when you thought that the liquor flavored "Kopper's Cordials" couldn't possibly get any better...

We turned around, and made them with Golden Dragon. <span></span>



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To learn more, just head over and check out the CannaPharm here at GC's edible section, via any of the three links below
 
 
BadKat's Highly Activated & Bioavailable, Med-Grade Cannabis Concentrate (Edible & Smokable recipes included... similar to RSO/Phoenix Tears & BHO, but bioavailable & made with food grade/drinking alcohol)


-Medical Grade Cannabis Concentrate-






BadKat's Highly Activated & Bioavailable, Med-Grade Hash Oil (starting with dry-sift hash, same as capsule recipe, oil can also be used for cooking)


Med-Grade Hash Oil








BadKat's Highly Activated & Bioavailable, Med-Grade Canna Oil (starting with flowers/bud/trim etc)

Med-Grade Canna Oil


 
 
Edit -
 
 
  If video tutorials are more useful for you, here is the World Summit edition of the CannaPharm information....
 
 
 You'll be wanting Vol. 1 - & - Vol. 4. , but I'll also include the previews..... the extra time-lapsed footage of little seedlings germinating and growing over the course of a day, obscuring the little GrassCity hello sign in a matter of seconds is pretty neat to watch, too.  
 
 
 Both Rick Simpson and I were the headlining 'star speakers' of the Cannabis World Summit, the Summit is an annual, 10-day, free and informative event, available to all members of our community who are interested in cannabis, in its medical applications, and in what the major players in the community are up to.
  Nine of the ten days featured three or more speakers for each day, Rick and I were asked to share the Big 4/20 day of the Summit alone due to the volume of content we provided the community, and to our track records with treating and even curing cancer, as well as other illnesses, with our medical oils! My medical oil video tutorials, Rick's interview, and his documentaries can be found on Day 5 / 4-20-2013, along with some bonus footage from Rick.
 
 
 
 
 Here ya go!
 
 BadKat's CannaPharm : The Cannabis World Summit Edition...
 
 
BadKat's CannaPharm "The Cannabis World Summit Edition, Vol 1: Decarboxylation" by BadKittySmiles
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEa9a1riXl8
 
BadKat's CannaPharm "The Cannabis World Summit Edition, Vol 2: Flowering & Revegetated Clones" by BadKittySmiles
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMKeEwMSgb4
 
BadKat's CannaPharm "The Cannabis World Summit Edition, Vol 3: Hash Machine Demo" by BadKittySmiles
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shrUhcPLqb0
 
BadKat's CannaPharm "The Cannabis World Summit Edition, Vol 4: Medical Grade Oil" by BadKittySmiles
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4v6wKwQO6Ko
 
BadKat's CannaPharm "The Cannabis World Summit Edition, Vol 5: Powerful Topical Bone Bars" by BadKittySmiles
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spHr1m5ZQA0
 
BadKittySmiles World Summit Preview.. Medical Grade Canna Oil, Hash, Edibles, Cloning and more!
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rffzSeSfeuM
 
BadKittySmiles - GrassCity!!! - Cannabis World Summit - Comment to WIN FREE SIGNED BeeLine Hemp Wick!
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkbclJ5wZKk

 
 
 
 
 
 Hope this helps, good luck with your next batch!

 

 If you have a high tolerance and for whatever reason can't make your oil very concentrated, then it may mean that it takes more than a small chocolate square per dose.
 
 But if you don't mind a slightly bigger snack, and your tolerance isn't sky-high, you can certainly make canna oil and skip out on the hash oil.   For dosage purposes, just keep in mind that you should only really need to eat a little less than you'd smoke in a session, or during the day for heavier smokers, and it should hit you harder and last several hours longer than smoking. So the amount per dose is up to you; some friends may need to eat a little less, or a little more depending on their own daily intake levels.
 
 If you don't want an oily, tasteless mess, you'll want to avoid adding much more than a Tbsp or two of oil for every three or four ounces of chocolate. If you have a favorite brand, it can really vary depending on the quality; some cheaper brands will definitely taste 'diluted' sooner than higher quality brands, since they low grade chocolate can often be pretty diluted to begin with (darker chocolate is ideally what you're looking for, by the way)!
 
 
 If you have access to ethyl alcohol, whether it's non-denatured lab grade or even high proof 'everclear' from the local liquor store, then you should DEFINITELY consider following the Concentrate tutorial that I linked in the above post. This way you can very easily keep it down to a single, small bite of chocolate if you want, and even that much may be too strong for you if you're not careful!
 
 
 To learn how to use the length of processing to control the end effect of your oil (shorter for more cerebral, functional, but sometimes mind-racy 'high', or longer by several hours, for more sedation, and a couch-lock 'stone') you'll want to read the Concentrate tutorial anyhow, or watch Vol 4. of the videos above. The effects will still be very much strain dependent, but you do have much more control over the outcome when making edibles than you have when smoking! 
 
 
Edit - And remember, melt your chocolate gently, when it's just barely melted over a -double boiler-, this is when you stir in your oil until it's smooth! Coconut oil or clarified butter are your BEST options, not only for extraction and digestive purposes, but because they'll help keep your chocolate solid at normal room temps, especially if you're using canna oil and it's a bit diluted, and you need to go a little overboard with it.

 

I highly recommend just following badkat's canna oil tek. I found it extremely easy and the finished product is out of this world. Firecrackers have always been hit or miss with me. Stick to the tek, follow the directions and temp exact. You will be rewarded!
 
Also, some people say if you wait 1.5hours after eating a meal, then eat your edible, it is most efficient. 
I have found I get strong effects either way (empty stomach vs. 1.5hrs), but sounds like this is a big factor for some people.

 

Any of BadKat's recipes will blow your titties off for sure! The cookies have me going back to bed sometimes.

 

 
 
 
 Next time, just be sure you've given yourself enough notice beforehand, so you can follow through with the tutorial, and you should begin to have much better results.
 
 
You *may* feel something over the next few hours, but from the sounds of it, I might not risk holding my breath waiting!
 
 
 
Let's put it this way... what's worth more, the money you spend on your herb, or your time?
 
 
 If your time is really THAT much more valuable, and if saving a few hours by not following through with the directions, or by not shopping for the recommended oil is worth more, than the risk of wasting your bud.... then there's nothing much to be disappointed about. It's just that you'd be better off finding edibles from someone who does have the time.
 
 
 
 Look at it this way.... what makes more sense.
 
 
 A.) Starting your edibles early enough, that you have time to follow the directions (and preferably with the right **ingredients!) so they work, meaning you don't waste the time, or the money you do invest, possibly resulting in a new love affair with the power that is a properly made edible?
 
 
or...
 
 
 B.) Trying several times in a row, each time realizing yourself, or from the advice of others, that if you follow the directions your outcome may be better... then, still rushing anyway, even though you know you're probably walking into the same problems you had last time?
 
 
 
(** Always avoid common cooking oil unless you have a known metabolic/liver issue that requires the more common long-chain triglycerides these oils are comprised of. If you can't find coconut oil, clarified butter would have been a better option for its short and medium-chain triglyceride content. The cooking oil you used contains zero MCTs or even SCTs, and no saturated fat!... those components are why canna butter has always been so popular, and the higher MCT content in coconut oil, is what has caused its popularity to skyrocket among the community, arguably surpassing butter   Cutting the process short, and using a solvent that's weaker and produces less absorption to boot, crippled the oil!)
 
 
 
 I would also have added some time to the oil portion of the process, to compensate for the lower temperature used. Heat processing longer also would have been a good idea in an attempt to make up for cutting the freezing step short.
 
 
When you make adjustments and changes, you need to be sure that you're compensating for them.
 
 
 
 And like I mentioned earlier, and I even MORE strongly suggest now, before you try making even one more edible, you should have a look at either the concentrate tutorial I provided, or Vol 4 of the video tutorials on making oil, to learn how to use the length of processing to manipulate the end-effect of your edible!
  In the earliest tutorials I directed the bare minimum required to begin seeing results at levels patients want in an active oil without causing degradation, this allows you to increase the processing time in 40 - 60 minute increments, sampling in between, so you may stop when you reach the ideal medicinal effect or sensations you're after. Next time you make oil, you have an idea where to stop without taking samples.
 
 
 
  But processing for the bare minimum amount of time, at a lower temp than suggested, and then cutting the freeze short, all with a lower quality oil or 'edible solvent', could not possibly contribute favorably towards your outcome.
 
 
 
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A Section I Call 'Tough Love'
 
 
 Every time that you put in parentheses that you didn't have time for a step, or that you couldn't find an ingredient right away (or that you didn't have the time yet to devote to reading the tutorials recommended, for potency and dosing advice!).... each time, that was a subtle indicator or a warning.
 It meant that you and your friends needed to step back, make that tough call, and do some preemptive damage control on your upcoming day.
 
 
   You either needed to start earlier, or you needed to be a little more patient so you could get together later on, or the following day, to sample the fruits of your labor.
 
 
A good edible IS an exciting experience! And it's worth waiting for.
 
 
 Once you can resist the temptation to rush, and you can get over the impatience thing ( j/k ), then at least the majority, if not ALL of the people eating your edibles at the correct dosage will have a very good (if not TOO good a) time!
 
 
 
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Now, the REAL nail in the coffin!.... Even if the oil had been made perfectly, and with the best of ingredients!
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 Edibles can provide stronger, longer lasting effects, than you'd have had by smoking the same material. This is why we usually make edible doses a little smaller than our daily intake, or a little less than the amount we'd smoke in a single session for lower-tolerance patients.
 
 
 Knowing this, if you guys are smoking 2 grams a day, up to a gram or two shy of a quarter ounce, every single day, and you're often not getting the buzz that you're used to...
 
 Then 1.5 g in edible form between the four of you, just isn't going to cut it!
 
 
You'd want to at least fall somewhere in between your average use, especially as high-tolerance smokers.
 
 
 
  Edibles can be much more efficient and more economical, you'll stay stoned longer, and get more bang for your buck.... but even so, you still need to be at least a little realistic about your dosing!
 
 
 
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Long story short!
 
 1) Be sure you follow directions; use good ingredients and process as long as needed, or as directed in the guides.
 
 2) Consume a realistic dose or quantity of herb... depending on your digestion, as little as one-half, to three-quarters or four-fifths or so, of your average daily/session intake should suffice*.
 
 3) According to the above, a tolerance break may be in order if you're not smoking for medical reasons, or just for the pleasure of smoking.
 
 
( *If for 7 days, you smoke 1.5 grams on Monday and Thursday, 2 grams on Tuesday, 4 grams on Wednesday and Sunday, and 5 grams Friday and Saturday, then even the average is not close to the 1g - 1.5g used in your edibles!
 It's closer to 3.5g, according to that weekly schedule, and that's just a rough 'half-way' point... if you guys are sharing 5g once or twice a week, or more, and your lowest days are closer to 1.5/2g, then you really wanted to split closer to 4 - 4.5g, or about three times as much as you used in your last batch of oil.)
 
 
 
 
 
 Hope this helps! Don't give up yet.....  once you catch on to the process you need to follow, you can start saving a tonnnnn of herb just by switching back and forth from edibles, to smoking throughout the week, or the month.
 
  After a few days I (and most patients ) will begin to notice that we're tempted to smoke MUCH less during the days and weeks where we eat edibles, my own overall herb use drops dramatically versus my smoke-only days and weeks.
 
 Whatever you waste during the learning phase, will quickly be made up for during just the first few days and weeks after you get the process down.

 

BKS speaks wisedom, don't be discouraged at a couple unsuccessful attempts.
You guys have a hell of a tolerance built up, definitely going to take more than 1.5g.