Simple Method: Isolating & Extracting INDIVIDUAL Cannabinoids... from BadKittySmiles

Yes, that's very accurate.. under normal atmospheric pressure/s, most chemicals only just begin to evaporate as they approach their flashpoints, once that point is achieved the vapor production becomes very rapid, if not quite instant (any material trapped inside or within additional material that has yet to evaporate for instance, will not go off immediately.. it expands as it heats, and in our case we can only blow and expand a bag so much before we need to pause, and allow it to condense, so we can begin filling again... same with our lungs ).


This is why the experience when vaporizing is so much different from smoking, it's also why processing our herb in different ways, with more or less heat for more or less time, can provide wildly different edible experiences all from the same herb.



When vaporizing, not only are you delivering your cannabinoids at a very different rate and at a very different ratio, meaning they reach your receptors gradually and at different times from one another and, as a result, they do not regulate one another in quite the same way, but even that aside, you are also often leaving behind loads of CBD and CBN that would otherwise go up in an instant when smoked, because as the vapor output tapers off and the terpenes and THC (making up the majority of your resin) diminishes to nothing, most users assume their material is 'cashed', when in reality, the volume of vapor containing the lesser cannabinoids is just much, much smaller.
And CBN and CBG, especially when combined with THC but even when used on their own, are directly responsible for the powerful sedative, analgesic, and sleep-inducing narcotic sensations we experience.


It's why some vapes are more economic and are best for stealth and recreational use, and it's why they only cost $50 - $200, and why the others which are more popular with medical patients, can run well beyond $600.




Referring back to the original post referencing Dr. Hornby's research, and taking the temperatures achieved at each setting on the volcano into consideration (you can google to find more of Dr. Hornby's work)....


"Volcano Setting.. THC remaining mg/g CBN remaining mg/g CBD remaining mg/g"


"Volc.... THC..CBN..CBD "

6.0 - 260 / 0.05 / 0.6

7.5 - 245 / 0.05 / 0.6

9.0 - 75 / 0.05 / 0.15



The above is what remained in the 'vaped' material, after filling four bags on those settings... it's why we fill the bags up to 6 - 8 times when purging and isolating! The early-middle bags produce the greatest volume of active chemicals, with a gradual approach the very first bag and the last few bags produce the least as production begins, and then tapers off.


Where THC is available in the highest quantity over other cannabinoids in cannabis resin, it takes either a lot of patience to purge it off at just above its flashpoint, and vapes off the fastest at temperatures much higher than it's flashpoint, while CBD on the other hand, being (usually) only available at a teeny tiny fraction of the ratio, will diminish rapidly as it approaches and surpasses its flashpoint.



Classic Volcano Dial 'rough' Temperature Settings:


1 - 130 C / 266 F

2 - 142 C / 288 F

3 - 154 C / 309 F

4 - 166 C / 331 F

5 - 178 C / 352 F

6 - 190 C / 374 F

7 - 202 C / 396 F

8 - 214 C / 417 F

9 - 226 C / 439 F




The above helps to explain why, especially low-temp vaporizers, tend to make users more 'cerebral'-high and not quite as sleepy and sedated, or as couch-locked, versus either the combustion or high-temp vaporization of the same active material.. whatever THC degrades to CBN, as the material is heated during vape sessions, will for the most part remain with the herb until it begins to approach and reach its appropriate flashpoint.



Hope this helps!

 

No worries, I'm always happy to help when I've got a moment


I've been trying to make a little more time for the forums, GC especially.. I've been a bit under the weather, and took the opportunity to take it easy during some of the forum updates, but now that the photos and upload abilities are working pretty well again, I'll hopefully be around a little more often these days.


(And Storm Crow, if you're ever on the northern east coast, just let me know!... don't rush though, I'm running low on herb again already, just let me pulled down another crop so I can be a 'good hostess' )

You've got the right idea towards the end, where you're not sure if it applies to solvent-based extractions.



With vaporization and inhalation as a means of extraction and delivery, in order for the cannabinoids to be delivered to our lungs (or extraction/vape bags) in such a way, with only the use of temperature alone, they need to be converted into a vapor form.


Otherwise, you'd just be left to try inhaling ground raw herb, in its entirety, with all the inert matter included.



With edibles, the glandular material or the resin containing any active or inactive cannabinoids is usually instead extracted from the inert plant matter, and delivered to the body, via the use of edible solvents.


In other words, 'canna oil'.


The material can also instead be sifted first, either wet or dry but usually cold, or it can be extracted using an inedible solvent (later purged). In which case the collected trichomes or the concentrate undergoes activation if required, and then they would be placed into edible solvents, so they can be dissolved, the individual components are broken down, separated, and finally coated at a microscopic level in persistent layer of the solvent, ie. oil or lipids, which our digestive tissues can easily absorb.



(In the pharmaceutical world this is sometimes known as liposomal encapsulation, or LET... the same process applied to chemicals that our tracts have difficulty absorbing, is also sometimes referred to as the 'metabolic enhancement' of that chemical.)



Once adequately dissolved, blended and finally fully bonded into the form of a solution or carrier, these cannabinoids can be consumed orally and are delivered to our stomachs for absorption, via the solution of oil, meaning a vapor form is not required to deliver active chemicals into our bodies, and bloodstreams.


('Free-floating' cannabinoids can be absorbed in small numbers with some difficulty, by the various tissues of the digestive tract, similar to small quantities of free-floating vitamin C.
But an actual solution or bonding with oil is required for the most effective/complete and rapid delivery.. free cannabinoids traveling in the liquid-solid contents of our tracts, tend to repel, and bounce off cell walls more frequently than they are absorbed, which leads to their eventual 'evacuation'.

Bonded, or coated cannabinoids delivered as part of a formed solution, can instead passively slip through cell walls on contact, rapidly penetrating cell barriers just as easily, as the solvent they are coated with.)





In other words, in terms of extracting individual cannabinoids using heat alone, and when vaporization and inhalation are concerned, the points at which cannabinoids can become vapor are crucial, only because they need to be converted to a vapor form in order to be removed from the plant matter without the use of a solvent, and because they need to be in the form of a vapor, in order to be delivered to the lungs.




Decarboxylation is simply the process of eliminating the carboxyl group, and has only very little to do with vaping, in that it occurs as a prerequisite to the vapor production of our cannabinoids, due to its lower-temp volatility and early release.


If the cannabinoid has become a vapor, then it has already reached its flash point at that pressure, and it has far surpassed the maximum temperature at which the carboxyl group may be maintained or preserved.



But an extraction using solvents, on the other hand, can be performed without even decarbing the material!



Not only do we regularly extract the full range of active cannabinoids at much lower temps than are required for their vaporization when using solvents, but even the carboxylic-acid-intact cannabinoids (ie. THCA, CBDA, CBGA etc.) can be extracted and made bioavailable.



When having edibles analyzed by the labs, for overall content, potency and contaminants, you'll usually be given a readout that, along with the other phytochemicals, lists both THC.... AND a portion of THCA.
That is stubborn THC that has not yet released its carboxyl group, but had still been successfully extracted and included in the oil, and edible, even after heating and baking.



This is why you need to decarb many solvent-extracted concentrates, and why some concentrates may need more or less encouragement, in order to release their carboxylic acids, depending how harshly their solvents were purged.




Long story short, the glandular material and your cannabinoids are oil/alcohol/glycerin etc. soluble, even at room temp, and lower.



It's why folks make very successful oils and tinctures without heat, and often even at below room-temp, in spite of the fact that THC has a much higher flashpoint.









An easier, and probably much faster way to clear up any confusion would probably have been to mention that, if our solvents needed to reach temperatures at or near the flashpoints of certain cannabinoids, in order to extract them, then traditional BHO, frozen iso-hash extractions, and heat-less edibles would be fairly ineffective and unsuccessful.

 

 
If you have simply never heard of fractional distillation, a very common practice for separating chemical components based on their unique boiling/flashpoints used with other purposes even beyond its use isolating the components of a variety of plants besides, and including cannabis, that's an issue you need to solve at your own pace.
 That aside, I'm not sure you are really in any position to comment on the needs of patients, other than your own, especially without any info to back up this less than well researched opinion, and in particular where you clearly did not bother to read or comprehend the original post describing why solvent extraction methods should be used over fractional distillation when possible (at least briefly reading a post on a forum is a basic step that most feel it appropriate to take before commenting, whether they approve or not).
 
  But do keep reading around, and educate yourself, it's clear you have a certain amount of curiosity (although your approach obviously still needs some work! ) and there's loads of good info on GC, as well as google if you take a second to look around.