There are many reasons to make your own cannabis infused oil, including but of course not limited to:
When you ingest cannabis, it can take anywhere from 45 minutes to 4 hours for you to feel the effects, and those effects can last anywhere from 4 to 7 to 24 or even 48 hours, depending on your dose and what else you’ve eaten. This is much different from smoking, where the effects can be felt immediately and last between 2 to 4 hours, or delivering it mucosally where effects can be felt within 5 to 15 minutes and last 2 to 4 hours. Click here to learn more about the methods of cannabis consumption.
Because of ingestion’s different onset time and length of effects, edibles are great for people who need deep, long-lasting relief throughout the day or night. On the flip side, edibles are not a good choice for people who want to feel effects immediately or people who want to have a shorter cannabis experience.
Edibles are known as one of the trickier ways to consume cannabis because of their variability in onset time paired with the fact that the active compounds in cannabis become more intense when ingested.
There are lots of ways to consume cannabis, and each method has its own pros and cons. Eating cannabis provides a much different experience than smoking or using it sublingually. When cannabis is infused into an oil or fat and then ingested, it must be processed by our liver before taking effect — and our liver converts Delta-9-THC into 11-Hydroxy-THC. 11-Hydroxy-THC’s molecular structure is smaller than Delta-9-THC, which allows it to more easily enter our bloodstream and nervous system. 11-Hydroxy-THC is also able to better bind to our CB1 receptors than Delta-9-THC. This means that you can have a more intense psychotropic or “high” experience when you ingest cannabis than when using other methods of consumption.
One of the best benefits of making your own cannabis-infused oil is that you can substitute it for the oil in just about any recipe you want. Whether you’re making brownies, scrambled eggs, granola, or salad dressing, you can use an infused oil to replace some or all of the original oil in your recipe. Just remember to be mindful with dosing — see below for tips!
When cooking with your infused oil, you want to make sure that they don’t get so hot that they destroy the cannabinoids you’ve worked hard to activate and infuse. When using on the stovetop, keep your temperatures low, at around 200°F and never above 250°F. When baking, 350°F is considered safe (your food’s internal temperature will never get as hot as the oven itself), but you can play it safe by baking at 340°F in case your oven temperature fluctuates.
You can also infuse coconut, MCT, jojoba, olive, almond, and other oils with cannabis for use in skincare products including anything from lip balms to bath scrubs and body butters. Click here to check out a collection of infused food and bodycare recipes from our friends at Hempsley.
Cannabinoids (such as THC and CBD) are lipid soluble, meaning that they bind to fat. This allows you to infuse cannabis with any oil or fat such as butter, ghee, or glycerin. The oil or fat you choose is completely up to you, depending on how you plan to use your cannabis infusion. Below we introduce a handful of oils and their benefits. Keep in mind that although some of these oils have high smoke points, THC will be completely destroyed at 250°F, so be mindful of how you’re using the oil.
Whatever oil you choose to use, be sure to measure out how much oil you are using so that you can do an accurate potency calculation.
After choosing your oil, you’ll need to prepare your herb. It’s important to weigh out how much cannabis you’re using in order to get accurate dosing calculations. See below for more information on calculating your oil’s potency to get an idea of how much cannabis flower you should use in order to reach your desired level of potency.
Keep in mind that you can always dilute your oil after infusing; for example, if a recipe calls for ½ cup of butter, you can use just 1 tablespoon of infused butter and leave the rest as regular butter.
While you can infuse with whole cannabis flower, it’s best to grind the buds up to increase the surface area of plant material to allow for more effective infusions. When doing oil infusions, it’s best not to grind your cannabis too finely because it will be harder to strain out of your finished product. It’s also recommended to use a hand grinder or your fingers to to break your buds apart; putting them in an electric processor can cause it to become too fine and also release chlorophyll, which will make your oil taste more “green.”
In its raw form, cannabis has very little to no THC or CBD — instead, your plant material has THCA or CBDA, which are acidic versions of these cannabinoids that aren’t able to bind as well to our endocannabinoid receptors. In order to be converted from THCA to THC or CBDA into CBD, the plant material must be heated. This process is called decarboxylation or "activation." Check out the graphic below, made with our friends at Hempsley, to better understand how cannabinoids are formed within the cannabis plant.
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THC, CBD, and other cannabinoids decarboxylate or “activate” at different temperatures, so you’ll want to choose a temperature that activates the cannabinoids you’re seeking. While you can “toast” your cannabis at higher temperatures for shorter periods of time, most people agree that it’s more effective to toast at a lower temperature for a longer time period.
Keep in mind that decarboxylating your cannabis is optional; acidic cannabinoids such as THCA, CBDA, and CBCA all have their own therapeutic properties. Skipping this step is also a great option for anyone who wants to experience the benefits of cannabis without feeling “high.” Click here to learn more about the therapeutic benefits of these cannabinoids with our friends at Hempsley.
That said, the process of infusing your cannabis with heated oil will still activate some of the acidic cannabinoids. If you want to minimize the activation of cannabinoids in your oil, try a cold infusion using the instructions below.
If you happen to forget to decarboxylate your cannabis before starting the infusion process, you can simply infuse your cannabis for longer (up to twice as long) to help activate more of those cannabinoids.
There are many ways to infuse your oil with cannabis. When using any method, be sure to keep the temperature between 180-245°F to make sure the cannabinoids are not destroyed. Remember, less heat for a longer period of time will produce a better infusion than a higher temperature for a short period of time.
Time to infuse: 4-6 weeks (or 1-2 weeks in sun)
While this method may take longer, it produces little to no smell, is very low maintenance, and has no chance of burning.
Supplies:
Directions:
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Time to infusion:
This method gets you an infused oil much faster than the cold infusion, but it can produce more smell — which may be a problem if you need to be discreet. To keep the smell and mess to a minimum, we like to infuse our oil inside a mason jar. This method also helps prevent burning of the oil.
Supplies:
Directions:
[btx_image image_id="2225" link="/" position="center"]Step 1: Choose the oil you'd like to infuse[/btx_image]
[btx_image image_id="2215" link="/" position="center"]Step 2: Weigh your herb so that you can do an accurate potency calculation[/btx_image]
[btx_image image_id="2220" link="/" position="center"]Step 2: Grind your cannabis herb to increase the plan material's surface area and get a better infusion[/btx_image]
[btx_image image_id="2209" link="/" position="center"]Step 3: Decarboxylate your cannabis to activate cannabinoids like THC and CBD[/btx_image]
[btx_image image_id="2219" link="/" position="center"]Step 4: If you don't have a crockpot or double boiler, you can roll up 4 pieces of tin foil and place them in a grid shape in the bottom of a pot. This will elevate your mason jar off the bottom of the pot to avoid burning the oil or breaking the jar.[/btx_image]
[btx_image image_id="2217" link="/" position="center"]Step 4: Put your decarboxylated cannabis and oil of choice into the basin and fill with water to at least as high as the mixture in your jar[/btx_image]
[btx_image image_id="2216" link="/" position="center"]Step 4: For best results, use a thermometer to make sure that the temperature of your water stays between 180-200°F[/btx_image]
[btx_image image_id="2211" link="/" position="center"]Step 4: Filter your infusion through a metal strainer lined with a couple layers of cheesecloth[/btx_image]
[btx_image image_id="2210" link="/" position="center"]Step 4: You can squeeze the cheesecloth to get more oil out of your infusion, but this may increase the amount of small plant particles that end up in your oil. You can filter again through a coffee filter if this bothers you. [/btx_image]
Unless you invest in an at-home THC tester, there’s no way to know exactly how potent your infusion is. You can, however, do a calculation to get a rough estimate of potency.
The effects of ingesting cannabis last much longer than other methods of consumption, so it’s important that we make sure to start low and go slow. Again, the calculation above can give you a good estimate of potency, but there’s really no way to know exactly how much THC is in your infusion. Because of this, it’s important to consistently measure each dose and track your experience.
One great way to get consistent dosing with your solid oils (such as butter or coconut oil) is by putting it into a silicon mold right after infusing. Cannabinoids settle in oil based on their weight, so doing this immediately after infusion, when the cannabinoids are still evenly dispersed throughout the oil, can help you avoid some doses being more potent than others.
If you don’t have a mold to help with creating pre-made doses, be sure to cut a vertical section from your jar of butter or coconut oil rather than scraping from the top. If you’re working with a liquid olive, avocado, or MCT oil, be sure to shake well before measuring your dose.
When ingesting THC for the first time, we recommend starting with a microdose of 2.5mg and waiting at least 12-24 hours before using more. If you didn’t feel the desired effects, increase your dose by 1mg of THC each time you consume until you find your best dose.
Play it safe with each new batch, starting slow and documenting your experience. Click here to download our printable cannabis journal pages to start tracking how your infusion affects you!
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