Making Cannabis Tinctures

Making a Cannabis Tincture

The special ingredient for a cannabis cocktail is the cannabis tincture.

You can either make one at home or if you live somewhere that cannabis is legal you can probably find one at a nearby dispensary.

In this post I'm going to show you how to make a cannabis tincture.

Everclear (190 proof alcohol)

Everclear, a 190 proof alcohol, is the liquid used for the tincture. This is used because it's great for extractions (even says it on the label) and it's water-soluble, which means it'll will mix into water or other liquids. If you were to use cannabis oil it would float on top of your cocktail and it be a disgusting oily drink (no thanks).

I recommend 2mg of cannabis tincture per cocktail, which is considered a microdose. This way the level of intoxication is as comparable as can be to having one alcoholic cocktail. That said you will use only about 6 drops of the cannabis tincture from a dropper. This is not enough to get you intoxicated from the alcohol. It's probably about the same amount of alcohol as a couple ripe bananas or a food recipe that contains alcohol.

Fast Acting

Unlike most edibles you start to feel the effects of a tincture in about 15 minutes. This is great as it gets us closer to the alcoholic cocktail experience.

Ingredients:

• 2g cannabis flower

• 1/4 cup Everclear

Equipment:

• Oven

• Baking sheet

• Parchment paper

• Mason jar

• Measuring cup

• Dropper bottles

• Coffee filters

• Metal mesh strainer (optional)

Steps:

1.  Decarb the cannabis *

2. Add the cannabis to the mason jar

3. Pour the Everclear in the jar and put the cap on. Let it soak for a few hours in a dark cool place while occasionally agitating it by giving the jar a whirl

4. Put the coffee filter over the measuring cup with a rubber band

5. If you have a strainer, slowly pour the Everclear and cannabis mixture through the strainer and onto the coffee filter that is around your measuring cup. The stainer is used to catch the pieces of cannabis.

6. Use a spoon to press the cannabis in the strainer to squeeze more of the tincture from flower to reduce waste.

7. Repeat steps 5 and 6 until all the Everclear and cannabis mixture is out of the mason jar.

8. The coffee filter will soak up some of the tincture. Take it off and then squeeze the soaked up tincture into the measuring cup to reduce waste.

9. Carefully pour the tincture from the measuring cup into the dropper bottles using the small funnel that comes with the dropper bottles.

Notes:

• Decarbing the cannabis - To activate the THC (the cannabinoid that gives you the buzz) cannabis needs to go through a process called decarboxylation. If you decide you like cannabis cocktails and want to make them on a regular basis then I'd recommend investing in an Ardent (weed easy bake oven). This machine produces no smell and decarbs the cannabis to perfection with a push of a button. It's a great product and I love mine.

Microdosing:

How much you use is up to you. I aim for 2mg per cocktail. The THC level of the cannabis you used will impact how strong your tincture is. With the above recipe if you used cannabis flower with 20% THC then 2mg will be around 6 drops. I recommend starting with 2 - 3 drops and then seeing how you feel after 15 minutes. You can always have another cocktail.

Questions?

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