*NOTE* – Before proceeding please be advised that the following instructional will create a medicinal cannabis tincture that is exceedingly potent. Self titration of dose should start at 1 mL and move up by .5-1 mL increments up to 3 mL Many patients feel they have a huge tolerance so they “go big or go home.” Oftentimes these folks get WAAAY more than they have bargained for. Nearly every patient I have met finds the sweet spot for medicating between 1-3 mL. Please remember that Cannabis has never killed anyone but an overdose can be quite unpleasant, so take ‘er easy dude.
*MEDICAL USE DISCLAIMER* – Also note that this recipe is intended for medical marijuana patients who have permission to use cannabis for their ailments as per state law. I myself am a Medical Marijuana patient in the state of Connecticut and do not approve of this recipe being used by anyone without a medical cannabis card.
*SAFETY HAZARD* – This recipe also calls for using Ethanol and heat – which can be a fire hazard if caution is not used. Please do not use any open flames or smoke when you are making tincture. Ensure you do this in a well ventilated area.
Now on with the show!
Some History…
Cannabis has been used throughout time as a medicine. Historically it has been used as an antiemetic, an anticonvulsant, an antispasmotic, an anti-inflammatory agent, anti-cancer, anti-tumor, anxiolytic etc. Quite simply – Cannabis is a miracle drug that is extraordinarily safe. Circa early 1900’s Cannabis Indica was a staple in American Pharmacies especially available in the form of Tincture. This is an extract of the female Cannabis flowers in ethanol AKA alcohol. Cannabis tintures were really all the rage back before cannabis became illegal in America. In fact, this was the preferred method of ingesting Cannabis. These days one can make a VERY potent tincture out of household items. Tincture is a godsend for my Ulcerative Colitis as it tends to quell gastrointestinal spasms and allow for a good nights rest.
Image acquired form Antiquecannabisbook.com
Internet Tincture Revival
The best method I have found for making tincture was posted on the Cannabis.com forum circa 2006 by a guy that goes by the name Master Wu. For convenience, below is an executive summary of my findings based on the Master Wu method. Also provided are some bullet point notes for maximum efficiency. Follow the recipe to the T and you will be rewarded with a very potent and effective way to medicate. Please note I am no scientist, doctor or health professional. I am a legal medical marijuana patient who suffers from IBD, specifically Ulcerative Colitis. Some years back I found out about Master Wu from the FuckCombustion.com forum.
Soon I began experimenting with making my own tinctures and had great success with leveraging medicinal cannabis for treating my GI spasms, bowel movements and pain. As sufferers of Crohns disease and Colitis know, during a flair up the pain and urgency to run to the bathroom does NOT end at night. Often times the sufferer will be rolling around in bed in a great deal of pain, sprinting to the bathroom periodically. Sleep becomes a precious resource. and this tincture really helps. It is my hope to help those suffering from chronic diseases that this tincture made from potent Cannabis Indica will help you in your journey to wellness and inner peace. Please lean on friends and family when you need to and know that a better day will come for you. God bless and best of luck in your recovery.
Master Wu’s Method – Executive Summary:
Ingredients:
3.5 grams (1/8th oz) of high quality medicinal cannabis
2 oz of 95% Grain Alcohol (look for Everclear or Grave’s Grain brands in the U.S.A.)
Process:
1. Grind cannabis with coffee grinder
2. Place in aluminum foil tray and bake at 325°F for 5 minutes.
3. Remove from oven and place cannabis in 2 oz of 95% Grain Alcohol
4. Simmer in a water bath until the mixture is reduced by half. Reduction should be complete in 10-20 minutes, so stir periodically and keep an eye on this mixture. Try to maintain temperature of the grain alcohol/cannabis mixture around 170°F.
5. Strain the mixture and store
Dosage:
Fully squeeze the eyedropper bulb and suck up a dose of tincture. This will fill the dropper about halfway and is almost exactly 1 mL. Please start off with a single mL of tincture and see how you feel, effects will begin after about and hour and gradually build. It is important to self titrate (experiment with effective dose) as there will be slight variability between batches. 1 mL’s effects will last around 5 hours, while 2 mL seems to last around 8.
95% Ethanol is very strong and it will create a burning sensation in your mouth/throat. Please dilute your tincture by mixing it in some tea, beer or glass of water. Note that good tincture is an acquired taste and there is nothing quite like some Chamomile-Cannabis tea. Alternatively, one can squirt the dose in an equal amount of water or small shot glass with water and throw it down the hatch. This method isn’t as elegant but gets the job done just fine.
The best results generally come from ingesting the tincture around half an hour before a big meal. Once again, please start conservatively at first. As perviously noted, 1-3 mL of top shelf tincture seems to be the sweet spot for medicating most patients – with the majority feeling very good from 1 mL or 2 mL. Generally 1 mL will be a pleasurable but gentle buzz, while 2 mL the effects become more pronounced and can be described as more stony and lethargic AKA “couch lock” effects. Please do not operate any machinery especially motor vehicles or have critical tasks at hand when you dose.
GreenDiet Maximum Efficiency Notes:
After reading the entire Master Wu Revised thread (20 pages long) There were many people that were successful and some were not. Those that failed didn’t follow the recipe. The same was true for the Green Dragon thread on FuckCombustion.com. Please follow the recipe to the T with the following notes:
- Use the absolute highest medical Cannabis Indica flowers you can find. Do NOT use medicine that has already been vaporized, stems, shake, mids, schwag etc. Garbage in, garbage out
- Recommended strains are heavy-hitting Indica’s such as: Master Kush, Afghani Kush, Afghani #1, Grand Daddy Purple, Black Domina etc.
- Heavy-hitting Indicas are sedative medicines that reduce spasms, anxiety and pain.
- Use Everclear. This is 95% pure ethanol. The higher the alcohol %, the better the extraction
- Use a coffee grinder to expose maximum surface area. I set mine to fine grind and pulsed it for 2 seconds, around 5 times
- Preheat a good (accurate) oven to 325 F and make a small tray with sides by using ~2 feet of aluminum foil
- Fold the aluminum foil in half, then fold it half again so that it is 4 quarters folded. Now make little sides so no ground bud can fall out
- Aluminum foil is superior to a cooking tray as it will heat up instantly
- The idea is that the temp is at 325 F when we put in the ground herb and the actual herb and tray will heat to that temp as quickly as possible. Set your timer for 5 minutes and take it out once your timer goes off
- Set your stove on medium and heat a 9 inch diameter skillet with one inch of water. Then place a pint mason jar or small pyrex dish in the middle with your 2 oz of everclear and ground herb in it. Monitor the temperature with a glass scientific thermometer or metal oven thermometer. From here, adjust your burner accordingly. You want the herb solution simmering around 170F.
- Do not worry about overheating as pure alcohol boils at 173F and I noticed it is hard to get 95% Ethanol past 175 or so.
- After 10-20 minutes, when the mixture has reduced by half – place a small funnel with a coffee filter in it over your 1 oz dropper bottle.
- Pour the solution through and at the end squeeze the coffee filter or press on the steel strainer to get all the liquid out
Step by Step Pictorial:
Starting with top shelf Master Kush product (Thank you Rhode Island Caregiver for your compassionate service)
Tools of the trade pictured
Grinding with Coffee Grinder and placing in aluminum tray for decarboxylation @325 degrees for 5 minutes in oven
Material pictured after decarboxylation
2 ounces of 95% Grain Alcohol measured out and placed in Pyrex dish
1 inch of water heated in 9 inch skillet. Pyrex dish is now in our saucepan and functioning as a double boiler. Temperature is set to Medium-Medium High to achieve Ethanol temp of ~170 degrees, until tincture is reduced by half
Letting sit to cool for a minute or two, then filtering
Done – Tincture is ready immediately for ingestion. Enjoy your liquid greens folks!
Tincture is a very underrated way to ingest cannabis, which is quite hard for me to fathom. This method is extremely efficient compared to smoking and is discreet. The patient is able to be medicated for hours on end without having to inhale any harsh smoke. Please share this with other MMJ patients and I’d love to hear your experience or comments below in the comments section – thanks!
P.S. Wondering where to get these cool tincture bottles, coffee grinder, funnels and filter? Hit up the Amazon links below:
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videos, I was almost moved to start my own blog (well, almost…HaHa!) Excellent job.
I really loved what you had to say, and more than that, how you presented it.
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Thanks Downloadicus – Stay up bro 🙂
Steve I made this today. Haven’t tried it yet. Later tonight. There were a few things strange tho. First off I over reduced the Tincture and only got around a half ounce. Will this make it double strength?
Also in my state we can’t get 95% grain so I had to use 151 ever clear grain. It never hit 170 degrees instead hovered at 150 ish and I had the pan up pretty high. Figured Id ask you before trying it out.. Thanks
Hey Dude, you will be good. Because you reduced again by half it should be around twice as potent as normal. However with 151 (Not 95% grain) and a little lower temp it may not be exactly twice as potent. If I was you I’d start at 1/2 a mL and start from there :). 150 is pretty close in temp, you’ll definitely still have some solid effects so start small and move from there – just like your docs tell ya!
Peace bro and let us know how it turned out.
Steve – thanks for the reply. Decided to give it a shot last night and definitely went with a half ml. Dropped it in a small glass of wine and had a very nice body effect that lasted for around 5 hours. All anxiety eliminated and I slept better than I have in a VERY long time. Thank you so much for this turtorial as I have asthma and can’t smoke. I’m probably going to look to getting the Magic Butter machine as this process totally stank my house out hahaha!
If you decarb with the Magical Butter in the oven at first it will still stink, but you don’t have to decarb. Regardless I put the MB2 in my garage as it is loud and sometimes has some small spillage/smell.
I’m glad this worked well for you and helped you with your wellness goals. With the right indica strain, this stuff is knockout juice 🙂
One last question. After you make tincture in the MB2 do you still reduce the 2 cups down to 1 or do you just double the dosage?
If you reduce it do you strain it before reduction?
Thanks again.
When I make tincture in the MB2, I don’t bother reducing and I don’t double the dosage – it comes out plenty potent. I believe the MB2 is a bit more efficient at extracting the goodies, I’m not going to say it is 2x as efficient as the traditional method or anything crazy… But go ahead and brew one up with the MB2, try 1 mL and scale from there. You won’t be disappointed bro.
Stay up Dude.
Steve: Please pardon my ignorance- In the MB2 you decarb first?
now I’ve discovered a slightly askew method that I gleaned from working as a cook and infusing fresh herbs (culinary ones) into oils and vinegar. If you take the medicinal herbs and place them in an isi whipped cream maker with over 120 Proof liquor, the nitrous oxide micro injects the molecule of the liquor with thc.. then you drop this mixture into the magic butter machine and process as as usual.
It makes for a gastro molecular approach to the infusion… and potent.. takes about an hour until take-off.
Hi Warren,
I don’t bother to decarb anymore in the MB2 – although if you do it will be a bit more potent. Between other patients and I – we don’t notice enough of a difference to warrant it and stink up the house.
The N2O thing sounds interesting. I know that stuff is quite sweet tasting 😛
Have a nice day Warren
Hey Steve, thanks for posting all this. I’ve been using the Master Wu method for awhile.
I notice that Cannabis Tincture seems to go in and out of your system a bit faster than true edibles. This could be psychosomatic but I’m wondering if it indeed is processed a bit faster since it’s carrier is alcohol?
I’m also curious how the time and temp for simmering effect the cannabinoids. I’ve switched to using the Magical Butter machine and it calls for a 4 hour tincture at 160 degrees which seems like a LONG time.
Any thoughts on these 2 questions?
Hi Ford,
Yes – tincture does indeed hit us faster and leave faster than edibles. The cannabinoids are concentrated in a small dose of pretty pure ethanol. When we eat edibles the herb/cannabinoids are all mixed up in food which we have to digest. This takes more time for our bodies. Good observation bro!
The 4 hours seems like a while, but it is a gentle simmer and the machine is digesting the cannabis damn near the whole time. I’m sure you hear it churning until the cannabis is dust. It works out quite well.
Thanks Ford and have a nice day!
Just tried this with my new mb2 and I’m patiently waiting for the test dose i took to kick in. I have insomnia and muscle spasms and cramping plus a bunch of other symptoms(MS is my unconfirmed dx)…my lungs collapsed at 2 years old so i prefer vaping and edibles. This will be my first tincture trial, fingers crossed this helps…i’m so sick of doctors and their medications. Thank you for posting this information, there are alot of people like me trying to find alternatives to western meds and you are helping all of them.
MsK.
No problemo, I hope this method of consumption can help ease your insomnia and muscle spasms. Please keep us posted with your results. Give it a try for a week or two and report back and let us know how you feel. God bless and good luck!
Instead of making a whole batch of butter or oil, I can just add the tincture to an original baking recipe, or even cannasyrup? No?
Now I have heard mixed things about this. If the batch of other stuff is large it should be no problem. But keep in mind ethanol is highly flammable so if it isn’t diluted it could catch fire. In regards to canna syrup I’d say heck yes, go for it.
Go ahead and experiment and report back with your findings.
Thanks Bless!
Hi!
Thank you for all of this information!
Could I reduce the potency of this if I wanted to?
Also, does this lose potency over time? And what is the best way to store this? Thank you!
Hi Layla,
Thanks for posting, of course you can reduce the potency. You can either use less herb, or add water to the tincture – thereby diluting it. Store this tincture in a dark place and it should keep for a long time – especially if it has a high ethanol content it should be good for years.
Best regards – Steve
I was wondering about adding a little lecithin to the tincture? If so how much would I add? Thanks
Hey brother, it just ain’t necessary when using grain alcohol. In food recipes from everything I’ve read it greatly helps. I especially hear good things when making canna caps with coconut oil. Cheers brother and good health!
Hi, Steve.
Thanks for your site/blog.
Questions…..
If the tincture I made w/ the MB@ machine is NOT at all potent or feels “weak” (esp. to me) can it be saved or helped?
I followed exact directions via MB2’s manual including decarb’ng (@250/30mins) 1/2oz of flowers and 2cups Everclear.
Should I dilute it more or do the pressure cooker method (after the fact) ?
What can be done?
I feel I wasted some good cannabis and I feel highly disappointed.
Hi Lilly, no worries. Simply further evaporate it or double/triple your doses. Some folks need a bit more as well but if you’ve done stuff correctly it should be all good.
I decarb’d for 17 minutes and knocked a few people on their asses with my caramels and creamers and ice cream. Maybe decarb at a lower temp for less time. I usually go 225° for 17min but I just do my own thang. No offense Steve! I love your site and always refer to it for lots of stuffs!
Should be mskriss as the poster, I’m slightly off kilter right now!
I appreciate your comment MsKris. Any information to better extract our goodies is always appreciated. I am not the tincture God anything :). God bless.