VG + PGA Warm Tincture Process

[Nuphile]

Using experience and a collaboration of a couple resources, I created a tincture as follows.

Process:
A rice cooker was placed on its warm setting. (It was the least expensive cooker I could find with a warm setting. My crockpot does not have this setting and gets too hot).
Once the rice cooker got to temp, about 4 oz. of VG and 1/2 oz. PGA was placed in the pot.
I would like to give mad props to herbgirl for mentioning using a mixture of VG and PGA because PGA has better solvent qualities than VG

About 1 oz. of ground rainwreck (not trainwreck) buds were placed into the mixture for about 1/2 hr, stirring frequently, keeping the rice cooker on warm. For some reason, the buds were super airy and not really sellable; perfect for tincture!
The mixture was then taken out to cool to room temperature, and then put back in the rice cooker. This process was repeated about six times.

The author of this post http://cannabisknowledge.nl/showthread.php?1987-Vegetable-glycerin-tincture claims that the expansion and contraction resulting from the thermal cycling helps to break up the resins, so they can dissolve more easily, allowing for extraction in a shorter period of time. This is a great post that should be read by anyone interested in making glycerin tinctures.

The tincture was then strained and bottled.

Titration:
I started off with ~1/4 of a dropper from a 1 oz. bottle (0.25 ml) sublingually. The PGA in the mixture can barely be tasted and did not burn at all. The tincture tastes quite pleasant. The effect kicked in a few minutes, but took about 30 minutes for full effects. The effect was mild, yet present.

The next day, I took ~ 3/4 of a dropper (0.75 ml) sublingually. The effect took about the same amount of time to kick in, but was quite strong. I had a general feeling of well being, and my body aches and pains were completely gone.

Conclusions:
This process seems quite solid, and will definitely be repeated in the future.
The only thing I can think of to change is I would make it a bit stronger. I added more VG/PGA than necessary.

 

[HighlyEducatedScholar]

great step by step post! i would recommend letting the tincture sit a week or two to increase in strength. BadKittySmiles highly suggests this with her tinctures and i have noticed that when it comes to cooking with cannabis, allowing the end product to sit for a period can be beneficial.

i made some brownies two weeks ago using ~ 1/2 cup of cannaoil that was infused with about 21g's of dark ABV and kief. i tried a brownie, out of 20, 3 or 4 days after baking them and found it to be decently potent. i left the remaining 19 in the fridge for 2 weeks before i came back to college. when i tried them yesterday with my roommates, all of them claimed they were the highest they had every been and one of them felt the effects for 14 hours.

so, i would let the tincture sit in a cool dark place for 2 weeks before trying it again and hopefully the strength will increase to your preference.

 

[Nuphile]

great step by step post! i would recommend letting the tincture sit a week or two to increase in strength. BadKittySmiles highly suggests this with her tinctures and i have noticed that when it comes to cooking with cannabis, allowing the end product to sit for a period can be beneficial.

You know, I have read that somewhere and just had forgotten. I read a lot of stuff. Thanks for the reminder. I will definitely have to do this. Since I have 4 oz. of tincture and don't use it very regularly, this shouldn't be a problem.

Edit: I just remembered, I first heard about this in a cannabis cooking book at my local dispensary (I can't remember the name of it). The book said that some tincture connoisseurs let their tincture sit for up to a year! I don't know how necessary this is, but may worth a try?

 

[HighlyEducatedScholar]

hmm, im not sure. most of the information that i've read says that most people let their tinctures around a few months at most.

 

[smarc]

Would it be ok to let some of the PGA evap for increased potency?

 

[Nuphile]

When I mixed the PGA and VG together, a completely homogenous mixture was created. I could be wrong, but I don't think the PGA would evaporate and leave the VG.

 

[HighlyEducatedScholar]

Nuphile, how did the tincture turn out after letting it sit for some time? im very curious about the results of the your product.

 

[Nuphile]

HighlyEducatedScholar:

I apologize for the delay in response, but I wanted to try the tincture before responding and am not able to use it every day.

Honestly, I haven't noticed a difference in potency after letting it sit in the bottle for a few weeks. Nonetheless, it has some potency to it.

I personally have a low tolerance and take about 1/2 to 3/4 dropper for a nice high. I transfered the tincture into 2 oz. bottles, so I could save some money on the bottles. Based on my own calculations a full dropper from the 1 oz. bottles I was using were about 1 ml. With the 2 oz. bottles I am guessing that the droppers are about 1.5 ml, but this is only a guess.

People with higher tolerances than me will generally take about 2x the amount that I do. And I think patients in severe pain would not need to take more than 3 droppers full (in estimation about 4.5 ml).

So, all-in-all I am happy with the strength of the tincture, but I think I could use a higher ratio of cannabis flowers:medium next time.

 

[HighlyEducatedScholar]

hmm, I thought you would have had better results. I didn't see in your original post, but did you decarb the oz. of rainwreck before the extraction process? this would convert more of the nonpsychoactive cannabinoids into THC. doing this would greatly increase the potency of your final product.

 

[Nuphile]

When I do warm processes like this, I figure the decarb process takes place during the heating. When I make cannabutter, I do not decarb beforehand either.