Tek MCT oil (medium-chain triglycerides)

[TomBstoned]

I got some more terpenes today. All these are cannabis derived! 1 bottle hemp derived. And CBD isolate of course. The smaller vials in back are from Mr. Terps. Right to left. Blue Dream, Cali red ak, snerval og, gsc, tangie, zkittles, strain 8. Bottom row of bigger bottles are, hemp derived abacus, then from Tahoe Terp Co. Jack Herer, GDP, Blackberry kush!, sfvog, and last is more GDP.

 

[ceegarnut]

Have you ever tried True Terpenes? I've used them for a few months and am quite pleased with the results.

 

[TomBstoned]

Have you ever tried True Terpenes? I've used them for a few months and am quite pleased with the results.

Yes. I've kinda tried em, had a couple samples. I prefer full spectrum terpenes for a fuller effect. Lab mixed terps can taste good, but just don't have the same effect for me. They still have effect, but canna derived are better for me.

 

[ceegarnut]

Yes. I've kinda tried em, had a couple samples. I prefer full spectrum terpenes for a fuller effect. Lab mixed terps can taste good, but just don't have the same effect for me. They still have effect, but canna derived are better for me.

So, had an interesting test yesterday... I took the re-crystalized solution from above and added three drops of VG. I applied heat to 190F and stirred for about 30 minutes. The solution mixed together and turned a slight beige color. I then let sit for about 12 hours and guess what, it did not re-crystalize! Originally, it started to re-crystalize after about an hour. So, thinking I was in the clear, I put the solution into a clean tank/coil and took a few puffs after I let the coil soak for about 10 minutes. The smoke was great, I was very pleased! Thought I had this figured out...until about 15 minutes later the solution started to re-crystalize!! WTF??? Makes no sense, but within 30 minutes of adding the solution (which had been stable for 12 hours) to the tank, it started to re-crystalize just like the first test. I'm baffled wo I have some CBD powder and some Sports Research MCT oil to test later this week. Very strange...

 

[TomBstoned]

So, had an interesting test yesterday... I took the re-crystalized solution from above and added three drops of VG. I applied heat to 190F and stirred for about 30 minutes. The solution mixed together and turned a slight beige color. I then let sit for about 12 hours and guess what, it did not re-crystalize! Originally, it started to re-crystalize after about an hour. So, thinking I was in the clear, I put the solution into a clean tank/coil and took a few puffs after I let the coil soak for about 10 minutes. The smoke was great, I was very pleased! Thought I had this figured out...until about 15 minutes later the solution started to re-crystalize!! WTF??? Makes no sense, but within 30 minutes of adding the solution (which had been stable for 12 hours) to the tank, it started to re-crystalize just like the first test. I'm baffled wo I have some CBD powder and some Sports Research MCT oil to test later this week. Very strange...

Very odd. Vg causes recrystalization faster I've found. I'm totally positive sports research mct and fullyactivateds iso mixes fine, and I don't use heat. Its not needed. Mct is pure saturated fat. It cbd dissolves with simple mixing.

 

[Vicki]

Why not just mix some CBD isolate with some terpenes and put that in a cartridge? Just like vaping distillate, and it would be much cheaper in the long run?

I am looking into getting some terpenes to mix with my THC distillate because it is as thick as tree sap. I thought this would be a better alternative to MCT and PG. Definitely more expensive, though.

 

[ceegarnut]

Very odd. Vg causes recrystalization faster I've found. I'm totally positive sports research mct and fullyactivateds iso mixes fine, and I don't use heat. Its not needed. Mct is pure saturated fat. It cbd dissolves with simple mixing.

Do you happen to know the saturation point for MCT when adding CBD isolate? I.e. what is the max in grams that can be mixed in 10ml of MCT oil without it recrystallizing? I'm trying to figure out how the hell you can get 250mg of CBD in a .5ml evape cartridge (I see them for sale online)...thanks!

 

[Thetrueoriginal]

Hi, I'm new, but i read the whole thread.
MCT oil vaporizes at 350, THC vaporizes at 315, and CBD vaporizes at 354....
www.steephill.com/science/cannabinoids
So why is MCT the best choice? Wouldnt it be impossible to vape CBD + MCT without toxic byproducts?
What do people have against VG? Its boiling point is 554, so should be safe for a full-spectrum vape juice.

 

[solo1811]

Hi, I'm new, but i read the whole thread.
MCT oil vaporizes at 350, THC vaporizes at 315, and CBD vaporizes at 354....
www.steephill.com/science/cannabinoids
So why is MCT the best choice? Wouldnt it be impossible to vape CBD + MCT without toxic byproducts?
What do people have against VG? Its boiling point is 554, so should be safe for a full-spectrum vape juice.

Hi capris and caprylic acid (c8&c10) have higher boiling points. I think if you google MCT boiling point temp it will show a lower temperature because of the misinformation of MCT. the MCT we discuss in this thread is strictly c8 and c10. Ex: bulletproof brainoctane


I’ve read in other forums that those who vaped only VG got mucus like phlegm after a few days, also you would need to add more VG to make it thinner, VG thins out the more VG is added, since we want high CBD concentration in low overall ML in my opinion MCT is the best. I still vape MCT e liquid from cbdistillery and I have no sore throat or coughing, it’s honestly really smooth.

 

[TomBstoned]

Hi, I'm new, but i read the whole thread.
MCT oil vaporizes at 350, THC vaporizes at 315, and CBD vaporizes at 354....
www.steephill.com/science/cannabinoids
So why is MCT the best choice? Wouldnt it be impossible to vape CBD + MCT without toxic byproducts?
What do people have against VG? Its boiling point is 554, so should be safe for a full-spectrum vape juice.

I don't vape mct. I mix eliquid with isolate, pg and vg. But cbd won't dissolve in vg and will recrystalize in pg after vg is added at high concentrations. That's why ppl are using mct. I mix 500mg 60vg40pg and 6 drops of terps. Lotta ppl want higher concentration than I mix.

 

[hdrsolutions]

Sorry to bump an old thread. I haven’t been on this site in forever and found this thread on google.

I just got some oil pens and blank cartridges and I’m working on making something to put in them. I didn’t have any BHO handy so I decided to use reclaim from a dab rig and some shitty distillate cartridges that were almost full but with burned out coils. I dissolved everything in 91% isopropyl alcohol and transferred into a pyrex cup to evaporate everything. After the oil was fully dissolved I sucked everything into a 60ml syringe and shot it back out through a .22 micron whatman filter. The resulting product is crystal clear and the color of cognac.

I’m in the process of finishing evaporating the alcohol and water off, and once it’s done my plan is to dilute it with MCT oil to fill the empty cartridges.

I have no way of weighing or measuring the volume the finished product and need to figure out how much MCT oil to use. The only way I can think to do it right is by observing the consistency of the diluted BHO/distillate mix.

I’m thinking that (while everything is still in the hot water bath) I should shoot for the consistency of corn syrup, which should mostly solidify once it cools.

Does anyone have any advice? The alcohol is almost evaporated and I’m about to run to the store for the MCT oil.

 

[Deleted Member 1643]

You should purge ISO. You'll find a lot of info on this site about QWISO that's not fully purged, and this is similar. If you don't have a vacuum, after it evaporates to a manageable volume , use a 250F oil bath or even a boiling water bath. (Never used boiling water, but it's 212F, so it probably just takes longer.) You'll see the ISO bubble off. Since it's reclaim, it's already decarboxylated, so probably no CO2 bubbles. Instructions and theory at the link above.

Believe (could be wrong) reclaim, if re-condensed vapor, is similar to distillate, just not fractionated, so your approach might work. Read through this thread - seem to recall someone mentioning a 1:1 ratio. Good luck!

 

[hdrsolutions]

Hey thanks for the quick reply. I’m at the store getting the MCT oil now. I thought about purging the iso, and have had it in a boiling water bath for close to 2 hours, about an hour since the iso evaporated completely. After it evaporated I got a few CO2 bubbles, but not many, and thanks to the way I filtered it (I have those whatman filters handy because I grow mushrooms) I think it’s pretty damn clean.

That’s interesting what you say about reclaim being similar to distillate. This makes me think it will work well.

I only used the iso because it was handy. Next time I do this I’ll use 190 proof grain alcohol. I’m thinking about putting the oil in the oven to purge it better (no vacuum...yet).

When I left the house the oil was much less viscous than I expected, which leads me to believe it needs more purging.

Anyway, once it’s all done I’ll post some results. I’ve got a good feeling about this. Thanks for the help.

 

[Deleted Member 1643]

When I left the house the oil was much less viscous than I expected, which leads me to believe it needs more purging.

If you saw CO2 bubbles after the bigger ISO bubbles, then it should be purged. If you're not sure, letting it purge longer shouldn't be a problem.

 

[hdrsolutions]

Well I’m all done and it worked. I have a few thoughts and your feedback will give me a little better idea of how I did.

I estimate I had approximately 2ml of reclaim after evaporating all the alcohol and giving it an additional hour in a boiling water bath. The oil was less viscous than I expected, but still quite thick. I added 1.5ml of Sprouts brand organic MCT oil and ended up with about 3.5ml of juice. After filling both cartridges I have a little less than 2.5ml in the syringe. I’ll have to reheat it to fill future cartridges. I think I’ll get about 5 more.

The oil was kinda dark, which I chalked up to it being reclaim and getting quite a bit of heat. I think I cooked most of the terpenes out because my house smells like I’m raising a family of skunks. No big deal. Terpene additives are cheap and readily available.

The taste. After a long pull, I definitely noticed a “burnt cooking oil” flavor. It wasn’t strong enough to bother me. Adding terpenes after cooking everything down would probably mask this. I don’t know if it’s because the MCT oil wasn’t refined enough and has a low smoke point, if the battery voltage was too high, or what. Once again, I’m not too worried.

The quality of the vape was very good. It was so smooth that I was very surprised by the size of the cloud I exhaled. I’m also blazed as fuck.

My final thoughts are that I wish it was clearer and thicker, but overall it was a pretty good first attempt. I went for about 2 years where I didn’t enjoy the effects of cannabis, and I think it’s because smoking it the old fashioned way somehow alters the cannabinoids to be less pleasant. Burning flower gives me anxiety every single time, no matter what kind of weed it is. Edibles are my favorite, but I realized that I don’t get anxiety from concentrates. I’m a long time vaper and deep into the hobby. I build my own coils and make my own juice and I realized I could totally figure out oil. I’m extremely pleased with the initial results and I’ll be getting much deeper into this.

Anyway, thanks for your help. A picture is worth a thousand words

Edit: don’t know how to upload pics but here’s a link to a pic of the finished pens.

https://imgur.com/a/Prju8sv

 

[Deleted Member 1643]

Cool! Might have to give it another try.

The oil was kinda dark, which I chalked up to it being reclaim and getting quite a bit of heat. I think I cooked most of the terpenes out because my house smells like I’m raising a family of skunks. No big deal. Terpene additives are cheap and readily available.

The taste. After a long pull, I definitely noticed a “burnt cooking oil” flavor. It wasn’t strong enough to bother me. Adding terpenes after cooking everything down would probably mask this. I don’t know if it’s because the MCT oil wasn’t refined enough and has a low smoke point, if the battery voltage was too high, or what. Once again, I’m not too worried.

That much heat will volatilize any terpenes. Keep shatter purge below 105F.

Was thinking that if you already had a set-up that was giving good results with distillate and MCT, this should be similar. Seem to recall someone mentioning MCT oil marketed as a diluent.

Burning flower gives me anxiety every single time, no matter what kind of weed it is. Edibles are my favorite, but I realized that I don’t get anxiety from concentrates. I’m a long time vaper and deep into the hobby. I build my own coils and make my own juice and I realized I could totally figure out oil.

This was decarbed, which should help with anxiety, but you'll miss the natural terpenes. You can probably find shatter that will cause anxiety. One of the most important factors is time of harvest. Late harvest, amber trichomes, give stonier effects.

Sounds like you should check out the AVS Molecule thread. Gave up canna e-juice long ago for shatter vaped from e-cig coils. More of a one-hitter, though.

 

[hdrsolutions]

That’s how I used to do shatter back in the day. A mechanical mod with a cheap RDA and rolled up stainless mesh wick. Personally I prefer the juice over dabs because I’m kind of a lightweight. 20mgs in an edible has me in a good spot and the oil pen is just so damn convenient.

I don’t have much of a setup for weed related things yet, but I plan on investing more once I get my personal production license. Once I’m growing my own stuff I’ll get a blasting tube and a vacuum pump and look more into making the fancier CO2 and distillate extracts. The only other thing I do somewhat frequently is make butter and I’m really only recently getting back into concentrates.

I may have to try vaping flower again too and see if that gives me anxiety. That was always the tastiest but I’m definitely gonna make lots more juice.

As for why I chose MCT oil, well I just thought it would be a little better suited to cannabis resin than PEG or whatever. I’m still thinking of trying like a few drops of some kind of terpene solution for the next batch.

 

[hdrsolutions]

I wanted to report back now that I’ve gotten deeper into this, in case anyone is interested.

I’ve been doing small runs using 1-2 grams of shatter, and it’s fucking killer. It tastes way better than the oil pens available at the dispensary.

I use the liberty v9 cartridge, which is awesome and inexpensive on eBay. Way better than any prefilled cartridge. There does seem to be quality control issues with the coils, so make sure to test the resistance before you fill it. If the resistance reads between 1.3 and 1.9 ohms, the coil is okay.

My method for preparing the juice is as follows:

A pyrex dish is placed in a hot water bath, with the water barely boiling. I add the shatter, let it melt, and stir frequently. I’d really like a hot plate with a magnetic stir bar, but lacking that my method is to stir the melted shatter with the needle of the syringe I’m using until the melted shatter it’s full of bubbles, and then use a heat gun to pop all the big bubbles (blow dryer probably works fine) once they rise to the top. Then I let it rest, stir some more, heat gun, rinse and repeat.

Once no more bubbles form, I add a quarter ml of MCT oil for each gram of shatter. I think the thicker the oil is the better it hits, at least with the small vape pen setup I’m using. The oil should be so viscous that it’s practically solid when cool. This prevents it from leaking through the coil.

Once your shatter is totally purged and decarbed (no bubbles at all) and you’ve mixed your MCT oil in and thoroughly incorporated it, just suck the juice up and shoot it into your cartridges. Move quickly because it hardens quite fast.

The end product is a dark amber color and it tastes like vaped flower. This shit is better than anything from the dispensary and is extremely easy to make. I may do a video guide at some point. I highly suggest this as a super convenient and discreet way to get stoned.

 

[Deleted Member 1643]

Nice post!

Might have to try MCT oil again, starting with vacuum-purged. How long does does the water bath purge usually take? Do you think popping the bubbles speeds it up? Disposable bamboo skewers work especially well for stirring (a SkunkPharm tip). You can sometimes find those old, Corning hot-plate stirrers on eBay.

Better still, get a faucet aspirator and vacuum chamber. Works great - purging some shatter at -29.5 inHg. Less messy and noisy than a pump.

Never got good results with this type of cartridge. Tried decarbed oil that was a little thinner than you describe. Also, recommend disassembling one of your cartridges, if you haven't. Don't recall if it was V9 or 710, but the ceramic wick was very porous and brittle. Could be a health concern.

If it was a little thinner, might it work in an e-cig RDA or RDTA?

 

[Deleted Member 1643]

Nice post!

Might have to try MCT oil again, starting with vacuum-purged. How long does does the water bath purge usually take? Do you think popping the bubbles speeds it up? Disposable bamboo skewers work especially well for stirring (a SkunkPharm tip). You can sometimes find those old, Corning hot-plate stirrers on eBay.

Better still, get a faucet aspirator and vacuum chamber. Works great - purging some shatter at -29.5 inHg. Less messy and noisy than a pump.

Never got good results with this type of cartridge. Tried decarbed oil that was a little thinner than you describe. Also, recommend disassembling one of your cartridges, if you haven't. Don't recall if it was V9 or 710, but the ceramic wick was very porous and brittle. Could be a health concern.

If it was a little thinner, might it work in an e-cig RDA or RDTA?

 

[jmcrtp]

I wanted to report back now that I’ve gotten deeper into this, in case anyone is interested.

I’ve been doing small runs using 1-2 grams of shatter, and it’s fucking killer. It tastes way better than the oil pens available at the dispensary.

I use the liberty v9 cartridge, which is awesome and inexpensive on eBay. Way better than any prefilled cartridge. There does seem to be quality control issues with the coils, so make sure to test the resistance before you fill it. If the resistance reads between 1.3 and 1.9 ohms, the coil is okay.

My method for preparing the juice is as follows:

A pyrex dish is placed in a hot water bath, with the water barely boiling. I add the shatter, let it melt, and stir frequently. I’d really like a hot plate with a magnetic stir bar, but lacking that my method is to stir the melted shatter with the needle of the syringe I’m using until the melted shatter it’s full of bubbles, and then use a heat gun to pop all the big bubbles (blow dryer probably works fine) once they rise to the top. Then I let it rest, stir some more, heat gun, rinse and repeat.

Once no more bubbles form, I add a quarter ml of MCT oil for each gram of shatter. I think the thicker the oil is the better it hits, at least with the small vape pen setup I’m using. The oil should be so viscous that it’s practically solid when cool. This prevents it from leaking through the coil.

Once your shatter is totally purged and decarbed (no bubbles at all) and you’ve mixed your MCT oil in and thoroughly incorporated it, just suck the juice up and shoot it into your cartridges. Move quickly because it hardens quite fast.

The end product is a dark amber color and it tastes like vaped flower. This shit is better than anything from the dispensary and is extremely easy to make. I may do a video guide at some point. I highly suggest this as a super convenient and discreet way to get stoned.

Thank you for the post, this is great info. What brand MCT oil are you using? Do you ever vary the ratio for different strains or mix everything the same?

 

[TomBstoned]

Thank you for the post, this is great info. What brand MCT oil are you using? Do you ever vary the ratio for different strains or mix everything the same?

Wondering why ppl are using mct oil instead of a pure terpene liquidate. Like 'viscosity' from true terps, or terp cut on eBay from terpene foundry. Perfumers apprentice has one too. Derived from olives. All these mentioned are for bho/co2 distillate/ethanol extracted. There are more too. Some for liquidizing crystalline cannabonids like CBD isolate.., but will also work with other concentrates. I have developed a liquidizer very similar to Tec temper, for isolate..mine cost just a small fraction of the price. It works great too. Pure flavorless terpene liqiudizers can work better and possibly safer than mct.

 

[Vicki]

Wondering why ppl are using mct oil instead of a pure terpene liquidate. Like 'viscosity' from true terps, or terp cut on eBay from terpene foundry. Perfumers apprentice has one too. Derived from olives. All these mentioned are for bho/co2 distillate/ethanol extracted. There are more too. Some for liquidizing crystalline cannabonids like CBD isolate.., but will also work with other concentrates. I have developed a liquidizer very similar to Tec temper, for isolate..mine cost just a small fraction of the price. It works great too. Pure flavorless terpene liqiudizers can work better and possibly safer than mct.

I make my own cartridges, and I only add a drop or two of terpenes, nothing else.

 

[d:\program]

@TomBstoned "I have developed a liquidizer very similar to Tec temper, for isolate..mine cost just a small fraction of the price. It works great too. Pure flavorless terpene liqiudizers can work better and possibly safer than mct."

I'm extremely interested to know your recipe and method. If you don't mind sharing that is. ShatterBatter is too expensive and I'd like to avoid adding flavor if possible.

 

[ClearBlueLou]

Interesting thread...just wanted to put in a word on an earlier comment: the lymphatic system doesn’t “process”, it scavenges. It’s role is to gather up and eliminate metabolic junk and deliver it to the kidneys for filtration and elimination, so any MCT oil that makes it into the lymphatic system likely shouldn’t be there, and will likely get pissed out.

My knowledge of MCT is entirely as a nutritional supplement; while it may be a great solvent, I will refrain from vaping it until there’s actual research. *AS* a nutritional item, it is less harmful that coconut oil (despite the rep, it’s not really a healthy fat), and it’s ‘energy-producing’ action is the result of dietary fats converted to MCT typically getting burned by the body for fuel, rather than stored as fat. “Exogenous” MCT oil has, I believe, no recognized role in health or well-being. If I were going to use it, I would use it for edibles if for some reason butter or olive oil were inappropriate.