Pain Relief ABV Massage Oil

[Enchantre]

By request, here is my recipe for ABV oil:

I take a jar (quart will work, I usually use a pint jar), fill it half-way with finely-ground abv. Or, just the coarse ABV... you get cleaner oil with coarse ABV.
I use coconut oil. Get it liquid, then slowly pour/stir it in the ABV, until you have almost filled the jar. Leave a good inch or two of head room.

Set in the crockpot on a trivet, with enough hot water to come up to the oil line in the jar. Set crockpot to Low, and let simmer for about 12 hours. Turn off, let cool overnight/12 hours, then turn on for another 12. I repeat this cycle (sometimes 8 hours, sometimes 18...) for at least 3 days, more often 4 or 5. I imagine a week would be great, if you can spare the time/crockpot/smell. Oh, yes, you will get some lovely aroma, so there is that to consider. I like it, and it is not an issue where we live. Check that water level once in awhile. I usually never have to add any, but be safe.

When you are done simmering it, after a simmer cycle, while it is still fairly warm and liquid, strain through (best) a jelly bag. Other options are a gold coffee filter or other fine wire strainer, or cheesecloth. I find that paper coffee filters tend to seal themselves shut with the oil, so go with fabric/mesh if possible. I would imagine hosiery would work, if you had an old knee-hi to sacrifice.

Decant into wide-mouth jars for use. I also will add essential oils, like lavender, frankincense, or Deep Blue from DoTerra. Rub on skin as desired.

 

[thesoloman]

for straining something like this, i use a french press it works excellently, just thought i would share this. to get all the goodies out get rid of the lid so you can push all the way to the bottom.

 

[Enchantre]

I haven't tried a french press yet, but if I ever get a quart's worth of ABV, I will.

I forgot to mention that I do put a LID on the jar before I simmer it in the crockpot! I use the regular two piece lids, or another metal lid that will fit. It's to keep the steam moisture out of the oil. Doesn't have to be, and probably shouldn't be, screwed on tight.

 

[Jeremy Driscoll]

Well I am trying. I have a crock pot but it seems to not get past warm, so I am using a big pot instead. And the stove is on medium just below boiling. I am using the same glass jar with the metal lid coco oil came in. And I used a coffee grinder to make it into a powder. I have the lid on tight, and a washcloth over it. The wash cloth is to make sure that the entire jar is warm all around even the part floating out of water. And the wash cloth on the jar makes it push more in to the water.

I was going to do this for only 12 hours but I see from your post that it is better to do it for 3 days?

I am worried I do not have enough oil is that possible? It seems kind of thick. Is it supposed to be like pancake mix thick or less or more thick? Is it a chance that this will not work if the water is to hot?

 

[FlyingLow]

how effective is massage oil? I have severe back pain from a car injury, and no topical treatments seem to help

 

[Mr. Gweilo 420]

Guys I have had some success recently with something similar. I took 5gs of Nepalese hash and extracted it into extra virgin Coconut oil. Its not my first attempt but usually I just cook with the extraction. This time I did cook but saved some for my back pain. I have been taking a little and just rubbing it all over my most painful areas.
In my view there is no question that it works. It seems to work more as a muscle-relaxant than an opiate. But I have to say it provides some relief. I applied some last night and also found that by the next morning my pain had decreased.
I think just using coconut oil by itself offers benefits but when infused with cannabis it is an excellent option for managing pain (to some extent anyway).

 

[Jeremy Driscoll]

Hope I am doing, it right. I am afraid I might f it up. Can the OP answer, my question, I am really nervous.

 

[Enchantre]

Hey

Yes, it seems to work for back pain. I make it for my hubby's muscle spasms from his ruptured disk injury (he's as healed as he'll get medically. now it's managing pain), and he loves it. Uses very little, and it works for him. I use it for arthritis and hip pain.

I hope you have something UNDER the jar too, Jeremy. It might break otherwise.
I believe that you can get great results in just one day of cooking... I prefer an incredibly strong oil, so I just let it simmer most of a week, as it isn't in my way or inconvenient. I do shake/swirl the jar every day, and I only have the crock on for 12 hrs at a time (I don't cook it overnight). When I am finally ready to deal with the mess of filtering it, usually the next weekend (see how I do that? ), I filter into another jar, and feel guilty as hell about throwing out the leavings (but! but! but....).

It's not a science, it is an art. You gotta just try it yourself.

how effective is massage oil? I have severe back pain from a car injury, and no topical treatments seem to help

I just know it works for my hubby's back, he ruptured a disk several years ago, and has residual nerve pain.

Jeremy, one day is probably enough. Give it a try. Literally - stick your finger in it, rub it on something that hurts, and see if it helps. If it does, go ahead and filter it. Otherwise, try a little longer.
I usually do longer for a couple of reasons - I want it max strong, and I want to only deal with it on weekends... so, I start it on Sunday, might filter it on... saturday? maybe.

 

[Jeremy Driscoll]

Well it's my second day, a little of the stuff got out of the jar, even though it was sealed on as tight as can be, I am using a oven mitten for a buffer. I think I will, use it for brownies. From now I am, just going to keep it standing up and not floating, I see no purpose in it floating when stuff can still come out. it is a 14 oz jar, and is only filled up with everything in it to 1/4 full. I have enough to do almost a jars worth, but this is my first time so it is practice. I will show pictures when it is done, if anyone wants to see them that is.

 

[Lo]

I've never floated the jar myself. I always keep it upright. I also don't extract for days but everyone has their methods and there is no correct answer, many methods work.

I'm not sure about your stove but on medium mine would be too high. You want to keep warm but not have it get really hot. I've taken temp before when extracting and found my oil to hover around 180-200 F.

 

[Jeremy Driscoll]

Does filtering while hot, make it less effective in getting thc off the plant and on to the oil???

 

[Enchantre]

Filtering while warm just makes it filter faster. It could help more oil out of the ABV, but I end up squeezing the filter bag anyway.

 

[Lo]

I also filter while still hot/warm, it is much easier to get the oil to flow. I use nylon baskets or very fine mesh stainless strainers. I use the back of a spoon to press as much oil out as I can.

 

[Jeremy Driscoll]

I didn't take pictures, because my phones malfunctioning. But in the end, after separating the oil from the plant, I had about enough plant to be more than my fist and about 1 4th cup of oil to show for it, the mix less thick then pancake batter.

 

[ridethespiral]

Early January of this year, I sprained my thumb so bad that a ligament ripped a chunk of bone off. Had a cast on for a while, which they removed and I wore a "half cast" (just a 15 x 30 cm piece of fibreglass / cotton padding) held on with a tensor bandage for almost another month. Here I am five months later and I still have pain in two of the joints of my thumb. I'm going to try rub some of the avb coconut oil I made into it and see how I feel when I play the bass guitar in a few hours. I'll be sure to give an update ... I noticed that the capsules I made (1mL oil in each) have an AMAZING effect on the pain. Two of them and I just barely feel stoned, more content than anything, but I couldn't believe how much less my thumb was bothering me.

 

[Jeremy Driscoll]

I'll do it again. And this time post pictures hopefully.

 

[Qatmaster]

Guys I have had some success recently with something similar. I took 5gs of Nepalese hash and extracted it into extra virgin Coconut oil. Its not my first attempt but usually I just cook with the extraction. This time I did cook but saved some for my back pain. I have been taking a little and just rubbing it all over my most painful areas.
In my view there is no question that it works. It seems to work more as a muscle-relaxant than an opiate. But I have to say it provides some relief. I applied some last night and also found that by the next morning my pain had decreased.
I think just using coconut oil by itself offers benefits but when infused with cannabis it is an excellent option for managing pain (to some extent anyway).

I was recently farting around in my kitchen with my abv, trying for medibles (stuff to eat and put on other edible stuff), and took about an ounce of mixed (various strains of s, h, and i -- no t -- and in that order, ie more sativa than indica) medical abv into 16 oz of cocout oil for the first time. It's lovely, nearly avocado colored. Very nicely tinted, tastes great, and just beautiful stuff! I was showing it to a friend who has multiple problems, including untreated compression fractures at T1 and the sacral ala area (long story). She got some on her fingers and said, hmmm. Will this help with pain topically? while she licked it off. We applied a small amount right on top of the worst hurting vertebra, and went on with our discussion.

Ten minutes later, she said, "goddamn. I do not hurt." This from someone who's spent more of 2014 in hospital than house! We applied a goodly amount to the same area before she left, and she called the next morning to tell me that she had slept through the night for the first time in months. She has a container of her own now, and is applying it carefully and sparingly (I told her it was easy to make and that she should damned well use it) every four hours! She's on day 3 now, and is singing my oil's praises!

I told her as I tell you guys now: don't thank ME, thank FUCKCOMBUSTION! Now, my ABV is pretty damned strong, since I vape at looow temps (140c and 160c are my faves). It mostly comes from my Volcano, after numerous bags full, sometimes as high as 190, rarely higher. My abv kicks butt. Yeah, I know I could vape it more and get more "stuff" out of it in my lungs, but I vape til I don't want to vape (taste is gone, higher temps don't help, peppery/popcorn flavor is dominant), then it's abv. and I use it all. Even the dried cake stays in the fridge till I bathe next... then it goes down the drain, so to speak... I have had to seriously "dilute" some of my recipes because of that. I was just SURE abv couldn't have anything much in it. Then I made my first batch of all abv butter, and a friend had a 12 hour acid trip off a sliver of it. I now halve my abv content, and I don't always add kief, the way I did when I was learning. I wasted so much dope coz I didn't believe it was possible for THAT much thc/go power to be left after vaping. I now believe.

I am also now separating my abv into sativa/hybrid (s/h) and indica (i) jars. What trash (t) I have gets used for stuff like e-juice experiments and salves and the like. I'm ready to get a bit more specific, tho, so sorting my abv into up and down, more or less, should give me yet more control over my weird life and the hold my disability has on me. I can almost sleep at night like other people do, if I have enough sativa and indica to vape and then reclaim. And I can put the "bees in the opera glove" on my left arm to "sleep", if you will, with the coconut oil. When the pain starts (bees wake up), if I rub the coconut oil on lightly, the pain just fades slowly. I love it. It is SO validating to read everyone else's stories here! Thank you so much for sharing!

I'm about to quit using any trash, though. I've seen too much difference in the end product to waste my time with junk pot anymore, much less mixed mmj. The schwag was around when I couldn't afford much medical, and that was its sole value. I turned most of it into kiefy flour and used it with my medical remains, and that was fairly good, so long as the trash didn't occupy more than 40% of the recipe's weed. I've got access to slightly more medicinal herb than I did, and I also can tell the diff now, with accumulated experience. I'm refining my discernment of how this mmj miracle works in my life, and boy is coconut oil helpful in the process. Anybody on the fence should give it a try. You can't fuck it up without being really rilly stoopid. It's less complicated than making a cake from scratch, and my mom used to do that every two or three days like clockwork. Like Mr. G says, the equipment does most of the work.

For anyone new or kinda new to this process, you should know I'm still learning, I don't have a chemistry degree or anything, but I DO have YouTube, and a remote control. While creativity is extremely useful in this process, following steps others have trod many times is the lazy folks' way out of hard work. I watched vid after vid until I could see the difference in techniques, and then I didn't have to wonder any more why this or how that. I highly recommend a weekend in bed with your favorite vapes, the remote and a pad of paper to take notes. Get Youtube streaming in there and start yer schoolin!

Sincerely, I personally knew butt nothing a year ago -- I've only been vaping since December 2013. I consider myself fairly expert now, because like anyone else learning anything else, I have the opportunity to stand on the shoulders of giants: those who came before and those who DO have chemistry degrees and those who've spent years and decades at this cooking up your pot stuff. Every time I take a puff of my home-made abv-brewed vape juice I like to call "fruit salad", I thank every one of you all over again. Just keep working at it, Jeremy (and all of you unnamed others out there trying to do the same)! It's SO worth it! Thanks, You Tube friends, for failing so well and so often and so visibly. We learn SO much more from failure than success! And thanks FC friends for knowing so much more than the general vaping public!

 

[syrupy]

So I've got my first batch of infused coconut oil, simmering 8 hrs/day for 14 days. It seems plenty strong, but the color is a bit dark. Is there anything I can add to lighten the color? I read that titanium dioxide is put in makeup to lighten the color. I'm hoping someone knows of something a little more natural, or if ti powder is safe.

 

[Qatmaster]

So far as I know, the only way to get "rid" of the color is to add more coconut oil. You have made coconut oil concentrate, imho. That's not bad, it's just a bit of overkill. Now take that oil, divide it in thirds, and add a half a bottle of plain old coconut oil to your third of concentrate. See how you like it.

Be careful. I made some avocado colored butter and asked a friend to try it. He sliced off a fingernail sized sliver, ate it, and had a twelve hour "acid-like trip" that was inconvenient, work-wise. He wasn't happy at all. He wasn't mad at me, he just felt blind-sided and very wary of any future tests. I took the remainder of that butter, did what I suggested to you (added another pound of butter to it), and the resulting color has become my standard of determining strength of concoction.

I have learned a color scale with light yellowish green at one end for the acid-trip survivor, and avocado-ish at the other end for real pain and 17 syllable diagnoses... Anything avocado colored has been, for me, so far, very very strong and in need of dilution to be used for any but the strongest tolerance or condition of pain or something. The coconut oil I made recently that was too strong for me to eat is an incredibly effective salve for that opiod tolerant friend with untreated compression fractures. The coconut oil stopped her pain in ten minutes. She took home a half a bottle. I diluted the other half for me.

So before you go messing with your color consider its implications. Test it on yourself. Try a very small measured amount (just a teaspoon dipped in the concoction and licked off is a good start. let the excess drip back into the jar before you lick it off. Just a light coating on the spoon is all you want. Or you could apply some topically to test its strength -- note your pain level and the time to find out how well it works). And make sure you have the next few hours free, lest you have made Bomb Juice for yourself. Again, not a bad thing, you just want to know. You might have fifty or sixty "servings" if your product is properly diluted, rather than twenty "servings" of overkill. I certainly did that with my first couple of batches. It was just flat overkill. Too much pot to too little liquid/oil. I just didn't believe that eating it could really be all that. And then I started forgetting to take my meds (not a good thing in the short term)... It makes a sincere difference, but I was slow to come to the realization.

On top of that, I was convinced ABV was secretly an in-joke (re-using mmj? I don't care HOW strong it is, that's a stupid sounding idea on the surface of it), but at the prices I was paying, if there was a way to reuse something, I wasn't gonna skip it. Same with Everclear for cleanup... Boy was I a dumb ass (as Bogart likes to say)! I'm starting now to make salves and vape juice for christmas presents! Make 'em now, along with some vape juice (same process, diff liquid and ratios), and letting them steep until December. The older my first batch of vape juice gets, the stronger it is. The butter is gone too fast to determine if that's true, but the vape juice is aging very very well, as are my Everclear tinctures. Isn't this a marvelous hobby?

 

[Qatmaster]

Early January of this year, I sprained my thumb so bad that a ligament ripped a chunk of bone off. Had a cast on for a while, which they removed and I wore a "half cast" (just a 15 x 30 cm piece of fibreglass / cotton padding) held on with a tensor bandage for almost another month. Here I am five months later and I still have pain in two of the joints of my thumb. I'm going to try rub some of the avb coconut oil I made into it and see how I feel when I play the bass guitar in a few hours. I'll be sure to give an update ... I noticed that the capsules I made (1mL oil in each) have an AMAZING effect on the pain. Two of them and I just barely feel stoned, more content than anything, but I couldn't believe how much less my thumb was bothering me.

Hey

Yes, it seems to work for back pain. I make it for my hubby's muscle spasms from his ruptured disk injury (he's as healed as he'll get medically. now it's managing pain), and he loves it. Uses very little, and it works for him. I use it for arthritis and hip pain.

I hope you have something UNDER the jar too, Jeremy. It might break otherwise.
I believe that you can get great results in just one day of cooking... I prefer an incredibly strong oil, so I just let it simmer most of a week, as it isn't in my way or inconvenient. I do shake/swirl the jar every day, and I only have the crock on for 12 hrs at a time (I don't cook it overnight). When I am finally ready to deal with the mess of filtering it, usually the next weekend (see how I do that? ), I filter into another jar, and feel guilty as hell about throwing out the leavings (but! but! but....).

It's not a science, it is an art. You gotta just try it yourself.

Ride...: I've been simmering my coconut and butter concoctions a maximum of 12 hours. I just didn't see any more effect, and my butter/coconut oil started evaporating after a while. Since the color was dark, and that turned out good, I just quit when I see the product turn a certain shade of green that I can't possibly describe, but you will recognize when you see it. It's the color of the pot that went into it, almost. That's when it's strong and concentrated enough that you can dilute it later without necessarily cooking it any further.

Enchantre, I've been using a different system than you. NOT original, not my idea at all. Several ppl on You Tube have perfected this system or maybe it's Cooking 101 for chefs, idk. I do know it works, and I take NO credit.

I've been making quids, little cheesecloth-wrapped pot burritos that I can remove from the liquid easily, drain, re-use once, maybe twice depending, and my potato ricer gets every last drop of loose liquid out, after which I then drop the still wrapped quid into a glass in my fridge or diretly into my bath. It gets every last spectilimeter of goodies out of my "cake". I put it in a clean piece of cheesecloth if it's butter and wrap it up like a lil burrito again, tie it in three or four places with thread, and into the bath it goes. No waste, no filtering, no waiting and jiggling the coffee filters, etc, whatever system gets used. I really like working with the quid system. Some call the bundle a sashet. I'm not sure which term is correct, or if they both are, but the idea is a real winner, probably another chef's trick. Extremely effective, IF made of the correct material.

I recently ran out of cheesecloth, and being very stoned at the time, thought it intelligent to cut off some t-shirt material for my next butter make. You guessed it. The cloth soaked up all the butter, so yield was down. I put it in a glass in the fridge to think about it. I got the above referenced potato ricer, made MORE ghee, dropped the tshirt pieces in until they melted all the oil contained there in, and while they were hot, I riced the hell out of em. Tied it all back up and bathed in it.

Then I got another bright idea. I took an old pillowcase that was thin enough to watch tv thru. I cut a triangular piece off each closed end, and made the inner points of the triangles very long, kind of ears, to tie off the bundle. Worked like a CHARM! AND it held very little of my liquid, and it squashed nicely and it also drained nicely in the potato ricer. So then I bundle that back up for baths now, do my baths, and rinse them out afterwards and use them again! Somebody should start a cottage industry of re-usable thin cloth quid baskets made so they can be tied tightly and no herbal matter gets out, but liquids get in.

I now egotistically assume nobody else has had that idea before me, and I turn that idea loose into the universe to get born, like the Urban Extremophile Philosopher that I am: just send me a set or two and let me test them, please. You can have the products and money. I just want a couple of sets for me, oh ok, maybe just 1% of worldwide revenues. Go get rich, somebody. What, you still reading? There's money to be made! Vape some sativa! Get hopping!

 

[thesoloman]

Ok so i had an idea to make a abv topical this morning, i started doing a iso rinse, evaped iso over hot water, then i mixed the hash with bees wax and coconut oil, poured in a few drops of tea tree oil for the scent, and double boiled it a little longer. Then i removed from heat and put into ice bath while i mixed it steadally so it would be a nice consistancey.

 

[Qatmaster]

Ok so i had an idea to make a abv topical this morning, i started doing a iso rinse, evaped iso over hot water, then i mixed the hash with bees wax and coconut oil, poured in a few drops of tea tree oil for the scent, and double boiled it a little longer. Then i removed from heat and put into ice bath while i mixed it steadally so it would be a nice consistancey.

Adding some glycerin would thin it up a tiny bit yet keep it moist and not runny. Altho I think the time to add it would have been while it was still hot. Not sure on that. I first used some herb in glycerin leftover from a batch of vape juice. It wasn't even meant to be topical. But my friend's back was hurting really bad right over that broken T1, and I wanted to help. So I took a fingerful of leftover vape juice, rubbed it on her vertebra, and ten minutes later, she had no pain. Since I had so little of the leftover glycerin mix, I gave her some cocopot oil instead, and she's been applying IT topically with the same results. And this is JUST coconut oil with abv, an ounce abv to 16 oz coconut oil, simmered together (mmj/abv in quid) for 12 hours. It was so strong I spent two days sedated from eating it like regular pot butter I'd been making. So I ended up diluting the remaining 8 oz with another 6 oz of plain coconut oil, and now it's the "right" color for me. It's a light avocado color, very light, but not quite pastel green/avocado. Just light and pretty. I think if I took mine as is and mixed it like you have yours, I would have a very nice pain-killing balm. Does anybody know if topical application shows up in tests? I have a friend who doesn't have his med card who is injured bad enuf to need it, and I'd like to try the salve on him. He's afraid he'll pop dirty on a test, tho. Anybody know what's up with topical application?

 

[thesoloman]

It turned out to be the perfect consistency.
I let my mother try some, didn't tell her what was in it, just that it would help with pain.
Today i asked her how she liked it and she informed me that she was amazed at how well it worked. she had complete relief where i applied it, and still had pain in the areas that i didn't.
When she found out what was in it, she thought it was awesome.
Also gave some to my girlfriend to try, and she also experienced a soothing pain-free day, and she said it moisturized her skin nicely, while completely removing the pain.

 

[Maryjane Clurricane]

Thanks for all the great info!

Soloman, did your mother feel any euphoric effect or any high from the topical lotion?

I want to make some for a friend, but he abstains from all drugs and alcohol and is worried that it will ruin his sobriety. Does anyone know what effect it seems to have, other than pain relief, on those who normally do not partake in any form?

 

[thesoloman]

Thanks for all the great info!

Soloman, did your mother feel any euphoric effect or any high from the topical lotion?

I want to make some for a friend, but he abstains from all drugs and alcohol and is worried that it will ruin his sobriety. Does anyone know what effect it seems to have, other than pain relief, on those who normally do not partake in any form?

My mother did not report any high or euphoric effects, just pain relief, i cannot say for sure how your friend will react, but i highly doubt that it would get him high at all.
and just a side note,
I have been heating my coconut oil, beeswax, hash, and adding fresh aloe veara gel/juice as the mixture cools. you will want to stir the crap out of it while it cools.