THC + MCT oil Tincture not potent at all

Modjo84 · Aug 11, 2020

Hello everyone

I decided to give tinctures a go and I didn't succeed as planned.

I made 2 batches

First batch: I Decarbed 35g of trim+bud in a small oven (@ 250F using an oven thermometer) which smoked the weed 10 mins in (im guessing due to the size of the oven), I took it out of the oven let it rest and put it back in for 10 more mins. I added the "decarbed" material + 2 cups of MCT oil and sunflower lecithin to my Magic Butter Machine and clicked 160f 8 hours.

The tincutre taken sublingually had 0 effect on me

Second batch: I Decarbed 35g of trim+bud in a bigger oven @250F for 30 mins then an additional 5 mins. The buds didnt smoke, they turned light brown/golden brown I thought "the perfect decarb". Into the Magical butter machine + 2 cups MCT oil and the lecithin. 160f for 4 hours.

The tincture taken sublingually 0 effect on me

I'm clearly messing up my decarbing process.
I have 4 cups of MCT+ non activated THC

Is there any way I can heat my batches using water or whatever to activate the THC?
Are tinctures not that strong? (I have a v high tolerance)
Have all my precious buds gone to waste?

Any advice will help.
Thanks

BobThe420Builder · Aug 11, 2020

Decarb takes like 45min

What's mct oil

Easyday20 · Aug 11, 2020

I would use coconut oil. Or make a tincture with alcohol. I use a magical butter also. This is coconut oil i used in gummies. They are small but powerful

CannaOnerStar · Aug 11, 2020

Easyday20 said:
I would use coconut oil. Or make a tincture with alcohol. I use a magical butter also. This is coconut oil i used in gummies. They are small but powerfulView attachment 4650275 View attachment 4650277 View attachment 4650278

MCT is sort of purified coconut oil that only has medium long fats in it. It absorbs THC even better than basic coconut oil if i remember right

SoCal65 · Aug 20, 2020

Modjo84 said:
Hello everyone

I decided to give tinctures a go and I didn't succeed as planned.

The tincture taken sublingually 0 effect on me

I'm clearly messing up my decarbing process.
I have 4 cups of MCT+ non activated THC

Have all my precious buds gone to waste?

Any advice will help.
Thanks

How much tincture are you ingesting? Are you taking at least 1 to 1.5 ML? If you aren't feeling it, then just increase you dosage until you get an effect. I make smaller batches, using 8 grams flower and 2oz avocado oil, which is really close to your ratio of 35 grams to 2 cups you are using. A 1-1/4 ML dose does it for me.

Apalchen · Aug 20, 2020

SoCal65 said:
How much tincture are you ingesting? Are you taking at least 1 to 1.5 ML? If you aren't feeling it, then just increase you dosage until you get an effect. I make smaller batches, using 8 grams flower and 2oz avocado oil, which is really close to your ratio of 35 grams to 2 cups you are using. A 1-1/4 ML dose does it for me.

He is using cups as a measurement not ounces.

I can't do the math right now but id say you just added way too much MCT oil. I had a similar mistake only the other direction and put the mix in capsules.

The results were so strong they would make a seasoned smoker miserable. Was not enjoyable at all.

I think maybe you mixed in cups of oil instead of ounces.

The best way to make tinctures or edibles in general is with concentrate. Decarbing concentrate is easier as you can visually see when it's done by watching the bubbles. It also mixes better with a small amount of whatever oil your cutting it with. I do think MCT is a good one, but I'd say you did way too much MCT oil.

Good news is it's not wasted you just need to take more.

Apalchen · Aug 20, 2020

Disclaimer: this could be completely wrong but I've tried to show how I got there. I'm not the best at math but I think this is right.

For the sake of trying to do the math to see we are gonna say that .25 milliliters is the same as .25 grams. (Alot of people sell concentrate in one millileter syringe claiming it's a gram so should be close). We will also say your herb was 25% THC for simple math and I doubt it's higher than that.

So every 4 grams of bud would theoretically be 1 gram of THC. .

So let's say every 4 grams has 1 gram.
35÷4= 8.75 total grams of THC

I'm now gonna minus 25% from 8.7 because of losses in the process. You never get it all.

Total THC would be 6.5 grams (this number seems a bit higher than I figured at this point)

So 6.5 milliliters of THC mixed with 473 millileter(2 cups) worth of MCT oil.

That would be 6500 mg total THC but you added 473 ml of cut.

So 6.5 +473= 479.5 ml of total tincture.

6500mg of thc ÷479.5 total tincture = 13.5mg of THC per millileter.

1 tea spoon should have about 67.5 mg of THC and prob be a good dose depending on tolerance.

Also remember I estimated your bud at 25% THC if it wasnt top shelf bud your mixture is likely weaker than what I came up with.

Waku P · Oct 5, 2020

Hi there I've also tried 7g of decarbed bud with 250ml of MCT oil, also feels nothing, I wonder if I can add more bud into the already infused MCT oil or not? to reinfuse more! But I'm also afraid It might still feel nothing, and all those new herb I put in will just all go to waste.
I did butter and coconut oil before it all came out pretty potent, but the mct recipe..... failed

Rayi · Oct 5, 2020

You can strain the MTC oil and add more buds. Sort of a double infusion. Trying to add too much bud may not work. The bud may not be covered and may absorb too much MTC

Waku P · Oct 7, 2020

Rayi said:
You can strain the MTC oil and add more buds. Sort of a double infusion. Trying to add too much bud may not work. The bud may not be covered and may absorb too much MTC

Thanks I'll give it a try

SoCal65 · Oct 14, 2020

Waku P said:
Hi there I've also tried 7g of decarbed bud with 250ml of MCT oil, also feels nothing, I wonder if I can add more bud into the already infused MCT oil or not? to reinfuse more! But I'm also afraid It might still feel nothing, and all those new herb I put in will just all go to waste.
I did butter and coconut oil before it all came out pretty potent, but the mct recipe..... failed

You just made it too weak. There could be a few reasons; your decarb method was inefficient, your ratios are off. This is a very good read: https://ardentcannabis.com/blog/how-to-infuse-cannabis/

SoCal65 · Oct 14, 2020

Also, here's the math:

If your cannabis has a 20% THC count
20% = 20.0
Move the decimal place one place to the right
20.0 = 200
200 mg THC per gram

If you had 7 grams of 20% THC decarbed flower, then it had a potential of 1,400mg of THC. Take out 20% loss due to inefficiency in your infusion, you are left with 1,120mg THC. Infuse that into 250ml of MCT, then you have around 4.5mg of THC per 1ml of oil. For most people, that's just too weak if you are taking a 1ml dose.

Waku P · Oct 14, 2020

Wow thats very detailed! I think I will add more cannabis to reinfuse the oil and see how it turn out! Thank you ^_^

SoCal65 · Oct 14, 2020

Waku P said:
Wow thats very detailed! I think I will add more cannabis to reinfuse the oil and see how it turn out! Thank you ^_^

You bet. Just as an FYI, I usually infuse 4 grams of decarbed flower per 1 oz of EVOO

I'm using 25% THC flower. 4 grams = 1,000mg potential THC. I'm also only figuring a 10% loss, since I'm using a Nova with EVOO. That leaves me with 900mg THC per 1oz of oil. There are 29.5ml in 1oz. Which means, 30mg THC / 1ml of oil. One to 1-1/4 ml is a good dose for me. YMMV.

Waku P · Oct 25, 2020

SoCal65 said:
You bet. Just as an FYI, I usually infuse 4 grams of decarbed flower per 1 oz of EVOO

I'm using 25% THC flower. 4 grams = 1,000mg potential THC. I'm also only figuring a 10% loss, since I'm using a Nova with EVOO. That leaves me with 900mg THC per 1oz of oil. There are 29.5ml in 1oz. Which means, 30mg THC / 1ml of oil. One to 1-1/4 ml is a good dose for me. YMMV.

Hi, I've tried reinfused another 7g of cannabis into the same MCT oil, it definitely got a very strong smell, but somehow still not potent....
I use the same method same decarbed herb as I infused the coconut oil, thought it well succeed like the coconut oil but...Nope!!
Anyways just to give you an update of my failure..T_T

macsnax · Oct 25, 2020

Waku P said:
Hi, I've tried reinfused another 7g of cannabis into the same MCT oil, it definitely got a very strong smell, but somehow still not potent....
I use the same method same decarbed herb as I infused the coconut oil, thought it well succeed like the coconut oil but...Nope!!
Anyways just to give you an update of my failure..T_T

It's your decarb process, your cooking off the thc bro. If it smoked in the oven, there went all the good stuff. Mct oil is a really good carrier oil fyi. Try 225-230 for 30 min

Waku P · Oct 26, 2020

macsnax said:
It's your decarb process, your cooking off the thc bro. If it smoked in the oven, there went all the good stuff. Mct oil is a really good carrier oil fyi. Try 225-230 for 30 min

I use the same decarbed herb in my coconut oil and it turn out very potent, maybe I should just start everything all over again , new herb and new mct.

macsnax · Oct 26, 2020

Waku P said:
I use the same decarbed herb in my coconut oil and it turn out very potent, maybe I should just start everything all over again , new herb and new mct.

I would, I've used a handful of methods over the years until I settled on decarbing oil rather than buds. Seems to be a more consistent method for me.