Oral use - Cannabutter/brownies/capsules any difference in effects?

[WrtngCocaineTutorial]

Hi,

Does anyone think there'd be a difference in the effects of oral cannabis if it was grind up and put in gelatin capsules, instead of making brownies/cannabutter etc?

[Richi]

The key difference is that the stomach has a hard time digesting and absorbing the THC from raw plant matter.

Cooking marijuana in fat (such as butter or oil) allows the THC to become 'trapped' in little fat bubbles, so to speak, and thus it is absorbed through the lipid barrier quite efficiently once your stomach acids begin to break down the fat.

Essentially, consuming marijuana that has been prepared with fat is much more efficient than if it were not prepared with fat.

[WrtngCocaineTutorial]

Thanks! Do you know if cannabutter expires quickly (in terms of effects)?

[Richi]

If stored in a fridge it will have the same shelf-life as regular butter. The THC will be stuck inside with no where to go...

[Lethargy]

Friends of ours have had frozen cannabutter that remained just as potent several months later. SWIM tells us that every time he has made edibles either using premade cannabutter or else mixing the herb in with fats the resulting products have remained fully potent for the entire shelf-life of the product.

(Brownies gave a good stone even after stale, ditto cookies, ditto firecrackers etc.)

Possibly the THC remains even after the product goes bad, but nobody we know would want to eat rancid butter or moldy cookies.

[WrtngCocaineTutorial]

thanks for the replies. I guess fully saturated butter is the way to go....?

[Raw-Beets]

In SWIR-B's experience vegetable oil actually works better than butter. They will both work, but the higher boiling point of veggie oil allows hotter temperatures to be used. A little google searching makes me think that vegetable oil boils around 200 degrees C, while butter has water in it so it boils at a temperature much closer to 100 degrees C. Also, once all the water boils out butter will burn. My cat told me that good method is to get a brownie mix which calls for vegetable oil and cook finely ground/powdered cannabis in the amount of oil called for on a stove on medium heat for about 20 minutes or until the cannabis in the oil feels kind of crispy with a fork. Then my cat said to take the oil off the stove and let it sit for a while or put the pot/pan in cold water for a bit. This step is to cool the oil down enough so that it can be used in the brownie mix recipe without cooking the ingredients in a the mixing bowl. The oil is then used as called for in the recipe.

Notes:
-The oil really does not need to be strained of cannabis. The baking probably helps extract any remaining cannabinoids. The taste is fine also.
-My cat says a half ounce is a good amount of mid grade buds to use in this recipe and this will produce in the ballpark of 80 mild doses, 50 moderate doses, 30 strong doses or 15 debilitatingly strong doses.

[Richi]

Originally Posted by Raw-Beets

In SWIR-B's experience vegetable oil actually works better than butter. They will both work, but the higher boiling point of veggie oil allows hotter temperatures to be used. A little google searching makes me think that vegetable oil boils around 200 degrees C, while butter has water in it so it boils at a temperature much closer to 100 degrees C.

I would assume vegetable oil boils at a much higher temperature, because it doesn't start to burn at regular cooking temperatures.

Either way, one shouldn't need to boil the vegetable oil, butter, or anything else for that matter when cooking with marijuana. If one cooks above THC's boiling temperature, they risk losing precious molecules that get excited into a vapor form.

[WrtngCocaineTutorial]

Originally Posted by Richi

I would assume vegetable oil boils at a much higher temperature, because it doesn't start to burn at regular cooking temperatures.

Either way, one shouldn't need to boil the vegetable oil, butter, or anything else for that matter when cooking with marijuana. If one cooks above THC's boiling temperature, they risk losing precious molecules that get excited into a vapor form.

good point richi

THC Boiling point = 200 °C (392 °F)

[Raw-Beets]

I should have clarified that, my cat certainly does not heat up the vegetable oil to boiling point, but the temperature is well above the boiling point of water because my cat splashs a little water off his paws into the oil to see if it splatters. When it does he adds his catnip substitute.

[WrtngCocaineTutorial]

how hot does THC need to be to melt, and thereby mix with the butter?
I have looked in Erowid, but there was no data on 'melting point'

[Lobsang]

Yeah...One must heat pot to make it effective. But SWIM has never understood eating it. SWIM just never felt good doing that. Just tired. But now really high. He tried many times. Came to the conclusion he was just wasting it. So I guess people react differently to it..

[Raw-Beets]

I searched the web and could not find a specific melting point, or melting range, for THC. The solubility of a solute generally increases with increased temperature though. Butter can be a very effective solvent for making cannabis food, my cat always complains that it needs to be cooked for a longer time.
Oh, and to SWILobsang, try my cats method of making weed brownies. If you don't have a half ounce you can proportionally adjust the dosage. SWIM never got high off of weed food before trying that.
Peace.

[Richi]

Originally Posted by Lobsang

Yeah...One must heat pot to make it effective. But SWIM has never understood eating it.

THC is soluble in fats at room temperature. Heating it up speeds up the process, but it does not need to be 'activated' to be effective.

Originally Posted by Raw-Beets

I searched the web and could not find a specific melting point, or melting range, for THC. The solubility of a solute generally increases with increased temperature though.

I would assume that this is in part due to the fact that it is a semi-solid, maybe oily like substance at room temperature, but I have never seen pure THC. More research needs to be done.

Dronabinol, synthetic THC, is a liquid (oil) at room temperature.

[Lobsang]

THC is soluble in fats at room temperature. Heating it up speeds up the process, but it does not need to be 'activated' to be effective.

Well I always assumed that the heating made the THC more available for absorbtion to the body by releasing it from the plant. But I am no expert in it or anything. But SWIM says subjectively it seems more powerful after heating. Even though SWIM has never been a fan of it being taken this way.

[croak]

Potent capsules can be made by, first, decarboxylizing the cannabis by putting it in a canning jar and steaming it over boiling water in a covered pot for an hour and twenty minutes or so. Then, take the cannabis and patiently rub it through a very fine screen (forty/inch mesh). Finally add enough vegetable oil to this flour to make a sticky paste and put it into gel caps. Voila, the world's smallest pot brownie!