How is it made?
Tinctures and oils
Hello again fellow cannabis enthusiasts! Today we’re going to be looking at some of the production methods used to create cannabis-based tinctures and oils, which are two of the most exciting products on the market from a wellness perspective. Not only are they products that can be consumed without burning plant matter and thus compromising your lungs, but they also tend to work faster and be more effective than most edibles.
Tinctures
Tinctures are a super old school method of cannabis consumption that has been around for literally hundreds of years, if not more. Around the beginning of the 20th century, cannabis was considered a medicant. It showed up everywhere from battlefields where it was used to treat wounded soldiers to household medicine cabinets. It wasn’t until the 1930s and 1940s when the development of new medical technology that cannabis products like tinctures were demoted from a regulated medicine to recreational item. So up until then, tinctures were one of the most common forms you could find cannabis in. Now, as we are all aware, just because cannabis was rendered illegal didn’t mean that the production of cannabis products stopped, it just forced people to develop them themselves.
Humanity has been making tinctures from various plants and herbs for years, and the method for doing so is fairly straight forward. Tinctures are created by breaking down and decarboxylating the marijuana flower and then soaking it in high proof alcohol or some other form of solvent such as vegetable glycerin. After soaking for long enough that the desired compounds from the flower (ie. THC) are dissolved into the liquid, the remainder of the broken-down flower is sifted and filtered out, leaving behind a product that is effectively the “essence” of cannabis in liquid form.
Oils
Oil based cannabis products are created using the same essential principles as tinctures in that the goal is to use solvents to extract desired chemical compounds into a concentrated form. The difference between the two comes down to the method used for extraction. While tinctures tend to be created using more basic methods to get what they need, regulated market oils are commonly made using what’s called a CO2 extraction process. This process is much more complicated and involves placing your product in a chamber that is then filled with carbon dioxide and adding pressure to the chamber which results in a reaction that changes the CO2 into a liquid, which then begins to absorb the “essence” of the flower it’s paired with. This is, of course, a very bare bones explanation of one of several methods used to create cannabis-based oils. There are other methods that involve the use of solvents like ethanol and other chemicals, however this method can sometimes leave residue behind and isn’t necessarily the best method for chemical extraction if one is looking for a purer product.
Wow, that’s sciency!
No kidding! The new technology has led to new and more efficient methods for producing bio-available and super effective cannabis products, particularly when it comes to creating tincture and oils. If you’re ever curious about the method used to create the products we carry, just ask!
Has this sparked your curiosity? Come on in and check out some of our oils and tinctures
Find more under our CBD Category HERE
