Ganja Guides

How to Make Cannabis Tincture: Recipe and Guide

heart shaped tincture drops

Using cannabis tincture is a great way to get high without the smoke or complicated steps of baking edibles. With just some grain alcohol and your favorite weed strain, you’re already a few steps away from creating a weed tincture which absorbs lots of THC. Making marijuana tincture is so easy and worth the wait. 

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Cannabis Tincture Recipe 

With this recipe, you can assure there’s no additives or stale weed in your product. Plus, you only need to take a few drops to feel the effects of this potent and euphoric medicine! This tincture does contain alcohol, so keep this in mind if you avoid or are sensitive to alcohol. 

Supplies

  • 1 ounce cannabis 
  • Weed grinder 
  • 1 bottle Everclear alcohol, or other brand of about 90% alcohol
  • Parchment lined baking sheet
  • Mason jar
  • Cheesecloth or strainer (optional)

Weed Tincture Steps

I. Freeze Alcohol

Place the bottle of alcohol in the freezer beforehand for the best tincture experience. The extreme cold of the liquid improves the extraction of the THC, so the flavor is smoother and more potent. 

II. Preheat Oven 

Preheat your oven to 250° Fahrenheit and prepare a parchment lined baking sheet. This is because combustion is required to produce that psychological, bodily high when consuming weed rather than smoking it. 

III. Grind Weed

Using a grinder or your fingers, break down all of your cannabis into a consistent texture, but not too fine that the pieces can’t be strained through cheesecloth later. 

IV. Decarboxylate 

Spread the ounce of ground weed onto your parchment lined baking sheet. Place it into the oven so that the THC is activated. After 30 minutes, take the weed out of the oven and let it cool completely. 

V. Fill Jar 

Pour all of your cooked weed into a standard sized mason jar. Fill the rest of the jar with about ½ liter of chilled grain alcohol. I like the tincture weed to alcohol ratio to be around 1:1 in terms of volume. Seal the mason jar and shake it vigorously for about a minute to let the ingredients thoroughly mix together. 

everclear alcohol for recipe
Standard bottle of alcohol like this one is perfect for tincture! (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

VI. Let Tincture Marinate

Place the bottle of premature tincture in a cool and dry environment for about a week, or longer if you want an extra strong batch. It’ll be ready so soon, but the wait sometimes feels like forever!

tincture jar sitting out
Let your tincture marinate in its jar! (Source: Piqsels)

VII. Strain and Bottle 

After the mason jar has sat in a temperate place for at least a week, strain the liquid through a cheesecloth or ultra fine strainer to filter out small chunks of weed. If you’re okay with tasting these weed bits when using cannabis tincture, you can skip this step. However, straining the dry flower out makes for a smooth consistency and better taste. 

Cannabis Tincture Dosage and Benefits

Using 1 ounce of weed and ½ liters of alcohol makes for an easy ratio to use when you don’t quite have the same amount of weed or alcohol. One great thing about tincture is that you can start small with simply a few drops. If you have a glass dropper bottle typically used for medicine or extracts, you can use it for small doses of your tincture.

tincture dropper bottle
Use a dropper bottle like this for the best tincture dosage! (Source: Pexels)

For example, if your ounce of weed (about 28.3 g) contains 17% THC, there’s 4.8 grams of THC in that strain. Although the tincture process can’t extract everything from the cannabis, a batch of tincture with an ounce of weed can contain up to 4,500mg of THC! If you prefer small doses of about 10 mg THC, the tincture will produce about 450 servings – that’s why beginners should start with just a few drops of this magical liquid!

Enjoy the Weed Tincture High!

Infuse in your drinks for a weedy buzz or just put some under your tongue before going to bed or needing some relaxation. While beginners might want to start with a few drops to achieve that perfect high, experienced stoners may prefer to add a teaspoon or more to any recipe for an out-of-this-world high! In just a week or so, you’ll have a fresh batch of reliable, homemade cannabis tincture at the ready!

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About Olivia

Olivia, our Oakland-based cannabis guides writer, graduated from the University of California Berkeley with a Bachelor's degree in Interdisciplinary Studies. She's an independent writer, cannabis enthusiast and Sales Lead at her local dispensary. She's also a recent grad, history buff, and has a passion for animals. You can reach her at [email protected].