Master Wu's Tincure question

I've made my first batch using Everclear. One thing he didn't mention doing I found helpful was freezing my weed before putting it through the food processor to make a course blend. A friend to me this would help retain more of the tricombs that if not frozen would stick to the sides of the canister.

My question is..Though it's as potent as hell, the taste isn't great. I prefer adding 4-5 drops in my favorite IPA. Then it doesn't matter. But some people like to put drops directly under their tongue...Then it is a bit nasty.

Would it be cool to add a drop or two of flavor to each 2oz bottle I've made...or is this something that needs to happen while cooking down the alchohol? I've though of agave, or honey, maybe cinamon oil??

Hey duder, I've made a few batches of Everclear tincture and have been swinging knives in kitchens for a while so I thought I'd weigh in here...
I'd need to hear the whole story on your extraction method but I'll offer a few tips on what's contributed to a clean tincture and what I now know to have caused a shitty one.

By coffee grinding your cannabis (fan leaves, trim, sugar trim or even buds) you're incorporating as much non desirable plant matter into your final brew as possible because you're obliterating the cell structures of the plant material. The compounds you intend to extract are alcohol soluble, let the Everclear do the work and leave the plant matter in chunks (sugar trim sized chunks) to maintain a cleaner finished product that isn't quite so harsh on the grass taste.
You could cook down the alcohol to increase overall potency, requiring less shitty liquid in your mouth, but the resulting taste in your reduced tincture will be much much stronger in flavor as well. Think of it this way; the plant material will not evap from your tincture, only all the alcohol. You'll still be left with all the shitty flavors except the ethanol (which actually does a good job of spreading it over another substrate)

As far as adding other flavoring agents to your green dragon, I would leave it be. You can always cut it with something before ingestion but trying to cover up a strong shitty flavor with other flavors will typically yield an even shittier taste.
Also consider that your tincture's potency could be degraded from reacting with new flavor agents.

I also prefer to drop mine in pale ales. Any highly carbonated beverage will mask the flavor well. Hops do an exceptional job though.
If not beer, I drop mine in hot coffee to evaporate the alcohol and mask the flavor.

It's always tasted bleh to me.

I have mixed it into honey but it has to be boiled down more to match the consistency; so it doesn't separate as easily.

Thanks Guys...I guess a lot of people around Portland are used to taking the Glyserine based tincture. I prefer the alchohol extraction.

MudDuck. I use the exact method as shown on the YouTube Master Wu's Green Dragon method. I used my own high quailty outdoor grown Cenex, Purple Lightning and Blue Magoo strains all small buds, sugar leaves and bud trimmings. I dont grind it into a fine ground..I keep it pretty course and use a fine coffee strainer to strain the tincture after cooking down the everclear at about 160-170 degrees for 35-40 minutes.

I have a ton of extra material to make tinctures, but like I said the people in the dispensaries around here seem to just carry the glyserine based stuff.
(which I don't like). I may also give making some RSO (Rick Simpson Oil) a try.

Tincture in the cannabis world is referring exclusively to glycerine and its ability to absorb sublingually....
Green dragon or other variations is etoh

qwizoking said:

Tincture in the cannabis world is referring exclusively to glycerine and its ability to absorb sublingually....
Green dragon or other variations is etoh

Click to expand...

Sorry qwizoking...You kinda lost me there. Are you saying using n achohol based extraction (such as Everclear) my product isn't technically a tincture?

In the cannabis world it refers to the specific sugar alcohol glycerine, for its ability to be used as drops sublingually......

qwizoking said:

In the cannabis world it refers to the specific sugar alcohol glycerine, for its ability to be used as drops sublingually......

Click to expand...

Alcohol tinctures can be absorbed into tissue under the tongue, they just taste awful so most people who go for under the tongue drops prefer glycerol substrate even though the absorption rate of glycerol is slower than that of ethanol. Alcohol is also absorbed through stomach lining before it hits the intestines making it faster acting and more quickly metabolized than glycerol or lipid substrate preparations once swallowed. Glycerine has a better shelf life and maintains solution better but alcohol substrate is faster acting and can be evaporated almost entirely into coffee. There are benefits to all preparations when executed properly.

Glycerine is far more polar than ethanol...etoh does not absorb through mucus membranes in the same manner as glycerine.... etoh is not faster acting in anyway...

A glycerine tincture also bypasses the liver leaving delta 9 intact

Glycerine does not have a better shelf life
(Your statement was quite inaccurate)



I'm just trying to help inform my friend.....

Of course, it's no scholarly source, (it's early and I have to leave for work) but Wikipedia's very basic 'Glycerol' page references material suggesting that ethanol extractions are more bio available.
(Also see the part about precipitation in storage)
Another reason that glycerine has a better shelf life is because it doesn't denature your medium as quickly as ethanol does.
Later I'll dig up the article that states that the liver processes the THC structure carried by the ethanol into a more potent structure than inhaled Delta-9 or consumed lipid substrate and concludes cannabis is therefore better utilized through ethanol ingestion.

I'm not being snarky here. You cite your sources, I'll cite mine.

I don't need to scite sources lol...glycerine goes bad within a year or so..etoh does not.....

Besides that cannabinoids in etoh solution are far more stable than as hash

Your liver converts it to delta 11

Etoh does not absorb through your mucous membranes like glycerine..glycerine absorbs into the blood stream immediately and your high hits you much faster than etoh........
Lol whatever dude, go copy and paste some more wiki stuffs...I know what I'm talking about and was trying to help the op.....

Right...
I'm not accusing you of being some dimwit at all.
In fact, you seem to know what you're talking about.
Instead of creating a pissing match fueled by bruised egos, I'm presenting information that I have relied on in the past.
I only ask the same of you if you're going to tell me I'm wrong.
"Because I said so" has never been a good reason to believe in or do anything. Especially not when attached to an 'lol'

[video=youtube;5HtUnubXAO4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HtUnubXAO4[/video]
Which is why I read articles to learn and care about their sources... (cause sometimes they don't know nothin' either.)
Show me some data, something empirical, I'll get behind it.

qwizoking said:

Besides that cannabinoids in etoh solution are far more stable than as hash

Click to expand...

This is true only if it's stored in absence of light (even better if stored at low temps), as this recently posted to RIU article will explain. (Scroll to the 7th frame, p.188 to get to the conclusion if you don't care about the methods explanation)
But on the topic, show me a comparison of glycerol vs ethanol storage and why glycerol may or may not go bad within a year or so

extracts made from Vegetable Glycerine typically have a shelf life of 14-24 months
http://www.mountainroseherbs.com/learn/vegetable-glycerine.php

That was literally the first link Google pulled...the next 3 also about a year..do your own research


http://www.aaa-chemicals.com/glveusp1ga.html
listen to what I say and don't be an ass

http://www.morethanalive.com/Vegetable-Glycerin
Have the third too

qwizoking said:

listen to what I say and don't be an ass

Click to expand...

No thanks.
Having done my own research I'd prefer to dismiss your opinionated attitude for referenced sources that aren't trying to sell me a product.
As a basic rebuttal: If I can keep a steak edible in my freezer for longer than 24 months, glycerol will also be just fine in said freezer. (Without excess denaturing or precipitation)
Considering your animosity towards my character and not my information, I'd say your tinctures are in fact not working for ya.
[video=youtube;21dJvBXyFZs]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21dJvBXyFZs[/video]

Again- I know nothing. I don't write these articles. But I sure as shit read them and try to retain the info necessary to maximize my output.
And I ask myself if it's credible enough to attempt and then I ask myself it it's credible enough to recommend to someone else.
I admit, with no reputation, I'm only as good as my sources.

Hey Guys...Interesting read. I'm really not interested in anything to do with Glyserine based tinctures. I tried...didn't like em. Maybe the batch I tried was weak or just a poor batch.

I like my Green Dragon with 4-5 (or so..depending) drops in a tasty IPA. I am from the Micro Brew capital of the USA. However, I'm thinking of taking my extra tinctures (which I have a lot of) around to some dispensaries and I was just wondering if adding some honey or something might take the sting out of the taste for those who apply it directly undet their tongue. Didn't mean to start a pissing contest.