Extraction of THC Oil from Cannabis
“If you ever had to think twice about lighting up a joint for fear of someone smelling it. If you were ever forced to blow the smoke out a window and pray you don’t reek of weed. If you ever had to sneak around and couldn’t enjoy a good buzz…”
This article will describe, in detail, a technique of extracting the essential oils from hemp. The final product will be a dark, oily liquid that contains 70+% pure THC. The following steps require nothing more than simple, easy to find materials and a little time.
Advantages of THC oil:
• No hot, harsh smoke to irritate your lungs
• No tar to stain your teeth and fingers
• Very little smell
• 5 times as much THC in bloodstream
• No carcinogens to give you cancer
Materials you’ll need for extraction:
• A glass jar with a watertight lid (widemouth Mason jars work great)
• A metal measuring cup with handle (2 cup capacity recommended)
• Bottle of 190 proof grain alcohol (Everclear brand is perfect)
• Any quantity of pot, any strength (from a gram up to a few ounces)
• A 1′ X 1′ piece of sturdy cloth (t-shirt material works fine)
• An eye-dropper bottle (contact lens type bottles work great)
• The use of an ELECTRIC stove and its overhead fan
Step 1
You’ll need to chop up your weed and pick apart the buds until it looks like grass clippings. Remove any seeds, they have their own oils which we don’t want. Dump the powdered pot into the mason jar and pour in just enough grain alcohol so the weed particles float freely in the mixture. Place the lid securely on the jar and shake a few times.
Let this mixture sit for a few hours, shaking it every once in a while. The alcohol should have turned a dark green color and when shaken should form colorful, oily bubbles on top.
Place the sturdy cloth over the metal container and press the cloth down to form a funnel. Carefully pour the contents of the mason jar onto the cloth which is in the metal cup. Make sure to get most of the weed particles out of the jar. Gather up the edges of the cloth and squeeze the remaining liquid out of the lump of weed into the metal cup.
Step 1a
You should now have a quantity of dark green liquid in your metal measuring cup. It is possible to extract more THC oil from the remaining pot. I recommend performing Step 1 a second time immediately after completing it the first time. No sense throwing away the good stuff. Dump the pot from the cloth back into the mason jar and repeat step 1. You now have twice as much liquid in your metal cup upon repeating the first step.
Step 2
Be sure to use an electric stove in this step! (If you don’t have one, read Step 2a)
Take the metal cup containing the green liquid over to the stove. Turn one of the electric eyes on LOW setting and place the metal cup on that burner. I highly suggest using the fan over the stove to remove the alcohol vapors during this entire step. Watch the liquid closely. It should only boil slightly, never raise the burner temperature above MEDIUM LOW. We need the liquid to cook down until it’s slightly thick. This may take some time but be patient.
Once the liquid starts to thicken and turn darker, remove it from the heat. Never let it get too thick or it’ll be too difficult to work with. If you do accidentally make it too thick, just add a small quantity of the grain alcohol to the metal cup and swirl it around till it’s thinner.
Let it cool down to room temperature inside the metal cup. It should be runny enough to be poured into the eye-dropper bottle easily. You now have your final product: THC oil. It’s necessary to have some grain alcohol left in the resulting liquid so it’s easy to work with. This will not affect the potency of the oil.
Step 2a
This part is for the people with gas stoves. Do not use a gas stove to cook down alcohol! The vapors will explode! You’ll have to have patience to complete this step. To get a final product just put the metal container in a place where it won’t be disturbed. The alcohol will have to evaporate on its own. If at all possible keep it in a slightly warm area with decent ventilation. It may take days.
Once it’s evaporated test to see if it’s too thick. If it is, pour a small amount of grain alcohol in the metal cup and mix. Pour the liquid into your eye-dropper bottle.