Cannabis Alchemy

by D.Gold

Increasing Potency of Intact Marijuana Flowers

The cannabis material is refluxed in the same manner as was done with the finely powdered cannabis material previously, except that when processing intact flowers the material is first placed in a cheesecloth bag. The oil is then extracted from the marijuana in the usual manner.

The oil is purified by re-extraction with petroleum ether and then isomerized and acetylated. The tars and resins left behind from the ether extraction remain dissolved in the alcohol/water layer in the extraction jug. The alcohol is evaporated and collected in the usual manner, and the water is evaporated in an oil bath at 220°F. The tars and resins thus obtained are mixed with the intensified, purified oil and dissolved in the exact amount of alcohol that the completely dry flowers will absorb. This amount is determined by adding clean alcohol to the dried flowers until they will absorb no more alcohol, but there is none lying in the bottom of the pan.The saturated flowers are then put into a distillation apparatus and all the solvent is removed and collected.

This amount of alcohol is then mixed with the purified, intensified oil and the tars and resins. Using an oven-baster-type syringe, the flowers are equally saturated with the oil-bearing solvent. The saturated flowers are then put into the appropriate apparatus and the solvent removed. A small amount of water is then sprayed on the flowers. A steam iron or Sears wrinkle remover works fine. They are then placed in an oven which has been preheated to 250° and then turned off. Since the solvent evaporates at a much lower temperature than the water, when the flowers begin to dry out no traces of solvent will remain. The flowers are now coated with the intensified oil and may be over twelve times their original potency.