Can MJ be distilled for essential oils?

Lusi

New Member
Someone sent my instructions to make herbal essential oils, to make use of my rosemary. The instructions say to boil water and herbs in an enamel kettle with a hole in the lid and a hose attached to it. The hose dips into a bowl of ice, then I assume runs to a bucket.

I haven't tried it yet, as I don't understand how it's possible for oils to evaporate, let alone be separated from water. Isn't distiller water supposed to be pure? Both water and oils would collect in the dish of ice if the oils vaporize.

If this is really how one gets pure essential oils, then couldit be possible to collect pure MJ oil, without the butane? My guess is that this info is BS, or everyone would be doing this. Hell, it's worth an ask. :smokin2:

TY!
 
THe oils of cannabis aren't very water soluble. This so getting its oils out with water wouldn't be very efficient. Yes, butane would be a way to get the oils out and the Butane will all evaporate. I think peoples issue with it is the "extra" that maybe in the butane that doesn't evaporate, whatever that maybe.

A super critical CO2 extractor would yield a safer product supposedly, however they are very expensive. And dangerous.

There are other solvents that are usable. All these do is remove the trichomes and destroy the shell around the various terpenes that we want. Which is exactly what you are wanting to do.

I have heard people argue their ways and all.. If you are wanting to vape it I cannot tell you how it would work... I have only used herb with my vaporizer. Good luck in your search! WHen I start growing I will do alot of experiments on this kinda thing. I would love to take pills of honey oil to medicate one day. My girl hates smoke.

Message me if you want specific methods and solvents. I don't have it all sorted out. There is alot of information here. But trial and error is really where experience is gained. Regardless of your solvent choice, go for the purest of that product as you can. If you are worried for dangerous extras... Just use everclear. It is a made for consumption product, even if it is less soluble and being a polar solvent will grab a little chlorophyll it will still be pretty pure if you do MANY short washes.
 
Hi THSea,

Thanks for the reply! I've been hunting for info on this for months and can't find squat on the subject. All the cooking and and extraction's needing heat say not to boil the water or alcohol or the tHC will evaporate. That,s as far as I can get on info. At that point I was still not believing any oil could vaporize like this, but that,s what essential oils are, and why so expensive. The question is, do the properties of MJ that evaporate contain THC, CBDs, and terpenes we want, or just some... Or none? I'm looking for an inexpensive way to make a small still to try this out, steam, or water. It might be fun to try other plants in here too.

I've tried a few other extraction methods with mixed results. Butane gave me very pure and potent meds as a capsule, but they still aren't doing the trick for the pain and it takes a lot of material to make anything. My sad grow gave me less than 17 grams of leafy buds per plant. One ounce makes less than 10 BHO caps. I'm wondering if some of the BHO misses some of the properties that mKe MJ a pain killer.

I've used Butane, Every Clear, 100% alcohol from a pharmacy, Vodka and Vodka. have made Budder, Oil from Olive Oil, tinctures, and keif. The best was BHO from keif. All this stuff i've also tried as edibles. I have a bunch of vaporizers, even a volcano.

The only methods I haven't tried are bubble or water Hash, C02 hash, distilling by steam or water, and a glycerine tincture. Blender hash is the next project. All these other methods require more money investment. Pills made from heat "activated" MJ did nothing for me, neither did hash or pills from hash or Butane oil. Pills from. Pharmacy grade alcohol made me ill. The smell alone is nauseating! If I can't replace some of my medications with MJ, then reducing them is acceptable.

Have you tried any of these methods with success? Capsules are my preferred way of taking MJ. The smell and taste of it arent growing on me. LOL! It's no help that Smoke and heavy vapors make my cough too. If you find a great method and strength for capsules, pleas let me know! Do you know where I can find info on with MJ properties do evaporate in water or steam? It might me useful for something, or combined to make other methods stronger.

Hope this pot makes sense. I'm having a rough day.

Lusi
 
There is some lady, and it has been posted on this site... Who has the same condition I do (crohn's disease) and her story goes she got some cheap Globe vaporizer, and left it on... To find out you can vapor distil the oils.

So... I guess you can fill a globe vape with vapor, let it settle on the glass and collect that.

It is a strange idea, and who knows what the relative efficiency is toward solvent based extractions...

Still, I think your best bet would be cooking the essential oils into fats like Coconut oil. There are many good recipes for this in the 420 Kitchen! One of my favorite forums on this site!

You can then put the oils in capsules. I plan on doing this as I moved in with my dad and am pretty sure that he wouldn't appreciate me smoking. Also, I'm in the carolina's where I hear smoke is only of mediocre quality (if I can ever find any :-/). So decarboxylating and making pills is my plan...

Coconut oil is also filled with very important medium chain fatty acids, which every cell in your body needs. You may look at it and think "WHOA BOY! this has more fat than butter!", however c.nut oil is VERY healthy. It is the good kind of fats, and I believe I heard it helps with cholesterol... But don't quote me on that.
 
This brings up a interesting subject.

Instead of distilled.. how about cold press the buds to get out the oils? This is what they do to get the amino acids out of cannabis seeds. It wouldnt be that hard to make a make shift homeade press. :peacetwo: :popcorn:
 
Hey folks... TY form the ideas! This is interesting, what still is untried.... If you see the thread for the lady with Crohns, LMK! I saw an article to use my volcano to infuse aroma's into food, after the bag is loaded with food. I usually slice my used bags up and put them in vodka, or use the bag for potent chicken. Lol

I've been at this over a year... I take an ounce of dried frozen buds, stuff them in a PVC tube and make BHO directly into my crock pot. I was doing pills, but they did little for me. Then i add water and coconut oil, let it simmer, pop in fridge. When cool, i remove the solid oil and pour off the water. Then, add equal amounts of coco powder and Truvia, Spenda, or Xylital (no carb diet), stir it up, add almonds, pour on wax paper and cool.. This i make into 4 servings of chocolate. One ounce buds = 4 servings!? It is not enough to knock me out, but kills deep pain. The surface pain, to the touch, still remains!!WTF is wrong with me?!?! This is why I look into other methods. Nothing helps my pain anymore when it gets bad like these 2 days. I downed the top limits to every pill I had for pain, anxiety, and sleep on top of the Fentanyl patches and 8mg Dilauded every 4 hours. I can't take it anymore... I just bought a house yesterday, which caused this, and no want to put a bullet in my head. So much for being happy about that milestone. I'm sitting here trying to get the nerve to hitch a ride to the ER. I can't take another day. Can heavy narcotics cause MJ receptors not to work either? I had almost eliminated the Hydromorphone on normal days, not having any in a month. Now it doesn't relieve any pain either! I can't stop shaking this sucks. Last ER trip, they kept me over night because all the Dilauded they kept giving me was not effective, not until 4x what they usually give. There just has to be another person out there with this similar issue, the MJ and medications. Muscle relaxers, Valium, lorazepam and all other azepams don't do shit any more, not just pain killers. Just a light touch anywhere on me is knife pains, including beds and chairs. I've given this 10 years to stabilize or let up and am tired.

If there's a wacky method out there no one has tried, I'm game. I don't want to buy yet another vaporizer, but there might be a way to rig the volcano in a similar way. Like the lady with the globe, I get thick coatings of honey oil all over my vaporizers too. We know heat works, I'm contemplating steam or water. Everyone says not to heat or cook MJ over x temp, below boiling, or you lose potency. Wouldn't this be a safe, cheap, and extremely pure way to process MJ? I was going to make a simple still, but the pressure and heat would be too risky with any form of plastic tubing. I imagine it would be under almost as much pressure as a pressure cooker. .?? Besides making bubble hash, I think I've tried making all the other methods, and have bought these from dispensaries. Vapor burns my lungs, even after cooled. I can't breathe! So..... Gotta find something else. Need to run. Panic attack is building. I'd give anything to have 2 good legs so I could run in circles and scream!
Grouchy will write back when shit is under control.
 
You should be careful, and not use PVC... I don't know how good it is to soak your bags in alcohol either... Plastic can be leeched out by some solvents. a BHO extraction done with PVC will contain contaminates, from everything I have read.

Be careful! I know people who have used PVC and gotten... A substantially darker product than they should. Be safe! We don't want to add to the medical problems we try to fight with how we medicate.

I think the issue over BHO is the idea of heavy metals and particles that won't evaporate after the butane is gone, right? A very filtered butane should be pretty clean though. There are other solvents, like ether that also work. And you do not need to simmer your BHO, butane evaporates at room temperature. Heating it will likely diminish your products quality. The casing around the oils has been taken off by the butane... Decarb'ing is not needed.

If you really want to not use solvents, I really think the vapor distillation is your only option. Supercritical CO2 extractors are so expensive manufacturers don't even put out price lists.

Cooking into oil is by far the simplest though. Yes you will get a little chlorophyll, but your putting it in a pill anyway so it shouldn't be much of an issue...
 
Thanks THSea, I didnt know there was a prob with PVC. I saved the videos and instructions from Rick Simpsons cancer site, but over a year ago. I got something the color of honey that reminds me of pine sap. ?? I did use 5x filtered butane, which left no residue on the glass test. Is there metals in filtered Butane too? When I mixed it in my crock pot with the water and coconut oil and set it on simmer, did this "rinse" it? It was the color of honey originally, not like the black sludge from the alcohol method. Is it safe to use in a pill? I get nauseous so easily! I certainly don't need more toxins in me. The meds I take are dangerous enough! All the other solvents people use sounded more dangerous. Cooking oil and budder didn't help me much, but I will try them again when this diet from hell is over.

I'm getting confused on temps here... When you make budder with the water, oil or budder, and water all together, if it boils instead of simmers, you lose potency. It was my hope that heating MJ in boiling water, or steam, would release the same THC that I could collect.

Capsules made with coconut oil or most any oil have to be refrigerated, not kept in my bag during 100 degree weather. Hell, my coconut oil is liquefied when it's warm inside the cupboard. I stuck one from the dispensary in my pocket. opps! LOL How are you getting these to solidify in the capsule? That would certainly be worth another go, if possible! I read that coconut oil is the best for capsules, but darn it if I can figure out how they did it unless there is another besides virgin coconut oil. Even my ISO capsules dissolved while I made them and even one early BHO pill dissolved.

How about hash? It certainly looks safer to make, but is it useful in a capsule? I found some mesh bubble bags to try for $7 each per 1 gal bag. i guess it needs heat, solvent, or oil to activate it. A bit of heat to activate.

The person above mentioned cold pressing. It tales a lot of herbs to make oil like this, and I'd guess special equipment too. The gardenia oil I bought that was done like this was terribly expensive. I can't see how any herb could be processed this way from home. Neat idea though!

Thanks for our help.... playing pharmacist gets frustrating!! Eventually, I'd like to experiment with all concentrate methods. It's interesting to see which keeps the most CBDs/ CBNs.

Ooooh, another thought. DMSO is a great pain killer, orally, intravenously, and especially topically. It also will carry medications through the skin, which I've been testing. Have you ever heard of anyone using DMSO with oil, topically? It's also impossible to solidify, or I'd tried that too. I have another ounce prepared to make BHO, the last one until I check further into safety. This one, I'll make into coconut oil too and try a bit with DMSO topically. DMSO on it's own does a better job on pain than any other topical on the market! Edibles have to wait until I can have sugar and grains again. :-(

This ought to keep me busy for a few days. If I get anything good, or bad, I'll share it. :cheertwo:
 
You seriously need to check out this video

Butane honey oil (I personally think it should be called butane Cannabis oil)
 
Thanks WB! This video is pretty much what do. I have a metal turkey baster now to do large amounts of hash with less butane. I do this directly into a crockpot and let it sit outside for a few hours to evaporate, bring it in and add water, heat on warm a half hour, just in case, then add my butter or oils.

Dry Ice Hash is my winner for now, but I'm determined to try them all eventually. :-) The danger of this method is a turn off, but the end product is very good!
:peace:
 
DMSO is a great pain killer, orally, intravenously, and especially topically. It also will carry medications through the skin, which I've been testing. Have you ever heard of anyone using DMSO with oil, topically? It's also impossible to solidify, or I'd tried that too. I have another ounce prepared to make BHO, the last one until I check further into safety. This one, I'll make into coconut oil too and try a bit with DMSO topically.


DMSO - as a topical will in fact deliver local anesthetic properties quite well. However, great care must be taken that you are not applying to an area that is prone to sweat or dirt, or exposed to toxins as the DMSO OPENS THE PORES to allow for the rapid absorption of whatever medication one is attempting to take. Also, you need to be acutely aware of sulphide breath ( think that's what its called ). DMSO will more often than not give the user a rank garlic smell that doesnt go away for a few days. I have used it on arthritic knees with great success. :Namaste:

BTW this is my first post here, I was searching for information on the properties of DMSO's solvents, and if the solvents inherent to DMSO will adversely break down the thc, or ... I smell an experiment coming on though as there is LITTLE information (which leads me to hypothesize that it's not a very viable solution,) as there are many that have come before me who undoubtedly MUST have tried this method.
 
Hi Mary and welcome!!
Have you found anything else on this site about DMSO? We can't be the only two people with that idea...

I've used it for decodes on myself and horses. It can be dangerous stuff when handled carelessly. Any contaminates on the skin will be carried directly into the blood in less than 10 minutes. Yeah, the aftertaste is from hell... Why hasn't DMSO made it further for medical use in the US? They inject and injest it in Europe. It would be the perfect carrier for medications from skin to blood, in a doc office or hospital. The dangers of people being careless with it I guess have ruled out the benefits. At least they use MSM, a derivative.

As it's a solvent, it surely must dissolve the oils. I have been tossing moving boxes all about looking for my human grade liquid and more potent industrial gel. Have you tried it?? Unless it makes a huge difference, I can't see any reliable way to test if it works. Just the DMSO and nothing else should make inflammation and pain better.

My plan is to simply mix hash and DMSO and put it on my skin right where the pain is. I guess if it works well, I'd get the mental effect just as quickly as if taking a tincture. My only other thoughts are adding essential oils, ones that are safe for consumption and in low doses. Maybe it would mask the taste and bring whatever medicinal properties of the oils into use too. It's all a guess.... I figure if the product is safe to eat, then in much smaller amounts is safe to try. The digestive tract makes things less potent...

An experiment would be fun. What are you thinking? Which DMSO do you have? The human grade apprears watered down, but the gel and liquid from Tractor Supply is 99% pure, same as the human. Hmpf. To make it even easier to use on sensitive skin, I wonder if there is any cream to mix it with, like Coco Butter or even Vaseline. It sure does burn my skin as is!

TY for the feedback... I do plan on trying it out. We could start another thread and put our heads together. I fear people will do something stupid with a good idea... Like not wash their hands. I have to say the more I use it, the less careful I am. Getting this near my fentanyl patch would likely be fatal.

While on the D!SO topic. I have wondered why it isn't used in pesticides much. I believe it was used ro kill termites long ago... Granted a person breathing in the spray could be killed, but what about organic pesticides? We could take pyrethrin or oils like tea tree, rosemary, cinnamon, clove and make these soak into the plant through leaves or soil and become systemic. This is hypothetical.... But darn it all, isn't it logical? There must be a reason.

Happy Thanksgiving!
 
Back tomthe DrynIce Hash... Someone on here finally bought a 1 gallon bag and tried it out. He got a hell of a lot more from his buds than with bubble hash and in less time, money, and effort. :-) Since it isn't all sticky and melted together, it won't smell as spicy as bubble hash, but is usable for more things. Since ThC is not water soluble, I've always wondered how bubble hash turned out a product that was melted, like from heat.

Those capsules I made, without the oil added, are doing fine. I have a pile of them to use while I continue my hash experiments. Tomorrow is for coconut butter hash brownies. :-))) a brownie is much tastier than a pill.... The next pill test will be heating the oil and hash then putting it in the capsule. It will be messy, but could change things.

Happy holidays!
 
Back
Top Bottom