To oil or not to oil?

[OffTheRadar]

I lived in California during prohibition. Two years after I left, MM was finally legal; 10 years on and I've just seen a documentary on the California marijuana 'industry' after it was legalised for recreation . My eyes have popped out of my head; my jaw was near dislocated from dropping repeatedly. I still can't catch my breath. I thought my first experience in an Amsterdam 'coffee house' back in '79 when I saw a menu on the wall was the eye-popper of a lifetime. HAH!

The trouble with being in the dark so long is it takes awhile to get used to the light. I'm struggling to catch up. Dabs, concentrates, oils, tinctures, dosages, % of THC, CBD, wax, shatter, vaping, etc., etc. OMG!!! 50 years on, I finally get why I should have taken chemistry. I have a lot of questions, but I'll condense and corral them into bullets.

Comments would be hugely appreciated. First, some background: I've grown for 30 years. Due to prohibition (and living in a time when the Bush administration was busting and shutting down grow-light stores) I never discussed anything with anyone. Jorge Cervantes and High Times were my bibles. Self-taught all the way. Always had a good supply to be content. The most recent harvest really blew me away because... it's well below par. Greehouse grown White Rhino and Super Lemon Haze (a standard fav). Who'da thought? The buds were huge and sticky, and I was checking trichomes daily with my microscope (love those things). I had to go away for 2 days. On my return I discovered something I'd never seen before. Botrytis cinerea. Dragged out the books and then hacked mercilessly at the offending bore holes and fine, feathery hairs. No living creature should inhale mould spores! In the end, barely 3 oz. safely harvested, and it's only a mild buzz.

Still, it's what I've got for the next 6 months and, well, needs must. I'm a frugal smoker and the clones will come along soon. Then new seeds. So, bearing in mind that I presently have but one mere ounce to spare for extraction, here are my questions.

Smoking isn't working well for me now. What are the best alternatives:
- Vaping
⁃ Is vaping truly better than smoking in terms of harmful compounds?
⁃ Does it make you cough like an ordinary pipe or joint can?
⁃ Is a vape easier to clean than an ordinary wooden pipe?
⁃
- Oil
⁃ Can I follow SweetSue's tutorial with dry herb?
⁃ How do most folks ingest the oil?
⁃ How long will it last?
⁃ How long before it comes on?
⁃ Will dry matter work for SweetSue's excellent tutorial/pictorial on using fresh weed?
⁃ Doesn't grinding it kill the trichomes? I've always read you should treat them gently.
⁃
- Tincture
⁃ I'm presently using a CBD tincture from Sisters of the Valley. It burns my sub-lingual. Anyone else have that problem?
⁃ Is tincture better than oil?
⁃ Is it easier to make or more difficult?
⁃
Any other suggestions on how to partake without inhaling smoke much appreciated

I'm leaning towards oil.

Thank you all, in advance, for sharing your expertise.
OTR

"People forget what you say or do; they never forget how you made them feel"
Maya Angelou

 

[improvise]

Welcome nice introduction,Soz cant answer your ?, hang 5 and a member with answers will give you the low down. Good you survived those early days. regards

 

[Plant Power]

Welcome!
First of all you need to tell us why you're using weed in the first place (recreational, pain relief, PTSD....etc) and what your best possible outcome would be (pain free, relaxed, destress, beat cancer......etc)
If smoking is not working for you then a clearly dosed vape may be worth a try for recreational purposes, but anything else I would look into edibles, capsules and suppositories for treating more serious issues.

All the best

 

[OffTheRadar]

Thanks for your reply PlantPower. Didn't think of that one. Originally, it was strictly recreational (50 years ago). But after a nasty horse-riding accident it has also been for pain relief/sleep. Sleep is hard to come by when you're in pain. I've done capsules and cannabutter in the past but that was long before anyone could talk aloud about things like decarboxylation. Not sure they knew about it back then. I confess I don't know what a 'clearly dosed' vape is. I've only just discovered vapes exist. I want the option of not having to smoke. At the moment, my biggest stumbling block is finding out if I can decarb previously dried cannabis as I didn't discover all this until after I'd harvested in the way of ye olden, ancient thymes. So all my ganja is already dry and stored in mason jars.

My other motive for learning and understanding different ways to ingest is my husband has had cancer and we recently discovered it is recurring. He remains well in that respect for the moment, but since his treatment 10 years ago he has suffered with escalating osteoarthritis. He's in considerable pain most days. I have such a lot of catching up to do and living in a prohibition country doesn't help. But if I could find out whether or not I can decarb previoiusly dried cannabis (as opposed to fresh), I could proceed with my first experimentation. Can you tell me the answer to that, PlantPower?

 

[FeloniousPunk]

Hey OTR,

Decarb away. You can decarb any mature cannabis, dried or raw.

Since you cite SweetSue I know you are meeting the people you need to know. I'm not sure how long the fresh cannabis decarbs for, but I expect it is longer than dry cannabis. I think we decarb at 240 degrees F, for a hour (?????).

You have probably thought of this, but the ounce you have to make oil with should be divided up. Around here we usually use 10g for each batch of oil. You might want to break that ounce up into smaller batches to give you some flexibility. You can try different oils in your recipe to see what you like best. Decarb the whole ounce and break it into four 7 gram parts. This also protects you from disaster (don't put all your eggs in one basket) if the oil or tincture doesn't agree with the user.

Peace.