If you’ve come to this page, then you must be adventurous. Making your own THC oil is no easy feat—despite what other internet sources claim. It involves meticulous planning, full commitment to safety, and baking skills they don’t teach in Home Economics (or Chemistry, for that matter). But, it is possible. And we’re going to show you how to do it properly.
When researching the ins and outs of making your own THC oil, you have a ton of articles to choose from. But those articles mostly gloss over the critical steps, boldly painting the whole experience as simple for any and everyone. Sure, parts are easy. But when we get into the nitty-gritty, like using solvents or going solventless, the endeavor gets a little tricky.
In the past few years, THC oil has proven to be a hot commodity in many different markets—primarily due to its potential therapeutic properties and psychoactive effects. Because the legal world of hemp is still so new, cannabis cultivators are ever-evolving their practices to unlock all the mystical secrets locked inside this unassuming plant, transforming the plant into a viscous, honey-hued oil. So, where do we begin?
What Is THC Oil
When you look at a raw hemp plant, you don’t see the full picture. On the surface, sticky buds are covered in milky crystals known as trichomes. When these buds go through a curation and dehydration process, they’re ready to get ground up, sprinkled into a joint, and cheefed by any ganja enthusiast. But that cultivation process strips away some invaluable cannabinoids for the sake of purer buds. When you chemically carve away the organic plant matter, you see the strongest, most potent byproduct: THC oil.
When holding a hemp bud, your fingertips will likely get sticky. That substance is resin. Resin contains the most cannabinoids compared to the other parts of the plant. When cultivators set out to make THC oil, they focus on extracting resin in its purest form, allowing their end product to be more THC-potent than many other forms of enjoyment, like smoking the physical plant.
So, what is THC oil? It’s the purest, most potent form of THC.
But how is it made?
How THC Oil Is Made
So, with all this in mind, making your own THC oil has several advantages. The main advantage is that you raise your plant from seed to oil, knowing full well what’s inside your final product. You can use your strain of choice and know the exact path this oil took to get to you. Because the wild world of weed is so new, many businesses and brands use harmful cultivation practices that may expose users to dangerous chemicals. Though, don’t be fooled—that can still happen in your DIY method.
Grow Cannabis
The first step for all amateur growers is to choose a strain. For the veterans in the group, when you read that, a certain strain no doubt popped into mind. A classic strain or one you’ve been dying to try—or a specific strain you’ve heard is easy to grow. And that’s where the first hurdle lies in this process. Growing cannabis can be exceptionally easy. Or it can be dastardly difficult. There really is no in-between.
First, you need to decide between an indoor or an outdoor grow. Depending on where you live, you might have to set up a growing station in a closet or a dedicated corner of your house. Cannabis plants must get routine UV light, but too much and those buds can dehydrate, losing all their THC-filled trichomes and terpenes. Indoor grows require complex setups and continual maintenance. This attention to detail provides you with higher-potency THC buds.
An outdoor grow is easier on the grower but doesn’t always produce the best yield in terms of THC concentration. This is due in large part to the surrounding climate. Depending on where you live, the time of your harvest, the surrounding wildlife, and the environment, your plants can die off before they’ve even set their roots. All of these factors have a guiding effect on how much THC your plant ends up with.
Extract THC Oil
So, with your fully grown cannabis buds in hand, you are ready to extract the THC oil. This is where the difficulty starts. You need to carve away the excess molecular plant material that isn’t the plant’s iconic cannabinoids. Many sites say to apply direct heat and pressure, like placing the buds into an oven and baking them for hours. But even this won’t yield a worthwhile amount of THC oil. You need to employ the use of solvents.
For those who skipped this day in Chemistry, solvents are chemicals that dissolve a substance into a solution. When working with cannabis, cultivators turn to ethanol, CO2, and butane. These solvents strip away the plant matter and leave behind the cannabinoids in viscous, honey-hued oil. This is THC oil. But the process doesn’t stop there.
Third-Party Lab Testing
The last step is to send the oil out for third-party testing. When using solvents, you need to introduce a precise amount, or you risk leaving a significant portion in your THC oil. So, you should send a sample of your THC oil to a third-party lab to test how much solvent is left inside your final product. This will ensure that you don’t accidentally expose yourself to harmful chemicals and that you have completed the cultivation process correctly.
Skip The Hassle & Buy From the Pros
No one can blame you if you’re rethinking your decision to make your own THC oil. It’s a difficult process riddled with potential risks to your health, safety, and final products. So, skip the hassle and buy from the pros. CBD.co has a plethora of THC oil products from proven brands. These products come in a range of strengths and cannabinoids, making them perfect for any ganja enjoyer!
