How to Use Cannabis Tinctures: A Beginner’s Guide

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How to use cannabis tinctures

How to Use Cannabis Tinctures

Cannabis tinctures are oil/alcohol-based solutions that are meant to be taken orally or sublingually. Meaning, all you have to do is drop a few drops of them under or over your tongue to obtain their desired effects.

Compared to other methods of taking weed into your system like eating, vaping, or smoking, tinctures are claimed to be much faster and safer in their absorption. 

As such, they are usually meant for medicinal purposes and sold in vial bottles with droppers for ease of consumption.

Cannabis tinctures refer to liquid concentrates of a cannabis plant that contain its bioactive and psychoactive chemicals called cannabinoids.

Also known as Green Dragon, these tinctures of cannabis are usually made by soaking fresh marijuana flowers and buds in edible oil, alcohol, or glycerine until all of their chemical content has been extracted from the raw material. This process takes about a couple of weeks or more to be fully done.

Like other cannabis concentrates and liquid distillates, cannabis tinctures are also quite high in their cannabinoid content with a much faster rate of absorption which makes them perfect for medicinal users.

Besides, there are many other ways of using cannabis tinctures apart from swallowing them be it orally or sublingually which we shall get familiar with in this post. But first, let us quickly go through their benefits.

Benefits of Cannabis Tinctures

Cannabis tinctures offer a wide array of benefits over other methods of consumption or types of products. Let’s take a closer look:

1. Discreet and Convenient

Available in small vials that are often used to store liquid medicines, cannabis tinctures can be easily carried along and consumed on the go.

Plus, since they do not emit any smoke or smell, they are unlikely to bother others as is the case with smoking or vaping.

Using them on the other hand, is rather quick and easy and does not need any preparation.

2. Faster and Higher Bioavailability

Compared to other methods of consuming cannabis be it eating, vaping, or smoking, cannabis tinctures are known to have a higher bioavailability. This means you can get more of its active ingredients into your system for the desired effects.

Plus, they work much faster than edibles, especially when taken sublingually because of their immediate absorption by the small salivary glands present beneath the tongue.

3. Longer Shelf Life

Since most tinctures are made with high-proof alcohol or oil, they also tend to have a longer shelf life than other cannabis products.

Being a great preservative, alcohol can keep the chemical compounds of the highly-concentred tinctures fresh and alive for longer periods than the usual age of cannabis.

If you store them well in ideal conditions, chances are, your cannabis tincture will last for years to come.

4. Precise dosing 

Another key benefit of using cannabis tinctures, especially for health conditions, is a consistently accurate dosage every time, thanks to their measured dropper that comes by default with vial bottles as you might have seen in other liquid medications such as ear/ eye drops.

Meant to squeeze out a single drop at a time, these droppers are made to control the dosage so precisely that you will only get the recommended dosage every time.

5. Safer and Healthier

Rich in cannabinoids be it THC or CBD, cannabis tinctures are a much safer option for medicinal users in more than one way.

Be it the medicinal effects, the lack of harm to health (as is the case with smoking or vaping), or the fear of getting fat (as is the case with edibles), tinctures are rather friendly in all aspects.

Needless to say, there are tons of health benefits of these tinctures such as pain relief, anxiety control, anti-inflammation, seizure treatment, sleep aid, and so on that are being increasingly explored by the medical and pot-loving community. 

Different ways to use Cannabis Tinctures

Tinctures have long been used by the medical world as a popular form of administering medicine. 

The same applies to cannabis as it has also been used for its herbal and therapeutic properties since times unknown.

1. Sublingual (Under the tongue)

The most common and ideal way of consuming a cannabis tincture is the sublingual method which involves placing it right under the tongue for instant absorption through the salivary or mucous glands.

In general, tinctures can give you the desired feel or hit within minutes of taking it.

Aside from instant absorption, they are also known to have a higher potency or strength and thus do not need a high dosage.

For maximum effects, make sure to keep the potion under the tongue for about 30 seconds or so before seeping it down. 

2. Oral (direct swallowing)

Should you not fancy the sharp sensation of a tincture under your tongue, you can always swallow it directly by pouring a few drops into your mouth.

However, taking it orally without involving your salivary glands will only delay the onset of its effects as anything ingested orally does take about an hour or so before being digested or metabolized by the system.

Nonetheless, ingested cannabis has the longest-lasting effects out of all the methods of consumption.

So if you want to go down this road, make sure to take your tincture at least 30 minutes to 1 hour before you need the hit.

3. Infused in edibles/drinks

You can also consume a cannabis tincture by adding it to your meals and beverages. Again, consuming it in this way will take a bit longer to show its effects as it has to go through the entire digestive tract before reaching the bloodstream.

Or you can use it to make several edibles such as gummies, brownies, and cakes.

In any case, tinctures consumed through eating or drinking will have longer-lasting effects.

4. Topicals

Perhaps the second best method of using cannabis tinctures after its sublingual consumption is its topical application.

That’s right, cannabis tinctures can be directly applied on the skin or mixed with balms and lotions to give you much-needed relief from localized pain or inflammation as they can be absorbed by the skin’s receptors very quickly.

You can also use them in your favorite homemade topicals to enhance their pain-killing and anti-inflammatory properties.

5. Through Capsules and pills

Cannabis tinctures can also be dropped on pills and capsules to increase their medicinal effects.

Just make sure that the capsules you are taking do not dissolve in the water or other forms of liquids immediately.

Again, the onset of the desired effects will be similar to that of edibles which are relatively slow but long-lasting.

6. To rehydrate old/ dried cannabis

Potheads will be glad to know that cannabis tinctures can also be utilized to refresh or rehydrate their weed stock if it is overly dried or has started to get old.

To do that, you can either use a spray bottle to evenly spray the tincture all over the buds, or place a tincture-soaked piece of cloth or cotton in your weed jar.

Just beware of not overdoing it, as too much liquid concentrate can cause the growth of mold, the last thing you’d want to see on your precious weed.

Tips to use Cannabis Tinctures

  • Choose your favorite cannabinoids from THC, CBD, and others. If you’re looking for a high, go for THC, but if you seek the medicinal effects of marijuana then go for a tincture that is CBD-dominant or better yet CBD-isolate.
  • Be wary of the dosage as cannabis tinctures might already be too strong and potent in their cannabinoid content. Therefore, when using tinctures, be low and go slow with the dosage. Pick the minimum amount of 2.5 or 3 mg of THC, especially when starting, and gradually increase the dosage to meet the desired effects. 
  • Maintain consistency in your tincture consumption as it will allow your endocannabinoid system to better adapt to the extra cannabinoids that you will be taking in.

FYI, our body does produce the required amount of cannabinoids such as CBD and THC that is needed by it on its own. It is only when the body is not able to secret these compounds that cannabis comes into the picture. 

Conclusion

While cannabis tinctures are usually meant to be taken sublingually and orally; there are other ways of using them as well.

For instance, mixing them into edibles and drinks, applying them onto the skin straight away, or even rehydrating your old or overly-dried weed.

In any case, when choosing a cannabis tincture, it is important to figure out your needs and go for the right spectrum of it. 

That is, CBD isolates if you only need the medicinal effects and not the ‘high.’ Or, broad-spectrum or full-spectrum if you want a more diverse chemical profile for an entourage effect.

Regardless of your poison though, make sure to keep the dosage to a minimum and gradually increase it to find the right amount.

Finally, be consistent when using these highly potent cannabis tinctures to better adapt to their supposed effects.

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