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TINCTURE
Tincture is a medicinal cannabis product that is made by dissolving cannabis in alcohol. Tincture is also known as "golden" or "green dragon" tincture. Tinctures contain a range of cannabinoids and are usually taken by mouth, under the tongue, or with a beverage. Tinctures offer consumers medicinal cannabis and all its properties without inhalation. Tinctures usally come in small glass bottles with a dropper for easy dosing.
WHAT IS TINCTURE?
Basically tinctures are alcohol infused with a specific medication - in our case, cannabis. They're a simple, smokeless way to consume cannabis, and they are popular because they are easy to make, store, transport, and use. Tinctures can be made from other herbs as well, not just cannabis. For example, you can get chamomile, garlic, ginger, etc. tinctures as well.
HOW ARE TINCTURES USED?
Most of the time, tinctures are given under the tongue. Tinctures can also be mixed into foods and drinks, such as smoothies, soups, tea, etc. A lot people like to use tinctures over edibles because they contain less calories. Using a tincture and consuming it using the under-the-tongue method allows the consumer to feel the effects quicker because it is being absorbed directly into the bloodstream. Tinctures that come with a dropper allow consumers to measure how much they consume. Everyone is different, but it's always best to start with a 1mL dose. Place the drop under your tongue, hold for 30 seconds, then swallow. Cannabis tinctures are fast-acting and the consumer will feel the effects quickly. Finding the right dose for you is relatively simple, but it requires trial and error and of course, a little bit of patience.
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If the consumer mixes the tincture into foods, then the effects will take longer than when consuming under the tongue because it's being absorbed through the digestive process not directly into the bloodstream. Ingesting a tincture this way is similar to eating an edible and will take about the same amount of time that an edible takes to hit.
THE HISTORY OF TINCTURE
The first documented account of cannabis tinctures being used and created in Western medicine was in an 1843 medical journal, which included a recipe. Because of this, it wasn't long before apothecaries and pharmaceutical producers to begin making and selling tinctures and creating patents.
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It wasn't until 1851 when tinctures started to pop up in U.S. pharmaceutical books that list medicinal drugs, their effects, and usage instructions. It appeared as the name "Extractum Cannabis Purificatum", also known as “purified extract of Indian hemp.”
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Tinctures were so widely accepted and loved for it's medicinal properties that in the United Kingdom, Queen Victoria's personal physician prescribed a cannabis tincture to help alleviate her menstrual cramps. Her physician wrote, “When pure and administered carefully, (cannabis) is one of the most valuable medicines we possess.”
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The Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 taxed the possession and transfer of cannabis in the U.S. so outrageously that it became basically outlawed, and was removed from the pharmaceutical books for quite some time.
HOW'S IT MADE?
Creating tincture isn't super difficult, but it can take a few weeks. The ingredients are simple - dried, ground flower or extract and high-proof ethyl alcohol as the solvent. For tincture to give intoxicating effects also known as the "high" feeling, the cannabis flower must be dried out by using a heating element in order to break down the THCA to THC. Then the flower and alcohol are mixed in an air-tight jar and left to sit for anywhere from a week to six months. Once the infusion process is complete, the creator will strain or filter the flower from the alcohol. To store, it must be kept in a cool, dry place out of direct sunlight.