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Basic ratios and techniques for making topicals

peroz

New member
Hi guys,
Anyone knows if there are any "scientific" ratios for topicals? Like how much dried plant matter to use with how much oil and so on?

I plan to prepare a cream for psoriasis and arthritis. I read somewhere, that THCa is much more effective with these two illnesses than THC. How about CBD?

What if I made a cream with bud infused coconut oil and "tea" made of fan leaves? Does it sound like a good idea or should I better just stick with a simple salve?

I tried researching this topic, but all I get is a bunch of youtube videos without any real recipe.

I prepared a very simple salve 2 times already, but this year, I want to make it the best possible way for the illnesses in question, so... anyone made any really scientific research?
 

aridbud

automeister
ICMag Donor
Veteran
Have made cannabis salve for several peers/patients using high grade olive oil or organic coconut oil for basal cell carcinoma and other skin maladies.

Since psoriasis is an autoimmune disease, try it topically....or if you grow, blend in fresh leaves into veggies and fruits that are antinflammatory: blueberries, papaya, cucumbers in filtered water and blend.

A salve is a great medicinal ointment that can be applied on surfaces of the body for a relieving and soothing effect and marijuana has so many medicinal properties that make it a perfect ingredient for an excellent salve. It can be used for cuts, scrapes, boils and other minor problems of the skin. Here is a quick and easy method to prepare cannabis infused salve at home.

Ingredients
2 cups of marijuana
2 cups of coconut oil
2 ounces of beeswax
Fragrant oil of your choice (optional)
Arnica gel or cream

Kitchen tools required:

An oven dish
A saucepan
A jar
A cheese cloth
A spatula

Directions

Start by decarboxylating the marijuana. Put the marijuana into the oven dish and put it in the oven that has been preheated to 250F for 15 minutes.

While the marijuana is in the oven, pour the 2 cups of coconut or olive oil into the saucepan and keep it ready.

After 15 minutes, remove the decarboxylated marijuana matter from the oven and add it to the coconut oil a slow cooker (crock pot) with water. Simmer 8-12 hours (low setting) This will allow the marijuana to get infused with the oil.

Remove the mixture from the crock pot pour it into the jar using a cheese cloth to drain out the solid marijuana plant matter. Squeeze the cheese cloth thoroughly into the jar so that all the excess oil with the marijuana in the cheese cloth gets collected in the jar. You will end up with nicegreen cannabis infused coconut oil.

Now add 5 parts of the cannabis infused coconut oil to 1 part of beeswax, that is, 10 ounces of the oil with 2 ounces of the beeswax. Melt the beeswax in a pan and once it has fully melted add the cannabis infused coconut oil to it and mix well with a spatula. Take the pan off the stove and add the fragrant oil of your choice to the mixture. Stir it in and let the oil set and you will have your own home made cannabis infused salve.
 
X

xavier7995

From what I gather, coconut oil is pretty ideal since it can absorb more thc than most other fats. My dad has pretty bad arthritis type issues in his feet, to the point of it being hard to walk, he tried one topical lotion that helped a lot but it was discontinued and every other one just isn't strong enough. A friend did a coconut oil extraction using 1.5 to 2 lbs worth of weed into a gallon of the coconut oil. It worked great, prepared it the same way you would cannabutter more or less, they added some herbs while simmering in a crock pot to help it not smell funky.
 

420somewhere

Hi ho here we go
Veteran
Try this..

Try this..

One ounce of bud to one pound of organic coconut oil. Whatever method you want to infuse the oil. I personally use a Magical Butter Machine.

You can use it just like that or delute it. :party: I just rub it on my feet for Cancer Induced Peripheral Neuropathy.
 

peroz

New member
@airbud, that is almost exactly how I made the salve in the last two years, only I never brew for 8-12 hours, but maybe 1 hour tops.

Now I read somewhere, that THCa is a lot more anti-inflammatory than THC, so the decarboxylation might even be counterproductive.

Another thing is, I always used only the buds and the nearby small leaves, but this time, the seeds were a lot to expensive not to think how to use the whole plant to make the ultimate remedy. That's why I am also thinking of creams. Creams, being an emulsion of fat and water, could carry a lot of different cannabinoids.

@420somewhere, that ratio almost sounds stingy to me, i used 2-3 times as much.[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]420somewhe420re[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]420somewhere[/FONT]
 

peroz

New member
I read these four posts:

https://theleafonline.com/c/science/2014/07/cannabinoid-profile-crash-course-cbda/
https://theleafonline.com/c/science/2014/06/cannabinoid-profiles-crash-course-cbd/
https://theleafonline.com/c/science/2014/06/cannabinoid-profiles-crash-course-thc/
https://theleafonline.com/c/science/2014/07/cannabinoid-profile-crash-course-thca/

And found out I would actually like to have all of them in my cream. So I will decarb half the quantity, and leave the other half as is. Then soak it in the hot coconut oil for a longer period of time. I am thinking of setting up a regulated heater to keep it a t steady 85-90°C. I figure this is somewhere near the American "very exact" Low setting everyone keeps writing about.

The thing I still don't know is whether it is worth the fuss to make a proper cream - the emulsion of infused oil and water and how to keep it from separating.
 

aridbud

automeister
ICMag Donor
Veteran
Emulsified...use a hand immersion blender. Makes it easy to use....prefer balm ...just my preference.
 

420somewhere

Hi ho here we go
Veteran
My Bees Wax came today!

My Bees Wax came today!

That's about how I make mine. I'll have to get some Bees 🐝 Wax I don't use that.

I'm ready to make a batch. Have the beeswax, 1 pound jars of Virgin Organic Coconut Oil, a jar of buds (32.5 grams) and some vaporizer leftovers.

I might rinse it to take out excess green :party: I'll make that decision later.
 

Princess Pine

New member
Wow. I want to try this. Have you ever mixed in any essential oils like lavender, eucalyptus, peppermint or any other pain reducing ones?
 
I add copaiba oil (55% beta caryophyllene) and frankincense oil to the salve I make for my wife. I've tried lemongrass, pepper, clove and other oils and the copaiba and frankincense oils work best for her arthritis.

Beta caryophyllene is a CB2 agonist.

40 drops each/100ml of salve.
 
I make a weak feco tincture and then transfer to whatever oil I'm going to use. I find this much easier and cleaner than using a vegetable oil solvent.

I do a long ethanol soak, 2 hour minimum, and reduce the dragon down to about 200 mil. Then add 200 mil of carrier oil ( I typically use coconut oil ) and then boil off the ethanol.

My last salve was:
Around 40 grams high CBD auto, buds and smaller leaves.
Jar of vaporizer tailings.
Around 2 grams of feco from a friends' outdoor.

Enough ethanol to cover, twice.

300 mil coconut oil
200 mil olive oil
100 mil emu oil
150 mil bees wax

13 mil copaiba oil
13 mil frankincense oil
 
X

xavier7995

Just finished a batch. I used 4 ounces of buds, 2 or so ounces of trim, to a 16oz jar of coconut oil. Decarbed the weed for 20 minutes at 250. Weed and coconut oil with enough water to keep it floating go into a crockpot on low for 8 to 12 hours (overnight basically). I had to mail the stuff so I put about 5 or 6 ounces of beeswax in to get it to firm up and stuck a piece of string in the top to make it look like a candle in a jar. I also added a pretty large amount of clove oil (whole foods has a bunch of varieties of essential oil for topicals) to cover the scent, not just because of mailing it...stuff smelled strongly of weed and left you smelling like you had been rolling around in a grow. The plan is to have him melt down the candle into another 16oz jar of coconut oil in a double boiler, that should get it to the right consistency and still be plenty potent.
 
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