Tinctures 101

Tinctures are a great introduction to cannabis. They are portable, low to no odor, easy to dose and very versatile!

First there are some things you should know. 

  1. Most people report sedative or relaxing effects from what is popularly called an Indica strain.
  2. Most people report energizing effects from what is popularly called a Sativa
  3. Most people report balancing effects from what is popularly called a Hybrid

That said each person is unique and that means you will need to experiment with either dry flowers (a cheaper alternative) by purchasing a pre-rolled joint in each of the classifications and see for yourself how you react OR you can purchase tinctures and go about exploring through sublingual means.

Portion control

This is a big deal. If you want to find your unique portion we’d recommend that you first identify an experience that you want to have. Do you want to have a mild euphoric experience? Do you want to feel very relaxed so you can cozy up with a good book? Do you want to get a little more kick in your step or are you looking to set out on a uber challenging run? The point is each experience may take a different dosage and potentially a different strain type.

Once  you have determined your effect you will reach for the “strain” profile that will most likely provide the effect you are looking for and then you will set out on defining your serving. The rule of thumb is that you go slow and start low. Ideally you will find the smallest serving that provides the effect you are looking to experience.  In my house it started with a single drop. I had experienced a challenging time with my first attempt at ingesting cannabis so I wanted to be cautious. I started with a single drop of tincture just after dinner. I wanted to be well fed and in a comfortable setting so that I could pay attention to the unfolding of the experience. For most people one single drop of tincture will go unnoticed however its important to recognize you are not some people. You are you and you are unique!

Each day you can increase your serving  by one single drop until you feel like you’ve hit your sweet spot. Note that this is the slow and steady approach. You can always start with a 5 mg serving right off the bat (the serving size that the Oregon Cannabis industries suggest as a good starting point)  but if you feel any trepidation whatsoever we suggest that you do the good old 1 drop method.

It’s a good idea to do a little math to determine the amount that works for you so that you can translate that THC or CBD serving across similar products and it will give you a baseline that you can use to approach different cannabis modalities. Best way to do this is to fill your dropper/pipette and count out how many drops a full pipette holds (usually a dropper/pipette holds 1 ml and this contains roughly 28-30 single drops). Take the amount of drops and divide that by the total cannabinoid volume of said tincture. For example: if your bottle is 30 ml and it contains 900 mg of THC and your dropper/pipette holds 30 drops the math would be 900 divided by 30 to identify the amount of THC per 1 ml- (in this case = 30 – and then divide the amount by the number of drops available per 1 ml – in this case there are 30 drops and 30 ml so each drop is equivalent to 1 mg.

After all is said and done you will understand the feelings associated with Cannabis tinctures and that will be empowering. Your portion size is unique to you and it is important that you feel ownership of that.

 

Happy exploring!