As New York officially legalized the use of recreational marijuana, we will start adding new creative ideas and recipes that you can mix with your food.
Of the many types of marijuana oil available, marijuana honey oil is a fairly popular choice among marijuana enthusiasts. Despite being called honey oil, the extract itself doesn’t contain any honey but is similar in appearance. Honey oil is also commonly referred to as hash oil.
If you want to give honey oil a try, this article will give you a detailed rundown of the two common processes used in making honey oil.
Breaking Down Honey Oil
Honey oil is the colloquial term for ‘hash oil,’ a THC-based oil made from marijuana. By itself, it isn’t meant to be directly consumable, but rather, it’s an intermediate ingredient that is needed for making shatter and wax. These two forms of processed marijuana are most commonly used for dabbing, a popular alternative to take weed without smoking that requires condensed marijuana.
By processing weed into honey oil removes trichomes and other chemicals present in marijuana, leaving only the necessary and most THC-rich parts of marijuana in the wake of the straining process. This makes the final product more potent than raw weed.
Making Marijuana Honey Oil at Home: Getting Started
Marijuana honey oil can be made at home provided you have the right equipment and ingredients. There are two commonly employed methods used for making marijuana honey oil: processing it with butane and processing it with alcohol.
No matter which process you use, you must ensure the winterization process for weed. If you skip or make a mistake in winterization, you’ll likely end up making cherry oil which has different uses and properties.
The Process with Butane
To make honey oil processed with butane, you’ll need the following equipment and ingredients:
- N-butane gas,
- BHO extractor tube
- Gloves (Make sure to wear them throughout the process as this process is significantly risky)
- Pyrex-style container
- Plenty of top-grade weed; home-grown works or you can buy weed online in Canada.
- Properly ventilated, safe place
Method
- Grind the weed in fine grains. The grinding process is essential because it will help further down the process.
- Once ground put the weed in the BHO extractor after setting up the filter meshes in the extractor.
- Insert the tip of the butane can into the extractor and hold it downwards to fill the extractor with the gas. This process will cause the extractor to reach freezing temperatures that will process the weed in it. The key thing to keep in mind is maintaining a constant flow. Make sure that there are no flammable objects nearby during the process.
- Once the gas can is empty, leave the extractor to get back to room temperature.
- Extract the weed and store it at room temperature.
The Process with Alcohol
To make honey oil processed with alcohol, you’ll need the following equipment and ingredients:
- Glass beaker (500 or 1000 ml)
- Erlenmeyer flask with vacuum filter and funnel (500 or 1000 ml)
- 50 filter papers
- Length of clear hose
- Lab grade charcoal
- Pure grain alcohol
- Sulfuric or Hydrochloric Acid
- Bicarbonate of Soda
- Scale
Method
- Put the weed on the scale and measure its weight. Keep a note of the weight on your phone or a notepad because you will be adding the other ingredients based on this key factor.
- Now put the raw extract in a beaker and add alcohol to it. The amount of alcohol added should be precisely ten times the weight of the raw weed you measured on the scale, i.e., for 50g of weed, 500 ml alcohol.
- Take a pH reading and keep a note of it.
- Add a drop of acid for each gram of raw extract in the beaker using a small dropper. Stir it with a rod. The reaction of the process will make the mixture warm.
- Now add charcoal into the mixture and let it settle in for a couple of minutes. The amount of charcoal to be added should equal the weight of the mixture.
- Take a second pH reading and subtract it from the first one. The number you get as a result will be the basis for adding soda to the mixture in a 1:1 ratio. Add the soda slowly to the mixture, as this too will heat the mixture like the acid.
- The solution should achieve a pH of 6.5 to 7.5. By this point in the process. You’ll want the ideal pH range to be around 6.6 or 6.8.
- Set up the Erlenmeyer flask with a filter and fill it with tap water. Pour the solution slowly into the flask using the funnel section of the flask. Don’t forget to rinse the beaker with alcohol to thoroughly collect every drop of the solution.
- Store it any way you want in a bottle or something else, making sure that the container has a tight lid.
Make Wax and Shatter at Home
Whether you’re a seasoned marijuana consumer or a casual one, dabbing is one of the most potent ways to consume weed. If you can successfully make honey using the processes explained above, you can significantly reduce the expenses by making your own wax and shatter. So if you’re up for it, definitely give these methods a try.
Want to read more of our CBD-related posts? Check our useful tips for consuming CBD, or our post about cooking with a different strain of CBD Flower for various recipes.
