Edibles are notorious for taking the unsuspecting consumer by surprise. They slowly make their way down to the liver where the THC is metabolized, and then they quickly transport you to a different place.
Despite the stronger potency of edibles, some experienced users don’t enjoy the same kick that they once did. If you’re after a more extreme (or at least a more efficient) edible experience, try these easy potency tips.
Try a More Potent Strain of Marijuana
It’s well known that earlier strains of marijuana contained less THC than they do today. In 1994, a typical strain of flower contained 4% THC — compared to a potency of 12% THC in 2014 and nearly 20% THC today.
If you’d like a more intense experience, infuse your edibles with a higher-THC strain like GSC, Chemdog, or Amnesia Haze rather than a low-THC strain like Charlotte’s Web. The edible might still take an hour or two to kick in, but the resulting high will be much more intense!
Cook with Hashish Instead of Cannabutter
Aside from raising the THC ratio by choosing a stronger strain of bud, you can also enjoy more intense effects by cooking with hashish instead of flower. Whereas a typical cannabis strain has 15-20% THC, hash can have 60% THC or more.
Home hash washers like the kind developed by PurePressure allow you to make your own natural hashish at home with a strain that’s as mild or as strong as you’d like. Infuse this hashish just like you would regular weed, and enjoy the stronger cannabis high.
Infuse Your Drinks with Cannabis Tinctures
Tinctures are not necessarily higher in THC than bud, but they’re absorbed much faster into the bloodstream. Rather than passing through the stomach and small intestine before you’ll even feel a difference, tinctures pass straight to the bloodstream for a near-instant THC hit.
You can make your own tinctures by soaking your cannabis in alcohol, or you can purchase a tincture that’s ready-made. Add it to your favorite consumables like smoothies and mousse for a quicker and more powerful onset.
Mix Cannabis with Alcohol — But Do It with Care
Weed-infused alcohol is similar to a tincture. When the trichomes are soaked in ethanol, the cannabinoids are extracted into the liquid and can then be absorbed directly into the bloodstream.
Even if you don’t have several weeks to soak your buds, you can still leave them in liquor (vodka, brandy, and rum are great) before mixing them into a hot toddy or rum cake. Because cannabis plus alcohol can affect people differently, start with only a small amount.
Try Proprietary Encapsulation Methods
It’s a little trickier to do at home, but some commercial edibles now come with a “proprietary microencapsulation” system. This system carries the THC safely through the stomach to be absorbed directly in the small intestine.
As well as giving you results within half an hour, you might also find these edibles stronger as fewer metabolites are lost in the stomach thanks to the more streamlined absorption pathway.
Try A Food or Tea with Myrcene
Finally, you can alter your experience with edibles by combining them with a terpene called myrcene. This terpene — found in fruits like mango and herbs like lemongrass and thyme — makes the blood-brain barrier more permeable and may help you feel your edibles faster.
You could try drinking a cup of lemongrass and thyme tea or eating one to three mangoes from two hours to half an hour before consuming edibles to see if the high is more satisfying (or at least arrives sooner).
Mind Your Mary-Jane Manners with Cannabis Edibles
One final piece of advice when playing with stronger-than-usual edibles: Don’t take a hungry visitor by surprise. Any edibles that contain cannabis should be appropriately labeled with the amount of THC or weed they contain and stored well out of reach of minors, pets, and self-serving visitors.
The good news is that stronger edibles can make for a fabulous night with friends — just make sure that everyone is on the same page from the start, and then enjoy an unforgettable experience!