SirSmokesAlot

Yes it is a myth. You do not need to heat Marijuana to 'activate' the THC. Raw Marijuana with unheated THC works just fine. However, heat has been shown to degrade THC into the less psychoactive substances CBN & CBD, in studies done at the University of Mississippi. This suggests that heating Marijuana before eating it does not increase the potency, but decreases it.

skel924

could you guys provide some proof to your differing opinions? im just curious as to what is the best and most efficent way to eat marijuana. heating or not heating?

CheebaMonkey

How heating cannabis can actually increase its potency.

It is done by the process of decarboxylation.

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sleepischeap

Raw plant material is hard for the body to digest so u cant absorb as much. Heat it up, to break down plant fibers. or at least chew it very very well.

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If im not back in five minutes.....just wait longer

kane2k

The recipes that involve heating have nothing to do with "activating" THC. In fact the heating has absolutely nothing to do with the plant or any of its components. It has to do with your digestive system. Humans are not herbivores. We can't chew on a plant and digest it fully and efficiently. Most plant material is broken down in your intestines by E. Coli bacteria. This method of digestion does not make for an efficient transfer of THC into your body. If you prepare the THC, which usually involves heating, then you can bond the THC to something that your body is good at digesting relatively quickly. THC isnt water soluble, if it was you could just soak your weed and then chug it back. It is however fat(lipid) soluble. So the idea behind a Leary biscuit or other recipes is to get the THC out of the plant and into the fat so that your body can get it into the blood quicker and more efficently. The best way of getting it out of the plant and into the fat is by heating it up. This also works with alcohol. So while heating has a negative effect on the plant and its concentration, the fact that you have moved the THC into another medium (i.e. fat) means that the remaining THC is more useful to you, and hence gets you higher, faster.

CheebaMonkey

kane2k, did you even click on the link I provided?

Yes, it has nothing to do with activation. But what it has to do is with converting THCA in THC. Changing the carboxylic form into the phenolic form. One way to do this is heat. According to Ed Rosenthal, the optimal temperature is 106° C.

kane2k

Yes I did read what you posted, but it has nothing to do with what I was talking about. The "negative effects" of heat which I was refering to have to do with the vaporization effect(which is very prevalent when cooking with weed since you are raising its temperature in an open environment i.e. microwave, oven, stovetop). I also think, I'm not sure, that the change which you are talking about also takes place during the curing of the weed after harvesting it, the article mentioned that the phenolic process occurred over time naturally but could be accelerated by heat or alkaline conditions( if you're still wondering about that its the opposite of acidic conditions ). Since there isnt an obvious benefit that I've seen to storing/aging weed then I think that this process has possibly already taken place once the weed is cured and ready to smoke.

kane2k

Now you have me thinking about something... It seems that it would be worth trying to heat up some weed to 106 C in a controlled manner, i.e. sealed in a container, to see if its potency increases. If you had a container which confined the weed then vaporization wouldnt be an issue and it would be a simple conversion process without waste. If your theory is right then it will increase the potency when consumed, even when smoked, since the burning ember is not an ideal condition for a subtle chemical reaction such as THC->THCa, and a controlled process would be far more efficient.

CheebaMonkey

That would be why I posted. When you first wrote that, you didn't tell us what you meant by "negative effects."

You mentioned the digestive system and heat. Heat is also useful in converting THCA to THC.

As you can see, if the plant has THCA in it, you can get more bang for you buck if you convert it to THC.

Some ratios of THCA to THC have been 20:1. Heating would definitely benefit the weed in that situation.

Daniel

Love when people revive an old thread..

Basically it comes to this..

You can eat raw weed and get *blasted*. It takes more.

Smoking, does make things quicker, and you don't need as much. The high does not last as long as eating.

Eating "cooked" weed doesn't take as much as raw. It lasts longer and it is a different "stoned" feeling. It does take more than smoking, and the effects take longer to kick in, but much longer lasting.


I have started really figuring this stuff out with cooking, because it is convienant when going on the road, flight etc and you want to be high.

Proof...

Sit down and eat an 1/8 of schwag. If you don't throw it up, in a few hours you WILL know that it works.

Also... After you cook it, you can certainly store it for later. Most people that are really into cooking use canibudder and put it into the fridge for use later.

-daniel