[Experiment] A new cannabis high

[SteamboatBillJr]

Recently I learned older cannabis has different effects than fresh cannabis. Specifically, older cannabis produces stronger physical euphoria. Older cannabis also has strong therapeutic potential when used in improving sleep. Most sources claim this process takes months at normal temperatures. Degradation of the primary cannabinoids causes this change.

When I learned this I thought, awesome, if I heat my cannabis I could probably accelerate this process. I could quickly get different effects from the same flowers.

I placed my sativa dominant cannabis in the oven at ~250F slightly past an hour.

Wow, the effects were much different after I baked the flowers.

Previously the effects of the cannabis were stimulating and cerebral. After baking the effects were much different. I experienced strong body euphoria and was asleep quicker than usual. My experiment demonstrated heating cannabis longer than normal decarboxylation strongly influenced the high.




Could anybody attempt the same experiment and confirm the effects are different after baking?

 

[rave23]

Ay, in the back of the closet, somewhere, in an airtight jar, at the bottom of a pile of clothes i never wear, besides items i no longer have use for but don't want to throw out, i have some buds and hash that must be approaching 4+ years.

It barely has any scent anymore, it turns to powder on touch. A faint hint of sweet grassy notes, not at all reminiscent of cannabis. The buds are no longer green, but shades of light brown and earthy tones.

It's been stored at room temperature in darkness that way for years. I never throw out any buds, if i purchase a new bag, any leftover either gets smoked or tossed in this jar.

I have consumed some of this cannabis by pipe, about 0.15 grams to be precise. The effects make my body buzz and fuss, and my head feels a light sort of haze. Super mellow effect. Tasted horrible. Must have inhaled some of this dry crumbly powder.

Would this save my ass on a rainy day? Sure. The cannabis effects are unmistakable.
But, this has nothing to do anymore with your fresh bud. The effects are so muted and muffled, it's more of a background stone happening than the headband that clings tight with some prime bud.

Heh, I feel validated for hanging onto my bottom nugs. After typing this up i'm starting to feel pretty sleepy. A rest on the couch would hit the spot right about now. I just realized i'm suddenly very exhausted, tired, in the good physical sort of way

 

[Rio Fantastic]

Recently I learned older cannabis has different effects than fresh cannabis. Specifically, older cannabis produces stronger physical euphoria. Older cannabis also has strong therapeutic potential when used in improving sleep. Most sources claim this process takes months at normal temperatures. Degradation of the primary cannabinoids causes this change.

When I learned this I thought, awesome, if I heat my cannabis I could probably accelerate this process. I could quickly get different effects from the same flowers.

I placed my sativa dominant cannabis in the oven at ~250F slightly past an hour.

Wow, the effects were much different after I baked the flowers.

Previously the effects of the cannabis were stimulating and cerebral. After baking the effects were much different. I experienced strong body euphoria and was asleep quicker than usual. My experiment demonstrated heating cannabis longer than normal decarboxylation strongly influenced the high.




Could anybody attempt the same experiment and confirm the effects are different after baking?

This has really intrigued me, though I do not smoke myself anymore. However, your experiment was not very scientific. I think you should repeat it blind this time for more control. Get someone you know involved to make it truly blind, cook one batch of weed and leave one batch to smoke as you usually would, then get a friend to roll them in different colored joints - it's essential you can't see it, as I imagine cooking it changes the appearance/consistency. Then, smoke one of them that day, note down the effects, & wait till the next day to smoke the other one, and note down the effects. Then, get your friend to tell you which joint was which. This way will be a *little* more scientific - I mean, it won't get in a peer-reviewed journal or New Scientist, but at least we can discount the placebo effect, which could have been significant, considering you expected it to be stronger, and you cooked it expecting it to make it stronger, and lo & behold it was stronger. However, I applaud your initiative, I don't know many stoners that would risk the bud to see if it works.

Also, can you please link me to where you read about degradation of cannabinoids increasing the potency of weed? This has really intrigued me and I'd love to read more, if you remember the site.

 

[DaDankyDank]

Putting it into the oven at 250 is going to decarb your weed. You're turning your THCA into THC. People do this all the time for edibles, but instead of smoking it they use it for cooking.

One analogy I have is pretend your cannabis is on a rollercoaster. As it's heated more and more it's going up a hill, and when we take it away from the heat it's going to drop from the hill, but those molecules aren't going to fall back down into the same spots as they were before. They've been changed and the whole profile has shifted. We've essentially thrown them off a building and they aren't going to land in the same spots and configurations as before.

The way I know this is from listening to people who test products for cannabinoids. One test that's used a lot is HPLC, but the problem with HPLC is that the samples are heated and what I explained above happens. It's not the same sample coming in as it comes out. This is why people are now switching to proton NMR to test their products since there's no heat involved and you can recover your sample in its entirety.

Besides cannabinoids, terpenes change too. Some of them are volatile at room temperature, and we know that because we can smell cannabis. When we add heat, we're going to lose more and more. Terpenes are known to modulate the THC high. Degraded terps or eliminating a few from the profile could drastically change effects of the high.

I'm sure someone who understands the science more than me could explain it better, but this is the general idea.

 

[Bagseed]

a friend showed me a graph showing the THC content over time at different temperatures... the higher the temp, the faster THC content peaked (decarboxylation), but it will also drop again after the peak, because THC will degrade. what will it degrade into? CBN?

 

[Egzoset]

Salutations SteamBoatBillJr,
Salutations BagSeed,

Wow, the effects were much different after I baked the flowers.

Personnally i prefer to appreciate a batch of dry flowers before and then cook weeks later, eventually.

After baking the effects were much different.

There are instances when i "blend" using "pre-vaped" material to limit allergy-like symptoms, it's as if i've acquired intolerance through over-exposition to the lower-range of vaporized cannabic molecules and hence blending appears to change the balance when necessary. Which is still a better option than no vape at all, or sored eyes, rafale sneezing, bloated nose, etc...

8)

Could anybody attempt the same experiment and confirm the effects are different after baking?

Well i sure wouldn't want to do that and i do get cookies out of my habit after all!

...a graph showing the THC content over time at different temperatures... the higher the temp, the faster THC content peaked (decarboxylation), but it will also drop again after the peak, because THC will degrade.

I'm done in less than 30 seconds, pre-heating must be the critical phase in terms of preserving precious compounds though... So it lasts 3 ~ 4 seconds then the goodies are immediately removed from my vaporization chamber. No "cooking" happens there, that's no typical electri-dry session requiring 2 ~ 3 minutes just to get ready at a preset temperature, with radiative/conductive heat baking the cannabic bowl between inhalations, etc...

Good day, have fun!!

 

[SteamboatBillJr]

Also, can you please link me to where you read about degradation of cannabinoids increasing the potency of weed? This has really intrigued me and I'd love to read more, if you remember the site.

Gladly and I should clarify my observation was the effects were different rather than the potency increased. The data is here.

http://skunkpharmresearch.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/decarboxylation-graph-1-11.jpg?w=570&h=574

240F lab results

http://www.marijuanagrowershq.com/decarboxylating-cannabis-turning-thca-into-thc/comment-page-2/

 

[Felonious Monk]

The difference between 240 and 250 might have gotten you more CBN, which would account for the narcotic quality.

In that graph, notice the peak in the 250? I can't remember but I've read stuff on this before, I think your results replicate those. You should note that that decarbing was with an oil, which would happen more evenly than with flower.

 

[SteamboatBillJr]

^Do you think I could increase the consistency of decarbing the bud if I decarb in multiple small sets?