Delta-9 THC explained

Wed, 02/Jun/21

THC or Delta-9 THC represents the principal psychoactive compound present in marijuana. THC is an acronym, which unwinds to its scientific name “Delta nine tetra hydro cannabinol”. In the market, however, and in everyday speech, we use a popular handy nickname calling it simply “THC”.

Delta-9 THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) is there in marijuana to make us high when we smoke weed, eat weed as edibles, or otherwise consume it.

Impact of Delta-9 THC

If you’ve just hit, and you suddenly start feeling an increase in imagination and an over-positive mood; troubles are far away; if a favorite movie involves you more than usual, or you desperately want to play a video game, or express your avalanching creativity in a drawing — it means the weed is good and rich with THC, and it’s kicked in.

Kenny McCormick, South Park series

For more than 12,000 years, people smoke marijuana for creativity, spirituality, and merely fun, and also we leverage the outstanding medical properties of weed, just along with the general highness THC gifts to us.

Boaters smoke weed, filmmakers definitely smoke weed, game designers, artists, poets, executive managers, and craftsmen — everyone smokes weed. Yeah, the latter two need a lot of creativity to keep going! The software developers of this website, marketers, designers, and copywriters love toking as well. The whole world.

Is Delta-9 THC addictive?

It depends greatly on what you call “addictive”, but just… er… Everything is addictive: social networks are addictive, the morning coffee is way addictive, and the Sun in the sky is addictive beyond imaginable.

The Cambridge dictionary defines the word:

Addict /ˈæd.ɪkt/ is a person who cannot stop doing or using something.

I personally cannot live without software making, I’m also video game addict, and an oxtail soup addict (yes, I’m very serious about oxtail soup!)

How long does Delta-9 THC stay in the body?

Studies indicate that 80-90% of the total intake of Delta-9 THC is gone from the system within 5 days. The peak reached after smoking falls in 4-6 hours. If you are a “chronic stoner”, Delta-9 THC is never out of your system. It also accumulates in fats where its presence expands to an undefined time span.

The crystal monstrosities in the picture above are the trichomes on the cannabis plant magnified. The trichomes make buds look frosty, while the contents of trichomes (namely, Delta-9 THC) make us high.

When we puff…

At the temperature 220-235℉, it equals 105-112℃, carbon dioxide present in the trichomes of marijuana abandons THCA (the THC acid) changing it to Delta-9 THC. As heating continues the temperature rises very quickly to 350℉, which equals 176℃, and at this point, THC evaporates: it changes from solid-state to gas. We inhale it with smoke, then in the lungs, Delta-9 THC absorbs into blood, and heads towards the brain.

How Delta-9 THC works on the micro level

On the micro-level, the molecular of THC has a proper structure to interact with the cannabinoid receptors in the human brain. These receptors are part of our endocannabinoid system, and, loosely speaking, Delta-9 THC is incidentally “compatible” with it. So THC contracts those receptors of the endocannabinoid system and incentivizes the chemical processes, eventually changing our behavior and our way of thinking.

Anandamide in relation to THC

The “high” that Delta-9 THC performs is a natural condition, and we have Anandamide in the body for the purpose to make us happy, thoughtful, and creative. THC only stimulates it.

This is what goes on when we intake marijuana.

Who has discovered Delta-9 THC?

Dr. Raphael Mechoulam, Israeli organic chemist and professor of Medicinal Chemistry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel, was born in Sofia in Bulgaria in 1930. He discovered THC and its effects on the human body and also isolated THC, and fully synthesized it in 1969. Also, he has identified how Anandamide works concerning the chemical backgrounds of happiness, and how marijuana affects this condition in the human body.

Let’s use cannabutter: the 100% Weed brownie recipe!

Tue, 20/Apr/21

Chocolate brownies do influence minds both figuratively and literally, and apart from weed they contain the chocolate itself already delivers high effects as it stimulates endorphins, and then the input of weed only makes high things seriously higher.

Cooking is art, ye be sure, and in the beginning you make certain you pick the world’s best chocolate!! for your marijuana brownies, and that’s how we reach the la-la-land.

Cannabutter brownies are the most classic of the weed edibles for a reason, but every time we face a serious risk – to eat the whole tray of the weed brownie mixture before it may even touchdown the oven.

We burn one down before the recipe, now let’s get started.

Ingredients to make weed brownies

The most important ingredient for making brownies with marijuana is chocolate. Of course, we shall need marijuana as well, but we suppose we have it once we are on the weed brownie recipe. The chocolate must be as pure as possible, say 70-90% dark. It won’t fly well with milk chocolate. Pure cocoa may work as a replacement, I love using 100% Peruvian cocoa, yet it’s hard at times to hunt one in the supermarket.

The ingredients for the weed brownies are pretty the same as for the regular brownies, but we replace butter with cannabutter. The latter already contains desired amount of marijuana, and it is “activated”: THC-acid is already converted to THC, trapped in butter fats, and the foreign smells are minimized. As soon as we are ready we put on the table the following:

• Chocolate 100g (or 1/2 cups if cocoa)

• Cannabutter 100g

• Sugar 200g

• 3 eggs

• All-purpose flour 100g

• Half a teaspoon of baking powder

• Half a teaspoon of salt

Can you use cannabutter instead of oil?

Yes, the basic idea is to use cannabutter for the marijuana brownies, but you can also use cannabis oil instead if eating butter is not your best diet. Cannabutter and cannabis oil are interchangeable for the weed brownies recipe, just the taste shall be different. I’d recommend trying both ways because the cannabutter brownies are among stoner’s most classic recipes!

Do I need to decarb weed for weed brownies?

The weed must be decarbed, which is the very idea of making edibles with marijuana, including the cannabutter brownies. If you use cannabutter the marijuana trapped in it is already decarbed. But if you just wish to use buds, just throwing them into a bowl – that can be done, but you need better decarb weed then (totally not what Nancy did in the “I love you, Alice B. Toklas” movie).

How do chocolate weed brownies trigger endorphins?

The weed in the weed brownies set us high, that is the reason why we cook weed edibles, and this is what we expect from our cannabutter brownies. However, for the brownies, marijuana is not alone in delivering happiness to the brain! Chocolate per se is already a drug, it stimulates endorphins, so we expect higher effects rather than smoking the same amount of weed we use for the cannabutter brownies. Maybe the reason why brownies are the most classic edibles of all.

Chocolate helps to improve the mood, feel calm, and be content. It contains serotonin, elevates mood, and stimulates the production of endorphins, the neurotransmitters – that are responsible for the brain’s chemistry for feeling pleasure, calm, and satisfaction.

We can see marijuana in the weed brownie recipe is not the only “active” ingredient, yeah, but your THC in cannabutter unites the attempt with phenylethylamine, aka love-drug, in chocolate – thus, this brownie is not just a weed recipe, but the message about getting higher than high!

Directions for the cannabutter brownie recipe

The rest cooking directions match well the classic chocolate brownie recipe. There are secrets, of course! – we infuse the already-chocolate brownies with weed (or ¼ pound of cannabutter in my case) to enjoy the best and the most classic edible of all time – the marijuana brownies.

1. Melt the marijuana butter (cannabutter) in a water bath, what we call “Bath Marie”. Put cannabutter into a bowl and set the bowl over the boiling water until cannabutter is melted.
2. If you use chocolate, then melt it together with cannabutter in this step. But if you use a cocoa powder then you sift it and add it into the mix in further steps.
3. Add eggs into melted cannabutter, and vanilla if you wish to enhance the taste. It’ll also decrease the smell of marijuana, but chocolate already does the job well.
4. For an extra flavor, add it to this stage along with crushed peanuts or walnut, dried orange peel, or whatever you wish.
5. Mix all well.
6. Add dry ingredients carefully one by one: sugar, flour, and baking powder, continuously stirring at a slow pace. You should see a quasi-homogeneous substance in a bowl.
7. Put the parched paper on a tray, and grease it with cannabutter slightly.
8. Pour the contents of your bowl, and spread it evenly.
9. Bake at 350 F, equals 180-200 C, for 20-30 minutes.
10. If all is done properly, you’ll get the crust well visualized.
11. Check the readiness with a toothpick – pin it into the middle of your brownie while the latter is still in the oven. Your brownie is not ready until the toothpick goes out clear of brownie particles!
12. Cool at room temperature before serving.

How to use cannabutter to make brownies?

To use the cannabutter for weed brownies we mind the dosage. If you are an experienced stoner for life, you have nothing to be afraid of, but the overdose is easy to be reached when you deal with edibles (especially for the first time). You risk just spoiling the attempt, sadly losing the valuable butter, if you put a highly condensed cannabutter into the weed brownie mix – read more about dosage in the cannabutter post. If you need less cannabutter for sake of dosage, then mix it with regular butter.

Cannabutter

Tips on making the best cannabis brownies

• Do not over-beat the eggs. Otherwise, the eggs once over-beaten allow the excess air into the mix, then you risk your weed brownies becoming more like a cake, rather than being chewy.
• Do not heat any edible, this chocolate weed brownie included, higher than 350 F, which equals 180-200 C because the heat may destroy THC and you get only brownies and no high.
• Sift all dry ingredients, they are flour or cocoa, this will make the whole mix better mixed, and add oxygen to flour and other powders that you sift. Sifting shall ease the whole process, you better believe it, or you try both ways.
• Choose chocolate, or cocoa, with love and care, do not allow any foreign ingredients in it. Using pure chocolate (70% and up) for weed brownies will result in candy-like weed brownies, but using pure 100% cocoa will make your brownie a fudge. Try either way.
• It may sound too obvious, but the often mistake is – the brownie should be brown. Wrong chocolate or cocoa may give another color, it may be one tone into red, or invisibly greenish, but it is not right. Chocolate in chocolate weed brownie is the most important ingredient.

Enjoy.

Indica vs Sativa Explained

Fri, 02/Apr/21

Marijuana strains in the modern market are axiomatically divided into two main families: Indica and Sativa. These are the historical families of the cannabis plant, but just the modern breeding progressing wildly made them – “Indica” and “Sativa” – the labels, the trademarks: practically there is no pure Indica, nor pure Sativa, but just historically we find it way convenient and we stick to the definitions. I bet anyone has seen a description saying: “Indica 60%” – let’s dig up, what does it even mean?

There is also Ruderalis, becoming a popular term as autoflowering seeds are conquering the market – the easiest and fastest way to grow cheap weed at home. However, those autoflowering seeds are usually a mix of Ruderalis and either Indica or Sativa. And the latter two forever take their special place in the language, in the industry, and among end consumers – aka stoners, which is us!

What’s the difference between Indica and Sativa?

About 30 years ago I have stepped on the path of a recreational stoner, and loving it. Even though we didn’t have 50 strains over the counter, however, that day a very close friend of mine told me the difference: “The formula is simple to catch the basic idea, Sativa is to laugh, and Indica is to sleep.”

Since then I use it as the basic definition, for whoever asks me. Of course, not only this, and a whole speech follows about the myriad of nuances, but the truth is – Sativa delivers storms of laughter, and an avalanche of creativity, but Indica is to feel sleepy, relaxed, being deep into strategic thinking. This just explains everything we want to know about what is Indica, and what is Sativa.

Sativa (on the left) and Indica (on the right)

Cannabis Sativa gives a taller plant compared to Indica, which is, in general, a lower plant and bushier. Also, you can detect the domination of Indica or Sativa genetics in a marijuana plant by the shape of the leaves, and by color. Indica is in general darker with deeper green, while Sativa obviously features a lighter green color of the leaves and buds if you put both together in front of yourself. Basically, Indica and Sativa determine the type of your high.

Indica effects

Indica cannabis family originates from the northern regions of India, just as its name suggests. Thus, Cannabis Indica has evolved in a cooler climate rather than Cannabis Sativa. Cannabis Indica is considered amateur marijuana once it comes to growing weed at home: as a northern lass Indica is less whimsical, not yet all-forgiving but some grower’s mistakes it certainly allows.

Indica delivers sleepy effects indeed, recommended for the beginner stoner to bake one in the evening. It delivers vast relaxation to the body, and slowness in movements, compared to Sativa, Indica is responsible for physical effects on the body. Once you intake a good portion of Indica you get what we call “stoned”, rather than “hyper”.

Sativa effects

Sativa cannabis family has evolved closer to the equator, and it loves high temperatures and arid climates, and it gives taller slimmer plants. Many growers confirm Cannabis Sativa is harder to grow rather than Cannabis Indica.

What does Sativa make to you? Sativa strains make you “hyper” and “pro-active”, as only hyper one can be from marijuana. Anyway, you get high as it is top-notch marijuana, but Sativa just alters the mind different way and less the body’s physical condition. For the creative drive, you prefer Sativa. This is not carved in stone, and you get your creativeness and a lively mind from Indica too, but the stoners recognize it as the general idea to start from – the liveliness of Indica is “slower”, so to say.

Historical record

In 1753, a Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus, also referred to as Carl von Linne, was the first person in recorded history who identified a cannabis plant as “Cannabis Sativa L.”, where “L.” stands for Linnaeus, his name.

In 1785, a French military scientist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck identified the other type of cannabis plant – Cannabis Indica, and he classified it as “Cannabis Indica Lam.”, where “Lam.” is for his name. I’m not a botanist but it seems obvious that they all were putting their names trailing.

In 1924, a Russian botanist Dmitry Janischevsky has identified the third variety Cannabis Ruderalis, separating it from the already-discovered Cannabis Indica and Cannabis Sativa.

Cannabis Ruderalis

Cannabis Ruderalis originates from the Chuy Valley, a natural wonder located on the border of Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, where the wild weed grows for ages covering 400,000 hectares – equals the size of Delaware, full of wild marijuana, belonging to no one, totally wild.

Some sources call it Siberia, other sources call it Russia, but it is neither, it’s Chuy. This type of marijuana plant is also found in the northern Himalayas in Asia. The cold climate, compared to what Indica or Sativa enjoy, made Cannabis Ruderalis evolve as less sensitive to the light regime so that it gives flowers by reaching a definite age, rather than reacting to the rhythm of the Sun. Also, the full growing cycle of Ruderalis from seeds to buds is significantly shorter.

Cannabis Ruderalis “suffered” less marketing attention but gained its fame eventually with the development of the autoflowering seeds at the beginning of the 21st century. The genetic properties of Ruderalis concerning the light regime gave us the brilliant opportunity to grow the all-forgiving amateur weed in no time.

Why do breeders mix Sativa and Indica?

First of all original Cannabis Sativa plant may reach a great height, several meters in the wild, which is not convenient for home growing. Mixing its rich properties with the physical characteristics of Indica, including its resistance to pests and environmental conditions, is just reasonable. Hybrids and Indica-dominant strains fit a limited growing space nicely.

Secondly, the breeders work hard to satisfy the market needs, delivering the mixtures of flavors, what we call terpenes, also the amounts of THC making the recreational weed higher than high, and also delivering proper medical properties of marijuana.

Breeding is a usual process while messing with plants.

Indica vs Sativa vs Hybrid

Nowadays they are all hybrid. We have hundreds of strains in the market, and most of them indicate some percentage of Indica and some percentage of Sativa. The dominating genetics makes it this or that, but they are all hybrids, however.

What do we choose then? We choose the baseline, as weed strains come to the market marked as “more Sativa” or “dominant Sativa”, usually called simply Sativa, or “dominant Indica”, referred to as Indica, with a respect to the high effects as we described above for both types.

Examples,

• White Widow is Indica, a strong and very classic one.

• Strawberry Chemdawg is a mad mix of everything. This one we officially call a hybrid strain, it contains the aromas of strawberry, diesel, and black pepper, also featuring the energetic effects of Sativa and calmness of Indica, altogether.

• Sour Diesel is a Sativa-dominant strain, but it may relax you due to the amount of caryophyllene, the psychoactive terpene standing apart from THC or Sativa properties.

• Northern Lights, showing in its name the Northern origin, is an Indica-dominant strain of marijuana offering the classic Indica effects.

Autoflower Sativa vs Autoflower Indica

The autoflowering marijuana inherits the unusual growing cycle from Ruderalis, making it very easy to cultivate at home, requiring less growing space, and the breeders have already mixed it with Indica and Sativa – so we enjoy a good amount of high in the autoflowering plants.

Basically, the autoflowering strains share the branding with the famous normal strains but may differ in amounts of THC. There is White Widow Autoflower, and there is Sour Diesel Autoflower. Despite that any autoflower is a hybrid, we’d better call them already Autoflower Sativa and Autoflower Indica, as soon as the genetic of Ruderalis is present in the autoflowers anyway.

Examples,

• “Auto Orange Bud” contains the genetics of the classic Orange Bud, from the classic era of cannabis breeding. It is now an autoflower, and extremely high Sativa, altogether.

• “Auto Skywalker” certainly breaks the rule about lower THC in autoflowers, it counts 25% of THC, and is a Sativa strain. Limonene and Caryophyllene are also there.

• “Auto Blueberry” is another super-classics in a form of autoflower, and it’s Indica.

Practically all the weed in the nowadays marijuana market is technically hybrid, but we still use the archaic terms “Indica” and “Sativa” indication to describe clearly what is going to happen as soon as we consume it, and how we grow it. And, all the commercially distributed weed is high, but we also choose the smell, the terpenes, the price, the easiest effort to grow one at home, etc. It is great fun to know the origins and try to taste the basic difference between Indica and Sativa. So we expect and plan the type of high, and we can compare the feeling while trying all of them.

How To Dry Marijuana Buds Guide

Wed, 15/Jul/20

You know how to grow and you’re sure you are good at it. Then you grow a nice clone-plant of nice sativa family full of positive genetics from the proper mother, containing proper number of trichomes and you know for 100% that you cut it right in time.

Marijuana Drying Techniques

It’s obvious that a true professional grower develops the relation with the every single cannabis plant. And it’s quite well-expected that the most active part of this development happens on the growing stage. Say, when the plant is alive, and it is kind-of very logical, but here we have another pot of puzzles to solve: the very professional cannabis growers all know that in the moment of cutting yet another extremely important period only starts — drying and then storing the cannabis product to have the best glorious pot out of it.

Why Drying / Curing is so important?

There is chemistry behind all this cannabis treatment always. Yes-yes, again that chemistry and as soon as we are dealing with the living thing, the carbon form of life, we never get rid totally of cannabis chemistry. It is the very same process why fruits get ripe after being harvested. The chemistry continues working.

There shall be NO! Light!

Cannabis is the complex organic matter. All organic thingies lose properties under exposure to the sunshine or another good light. Like, chlorophyll is giving green colour to the buds, and your buds will be ugly if you not hide them in the dark. And it’ll certainly loose the high components too, I think, not completely, yet we do not want it to happen, as we are to keep all! Easy to understand the conception, when you think about usual paper getting yellow and less elastic when exposed to the sun for long, or a paint on your walls or on your cloth: the sunlight is merciless, it gives everything and it takes everything, keep it in mind.

Mind THC when you dry cannabis plant

There is no pure THC inside the plant, but there is THCA which changes into THC when the temperature hits and then vaporizes. By curing you increase the effects and the amount of THC that shall work on you, means: better cure give more potent buds and less loss of the desired components.

While curing is technically the other process, it’s still very close by the idea. And the official difference that you cure it enclosed, that the plant (already dried as the curing goes after drying) gives away less of its moisture, rather than when is being dried. Under some conditions we can skip curing or combine it as one process (until you do it for yourself, not commercially, and can try this quality vs the other, experimenting).

Can it be too much of drying cannabis plant?

Anything can be too much. Many think weed and cash cannot, but they can, and the drying marijuana either. Many professional growers mention, that the best cured buds happen after a month or about of very proper curing. Never tried by myself tho, as my buds are burnt into smoke much earlier, all of them. However, one obvious problem of a ‘too dry’ is that trichomes start braking easily and you loose the potency. I think in time THC should start disappearing either, so you need to pick it up at its prime. Matter of XP (experience), no less, and I never heard about a stoner able to wait to long, which makes this issue theoretical, yet others are real.

External threats and issues for drying cannabis

Mold id the Enemy. Hopefully there is no mold around in your place, but you need to keep an eye, checking it carefully. It may also hit live growing cannabis plants too. See the head picture? It’s a mold on it! Bugs and pests are to avoid, and the other house animals, cats, dogs, also small children, elder brother maybe, and of course – a mom sometimes may ruin the harvest even worse than the others mentioned here, hahahaha ) ) )

Drying cannabis in One piece

There is a certain misbelief that drying a plant in one piece may allow more THC come up from the stem to leaves and buds. A total untrue. Among other reasons there is a simple fact that the water moves up in stems and branches, due to water surface tension, which is stronger than the gravity when it comes to micro pipes (and this is how water elevated from the ground to the very top of the cannabis plant.

And a complete total untrue for those couple of plants of indoor cannabis that you grow at home in personal-consumption volumes. Significantly longer drying is the only thing that may happen and you definitely do not want it. If you still feel explorer then try it and make your own conclusions.

Best Drying Conditions, Temperatures, Humidity for Weed

From 18 to 24 degrees Celsius (65 to 75 Fahrenheit). Humidity 45-50 percent. Darkness is essential for marijuana buds through all drying process. If all is done correctly then in 6-10 days the plant starts being dry. Check how far it is dry by tactile check and apply for the ultimate phase — curing.