Judging from my emails, people have A LOT of questions about edible cannabis. So I thought, why not make a FAQ? Here are the top 10 questions I get asked about marijuana edibles in no particular order (not marijuana cooking, that’s a different topic, find info on cooking with cannabis here).
Do edibles expire?
It depends on what the edible is and what it is made from. Edibles are food and their shelf life rivals that of any similar unmedicated product.
Do edibles lose potency? How long are edibles good for?
These are the more important questions. As long as the food itself is good, you should be fine. Edibles lose little to no potency over time. In fact, I often recommend freezing not only marijuana butter and cannabis oil, but also unused edibles portions. It's the best way to store cannabis edibles for when you really need/want them.
How long do edibles take to work?
It depends. Sometimes you can feel the effects in as little as 30 minutes, other times it can take an hour and a half or more.
How can I make edibles kick in faster?
Taking edibles on an empty stomach will usually make you feel the effects faster and more profoundly. Also, and this is just anecdotal, I find I feel the effects of fat-free, high sugar edibles faster than say baked goods. For instance a cannabis soda as opposed to a brownie. I also notice the effects from these edibles, while fast to come on, do not seem to last as long.
How long does an edibles buzz last?
Once again, it depends. Usually about an hour and a half, but it is not unusual for it to last twice that long or even longer.
Can you fly with edibles? How do I bring edibles on a plane?
While plenty of TSA agents have been regularly known to “look the other way,” many more do not. It is unfortunately still illegal to fly with marijuana and you are always taking a risk when doing so, even within legal states. That’s because aviation is still federally controlled and marijuana is still a Schedule I drug at the federal level.
What is a proper edibles dose?
Are you getting tired of hearing “it depends?” The truth is, there is no such thing as one ideal edible marijuana dose. People respond differently to cannabis, and not just a little bit differently, DRASTICALLY differently. While a 10 mg dose (the maximum per serving dose allowed for commercial edibles in the state of Colorado) might be perfectly reasonable for some people, many others will feel NOTHING from such a low dose. Some people need 50, or 100 mgs or even more. Edible marijuana dosing is HIGHLY individualized. Learn more about marijuana dosing here.
What can I do if I eat too much marijuana or feel too high?
First off, calm down. There is no such thing as a fatal marijuana overdose. That said it can feel mighty uncomfortable and be disorienting, you might even feel sick to your stomach. But there are things you can do to minimize the discomfort. Click for details.
Is it less expensive to make my own marijuana edibles, as opposed to buying them?
Yes! Even when you buy dispensary weed to cook with, making your own is less expensive than buying edibles. If you grow your own, you almost can’t afford NOT to cook with marijuana!
I hate the taste of marijuana, what can I do if I want to use edible cannabis?
Flavor wise, not all edibles are created alike. Some have a strong “green” flavor of cannabis while in others it is barely noticeable. If you don’t enjoy the taste of cannabis, here are some suggestions:
- Consider cannabis capsules instead of edibles. Available at many dispensaries in various potencies and strains, you swallow cannabis capsules like any vitamin pill and you are done. No flavor and far less calories than edibles.
- Edibles made with cannabis extract oil (such as hash oils and CO2 oil) will carry far less flavor than those made with marijuana butter or cannabis oil.
- Choose edibles with lots of other flavors and textures going on in order to mask the flavor of cannabis. The more delicately flavored the food, the more pronounced the cannabis flavor will be.
- If you buy extremely potent edibles, if you live in a state that allows you to), you only need to eat a tiny amount to get a substantial dose. It may not be a great tasting edible, but at least you don’t need to eat much of it. If your state odes not allow highly dosed edibles, you can always make them yourself.
- When cooking at home, making stronger marijuana butter and cannabis oil infusions lets you use less to get a proper dose. Less marijuana butter or oil in the food means less green flavor.
- When cooking at home use kief or rosin instead of marijuana butter or oil made with plant material for less herbal flavor in the finished product.
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It’s good to know there are measures you can take if you accidentally take too high of a dose of cannabis through edibles. Very informative, thanks for sharing this list!
I hate getting flour and dough on my hands so I don’t make pie crusts and pasta, lol. That being said, I want to make cookies. I make my own cannabutter and my question is this: if I make a cookie, then melt the butter and brush it on the cookies and it soaks it, will that be as effective as baking the butter in the cookie dough?
I guess you could do that, but the cookies still need to have butter IN THEM, so this does not make sense to me. It would also be impossible to properly dose this way. Why not use the butter for something else, like on toast, in mashed potatoes, etc.
I have a couple of recipes, one for no bake cookies, one for brownies. In both recipes, you have to bring butter and sugar to a boil. If I use cannabutter, will bringing it to a boil affect the potency?
It would depend on how hot for how long, but as a general rule of thumb, I would avoid boiling butter and sugar.
I’ve searched every where, and have yet to find answer to my dilemma. I hate the taste of edibles, however, I have found and perfected a gummy recipe, and used mj oil(mixed with lecithin), tincture and infused sugar. Because the recipe does not use any fat or oil, and I cant get the infused sugar any more, i have had to resort to using a tinture. That being said, i am having a problem with the dosing.
I have taken the online course, and regularly use the calculator. My issue is, because I use 375ml of 50% alcohol, after I have let it sit, I’m only getting 150ml of infused liquid afterwards. And this is affecting the numbers I need to put into the calculator.
Any help or direction would be greatly appreciated as people are counting on me to “get it right”.
What am I doing wrong? How to I figure out how much infused medium I am infusing?
The amount in the tincture will remain constant, even if the volume of tincture changes (likely due to evaporation). SO in the calculator when it asks you how much medium, put in the amount you are left with and it should work fine (hope this makes sense). Just checking when you say 50% alcohol, this is a food grade alcohol correct. You never want to ingest isopropyl.
As to infused sugar, there is a lesson on making it in my comprehensive cooking course and also in my latest book The Easy Cannabis Cookbook (see http://bit.ly/EasyCannabisCookbook )