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What’s the Best Marijuana for Topicals: Isolates or Tinctures? 

By Cheri Sicard
November 13, 2019

Dear Cheri,

I've been a fan of yours and have been subscribed for a while now. When I found out you were releasing the DIY topicals course I was instantly excited and drawn to purchasing!  I was wondering if this course covers using CBD tincture vs CBD isolate? This is the main issue I am having when trying to decide which to use in my bath and beauty products.  Any advice will be helpful. 

I do talk about the various products you can use to medicate topicals in the course for sure. When it comes to choosing, both isolates and tinctures can work well.

However, as I am a fan of whole plant full spectrum medicine, I personally almost never use an isolate, unless I am trying to make a super-strongly dosed topical (which you may or may not need and the dosing section of the course talks about how to test yourself to determine what works best for your individual needs and conditions).

In my opinion, this is the best use for isolates as they give you a specific concentrated dosage of just THC or CBD.

So when you want to make a really strong topical that would be difficult to do with plant matter alone, or that would take a whole lot of tincture, an isolate is good thing to use to help get you there.

When I make or buy tinctures, on the other hand, I use full-spectrum (although you could also buy isolate tinctures so I am not sure what you have on hand).

So both isolates and tinctures will work. But personally, I use isolates kind of like I do concentrates in cooking, to augment my already infused oil for a stronger dose for a specific purpose.

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About the author

Cheri Sicard is the author of Mary Jane: The Complete Marijuana Handbook for Women, and The Easy Cannabis Cookbook.  Her online courses at Cannademy.com have educated 1000s of students about marijuana, cannabis cooking for home cooks, and making infused topicals.

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