Decarb Cannabis – The What & The Why

If you’re into cannabis products or you just want to start producing something of your own, then decarboxylation is one of the critical steps when it comes to creating the best outcome possible. If you aren’t familiar with it, hopefully, this article will help you understand the process a bit better and see why it’s so essential for quality cannabis products. You’ll learn everything there is about decarboxylation (but in simple words), and as a plus, you’ll get simple step by step instruction if you wish to try out this process for yourself.

So, without further ado, let’s dive into this nitpicky process which will make every single cannabis product a bit more lasting and more effective as well.

What Does It Mean To Decarb Cannabis?

In a nutshell, decarboxylation is a process that makes cannabis edibles more potent. It’s a chemical reaction which is one of the crucial steps you need to take if you want for your edibles to be more safe, effective and generally approved by head organizations. Edibles that you see nowadays which you can buy from reputable sellers are 99% decarbed, and thus, if you want to create the right product, this is something you shouldn’t even think of avoiding.

Wait…What?

If this was something that was too much for your brain, don’t worry, we’ll break it down even more. THCA is something that you’ll find in most cannabis-based products before their consumption and generally before smoking. Now, when you smoke cannabis, the heat makes THCA transfer from one state to another and thus, what you’re left is THC – something we all love. This process is simple when you smoke or just heat your products.

We won’t get into the chemical stuff that occurs in the background of the process, but in simple words, this transfer from THCA to THC makes cannabis more potent, and you’ll have a high kick – which is good. Now, when it comes to edibles, it’s a whole other story. Edibles are, well, edibles and thus you eat them to get the benefits from the specific product. This means that the product isn’t being heated, isn’t smoked and generally doesn’t change form. So, how does it become potent and transfer from THCA to THC?

That’s where decarboxylation comes in handy.

Decarboxylation is the first process you need to take if you want your edibles to become a real thing and not just something that’s stuffed with some “plants” that won’t give you any effects. And don’t worry. While we know that the word “decarboxylation” doesn’t sound like it’s going to be your best friend and like it’s a nerd, the process of it happening is quite simple, and you can do it in your own home. Of course, as we showed in the example of smoking cannabis products, you need to apply some kind of heat to your edibles for decarboxylation to take place.

Let’s see what are some of the most critical steps in the process itself and what tools you need if you want to keep it clean and precise.

Guide on How To Decarb Cannabis

There are a lot of methods that you can use to make decarboxylation occur and here, we’ll cover some of the basic ones. Of course, cannabis lovers around the world are very innovative, so nowadays what we have is probably more than a dozen different methods that you can use. Still, some of them aren’t convenient and tested enough. That’s why we’ll stick to the basics and see what methods are being used the most by professionals.

Natural way

Since cannabis is natural, it has its way of decarboxylation, of course. Plants, in general, don’t need humans to undergo a specific process, and this applies to cannabis as well. A weed that sits long enough will get decarbed on its own. Now, let’s just put a disclaimer here. When we say a long time – we mean it. If you opt for this natural method, prepare to grow a bit older until it finishes. We’re speaking about something in the ballpark of 1 year to 3 years depending on the specific plant you have. And yet again, even if you wait that long and want to use the weed for your edibles, you still might not get its full potential as the process isn’t near finishing.

So, if you ask us, this method is worth mentioning, but you’ll probably end up using another one just because it’s more convenient. Of course, letting nature take its time and doing its thing is incredible, but sometimes you just don’t have a few years to waste.

Baking sheet

This method is probably the most popular one as anyone can do it. It’s no different than if you’re trying to bake a cake and as a plus, most people have everything needed for the procedure in their own home. For the baking sheet method, you need weed that you want to bake, a baking sheet where you’ll place the pot and an oven. That’s about it. The idea is pretty self-explanatory.

You set the weed on your baking sheet and put it inside the oven. Then, you bake it for 30 minutes at 250 degrees Celsius and decarboxylation will occur. You won’t be waiting for a few years like you would in a natural method, so you get why most people just opt for the baking sheet way of decarboxylation. What you’ll end up with is a sweet looking, brownish weed that will be decarbed and ready for further processing. One thing though – it’s going to get smelly, and you shouldn’t do this if you’re parents or neighbours are around. They’ll probably notice the smell.

Oven Bag

The oven bag is the same as the baking sheet method but even more convenient. In this method, you’re using a bag, which makes things much more straightforward. You just put the weed inside the bag, bake it, and when it’s done, you just empty the bag wherever you like. You’ll have way less cleaning to do, and you won’t need to collect your precious plants one by one as you would in the baking sheet method.

Don’t Forget About Decarb

Decarb Cannabis is an essential step that shouldn’t be neglected if you want to create quality edibles. Even if you don’t have a professional lab for doing this – you can do it in the comfort of your own home, as most people do. With the help of this article, hopefully, you saw what different methods you can use to make decarb process a piece of cake.

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