DIY
Self-Care
INFO
Important First steps
For best results you must first decarboxylate our Lite Craft Cannabis Raw Hemp Flower before adding it to the options below. Decarboxylation is a chemical process that converts CBDa into a more bioavailable (more easily used in the body) form called CBD. The process is easy to do at home and only requires things you already have. Click the link to see a short video to make things easier...
Hemp can be made into salves or creams the can be applied for local pain relief from muscle aches, or inflamed joints. Folk remedies often used poultices made of cannabis for medical conditions such as rheumatism. Salves can also be applied, like tiger balm, for headaches near the surface of the skin. Some people also use the salve for skin conditions such as psoriasis. The best way to make this is with a base of oil extract (see Oil Extract recipe). The oil can be applied directly to the skin or you can make a salve by mixing it with bees wax.
Topicals
Oil does a fine job extracting CBD. You can extract more CBD with oil than with alcohol extracts using 80 proof liquor. Oil extracts are about 80% as potent as the Hemp they were made from. Oil extracts are also inexpensive and easy to make. They are useful to use in both topical creams/salves recipes, but can also be used in cooking recipes when substituted for butter (1 pound of butter equals 2 cups of oil). Many different types of oils can be used to extract, for example Olive oil, Flax oil, Hemp Oil, Coconut Oil, etc. Keep in mind what recipes you want to use the oil extract in when deciding which variety of oil you are using, as some can have a strong flavor for cooking while others are more easily absorbed topically. Flax or Hemp oil have anti-inflammatory effects, as some have found with CBD.
Oil Extract
Extracts, using liquor as the solvent to dissolve the CBD glands, are easy to make. It only takes a few days of soaking before the glands have dissolved. Any liquor can be used for this process. The higher the proof (% of alcohol), the faster the process. Some rum for example is 151 proof or 75% pure alcohol. Though expensive, the high proof liquors do the best job of dissolving the glands, which hold the cannabinoids. Though the extract may be high in alcohol in the beginning most of it can be evaporated off as the extract is concentrated.
Alcohol Extract
The folk method uses no measurements except sizing things up with your eyeballs. The folk method will inherently produce variable results in terms of ratios and strength, but you can keep track of how much herb and liquid you are using so that you will at least be consistent in your results when re-making tinctures over time.