If you are looking into using CBD, or even if you already use it, you may be wondering how to reduce your costs in the long run. Luckily, there are options that are cheaper than you might imagine. One of the best ways to save money on CBD products is to make your own tincture at home. Some people prefer to spend a little extra for the convenience of a pre-made, ready-to-go bottle, but if you are willing to spend a few minutes in the kitchen you can dramatically reduce your long term costs.
To make a tincture comparable to the oil-based ones that we carry at Discover CBD, all you need is two ingredients: CBD isolate powder, and a carrier oil. CBD isolate powder is one of the most versatile items that we carry, because it can be used in so many different ways. You can eat it, smoke it, or even mix it into a topical rub for your skin. The carrier oil is important because CBD on its own is lipophilic, which means that it is soluble in fats and oils, but will not dissolve in water. This is why you cannot just mix the powder into water to create a tincture or a drink. When choosing a carrier oil you have a lot of options to pick from, but our go-to is MCT oil. MCT oil is a refined coconut oil with quite a few health benefits of its own, making it a great choice for creating your own tincture. Some of the reported health benefits of MCT oil include weight loss, heart health, and brain health. It is also important to note that MCT oil remains liquid at room temperature, while unrefined coconut oil will begin to solidify. It should go without saying that we want our tincture to remain liquid.
To begin this process, it is a good idea to work out the math for dosing prior to mixing the ingredients together. By doing this on paper first, you can work out the details of how concentrated you want your final product to be, and adjust the numbers before you dive in.
For example, we can start with 1 gram of isolate powder and 2 ounces of MCT oil. 1 gram of powder at 99.8% purity translates to roughly 998 milligrams (mg) or CBD. For the purpose of simplifying this example we will round it up to an even 1,000mg. If your tincture bottle has a standard 1 milliliter (mL) dropper, then you will want to know how many mg’s of CBD are in a single mL (a full dropper) of oil. Knowing that, you can dose yourself according to your preference. So, here’s how that math would work out: 2 ounces translates to 60mL. Divide the amount of CBD (1,000mg) by the amount of oil in the bottle (60mL) and the result is around 16.66mg per mL. So, each dropper will have a little more than 16mg of CBD in it, and half of a dropper would have about 8mg (rounded for simplicity). Most people start dosing between 5-10mg and work up from there, so in this example a person could start with half of a dropper. If you want your product more concentrated, you can decrease the amount of MCT oil, and vice-versa if you want it less concentrated.
The next step, having done the math, is to actually make the product. This process is super easy and takes only a few minutes in the kitchen. The most popular way to do this is to use the “double-boiler” method. Essentially, you pour the MCT oil and isolate powder into your container, then place that container into a larger pot of heated water, rather than placing it directly over a flame. This method safely and evenly warms the oil enough to dissolve the powder, without cooking it to the point that it burns off the CBD powder. Once the powder completely dissolves into the warm oil, remove it from the double boiler setup and allow it to cool. Viola! You have your very own homemade CBD tincture that cost much less than a manufactured tincture, and takes less time to make than it took to read this article!
