Let’s jump directly into it: We want to help you land in the deep end of cannabis pool by making the most powerful medicinal preparation ever—Rick Simpson Oil, or RSO.
You may have heard a thing or two about RSO, and for good reason. This mega-potent oil is effective at treating or helping to treat a remarkable range of conditions—from chronic pain, sleeplessness, arthritis, Crohn’s disease, glaucoma, asthma, and migraines, to things like HIV/AIDS, leukemia, mutated cells, and even cancer.
In other words, RSO is a freaking beast of a cannabis concentrate, and if you’re suffering from chronic pain or other health issues, it may be able to fix what ails ya. That’s because it clocks in at a cool 90% THC or higher, so it’s important to know that this stuff serious business.
That said, RSO can be used “recreationally,” and it can be dabbed, but a word or two to the wise if you want to use it for that reason:
— It is not for taking before brunch on the town or a Broncos game.
— It is not for taking before an important phone call.
— Do not take it with plans to drive anywhere for an entire half-day after ingesting it, at least.
— And, if you are prone to getting sunburned, make sure that you’re covered after taking it because you may find yourself waking in a puddle of drool outside many hours later. Yes, even in the winter.
The starting dose for ingesting RSO is one-half a grain of rice. Go to the cabinet, open up your container of rice, and take out one grain of rice. A piece of
RSO that’s the full grain of rice is way too much. Just think about that for a minute. You want half of that grain, max.
That said, don’t let it completely intimidate you. If you need a powerful medicine to combat the conditions listed above — or the others that cannabis helps to treat — or if you decide to take some time to commune at a deep level with the Green Goddess with one hell of a trip, this is your method.
Ready to get started on this weed cooking journey? Great.
Here are the ingredients you need to make RSO:
You’ll need 1 ounce of dried flower, which will make approximately an eighth of oil.
You will also need a food-grade plastic bucket or large glass bowl, two mason jars, a wooden spoon-type utensil, a strainer, a funnel, a few coffee filters, and
approximately one liter of grain alcohol to be used as a solvent.
There are numerous solvents that can be used, but Everclear is widely available, inexpensive, and relatively safe — though admittedly not without a risk of flammability.
You’ll also need at least one fan, a cooking pot, a rice cooker, a little bit of water, and a small glass Pyrex bowl.
Once you’ve gathered all of your ingredients, here’s what you’ll do to make RSO:
Start by roughly ripping up your dried bud and then place it into the bucket or bowl.
Lightly wet the bud with the solvent of your choice and pummel it well with your utensil. This will start the process of removing the trichromes — where the THC resides — from the plant material. If large chunks remain, rip them up by hand.
Submerge and soak the plant material in the solvent for about 15 minutes, agitating it occasionally. Heads up, though, that not much agitation is necessary.
The solvent does most of the work.
After the 15 minutes are up, you’ll pour the liquid through the strainer and funnel it into the first mason jar. From there, you’ll pour it through a funnel and a coffee filter into another mason jar. Pour the liquid from this mason jar into the cooking pot and then cook the liquid down by about three-quarters over low heat. While cooking, allow the liquid to create bubbles but don’t rush it. This process should take at least a couple of hours.
You’ll need to have plenty of ventilation and at least one fan blowing over and around the process at all times — especially before the solution begins to take on a more viscous consistency. Think of it as “soup to stew.”
Once you’ve cooked down the liquid by approximately three-quarters, you’ll want to pour the liquid from the pan into the rice cooker. The rice cooker is a much safer option and will not burn your oil. It also allows you to immediately remove the oil from the heat if it starts to bubble too much — or heat up too quickly. The chemistry at play will continue to thicken the oil toward its final state.
As before, you’ll want to make sure that the fan continues to provide ventilation. Side note: You can run the rice cooker outside if the weather is clear to have maximum ventilation.
There is a short window of about 10 minutes toward the end of the process when the oil has left a liquid state and will turn into a thick, gooey mess. When this happens, add a few drops of water, start stirring constantly, and don’t be afraid to slow things down by lowering or removing the oil from the heat.
To complete the process, you’ll pour the nearly complete oil into the small glass bowl and place it in an open oven at 180 to 200 degrees. This lets the last bit of water to evaporate from the surface and will allow the oil to finish the decarboxylation process.
Voila! You now possess your own super potent cannabis oil. Store it in the same glass bowl or transfer to a silicon container. Use it wisely, my friends.
Note: Don’t throw out the thinner, leftover oil in the pot once you’ve removed the viscous RSO. The remnant oil from the pot and the rice cooker can be warmed into olive or coconut oil for later use — so hold onto it
