So you have cannabutter but have no idea how strong it is. Here’s what to do.

Years ago I was gifted with half a pound of weed butter. The problem was I had no idea how strong it was so I didn’t know how much of it to use in my pot brownie recipe. Since then I’ve started making my own CBD butter and you can too, just follow my step by step guide to making cannabutter.

Depending on how exact you want to be there are 2 basic methods for dosing cannabutter. The process is the exact same whether you’re making it with CBD or THC flower.

Dosing

Method 1 – Just try it

Low and slow is the course of action here. This method has you try a low dose, gradually building up until you find the effect you want.

Spread a little weed butter on a piece of bread or cracker. By a little I mean around 1/2 a teaspoon. Then wait to feel the effects. The full effect may take as long as 2 hours.

If the effect isn’t strong enough, try it again the next day with a little more butter. 3/4 – 1 tsp depending on your tolerance and experience.

This method of dosing a little low and slow is called titration.

Once you get the effect is what you want, then simply multiply the amount you ate by the number of servings in the edible you plan to make.

Example

If 1 teaspoon was a good dose for you and your recipe makes 24 servings, then you’ll need 1 tsp x 24 servings to get the amount of cannabutter you need to use.

For brownies if your recipe makes 24 servings you’ll want to use 24 teaspoons of cannabutter.

24 teaspoons = 1/2 cup cannabutter

If your favourite cake, gummies or brownie recipe calls for more butter just supplement the rest needed with regular butter.

THINGS ARE ABOUT TO GET MATHY.

Method 2 – The THC calculator

For this method you have to know the THC level of the cannabis used to make the butter. If you made the butter yourself this should be easy because you probably know the percentage of THC in the cannabis you used.

You can use this THC calculator for determining how strong your cannabutter is or you can calculate it yourself.

1. Determine the THC % of the cannabis you used. Either look it up online or check the packaging your product came in.
2. Professionally grown cannabis batches are tested individually so you will have a good idea of the exactly THC% if you bought your weed.
3. HOME grown cannabis THC levels with vary based on growing conditions and when the buds were harvested. So even though the seed package may have said the strain has a 4% THC level it may be higher or lower than that in actuality.

My recently grown strain is listed as 4% .

TO CALCULATE

NOTE: THC only becomes THC after it has been activated by decarboxylation. Prior to decarbing it is referred to as THCA.

1. Multiply your THC% strength by 10.

This gives you the percentage of milligrams of THC in 1 gram of cannabis.

4% THC x 10 = 40 mg of per gram of cannabis.

When you decarboxylate the cannabis it changes the THCA to THC and you have to convert for that.

100 mg of THCA = 87.7 mg of THC.

So to convert you need to multiply your mg of THCA by 0.877

For me that means,

40 mg THCA x 0.877 = 35.08

That means I have 35 mg of THC in 1 gram of my cannabis.

Multiply the THC in each gram by however many grams you used.

For me that means,

35mg x 8 grams = a total of 280 mg of THC.

Since I used all of that in my 1 cup of butter, I know that my cannabutter has 280 mg of THC in it.

If I convert 1 cup of butter into teaspoons (1 cup = 48 teaspoons), I can determine that:

280 mg divided by 48 teaspoons = 5.83 mg of THC per teaspoon ( or serving )

That number will be different depending on how strong the cannabis you’re using is. Mine is not very high in THC but has a much higher concentration of CBD.

My 4% THCA cannabis will make have 5.83 mg of THC in it. If I wanted to double my intake of THC I would just double the amount of butter I use. Conversely for less THC I’d use less butter. 1/2 tsp., instead of a full tsp for instance.

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And that formula is why the titration method is most popular.

If you’re more interested in the medical miracles of marijuana without any of the cerebral/stoned effects you should read my post on taking CBD oil for anxiety. I started it a few years ago. When I started taking CBD my anxiety got much better BUT I figured it was a fluke.

So I stopped taking the oil. And then the anxiety came back. So I started taking the oil again and my anxiety got better. Which I again explained away as being a fluke.

So I stopped taking the oil again. 😆 This went on and on like this for a while before I finally relented and could admit that yes, CBD oil really helps with anxiety but you NEED to take it every day and you need to take it for a while. It is not an instant relief kind of thing unfortunately.

Happy baking.