One of my favorite ways to incorporate cannabis into my daily routine is to explore ways to use it medicinally, especially for my knees and also to address body discomfort before and during my monthly cycle. This recipe is adapted from a dear friend who has been making these salves and potions for those seeking pain relief for a myriad of ailments. Creating your own cannabis oil/ salve is a fun way to spend a couple of hours making intentional medicine that can bring relief and ease to the body! Like most things, there is always room for experimentation and exploration as you get comfortable making this so trust your instincts and go for it!
Ingredients and Equipment Needed
• 2 grams of high quality cannabis. Since I like to smoke pain relieving indica strains I will use my favorite strains to make salve for massaging my aching muscles.
• An oven safe pot or you can use a time-saving infusing device. While infusing tools like the Magical Butter have really changed the game for the serious at-home or professional creator who are infusing cannabis into a multitude of edible and beauty products, I am partial to the oven method because making medicine to me is an intentional act of slowing down and taking time to take care of myself! As I said above, this is intentional medicine making INDEED!!! Making wellness more accessible; using what you already have in your cupboards and not just for cannabis lovers who have access to wealth is also something we at Stash Queens are all about.
• A base oil of your choice, such as coconut oil, olive oil or avocado oil. Jojoba oil works well too!
• Cocoa Butter or Shea Butter(this is optional) my personal preference is to make a thicker type of salve so I incorporate one of the butters later in the process but you do not have to. Some people like infusing their medicinal cannabis oil and leaving it unmixed to keep that slick oil consistency. Again, personal preference will help you to intuit what will work best for you!
• 1 to 2 drops of essential oils to add for smell and effect. Since I like my cannabis salve to have a warming quality, I use wintergreen, camphor and even ginger to add at the end. Those oils are stimulating but also are therapeutic for me. Research oils that speak to what you are looking for and try them out!!
Assembling Your Massage Salve
Since this is for personal use, start with enough base oil to fill an 8oz jar. Set it aside. Since I like a thicker type salve, I also will set aside a good amount of cocoa or shea butter and will warm it up so that its practically liquid gold. You can achieve this through placing it on top of a warm stove and letting it liquify or if you live in a hot climate, sit your butter in a sunny window for the day and nature will work her magic.
You are going to take your (2) grams of cannabis and break it up by hand or you can also grind it and you are going to place it in an small oven safe pot and set it in your oven at 180 degrees for about 20 minutes to pull out all of the moisture and bring the cannabis to its most potent level. This process is called decarbing and essentially you are altering the chemical structures of the raw cannabis flower to bring out all that THC goodness
Once the flower has been decarbed, take the pot out of the oven and next pour your set aside base oil on top of it and give it a stir to get everything good and mixed together. Give your pot a foil top and place it back inside of the oven.
Keep the oven temperature at 180 degrees and at this point this is where patience and anticipation of how amazing this will be when its all done comes to say hello👋🏿 for the next two hours you are going to watch this pot like a hawk in the oven. Low and slow is the name of the game. Take it out occassionally, give it a swirl.
After two hours is up, take your infused carrier oil out of the oven and now its time to strain! I recommend using cheese cloth because it does a great job at getting all of the cannabis particles out of the infusion. You might need to take a couple of passes with the cheese cloth to ensure that no plant matter makes it into your final mixture. Be careful because the oil will be hot so you can let it cool a bit but strain as soon as you can manage.
Now, if you are wanting more of a massage oil then you can stop right here! This would now be the time to add your drop or two of essential oil. Do NOT go ham with the essential oils! A little goes a long way, a drop or two is perfect especially if you are adding multiple oils to your batch.
Now if you are wanting a more thick salve or more of a body butter! Keep reading!! For the “butta” lovers like myself you are going to add your liquified butter to your infused base oil. After your oil and melted butter have been mixed together you can add your drops of essential oil and then stand back and admire your handiwork. Your mixture will solidify once it cools completely down and now you have medicinal cannabis massage salve to use for your bodily aches and pains!
A few items to note. Your personal use massage oil/salve/butter is VERY powerful medicine and I like to tell people a little goes a LONG way. Do not slather your entire body down or apply a lot in one area because it can irritate the skin if there is too much applied.
If you have sensitive skin, test a small area of your body first to see how your skin reacts. My general rule is to dip my index finger halfway into my finished butter, rub and warm it up in my hands and then apply to the area of my body needing attention. If I need to apply more I keep using this half finger measurement.
This salve has worked wonders for my knees, and shoulders and my lower back and works well too if someone is assisting you in getting the kinks out😉The warming essential oils I normally choose play an important role but the absolute star of the show is the infused cannabis oil.
Let us know how you feel when you come back from Cloud 9 ☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️