Fully Extracted "Craft" Cannabis Oil: Chapter 4, Having The Plant Medicine Professionally Tested For Potency At Medicine Wheel

If you are just tuning into the story now, I have grown my own cannabis plant medicine from seed. The seeds originally came from Jamaica, just outside of Negril. The strain was unknown and was grown in Canada (outside) last year. Males were not separated from the female plants and I was given 8 seeds from these plants. This makes the plants that I grew, second generation, in Canada.

I grew my plants (inside) in soil. I loved these Queens but, because it was my first grow, I made lots of mistakes that a more experienced grower would not have made...including letting them become fertilized by a male. This meant that a lot of my plants' energy went into seed production, instead of resin production. 

I fed my plants with an organic nutrient line called Dutch Nutrients.

This line of nutrients has been manufactured in Canada, by  Shelley Eitel-Rea. Her company, Homegrown Hydroponics, has been formulating this line since 1985. In May of 2017, I participated as a guest cannabis educator, in a cannabis cooking class that was held at Homegrown Hydroponics' Head offices in Toronto. (If you missed that story, you can access it here: https://steemit.com/cannabis/@rebeccaryan/steemit-story-update-on-location-at-homegrown-hydroponics-and-phytomedical-where-cannabis-coaching-was-in-full-swing )

Once I harvested  and cured the cannabis flowers (which are referred to as buds) I extracted the essential oil of cannabis out of them. 

I also saved approximately 10 grams of the dried herb for future use. 

What you need to understand about my personalty is that I like to get out and meet other people who are doing great things for the cannabis culture.

This industry is tough enough and people need to know that they are supported.

I personally think that all people who are making huge investments in terms of their time, passion and financial resources (in order to be champions of this powerful plant medicine) should be recognized for their efforts. In many cases, they have been heavily persecuted for their choice to follow their life's work. 

Rob Stevenson is no exception. He is the owner of a Medical Cannabis Dispensary called Medicine Wheel which is located in Roseneath, Ontario Canada.

Established in 1851, Roseneath is also home to Alderville First Nation Indigenous People who have called these lands their home for over 850 years.

Ojibwe or Anishinabe is the true name of the people. Rob is a member of the Bear Clan and he has decided to exercise his indigenous rights, set out by the United Nations, to sell medical cannabis to people and educate them about the use of indigenous plant medicines.

Rob is exceptionally transparent in everything that he does.

Here's a video that was posted on YouTube by Indigenous Cannabis on June 27, 2017. The video showcases Rob speaking about Medicine Wheel and he gives a nice tour of his dispensary which is very unusually to see. Most dispensaries are very private and taking videos or pictures is prohibited due to fear of persecution and the strong desire to protect the dispensary's intellectual proprietary property.  (Which, you can't really fault anyone for, I might add.)

Through this video, you can see how much Rob believes in sharing the power of strong cannabis education, my friends.

This is why, I decided to introduce myself to him and ask him if he would help me, by testing the herb that I grew and the fully extracted cannabis oil that I produced. 

Rob has heavily invested in state of the art cannabis testing equipment that is light years ahead of staining litmus paper and "guesstimating" how much THC a plant contains based on the size of a paper blotch.

The equipment he is using was developed by a company called Sage Analytics. The company is based out of California and its roots are in pharmaceutical industry. They have specifically developed this equipment for the sole purpose of testing cannabis for its cannabinoid profile through a process called Spectroscopy.

This equipment let's Rob and his team test every single cannabis product that comes through their doors for the claims made about its respective potency. Many growers and producers are making claims about what their product contains and Rob's equipment will verify whether the claims are true or not. The testing itself takes less than 10 minutes and it does not harm the small testing sample that is required. This is given back to you, which is also unusual because most samples tested by other labs are not given back because the testing process destroys the sample in the process of testing it.

For more information about Sage Analytics, you can view the company's website here:

http://sageanalytics.com/about/our-science/#our-works

I took all of the photos that you are about to see a few days ago, after I met Rob and his Lab Technician, Dalton Martin, on-site at Medicine Wheel. (Of course, I asked for permission first.)

This is what the outside of the Dispensary looks like now, only a few months after its soft opening.

Once inside, the lab area is located in a contaminate-free glass and stone enclosure.

Dalton Martin is to my right (in the red shirt) and Rob Stevenson is to my left (in the grey shirt). I'm holding a syringe containing my oil sample that is going to be tested for its potency. This is a service that Medicine Wheel will be offering. It costs approximately $65 per test, but anyone interested should call Medicine Wheel, to ask for an estimate and make an appointment to have the tests completed if they want their produce tested. The dispensary is open from Tuesday to Sunday from 10 am to 8 pm and their phone number is 905-352-3322.

This is looking into the lab, through the glass viewing window. At this point, the lab doesn't take up too much floor space but I would not be surprised if an expansion of it will be necessary, in the future.

Once A Sample Is Prepared And Placed In The Machine It Tells You What Cannabinoids Are Present

Medicine Wheel is currently able to test for the raw cannabinoid molecules by percentage that are associated with both THC and CBD. It can also test for CBN (which is very sedative and is what THC degrades to, over time.)

Pro-tip: If a person suffers from insomnia, they would do very well with a strain of old cannabis that contains a high percentage of CBN.

In this photo, Dalton is preparing the machine to accept my first sample which is the dried, cured herb that I grew. He wears a fresh set of gloves, every time he handles a new sample so that he won't be cross-contaminating the material. The lens of the machine is also sanitized between samples. The lens itself is special and is made up of ground sapphires. This makes it exceptionally tough and durable.

When analyzing dried cannabis, the buds must be broken and ground first. Then it is placed directly in the machine.

Here are my results, almost instantly available on the machine, I might add.

  

What you will notice is that the dried bud contains 13.1% THC-A. This is the molecular form of THC in its raw form.

You'll also notice that it contains 1.1% Delta-9 THC. This is the psychoactive form of THC (that very slowly over time) converts naturally from THC-A. 

Pro-tip: There are a lot of people who simply eat raw cannabis and will report that they feel an extremely low amount of psycho-activity. The level of the high is directly proportionate to the amount of Delta-9 THC in the plant material that they are eating. Old cannabis will naturally contain more Delta-9 THC and it will also contain CBN which will make a person feel sleepy. If someone is going to eat cannabis (raw or otherwise) it should be paired with a fat because the cannabinoids are fat soluble. This means that the cannabinoids require fat in order to be absorbed and used by the body efficiently. If you eat cannabis without fat, it won't be of much benefit because it will probably pass right through your body and not be absorbed very efficiently. 

From my dried cannabis analysis, you'll also be able to see what the total potential THC is (which is 12.6%) and that the sample also contained only trace amounts of CBD-A (CBD's raw molecular form) and trace amounts of CBD (its active molecular form).

From These Results, I Consider The Herb That I Grew To Be Run-of-the-Mill, Or Average 

Medicine Wheel also has a powerful microscope that is set-up to display on an LED monitor and still photos of the plant material can also be captured and printed out. When they do an analysis, the picture of the sample is taken to catalog and document it, and a print-out of the results is also given. I didn't need the photos of my herb because I had already taken my own (as you may recall from chapter 3).

Here's the print-out of my results:

Dalton let me name my strain and I named it the Happy Tall Jamaican. (I named it this, because of the 8 seeds I was originally given and sprouted, I gave a few of them away to other growers. I know that these growers chose to grow the plants outside. The last time I saw them (in mid- September) those Queens were well over 9 feet tall and should just be, ready to harvest right about now.)

Here's a print-out of a strain that Dalton just tested before mine:

 

The sample was taken from a strain called Blueberry OG. You can see how well it did from a dried cannabis bud sample. 24% THC and 5.1% CBD straight out of the gate! This one is true a winner and a bud that I would consider to be top drawer, in quality. So many growers and producers claim that their produce is loaded with THC and CBD but the only true way to know is by this level of analysis.

Next My Fully Extracted Cannabis Oil Was Tested And This Is Where My Story Gets FREAKY!

I made the oil, using 68.5 grams of the dried herb that I grew. The same dried herb with a THC potential of 13% and trace amounts of CBD.

When you test an oil sample, it must be held in a small disposable plastic case before it is placed over the lens of the machine. 

You can see this plastic case (in the photo) before my oil was placed into it.

Here it is now as Dalton is just positioning it directly over top of the machine's lens.

I named this oil Becca's Boost.

Here Are My Results !!!

50.6% THC and 14.9% CBD !!!!

Seriously, I felt like I just won a lottery.

Pro-tip: Dalton explained that just because my raw buds showed that they only contained trace amounts of CBD, that didn't necessary mean that the plant didn't contain any CBD. It proves that in the genetics of the original seed from Jamaica CBD existed, was passed onto the daughters and I was able to extract that right out of the plant along with its terpene profile through my extracting procedures.

Dalton also suggested that if growers want to produce buds with a higher CBD content, they should harvest their plants before they start to produce higher amounts of THC resin.

What Did I Do Differently Than Most People Do When They Make Cannabis Oil?

Pro-tip: I decarboxylated the dry herb before I soaked it in 94% over-proof alcohol. I decarbed it for 45 minutes in a pressure cooker. Not many people take the time to do this but I have coined a new motto after this little experiment. It's simply this: DECARB OR DIE.

Powerful plant medicine that is being eaten and used to treat diseases must be fully activated to be effective. Soaking the plant in alcohol and then evapourated the alcohol off is not enough (in my humble but professional opinion).

Dalton has tested a lot of oils and he said that mine was one of the highest quality oils that he has tested to date.

My head is still a bit swollen from my initial results, but it has given me renewed motivation with my next garden. I'm actually going to try to improve upon the results and that's one of the key benefits in taking the time to properly measure and record both your procedures and your results.

Thank you to the Steemit Block Chain for allowing me to open source all of my procedures, uncensoured for eternity.

I would also  like to personally thank Rob Stevenson and Dalton Martin for the help they have given me and for being open to letting me share this information with the world.

Medicine Wheel is one of the nicest and most professionally run dispensaries that I have ever been to and I have frequented more dispensaries than I can count, in multiple countries. I am absolutely honoured to give them a blazingly stellar, good review. You will not be disappointed by the quality of their medicine or their services. 

I welcome your comments and I invite you to follow me on my journey...from time to time there will be analysis. ;)

  

~ Rebecca