{This post is sponsored by Flower Child CBD}
CBD oil has many benefits and medicinal uses, the most popular being for all natural pain management. Learn how to make this homemade CBD infused oil, which can be used to make a topical CBD salve.
What is CBD?
Here is a video that explains more about CBD:
Grow Your Own High CBD Cannabis
Recreational marijuana became legal in the state of Oregon in 2015, and I fully supported this law. Cannabis is a plant that was created by nature, god, mother earth, or whatever your belief system may be.
This past summer, we grew the four plants that we were legally allowed in containers in our backyard, next to our tomatoes and squash. We harvested it in the fall along with our other vegetable and herb crops.
We grew varieties that are high in a compound called CBD, which stands for cannabidiol. CBD does not get you high like THC does (another main component of cannabis), and is highly medicinal and pain relieving.
I decided to make some CBD infused oil for topical use using the Harlequin variety that we grew, which is extremely rich in CBD.
Learn more about how to grow your own organic cannabis here.
Harlequin High CBD Cannabis Variety
High CBD Cannabis Varieties
You will want to use a high CBD cannabis strain to make this infused oil. Some popular CBD strains are Harlequin, ACDC, Remedy, and Charlotte’s Web, but there are many others to choose from. Check with your local cannabis pharmacy to see what they have in stock.
If you are interested in growing your own I recommend buying seeds from Seedsman. They have a large selection of high CBD varieties and ship to nearly everywhere.
Legality of CBD in the United States
If you are unsure what the marijuana laws are in your state, here is a handy guide from NORML (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws).
There is a bit of controversy and misunderstandings surrounding the laws about CBD itself. There are many claims that pure CBD extract is legal in “all 50 states,” but that is actually not entirely true.
The wonderful folks over at Project CBD (such a great resource!) have spelled this out in clear detail when I questioned them about it:
“In the United States, CBD is classified as a Schedule 1 Drug, whether derived from industrial hemp or cannabis. CBD is not yet legal federally and it’s not legal in all 50 states, as is often claimed. The FDA has not approved CBD as a dietary or health supplement. All cannabinoids, whether psychoactive or not, are scheduled. All researchers attempting to study it must get a license from the Federal Government in order to do research. If it was legal, then there wouldn’t be so much difficulty getting more studies conducted on this compound. Selling CBD products in non-medical states seems to be a grey area in the law, but FDA recently busted people selling CBD in Massachusetts and Wisconsin. It isn’t out of the question to have legal action brought towards those selling CBD if they aren’t in a state recognized cannabis law.”
They also have a great page titled Sourcing CBD: Marijuana, Industrial Hemp, & the Vagaries of Federal Law that is an excellent read for more information on this.
Where to Buy CBD Oil
If you aren’t able to make your own, I have found an amazing place to buy super high quality organic CBD products! I searched high and low for a cannabis company I could recommend, and Flower Child CBD is it. They are a Colorado company, where recreational marijuana is legal, but they use pure CBD extract from organic hemp, so they are able to ship their products nationwide!
FlowerChild CBD created a 10% off coupon code to share with my readers. Use this code when you check out to get the discount: growforage10
I also have a list of my favorite CBD brands here.
Cannabis CBD Infused Oil Recipe
Disclaimer: I only endorse you making infused CBD oil at home if recreational or medical marijuana is legal in your state, and you have any required cards and/or licenses to do so!
Now let’s get to making this CBD infused oil! This recipe is intended for use as a topical pain relieving oil that can be used as is or turned into a salve. I will be making a salve from this oil, you can see my recipe for that here.
The first step once you have your dried buds from a high CBD strain is to decarboxylate them. This is actually an optional but recommended step, as it will make more of the CBD bioavailable to the body.
Luckily, it’s an easy process as well. Simply spread your buds out in a single layer on a sheet pan and bake at 230°F for 40 minutes.
As you may have noticed, we did not trim all of the inner leaves off of these buds, because they were covered with crystals that we didn’t want to go to waste!
Then put your decarbed cannabis buds into a jar and completely cover them with the carrier oil of your choice. I used a blend of approximately 25% unrefined coconut oil, 25% sweet almond oil, and 50% extra virgin olive oil.
Cover the jar with a lid and let sit in a dark place for at least six weeks. You may want to gently heat your oil a few times while it’s infusing, especially if you did not decarb your buds first. I like to do this in my Excalibur dehydrator, as it has excellent temperature control.
I don’t like to heat my oils at too high of a temperature in order to preserve the quality of the oil and to keep it from going rancid. This is not as much of an issue if you are making edibles rather than topicals, as they are generally consumed within a much shorter amount of time.
When you are ready to use the CBD oil, strain out the buds with a fine mesh sieve. If you want to make a super strong CBD infused oil, place a second round of decarbed buds into the oil and repeat the process.
You will end up with a highly fragrant and beautiful CBD rich oil!
There are many amazing uses for this oil, but the most popular use is probably for its pain relieving properties. Here is a list of all the medicinal benefits of CBD and its products, such as this oil.
I used this homemade CBD oil into a topical healing cannabis CBD salve, check out my recipe!
Or if you’d prefer, you can see my homemade cannabis CBD tincture recipe here.
Homemade Cannabis CBD Infused Oil
Ingredients
- 1 ounce high CBD cannabis buds
- 10 ounces carrier oil (I used a blend of approximately 25% unrefined coconut oil, 25% sweet almond oil, and 50% extra virgin olive oil.)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 230°F.
- Decarboxylate dried buds by spreading your buds out in a single layer on a sheet pan and bake for 40 minutes.
- Put your decarbed cannabis buds into a jar and completely cover them with the carrier oil of your choice (use more oil if needed to cover).
- Cover the jar with a lid and let sit in a dark place for 4-6 weeks.
- When you are ready to use the CBD oil, strain out the buds with a fine mesh sieve.
Can infused cannabis oil be used in a solar infusion of other medicinal herbs? Such as calendula or arnica? Does being in the window decrease the cannabis strength?
after I made my first batch of cbd oil ,I refrigerated the pulp can i reuse it later to make more cbd oil
I want to start making cbd oil for sale in my juice bar but what is the best way to figure out the right doses per weight of cbd flower I’m using, if you can help with that please email me, thanks
Gavin, to get a rough idea we need to know how much flower you plan to use, the CBD % of that flower and how many servings you are looking to make. For example 10% CBD will be roughly 100mg per gram. (% X 10) So if you are using say 14grams of flower take 100mg X 14= 1400mg CBD total. So if you infuse this into say 1 cup of coconut oil that 1 cup will have 1400mg of CBD.
Now lets say you are making CBD gummies and the recipe calls for 1/2 cup of infused oil. When your done you have 75 gummies in all, divide 700 mg by 75 gives you roughly 9.3 mg of CBD per gummy.
Hope this helps
This is my first time, I’m a beginner. I understand what the tincture is and the salves but the oil? Do you use it in just edibles? But how much. Same question if I made butter?
Thanks all for helping a senior deal with her pain.
Hi there,
I’m a writer for Project CBD. Saw your recipe, and appreciate your energy and desire to get the word out about CBD and making your own medicine.
One fact that might be helpful to know: As far as using a CBD topical for pain, it really won’t penetrate further than the skin’s three layers, so it can’t do much for pain in deeper tissues. In a transdermal preparation the CBD is accompanied by a permeability enhancer that helps it pass through the skin. Ethanol, ethosomes and some natural aromatic oils like those typically found in analgesic balms– wintergreen, eucalyptus, etc.work for this purpose.
Topicals are great for all kind of skin issues, though.
Hope that helps!
I have never used ‘essential oils’. When using the ‘cold process’ of allowing the oil to infuse, do you add the essential oil of Eucalyptus during the ‘infusing’ time or do you add it when using the infused oil to make the actual salve?
Can you use an Air Fryer to decarb? I have one that dehydrates. Have no idea what to set the temp and time to though
Can you use the leaves from the plant for anything beneficial?
I’m living on an island in the South Pacific. I’ve got a real problem with pain. If someone could send me some “hemp seeds” that I could grow here and make the CBD oil, I would be forever grateful. These “Hemp Seeds” don’t have the THC in the plant? I like the buzz, but I really like the idea of growing this type of plant to use for pain. I don’t have a credit card, but I can send money after I get the seeds by using the mail or a bank transfer.
Let me know!! Email- [email protected]. Any help would be appreciated!!
William
I am look in my into making the cbd and wonder if there is a method that you can use to not wait the yet weeks to cure ? In would like to use the oil immediate ly ? S
Immerse the oil and bud filled jar in a ultrasonic bath full of water and buzz for 10 hours,strain jar contents through a coffee filter and that’s it.
If I can’t make my own cbd infused oil, you are suggesting using the CBD tincture from the Flower Child or the pure CBD?
My CBD STORE said that if I wanted to put it in the lotions I make I should use the water soluble… which seemed odd since water & oil don’t mix well!!
Need oil to bind the CBD to. Will not bind to water
Is it beneficial to use other parts of a high cbd plant?
I have 28 grams of bud, decarbed…. I infused 473 of mct oil and used a magic butter machine.. The flower was tested at 2% thc and 8.29 cbd….. How do l I calculate how much cbd is in a 30 ml dropper this I can calculate how much per dropper please and thank you
I read this article and your other article about making cbd oils/tinctures. I was wondering if I can combine the two methods and use oil and alcohol. You said just using oils could make it go rancid and the other using just alcohol dries out your skin. Do you know if it would still work and infuse if I did both in the same jar? Or should i do them separately and combine later? thanks, let me know!
I have used your recipe and it works fine.
My question is a strain i recently acquired called Karoline.
Has anyone heard of this?
Was told it is high cbd.
Should you refrigerate the oils after?
How much cbd crude would you use
Cannabis is not legal in my state yet, but hemp is. Many hemp stores in my area sell CBD products, including the buds from hemp. Can you use this same process with hemp flowers or would it be different? Also, is there a way to determine the strength of the CBD in the oil? Is it a simple as taking the percentage of CBD times the milligrams of hemp flowers you’re using?
Yes. Hemp is very high in CBD and is what many makers of CBD products use 🙂
Hi Christopher, I’m not sure how to calculate the amount of CBD present, unfortunately.
How much buds do we put in the jar? A handful or all the way up? Thank you
I’m happy to try these awesome recipes , thanks for sharing
This was very informative to a beginner senior CBD user! And I’ve subscribed for the free course! Thank you! G
How do you get the smell out of the oil?
You don’t 😀
Add a little peppermint oil
I use ylang/ylang oil and even though you can still smell it a little , the oil smells better. I also add same amount of yarrow flowers and arnica flowers. I put it in a knee high nylon and you don’t get dregs in it. I put it in my crockpot on warm. Not low !!! Warm only goes to 155 degrees. It’s perfect in every way. I let it cook for days too !!! It takes out the pain of the person sitting next to me !!! Lol. The stuff works great !!! Good Luck !!! I’ve got a crockpot going right now !!!
I’m also planning to add arnica flowers. Seems it would really complement the CBD.
Do you throw the buds away after you strain them out or is there a secondary use for them?
I send them to the compost 🙂