Quote Originally Posted by Coelho
Well... the only sure facts i do know:

The boiling point of many cannabinoids (THC included) is about 350F-390F. So any temperature above it will boil off some cannabinoids.

The ideal temperature for decarboxilating the THCA to THC is 220F. So heating the weed at this tempertaure can actually improve the weeds potency. Decarboxilation also happens by itself, during the curing process, but its slow, and thats why it can be made faster by heating.

I dont know if heating changes the taste noticeably. I always make hash oil with my weed, so it always tastes like hash oil... :stoned:
Thanks thats what I thought, but I wasn't sure if there was some other chemical reaction below that temp that could occur to reduce potency. My slow cooker only has 3 settings, the lowest setting is about 150*F, the highest setting is about 280*F. This was measured using a candy thermometer in an inch of water in the slow cooker

When you say 'ideal' temp, does that mean that a temp above that is not as effective?

Well I just finished my first batch. I dried 2 grams of ground up weed (in a hand grinder), and put them in my slow cooker. First i used the 'low' setting for about 10 minutes, and noticed no effect, so I cranked it up to 'high' and left it in there for 20 minutes (longer than usual, but to account for heat-up time). There was almost no smell given off, and the weed appears to not have changed in color.

But most importantly, it no longer feels like a live, spongy plant anymore. It is now crumbly and dusty, so I can finally powder it in a coffee grinder (hooray!).

As for whether this increased the potency at all, I shall report back.