Easy Edible Dosing: Calculate Potency Like a Pro

Margaret 00:00:04 Welcome back friends. Today we are going to be talking about a very important topic in episode 312. And that is calculating potency. Welcome to Bite Me, the show about edibles where I help you take control of your high life. I'm your host and Certified Ganjier Margaret and I love helping cooks make safe and effective edibles at home. I'm so glad you're here. Welcome back friends. It is so good to be here today. It feels like it's been a while that I since I've sat down at the recording desk to record, because I went away last week, and I'll talk about that in a minute. But I am just thankful that you're here. If you're tuning in for the first time, this is a pretty important topic that I realize. I've never done an actual episode on calculated potency in the entire six years that I've been doing this podcast, and it's like, what? How have I not done an episode on calculating potency when I do a podcast about edibles? But we're going to change that today.

Margaret 00:00:59 I've done a couple episodes on on on decarboxylation. I've done an episode on onset time. What else should I cover? Let me know because I'm sure I'm probably missing something pretty obvious, because calculating potency is a pretty obvious thing, because that is the one thing that really gets people questioning or doubting themselves when it comes to making edibles. And we're going to change that today. Now, I was away last week. I hope you were able to catch the episode on making that watermelon feta salad, which was so delicious. I served that numerous places, so I made it a couple times at least, and it was a real hit. So refreshing for this really hot summer that we've been experiencing at least where I am. I'm in Ontario, Canada. It has been or hottest summer on record in a very long time, and it felt a little more like a traditional summer because it has been so hot. But these lengthy heat waves have been a little exhausting, and I know I speak from a position of a certain amount of privilege as well, because I enjoy air conditioning at my house, and I really feel for the folks that don't have air conditioning where they live.

Margaret 00:02:11 Or maybe they work outside and this heat is pretty oppressive. And unfortunately, it also means that the entire country of Canada right now is pretty much on fire, which is also a little scary. As of the recording right now, we have fires not that far from me. In Ontario. There are new fires in Newfoundland, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan is burning Manitoba, probably Alberta and British Columbia because I think they're always on fire somewhere up north. And a lot of these places, they are a little more remote. So the risk of having to be evacuated isn't immediate. But there are lots of people who have had to evacuate this summer because of fires that are bearing down on them. And what is scary thing to have to go through? I really feel for those people. So, you know, it's nice in some respects to have a nice, warm summer that we can get out and enjoy. But there's some definite downsides, and I don't want to downplay those in any way, shape or form because I sometimes wonder, is this the new norm? Is this what they say climate change is here, it's upon us.

Margaret 00:03:21 It's some scary shit and probably doesn't help some of the existential dread I've been feeling lately. I have to say, when I went camping last week, I went on a solo camping trip, which is something I have never done before, and I am somebody that really enjoys traveling solo. I've done numerous solo trips to all kinds of places. My very first one that maybe helped me catch the bug for solo travel was when I went to Shanghai. That was just over ten years ago. The actual purpose of the trip was to spend some time with my daughter who was there? she was at a certain time and place in her life, however, where she was not super interested in me being there with her. So I was there for two weeks in Shanghai, China. I'd never really traveled very much before, let alone internationally, let alone to a culture where English is definitely not widely spoken. She met me at the airport, and we went to gather to my Airbnb that I had rented at the time.

Margaret 00:04:22 Also like what things could have gone so differently than they actually did, because I arrived at this Airbnb and it was the first time it also actually used Airbnb as a service. Maybe foolishly, I just rented this spot in the hopes like, well, hope it'll work out. I'm going to be in a very foreign country and I'm arriving kind of late. But it did, thankfully. And the host was fabulous. That's a whole other story. I met my daughter for lunch at one other point during the trip, and then we returned it Together to the airport a couple of weeks later. Thus, I spent two weeks in Shanghai pretty much by myself. Like I said, that was sort of the first first of many solo trips that have sort of sparked my solo travel bug. And since then I've been to lots of places alone. And so most recently I went on this camping trip by myself. It feels like every year at a certain point, I get this real itch to just go away and be by myself for a little bit.

Margaret 00:05:21 And it turned out when I was camping that not only would I be camping for the first time by myself and let's to be fair also, this was car camping, so it was not like I was in like a really remote location or anything like that. And there were people around the cell. Reception was so poor that I could get like text messages and I could make phone calls, but that was about it. The rest of my phone was pretty much useless. That was a real blessing, because it meant that I could just unplug for those four days that I was away and it was really nice. It was necessary to. I don't think I realized how much I needed it. This constant flow of information that we're always receiving can sometimes feel exhausting. So it was really necessary. Very welcome. And I really had a great time. And now I've caught the camping bug again. I used to camp a lot as a as a kid with my parents, as a teenager with friends and family and, you know, throughout my 20s.

Margaret 00:06:18 And then after that, I kind of stopped it, partly because I partnered up with somebody who was not into camping. And so I was like, I like to sleep in my own bed. You know, I can appreciate that to a degree. But I went to Algonquin Park and had such a wonderful time, and it was so beautiful up in Algonquin that I would highly recommend to visit there if you've ever if you've never been to Algonquin. And interestingly, there were all kinds of people who had traveled from very far away to be there. I heard people, families speaking German. The people in the campsite next to me were speaking Spanish. There were some of the hikes that I went on had like a register so you could record your visits to the hiking trail. And there's people from Netherlands and I heard lots of French, probably from Quebec, but who knows, maybe there were people from France as well. It was a really wonderful time away. And now that I'm back. The fire hose of information into the face is there again.

Margaret 00:07:11 One thing that keeps me going is edibles. So if you're here to tune out the world a little for a few minutes and talk about something that can bring you joy, a little radical self-reliance in the kitchen or in the garden. If you're growing as well, then this is the right place for you. So if you're here for the first time, welcome. I think you're going to enjoy this episode. And if you've been listening for a while, I so appreciate you. Thank you for being here. And of course, if you think that someone might benefit from this episode or any of the other several hundred episodes in the Batman catalog. Please share this episode or others that you think they would enjoy. So I do have a question for you all at the end, but let's get into the topic of today's episode, which is calculating the potency of your edibles. Actually, I don't think I did my my usual intro. It feels like it's been so long. I was supposed to say welcome to the podcast that explores the intersection of food, culture and cannabis, where I help cooks make great edibles at home.

Margaret 00:08:23 So now that I've gotten out of the way, let's get into it, because this is an important, an important topic, and I'm going to help you take control of your high life by teaching you what you need to know to make delicious and reliable cannabis treats at home. We're diving into probably the single most important kitchen skill for any edibles maker, and it's not whisking, although whisking can be very satisfying, but it's calculating the potency. And if you've ever eaten half a cookie thinking it was mild and found yourself bonding deeply with your couch for six hours, this episode is for you. I've probably done something like that more times than I care to count. It's also because if you want to gift your edibles, this is an important skill to have, and this skill is very teachable. And of course, in this day and age. You know, there's lots of ways to support this skill. But have you ever received an edible from somebody that they're like, hey, I made this, but they don't give you any potency information about it.

Margaret 00:09:23 Raise your hand. And even though this is a podcast and I can't see you, I am raising my hand right now, and it happens to me relatively regularly that people will gift me edibles, but I'll have no idea how strong they are. And unfortunately, it makes me not eat them. I have sadly thrown out a few edibles because I have no idea of the potency, and I have overdosed myself enough times to know that that's not a ride I want to get back on. And I'm sure many of you resonate with that, because I do recall when I worked at the dispensary, that was one of the most common things I heard when I was showing them the case of all the different options of edibles that were available, they so many people had stories about edibles adventures gone wrong. And they were always around dosing, not flavor, not taste, not texture, not any of those things. It was always the dosing and taking, usually taking too much. Because obviously if you don't take enough, you're just disappointed that nothing happened.

Margaret 00:10:21 But taking too much, it's always a whole different matter. So why does knowing the potency matter? Well, we're setting the stakes here. If you are consistent, then you can be confident whether you're eating them yourself or whether you're sharing them with somebody that you care about. And this helps you avoid those too much moments. And of course, you're going to be saving money by dosing precisely because you can use your cannabis in a much more precise way, which means you're not going to be using too much than is necessary for your infusions or for your recipes, which means you'll have more to make, more edibles, or to consume in other ways. Remember that if you're using dispensary products and you are fortunate to live in a place where there are dispensaries legal dispensaries available that show you the potency that can help you match or even improve on that accuracy. Now, of course, if you don't live in a place where you have access to dispensary products or you're growing your own, and I know there's plenty of people who are growing their own, and I myself grow a lot of my own, or I end up getting cannabis from many, from the growers that I know that are generously gifted cannabis to me.

Margaret 00:11:29 So I am I'm often in that boat I don't think I'm trying to think of. I've ever bought a dispensary cannabis to use for edibles, and the answer is probably no. If I'm buying weed from dispensaries, which is not very often, to be fair and big shout out to the friend of the podcast that dropped off some weed to me recently. That should keep me going in the edibles game for quite some time. I know a lot of home growers who are growing cannabis that would rival anything that you find in a dispensary, which also means that I'm pretty confident in how they grew their cannabis, because they can say, these are the nutrients I use. This is these are the lights I have. This is the tent. This is the process. This is the the philosophy, this is the DWC. Like whatever these they just know their their process. And a lot of the times when you're buying from a dispensary, you can't really be sure. Anyway, I'm digressing quite a bit here. So let's get into the basic formula.

Margaret 00:12:30 So the basic formula is your cannabis weight. So how much flour you're using you're going to need the THC percentage. Now it's usually found on the label if you've purchased from a dispensary. But as I just discussed, that may not be the case in your instance. So if not, you could use an average of 15 to 20% for many cultivars. And of course this is going to give you again an average. So maybe not necessarily as accurate as other as if you had like an exact potency. But even when you're using dispensary flower, there is a margin of error with what is on that label in any case. So you're just trying to get it as close as you as possible, and then you're going to use this figure of 1000mg because 1000mg equals a gram. And then there's extraction efficiency because not all THC makes it into your butter or oil in your average home extraction, which is about 80%. And then finally you need to know the servings, because you'll be dividing how many pieces your recipe makes.

Margaret 00:13:36 So as we all know, you make an infusion and use a portion of that infusion to make a batch of cookies that produces 25 cookies. How much is each cookie going to be based on that? So your formula is THC milligrams in your edibles, which equals your cannabis weight in grams. And then you times that by THC percentage as a decimal times 1000mg/g times your extraction efficiency percentage and divide by number of servings. Now that sounds don't worry about having to jot any of this down. This is all going to be in the show notes, so you can refer to it later when you need it. Because this is a good habit to get into, a good practice to calculate the potency of your edibles. In fact, I think it's sort of a must for any regular cannabis cook who is going to be working with cannabis in their kitchen. So let's take a walk through example of this. Let's say you're making a batch of brownies, everybody's favorite pot brownie. We've all made them. We all love them.

Margaret 00:14:36 You're using seven grams of cannabis. At 18% THC. So for step one, you're going to take that seven grams of cannabis and times it by 0.18, because you've taken the 18% as a as the percentage, which equals 1.26g of THC in the flower. Next you take the 1.26 and you times that by 1000, which is going to give you 1260mg total. Now the extraction efficiency, as I mentioned just a minute ago, is 80%. So you take the 1260mg of THC total and you times it by 0.8, which is going to give you 1008mg of THC in your infusion. And so let's say you make brownies at 24 pieces. That's going to be 1008 divided by 24 which equals 42mg per brownie. Now, that's of course, if you're using the entire infusion in your recipe and in many cases, if you're sometimes when you're making an infusion, you're making have to do more than one recipe because things like olive oil or butter can be, you know, infuse a pound and end up with enough to make several recipes.

Margaret 00:15:55 So you may need to also divide by the portion that you've used of your infusion. But I will also add that into the show notes as well. I'm going to have a whole table and everything for you to refer to. Now you know that one brownie is not a casual after dinner nibble unless you have the tolerance of a grizzly bear. So I mean, it's all relative, which is one reason why I find talking about potency different difficult in a lot of occasions, because I know people for whom two milligrams of THC is adequate, and I know other people who can easily down 200mg and still go about their day like nothing is going on. Tolerances vary so widely because we're all unique little snowflakes, my friends. Now, another thing to keep in mind is what if you want to calculate your cannabis needed for a targeted dose? So you've figured out how to calculate the potency for your one once your batch is made. But what if you want to flip the math so you already know that your sweet spot is ten milligrams per serving and you're making, say, a dozen cookies.

Margaret 00:17:07 How do you figure out how much cannabis to start with? So let's aim for ten milligrams of THC per cookie. And we're making 12 cookies, like I just said. And again, we'll go with the earlier example of cannabis at 18% THC and assuming an 80% extraction efficiency. So your target total THC needed for your 12 cookies is going to be ten milligrams times 12 cookies. So 120mg of THC total convert the THC to the decimal. So your 18% is going to be 0.18. So you take 120mg of THC total divided by. 0.18, which is your THC percentage times the thousand for your milligrams, 1000mg each equals a gram times 0.8, which is your extraction efficiency. And that means you need 0.83g of cannabis for the whole batch to give you the 10% THC in 12 cookies. And yeah, I it sounds surprising, doesn't it? Less than one gram in the entire batch. And that's why potency matter. Math matters. You might be wasting flour if you eyeball it. And with this method you can control your dose whether you're microdosing or going for something a bit stronger.

Margaret 00:18:28 And when you're working with small amounts like this, it's easier to infuse a larger batch of oil or butter and then measure out what you need for the recipe. And that way your dosing stays accurate, and you're not stuck trying to infuse a half gram of cannabis on its own. But it's really nice to know that sometimes you can just go ahead and infuse what you need for a recipe, especially if you're using perhaps concentrates or things like that as well, because I know there's a lot of folks out there who do, who do prefer to dip carb and infuse all at once. In fact, I'm going to refer back to Vanessa Alvarado once again, who I had on the show recently, and she taught us, if you recall, that you can infuse cannabis in 30 minutes on the stove and you hear this and you're like, But I've been infusing for two hours the entire time I've been making edibles. And if you have any infusion devices, they're usually set for a two hour timeframe. And she did a whole bunch of experiments she talks about in her book how we didn't have a good time.

Margaret 00:19:29 And that was what she found. I've tried it myself. I can confirm, and she also likes to discard the weed that she needs at the time. So there's more than one way to skin a cat. My friends, whatever works best for you. Sometimes I do like to infuse a larger batch. If I know that, I'm going to be, you know, especially for things like olive oil, which I use very regularly, I often will do butter more in smaller batches because I tend not to use butter as much. Or I've done recipes like when I did the the bubble milk or the bubble tea episode. I just did carved and infused for that particular recipe because I was doing a specialty infusion of milk for that, and that doesn't necessarily keep for very long either. So, you know, I was going to be using everything. I was going to be using all the infused milk for that recipe. There are shortcuts. If you're listening to this and you're like, your head is spinning a little bit.

Margaret 00:20:28 And of course, I realize there are sometimes limitations in audio, but that is why the show notes are so important for this podcast. But there are easy potency shortcuts. Now you can use online calculators. There's lots of them out there. I have one on my own website. I should note that it doesn't account for extraction loss, so bear that in mind. But if you know anybody or if you yourself would like to design a brand new calculator for my website for me, let me know, because that is one of the reasons why I haven't changed that yet. It's a little bit outside the scope of my own talents. There's plenty of calculators out there. And again, if you don't know the exact potency of your cannabis flower, you're you're getting a really good average. And it's still an important thing to work with. Because if you're gifting, say, you make a batch of cookies or brownies and you're gifting them to somebody and you figure out the potency based on the calculation. You're feeling confident there is a margin of error, but at least you can advise the person that you're giving to.

Margaret 00:21:30 If the person knows that they like a ten milligram edible and you've you've calculated it for ten milligrams, but there's a margin of error, maybe suggest they try the first half cookie the first time, just to make sure that you're at where you want to be at. That's what I've done that a lot in the past too. And it's just for comfort as well because you don't want to overdose anybody. So that's something I do on a regular basis because like I said, there's still a margin of error in any flour that you're buying in a, in a dispensary anyway. And I've been hearing more and more lately about the lab shopping. Sometimes LPs do and all the rest of that whole mess. There's also tools like the T check. I did buy one myself before I started the podcast and it has become a pretty invaluable tool. It is pricey, so it's not going to be for everybody and you really have to justify the expense. I mean, you can use a pen and paper and do this for you and get pretty good results, because even with the t check, there's going to be a margin of error as well.

Margaret 00:22:27 And I've done a deep dive on the podcast with somebody about the t check. And I've also interviewed the CEO or the founder of the company as well. So I'll link to those in the show notes too, so you can check those out. But it is a really great tool, especially if you're making a lot of edibles. Of course, you can use smaller cannabis amounts and dilute. You could do a stronger potency and then dilute in your recipes when needed. Because I often do use a ratio, sometimes a recipe will call for a half cup of olive oil, but you don't have to use a whole half cup of infused olive oil. If your olive oil is too strong and you've calculated the potency of your entire batch. Once you know the math, it's a lot easier to figure out from there. And of course, keep notes. Always keep your notes because you think you're going to remember something and you don't. And I know I've mentioned this ad nauseam on this podcast because I am so guilty of this myself.

Margaret 00:23:20 We're all stoners, right? Heck, you know, even if we weren't stoners, this would probably be an issue, because there's just so much going on in our lives that we're all so busy, and you think you're going to remember these small details and it just doesn't happen. Why worry about it? Keep a notebook. In fact, I know a bite me edibles journal. That would be great for this. But of course you can also use a note on your phone, a blank notebook, whatever works for you. I'd be remiss if I didn't talk about dosing guidelines for beginners. 2 to 5mg is a good start if you've never done edibles before. If you can find a two milligram edible, perhaps in a dispensary, that is an excellent way to start. I say start as low as you possibly can and work your way up. Because like I said, I have met people on this podcast who have told me about having really a tolerances that most people would consider a micro dose and that is a good tolerance for them.

Margaret 00:24:11 I know people who who find five milligrams a lot, and so if you're trying out an edible for the first time and you take a five milligram edible, that could that could be too much for you because of your unique biology, but it is a good place to start. And I hate to say that it's for me for beginners, because some people, for some people, that's where they are. And this isn't a judgment on that. This is just the way it is, just the way your body is built. I will note I have met people who have had really monster tolerances when it comes to smoking or dabbing cannabis, and then have really low tolerances when it comes to edibles. Those two things do not equate. Having a big tolerance for smoking does not mean you'll have a big tolerance for edibles at all. It's a completely different process. Now, an intermediate dose would be about 5 to 10mg. I've been finding lately ten milligrams that's been kind of working for me. I mean, I was doing 25mg for quite a while, but I don't know if it's just my body is changing a little bit.

Margaret 00:25:09 I'm getting older. I'm, you know, I'm in my late 40s, so of course, fluctuating changing hormones, menopause, all that fun stuff. I it's sort of like when folks who are getting older find that alcohol hits them different, and that applies to men and women. So it's not surprising to me, but I still will do the higher doses depending on what I'm doing. An experience dose is 10 to 20 plus milligrams. But again, you could be very experienced in edibles. And a lot of it's just the enzymes you have in your liver. Do you have no control over. So take these dosing guidelines with a grain of salt. Just because you prefer a five milligrams dose doesn't make you a beginner. I've been eating edibles for years, and you know, ten 10mg to 20mg is sort of my sweet spot. It all depends. So knowing your potency isn't about taking the fun out of edibles. It's about making sure that every experience is the right kind of fun. You don't want to dump random amounts of chili powder into a recipe without tasting it, right? THC is no different, but also a lot different, because the effects of that THC is going to be much different than the effects of the chili powder.

Margaret 00:26:17 So if you want my go to potency calculator you can find on my website, I'm going to make a cheat sheet for you all that you can find in the show notes. Of course, you can always join the Bite Me Cannabis Club, where we talk about this stuff in more in depth, and you can ask questions and just interact with the fine folks and the club there, because it's a really supportive space. And remember, start low and go slow. Keep notes. Your future self will thank you. Now, before we end today, I just wanted to ask you a question. I thought this was fun. It's not cannabis related. I got a okay, I admit I got a new deck of cards. I've been anxious to use it, but there's just basically question cards because I love that kind of stuff. If you would like, you could answer over in the Bite Me Cannabis Club. You can also reply in the fan mail. I'll read them out on the show. So the question is, what was something on your childhood wish list that you're still kind of mad that you never got.

Margaret 00:27:19 I'll read that again. What was something on your childhood wish list that you're still kind of mad that you never got? I can't ask the question without answering it myself. When I was a kid, all my friends were getting Cabbage Patch dolls. Like, I had friends. I had a bunch of them. This was back in the day where you turn on the TV and. And you would see parents, like, brawling in K-Mart or whatever store or Sears or whatever stores carried them back in the day. God, the world has changed a lot since then, and you would see them fighting over these dolls because they were so popular. I didn't get one for my birthday. I really wanted one for Christmas, did not get one for Christmas. And like I said, I had friends that had multiples and they came with little birth certificates. They were so popular. What did you wish you got as a kid and never did? Let me know in the fan mail or in the Bite Me Cannabis Club.

Margaret 00:28:07 I'll read out your answers for future episode. I think that's it for today, my friends. With that, I am your host, Margaret. And until next week, stay high.