Green Dragon drink effects

Do you sometimes feel frustrated by cannabis terms? Like what does kief, bubble hash, and green dragon even mean? It’s like if the stoner community comes up with theses cannabis terms just to mess with your head.

Let me tell you, you are not alone

I faced the same situation when I encountered green dragon for the first time on one of my stoner facebook groups. 

This is why I decided to find exactly what green dragon is and why it is so amazing! I even found 5 ways to use it, which I will share with you right away!

WHAT IS GREEN DRAGON?

Green dragon, also known as golden dragon, is simply cannabis-infused alcohol. The more common name for this alchool-based cannabis extraction is cannabis tincture. 

THE RICH HISTORY OF GREEN DRAGON

Cannabis tincture is one of the oldest forms of medicine there is. They have been used all over the world for multiple centuries. Found in China, Egypt, Europe and beyond, cannabis tinctures were even used in the middle ages as an analgesic to treat multiple ailments like toothaches.

IS IT FOR ME?

Green dragon is perfect for cannabis enthusiasts who are looking for ways to consume this plant without smoking it. So if you want to protect your lungs, green dragon is the way to go. 

Green dragon is also easy and affordable to make. While this concoction takes longer to make than cannabis-infused oil, it is less hand-on. You just forget it in a closet and come back to it later.  

Green dragon is also easy to dose and very discrete. Kept in a small dark-colored dropper bottle, it can follow you wherever you go.

HOW TO MAKE GREEN DRAGON

Green dragon is made by infusing cannabis buds, shake or stems in high-proof alcohol like Everclear. 

While there are multiple ways of making green dragon, the following stoner-proof method is the easiest.

1. The cannabis is first decarboxylated, then put into a jar with the alcohol. 
2. The jar is then left to infuse in a dark place, like a cupboard, for 2 to 3 weeks. It is also recommended to shake the jar every couple of days. 
3. Finally, when the tincture has taken a dark green color, the green dragon is strained through a fine sieve or through a cheesecloth to remove the plant matter.

The cannabis-infused alcohol can then be kept for a long period of time in an airtight sealed jar away from the light. 

HOW TO DOSE CANNABIS TINCTURES

Cannabis tinctures are often portioned by milliliters. This means on average, one mL of tincture is one “portion”. This is where a dropper bottle with a 1ml pipette comes in handy. The strength of the tincture will also depend on the strength of the cannabis used in the tincture and the ratio used. 

A typical dose of THC for ingestion is approximately 10mg of THC, but this varies from person to person. Take person A, per example, who is a 6 foot 5 football player who consume cannabis daily, and take person B, a 5 foot 2 spitfire of a woman who has never tried cannabis before. You can’t expect the same dose of green dragon to affect them in the same ways.

This is why I highly recommend starting low and slow.  Start with a dose of 2.5 mg of THC and then increase little by little until you find your sweet spot. 

I also recommend using a THC calculator to estimate the amount of THC in a tincture. They are only good as an estimate of the potency but it is still better than going in blind. Using such a tool means that you can also recreate a similar tincture in the future.

EFFECTS: WHAT TO EXPECT?

The effects of the tincture will depend on how you consume it. When taken sublingually, the THC will be absorbed rapidly through the blood vessels in your mouth. You should feel the first effects of the tincture between 15 to 45 minutes after ingestion. You should feel the peak of the high at around 90 minutes after dosing. 

If you decide to swallow the tincture, it will be absorbed through your liver. This takes longer before the first effects are felt but the high will last longer. You can expect the same effects and onset as with a typical consumption of edibles since it is the same process.

What you need

To make your own green dragon tincture, assemble the following tools and ingredients: 

• ⅛ ounce of cannabis flower.
• 2 ounces of high-proof alcohol, 50-to-120 proof preferred.
• An oven.
• A baking pan.
• A saucepan (Master Wu method).
• Aluminum foil.
• A Mason jar.

How to make green dragon tincture

To begin, chop your cannabis flower into very fine pieces – the smaller the better, as it makes for faster extraction. A coffee grinder usually works well to achieve this. Place the cannabis on a shallow baking pan covered with a sheet of aluminum foil and place it in the oven. Bake at 325 degrees Fahrenheit for five minutes — this decarboxylates the cannabis and turns the THCA into the active THC.

Remove the cannabis from the oven and place both cannabis and alcohol inside the Mason jar. 

The next steps are a matter of preference: the so-called “traditional method” and Master Wu’s 20-minute method.

Traditional method

Seal the alcohol and cannabis mixture tightly and place it in a cool, dark place. Allow the mixture to sit for a few weeks, shaking once per day. After about a month, filter the plant matter using a coffee filter and strain the liquid into a storage container of your choice. You now should have one ounce of dark, brownish-green tincture that’s ready to use.

Why do people like green dragon tinctures?

Many people prefer green dragon tinctures over other cannabis consumption methods for a variety of reasons from effectiveness to personal preference. For some, tinctures are very simple to consume and require little else in the way of effort besides filling an eyedropper with liquid. 

Others appreciate green dragon tinctures’ speedy nature, as effects typically begin in around 15 minutes and last for up to five hours — much faster than an edible. Because the THC is absorbed directly into your bloodstream from tissue under your tongue (as opposed to being processed by the liver and transformed into the much more potent 11-hydroxy-THC), tinctures may have fewer of the unpleasant side-effects of consuming edibles. Green dragon tinctures also are a low-calorie option compared to edibles like cookies, pastries, and other sweet treats.

Compared to smoking cannabis, using a green dragon tincture also avoids the risk of inhaling toxins associated with combusting plant matter. It’s also much more discreet than smoking, as tinctures leave no odor and require zero cleanup.