By Luke Sumpter Reviewed by: Gloria Payá


The phytochemicals present in raw cannabis are very different from those found in the smoke after you set your buds ablaze. If we told you that eating a bag of raw cannabis flowers wouldn't get you high, would you believe us?

The truth is, raw cannabis doesn’t contain psychotropic molecules; or, rather, it contains extremely low levels of them. Instead, those fresh, sticky buds are rich in precursor chemicals known as cannabinoid acids.

It takes a heat-driven molecular reaction—known as decarboxylation—to convert the non-psychotropic cannabinoid acids into the cannabinoids we know and love.

Decarboxylation: What Is It?

Continue reading to learn all about decarboxylation. You’ll discover the exact mechanism involved, how to decarb your own flowers, and why you should also decarb CBD-rich strains.

Decarboxylation: What Is It?

The word decarboxylation sounds like some complex term you probably forgot from chemistry class. Despite the way it sounds, it actually describes a super simple chemical process that underpins the cannabis experience.

Falling in love with cannabis often revives the love of science in many smokers and growers. Harness your passion for weed and get ready to learn exactly what happens when you apply a flame to your homegrown buds.

  • What Are Cannabinoid Acids?

When taking a closer look at your buds, you’ve probably noticed a layer of small, crystalline structures. These structures—known as trichomes—work overtime to pump out a resin filled with cannabinoid acids such as THCA and CBDA.

As cannabis science continues to progress, researchers are finding that these molecules boast their own unique effects. However, THCA produces no psychotropic effects and isn’t much use to those pursuing a high.

When you apply a flame to the end of a joint, or hit the button on your vape, you expose these molecules to high temperatures. This heat then causes the removal of a carboxyl group, a brief process otherwise know as decarboxylation. This converts THCA, CBDA, and other cannabinoid acids into their corresponding cannabinoids (i.e. THC, CBD, etc.), providing us with their familiar effects.

  • At What Temperature Does Decarboxylation Occur?

Decarboxylation generally occurs at the same temperature for both CBDA and THCA. When exposed to conditions of 110°C consistently for 30–45 minutes, the two are converted into CBD and THC, respectively. Yet, this temperature is low enough to keep the aromatic terpenes and other desirable phytochemicals intact.

What Are Cannabinoid Acids?
  • Advantages of Decarboxylation

Decarboxylation comes with numerous benefits. Although smoking instantly converts THCA into THC, there are benefits to decarbing your cannabis even before you smoke it.

Cannabinoid Activation

Decarboxylation activates the psychotropic elements of cannabis (THC) as well as the holistic elements (CBD, etc.). While decarbing is compulsory with smoking and vaping, edibles require slightly more extensive preparation in order to be effective.

Prevents Pathogens

Decarboxylation by heating also offers protective effects. Although cannabis flowers are usually much safer at the end of the growing cycle, pathogens can still attack buds while in storage. The heating that takes place during decarboxylation helps to remove moisture from cannabis flowers, minimising the chance of microbial pathogens spoiling your crop.

  • Why You Need to Decarboxylate CBD Strains

Just as you need to decarb your high-THC weed to feel its effects, you’ll also benefit from doing so with your CBD flowers. During the decarboxylation process, CBDA converts to CBD. Before crafting edibles, tinctures, or oils using your CBD buds, make sure you decarb them for the best outcomes.

Decarboxylation Temperature for THC and CBD

Decarboxylation temperatures are largely the same for most major cannabinoids. As mentioned, a temperature of 110°C, sustained for 30–45 minutes, gets the job done.

Boiling Points of Cannabinoids, Terpenes, and Flavonoids

Many cannabis smokers confuse decarboxylation with vaporization (boiling point). Although decarboxylation naturally occurs when vaping, the boiling point of various cannabinoids, terpenes, and flavonoids can differ dramatically depending on the volatility of the phytochemical in question.

Check out the recommended temperature settings below when you feel like vaping your cannabis.

  • Cannabinoids

Cannabinoids vaporize at different temperatures, which means vapes with precise settings can target specific cannabinoids. Alter the temperature depending on what kind of strain you’re smoking—you’ll find different settings work better for high-THC vs high-CBD buds.

THC 157°C
CBD 160–180°C
  • Terpenes

Terpenes underpin the delicious and unique flavours of each cannabis strain. Plus, these molecules synergise with cannabinoids to amplify their effects.

Caryophyllene 119°C
Myrcene 166–168°C
Cineole 176°C
Limonene 177°C
Linalool 198°C
Terpineol 218°C
  • Flavonoids

Flavonoids also complement the complex phytochemistry of cannabis. These molecules are associated with antioxidant effects, among others. Some of them occur all throughout the plant kingdom, whereas others are unique to cannabis.

Apigenin 178°C
Cannflavin A 182°C
Quercetin 250°C

Decarboxylating Kief and Concentrates

Kief and cannabis concentrates offer a more potent experience than flowers alone. Growers usually collect kief using grinders or sifting trays, meaning the trichomes aren’t exposed to high temperatures during the process. Additionally, some concentrate preparation methods don’t reach the point of decarboxylation.

To ensure maximum potency, we recommend using the same procedure detailed above to decarb your cannabis buds/kief before making these products.

How To Decarboxylate Cannabis

For smokers and vapers, decarboxylation happens naturally as a result of the toking process. Although much less refined than the methods below, igniting your weed with a flame decarbs the cannabinoids and terpenes immediately, allowing you to quickly suck in and benefit from the effects. However, the excessive heat produced from this method is known to “kill off” some of these volatile molecules. Vaporizing is a bit more controlled; devices are heated up to activate THC and other cannabinoids and terpenes right around their boiling points, allowing for a nearly full dose of each compound.

At What Temperature Does Decarboxylation Occur?
  • Oven Method

The most common method of decarboxylating cannabis, especially when making edibles, is simply “baking” it in the oven. There are a few steps involved in this method:

1. Grind up your cannabis until it is even enough to smoothly spread over a thin surface.
2. Line a baking tray with a sheet of parchment or baking paper.
3. Pour your ground cannabis over the sheet, making sure to evenly spread it out.
4. Preheat an oven to 115℃ and place the tray inside for approximately 45 minutes, stirring the cannabis about halfway through.

At What Temperature Does Decarboxylation Occur?

It is important to be mindful of your oven’s temperature during this process. Cooking your buds at a higher temperature may seem like it would get the job done quicker, but it will most likely just degrade the cannabinoids and terpenes, making it potentially unusable. Cooking it at a lower temperature for a longer period of time is generally considered to be the safest and most effective method of decarboxylating cannabis.

While this is the most commonly used method (and many would say the easiest), there are several other ways to decarboxylate marijuana.

  • Microwave Method

If you don’t have 45 minutes to bake your weed in the oven, this method is perfect. While it's a little more hands-on, you can use your trusty old microwave to decarb your cannabis in just a few minutes. Here’s how:

1. Like the previous methods, grind your weed to a medium consistency. Place it in a microwave-safe bowl or tray.
2. Microwave on HIGH for roughly 90 seconds.
3. Take out your weed and smell it. It should smell pungent, but not burnt. If it’s not there yet, give it a stir and place it back in the microwave for another 60–90 seconds.

At What Temperature Does Decarboxylation Occur?

Microwaving cannabis is a little trickier than using an oven, as you don’t have any control over the temperature. Plus, microwaves vary a lot, so you’ll have to play things by ear depending on the make and model you’ve got at home.

If you’re worried about burning your weed using this method, consider using a lower microwave setting and cooking your bud a little longer.

Always keep an eye on your bud to ensure it's not burning, and use your nose to tell whether it’s been decarbed properly.

Whichever way you choose to decarboxylate your weed, remember: low and slow. Using high temperatures to rapidly heat your cannabis risks burning both cannabinoids and terpenes, which will ruin the potency and aroma of your weed. Stick to lower temperatures and take your time, and you'll end up with perfectly activated weed ready to use in any of your favourite recipes.

  • Sous-vide Method

This method is arguably our second favourite method for decarboxylating cannabis after the oven method. Because water boils at 100℃, it's literally impossible to burn your weed using this method. Plus, because you’ll be using a thermometer, you’ll also have really close control over your temperature to ensure you activate all the cannabinoids in your bud.

Here’s how to decarb your weed using sous-vide:

1. Grind your bud to a medium consistency, place it in a sous-vide bag, and vacuum-seal it.
2. If you have a sous-vide precision cooker, set it up to cook at 95℃. Place your bag in the cooker and cook it for roughly 1 hour. If you don’t have a sous-vide cooker, fill a saucepan with water and bring to a boil over high heat.
3. Once boiling, bring down the heat and use a thermometer to keep your water temperature at 95–100℃.
4. Place your vacuum-sealed bag of weed in the water and cook for approximately 60 minutes.

When using sous-vide, patience is key. This method takes notably longer than the others on this list, but the results are really consistent.

  • Natural Method

It’s worth noting that cannabis naturally decarboxylates over time if left alone. Its exposure to the elements is enough to gradually turn THCA into THC, and THC into the cannabinoid CBN. However, this process is incredibly lengthy, so heat will almost certainly be necessary in order to push it along. Whichever method you choose, decarboxylation is essential to “unlocking” the psychotropic power of our illustrious THC.

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Privacy Policy - Royal Queen Seeds

To ensure a safe online environment and guarantee adequate data protection, we strictly comply with all legal requirements. In this privacy statement, we provide information about how and for what purpose data is collected, safety measures, storage periods and contact details.


COMPANY NAME: SNORKEL SPAIN, SL (hereinafter ROYAL QUEEN SEEDS)

C/ Vilar d'Abdelà, 5 (nave 1) CP: 08170 de Montornès del Vallès

+34 937 379 846

support@royalqueenseeds.com


The present Privacy Policy sets out the terms on which we will treat personal data at ROYAL QUEEN SEEDS; this includes any personal data collected through our website https://www.royalqueenseeds.com/ as well as any other data we process in the course of our business activities.

ROYAL QUEEN SEEDS collects the following personal data for the purposes listed below:

SECTION 1 – PERSONAL INFORMATION WE COLLECT

1.1 Account purchases

Account purchases can only be made if you are in possession of a personal account. When you create an account or purchase something from our shop, as part of the buying and selling process we collect the following personal information that you provide to us:

This information is required for delivery. In addition, when you browse our shop, we automatically receive the Internet Protocol (IP) address of your computer. Based on this information, we can optimise your online experience and at the same time protect our online environment.

Purpose of data collection

We collect and store account-related data for the following purposes:

(a) to carry out obligations arising from any contracts between you and us, and to provide you with information, products and services that you may request from us;

(b) to set up, manage and communicate with you about your account and your orders;

(c) to conduct market research and analysis;

(d) to confirm your age and identity, and to detect and prevent fraud.

1.2 Newsletters

With your explicit permission, we may send you newsletters about our shop, new products and other updates. We send newsletters based on your explicit consent. In the event that you purchase a product, and in accordance with current regulations, we may send you commercial communications in accordance with the legitimate interest of our company, always about products or services similar to those you have purchased or contracted. In any case, you may exercise your right of opposition through the channels announced in this Privacy Policy. The following information is collected in relation to the newsletter:

We do not need to know the sex of the person in order to send the newsletter (data minimisation: by law we must ask for data that is strictly necessary to provide the service, and in this case knowing the sex is not necessary to send the newsletter).

Purpose of data collection

The data collected is used to:

(a) personalise our emails, including your name and gender;

(b) provide gender-specific content.

You can withdraw your consent at any time by using the link provided in the newsletter or the contact information provided in section 2.

1.3 Customer service and contact form

In order to provide appropriate support, our customer service employees have access to information related to the account. Consequently, their support will be highly effective and friendly. The data provided in our contact form is used by our CRM provider, SuperOffice. We will only use your details to respond to your message.

SECTION 2 – LEGITIMATE INTEREST

If you have purchased any of our products, please note that we may process your personal data for promotional purposes, based on Royal Queen Seeds' legitimate interest only to offer you products or services from our company and about products or services similar to those you have purchased. You may exercise your right to opt out of future messages by the means set out in this Privacy Policy or through any notification you receive.

2.1 How do you withdraw consent?

If you change your mind, you can withdraw your consent for us to contact you for the purpose of collecting, using, or disclosing your data at any time by reaching out to us at: support@royalqueenseeds.com.

SECTION 3 – DISCLOSURE

We may disclose your personal information if we are required to do so by law or if you breach our Terms of Service.

SECTION 4 – HOW LONG DO WE KEEP YOUR DATA?

At Royal Queen Seeds, we will not retain your data for longer than is necessary for the purposes described in this Policy. Different retention periods apply for different types of data; however, the longest period we will normally hold any personal data is 10 years.

4.1 Account information

Data relating to the account remains relevant for as long as the consumer is in possession of an account. Therefore, the data remains documented for as long as the account exists. When our customers delete an account, the associated data will be deleted within a reasonable period of time. Requests regarding the inspection or correction of stored personal data or the deletion of an account can be sent to support@royalqueenseeds.com.

4.2 Newsletters

In the event that you give us your consent to inform you about our products or services, we will keep your data until you express your wish not to receive any further communications from us. However, we regularly (every month) carry out a relevance check. Registered customers (and their personal information) will be deleted whenever customers do not reply to our request. In addition, our newsletter mailing has an opt-out feature. Consumers can withdraw their consent by using this opt-out feature.

SECTION 5 – COOKIES

Cookies are small information files that notify your computer of previous interactions with our website. These cookies are stored on your hard drive, not on our website. Essentially, when you use our website, your computer displays its cookies to us, informing our site that you have visited before. This allows our website to function more quickly and remember aspects related to your previous visits (such as your username), making your experience more convenient. At Royal Queen Seeds, we use two types of cookies: functional and analytical.

5.1 Functional Cookies

Functional cookies are used to enhance your online experience. Among other things, these cookies track what is added to your shopping cart. The use of these cookies does not require prior authorization.

5.2 Analytical Cookies

Analytical cookies are used for research and market analysis. The data collected with these analytical cookies is anonymous, making it unusable for third parties. The use of these cookies does not require prior authorization.

SECTION 5 – THIRD-PARTY SERVICES

Third-party services are required to conduct transactions and provide our services. In general, the third-party providers we use will only collect, use and disclose your information to the extent necessary to enable them to perform the services they provide to us.

However, certain third-party service providers, such as payment gateways and other payment transaction processors, have their own privacy policies regarding the information we must provide to them for your transactions.

We encourage you to read the privacy policies of these providers so that you can understand how these providers will handle your personal information.

In particular, certain suppliers may be located or have facilities located in a different jurisdiction than yours or ours. Therefore, if you choose to proceed with a transaction involving the services of a third party, your information may be subject to the laws of the jurisdiction in which that service provider or its facilities are located.

Once you leave our website or are redirected to a third-party website or application, you are no longer governed by this Privacy Policy or the Terms of Service of our website.

Web analytics service (anonymous data)

On this website we have integrated an element of a web analytics service (with anonymisation functionality). Web analytics can be defined as the gathering, processing and analysis of data about the behaviour of visitors to websites. An analytics service collects, among other things, data about which website a person came from (the so-called referrer), which sub-pages they visited or how often and for how long they visited a sub-page. Web analytics is mainly used for website optimisation and for a cost–benefit analysis of internet advertising.

Courier service

To complete deliveries we use a courier service. This courier service carries out the delivery between our company and the consumer's home. To complete these logistics, the company requires access to the consumer's name and address information.

Mailing service

Royal Queen Seeds uses a third-party mail service provider to send its newsletter. This provider has access to limited account information related to opt-in consent (e.g. email address).

Marketing services

Royal Queen Seeds has the support of a company that specialises in marketing and communication activities. Their access to personal information is very limited and mostly anonymous.

Payment services

At Royal Queen Seeds we use external payment services to handle our transactions (e.g. credit card payments).

SECTION 6 – SECURITY

To protect your personal information, we take reasonable precautions and follow industry standard best practices to ensure that it is not inappropriately lost, misused, accessed, disclosed, altered or destroyed.

If you provide us with your credit card information, the information is encrypted using secure socket layer technology (SSL) and stored using AES-256 encryption. Although no method of transmission over the internet or electronic storage is 100% secure, we follow all PCI-DSS requirements and implement additional industry standards that are commonly accepted. Information related to the account is protected with a hashing method. This method transforms the information into a generated hash. As a result, confidential information is protected and invisible, even to us. In addition, our databases are exceptionally protected against unauthorised access. For example, access to the database is only possible and permitted via approved IP addresses (e.g. from Royal Queen Seeds headquarters). Other attempts and addresses are rejected at all times.

Furthermore, data is anonymised as much as possible, so it cannot be directly linked to a specific consumer. With this data, however, we may be able to carry out market research and analysis. In addition, the third parties concerned (e.g. mailing service) are examined prior to our collaboration, comply with the GDPR from the EU and receive a processing agreement. Within Royal Queen Seeds, employees are assigned different access permissions. Specific permission provides access only to information that is strictly required to perform a task. Digital security measures are subject to change and must meet high requirements to ensure the safety of online customers. That is why, at Royal Queen Seeds, we appoint a security officer. Regular verification and improvement of security measures (where necessary) are part of the role.

SECTION 7 – CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY

We reserve the right to modify this Privacy Policy at any time, so please check back regularly. Changes and clarifications will be effective immediately upon being published on the Website. If we make substantial changes to this policy, we will notify you here that it has been updated so you will know what information we collect, how we use it and under what circumstances, if any, we use and/or disclose it.

SECTION 8 – YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO: