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How To Put Your Cannabis Stems To Good Use
It's common to hear people associate cannabis stems with low-quality bud, and you might think they're nothing but a headache. Try saving them next time you find them, though. Whether you want some THC-kissed tea, cannabutter, hash, or even some twine or yarn, the possibilities are nearly endless if you save them and know what to do.
Repurpose your cannabis stems to make the most of your crop!
If you're not the type to grind up your stems with your bud, you've either got a garbage bag full of them or an impressive collection. If you're in the former group, we've got some information that might make you reconsider. If you're in the latter, though, today just might be your lucky day.
Contents:
What to Do With Your Marijuana Stems?
You see, those stems are a lot more than scraps to throw out when grinding your cannabis flower. In fact, if you shop up enough, you can get plenty lifted off those alone. And, if you don't want to get high, you can even give them a second life as arts and crafts items, or even mulch! How? We'll cover the details as we go along.
Smoking
Charas
| Hash doesn't get much more hands-on than this. To obtain charas, start by rubbing your stems between your hands. After that, rub your hands together over a container to get a whisker of hash. It won't be much in that moment. However, work through 100 grams of stems with average THC content, and you may be impressed at what you've managed to gather. The end result is a multi-flavoured pile of hash that's as old-school as it gets. |
| Hash doesn't get much more hands-on than this. To obtain charas, start by rubbing your stems between your hands. After that, rub your hands together over a container to get a whisker of hash. It won't be much in that moment. However, work through 100 grams of stems with average THC content, and you may be impressed at what you've managed to gather. The end result is a multi-flavoured pile of hash that's as old-school as it gets. | |
Kief
| If you want to get this process started, just take your stems, break them down, and throw them into a resealable plastic bag. Place this bag in your freezer, and let it sit until you've got more to add. When you add to the collection, give the bag a healthy shake. Each time you shake, the now-frozen resin crystals will begin to detach from the stem fragments. Slowly but surely, you'll build up an impressive pile at the bottom of the bag. Once you sift out the stems, you'll have a whole bunch of kief ready to smoke! |
| If you want to get this process started, just take your stems, break them down, and throw them into a resealable plastic bag. Place this bag in your freezer, and let it sit until you've got more to add. When you add to the collection, give the bag a healthy shake. Each time you shake, the now-frozen resin crystals will begin to detach from the stem fragments. Slowly but surely, you'll build up an impressive pile at the bottom of the bag. Once you sift out the stems, you'll have a whole bunch of kief ready to smoke! | |
Bubble Hash
| Similarly, if you want some quality bubble hash, the first step is freezing the stems. Rather than shaking, though, you'll be throwing these in a blender. Use the blender method recipe from our full guide to making hash—just replace "flowers" with "stems". If you follow all the right instructions, repeating the process about 4–5 times, quality bubble hash will be in your future. |
| Similarly, if you want some quality bubble hash, the first step is freezing the stems. Rather than shaking, though, you'll be throwing these in a blender. Use the blender method recipe from our full guide to making hash—just replace "flowers" with "stems". If you follow all the right instructions, repeating the process about 4–5 times, quality bubble hash will be in your future. | |
Don't Forget Decarboxylation
Before anything, if you want to make use of the THC content of your stems, decarboxylation is key. It might seem like a confusing process based off the name, but it really just means you're heating them up to a certain point. This process creates the easily absorbable and immediately psychoactive THC from its precursor chemical, THCA. This, in turn, makes the stems perfect for tinctures, hash, extracts, and edibles.
To decarboxylate, evenly spread your stems on an oven tray and place in the oven at 110°C (or 100°C for a fan-assisted oven) for 60 minutes. Once decarboxylated, your stems are ready to go!
Tea and Chai
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To get started, you'll need a healthy handful of stems that have not been rubbed for hash. Start off by putting 450ml of water and a tablespoon of coconut oil into a small saucepan. Chop and add your stems and slowly bring to a gentle, but not rolling, boil, stirring continuously. Let them boil like this for 7 or 8 minutes, as the fluid needs to reduce. Strain out your stems, let the mixture cool for a bit, and enjoy! Plain cannabis tea can taste a bit rough, though, so you might consider adding herbs and sweeteners to your beverage. For tea, mints, lemon, honey, sugar, or any flavoured tea bag can mask the taste. If you're making chai, adding cardamom pods, pepper, and ginger for that traditional zing makes it a tasty and tingly delight. |
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To get started, you'll need a healthy handful of stems that have not been rubbed for hash. Start off by putting 450ml of water and a tablespoon of coconut oil into a small saucepan. Chop and add your stems and slowly bring to a gentle, but not rolling, boil, stirring continuously. Let them boil like this for 7 or 8 minutes, as the fluid needs to reduce. Strain out your stems, let the mixture cool for a bit, and enjoy! Plain cannabis tea can taste a bit rough, though, so you might consider adding herbs and sweeteners to your beverage. For tea, mints, lemon, honey, sugar, or any flavoured tea bag can mask the taste. If you're making chai, adding cardamom pods, pepper, and ginger for that traditional zing makes it a tasty and tingly delight. |
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Marijuana Liqueur
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Whiskeys, vodkas, or tequilas that are 40% alcohol or more can all dissolve the resin of cannabis. We've got a great recipe for cannabis-infused vodka here, but it's quite a simple process overall. Decant your chosen alcohol into a mason jar to allow for easier access. Let the stems sit in there for a week or so at a time. By the time you've got another handful of stems ready to add, the old ones will have released their treasures into the mix. For potency to build, this little project may take a few months and a few handfuls of stems. By the end of the process, though, you'll have a strong cross-fade in one convenient, potent drink. |
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Whiskeys, vodkas, or tequilas that are 40% alcohol or more can all dissolve the resin of cannabis. We've got a great recipe for cannabis-infused vodka here, but it's quite a simple process overall. Decant your chosen alcohol into a mason jar to allow for easier access. Let the stems sit in there for a week or so at a time. By the time you've got another handful of stems ready to add, the old ones will have released their treasures into the mix. For potency to build, this little project may take a few months and a few handfuls of stems. By the end of the process, though, you'll have a strong cross-fade in one convenient, potent drink. |
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THC Butter and Other Edibles
| If you have enough broken-down stems to fill up half a saucepan, then THC-infused butter is on the menu! Replacing stems for buds in this cannabutter recipe will produce a similar product, but with a much milder effect. Where the recipe suggests "28g of flowers", replace with "as many chopped stems as possible". Using your butter in culinary creations will add a nice buzz to any course. |
| If you have enough broken-down stems to fill up half a saucepan, then THC-infused butter is on the menu! Replacing stems for buds in this cannabutter recipe will produce a similar product, but with a much milder effect. Where the recipe suggests "28g of flowers", replace with "as many chopped stems as possible". Using your butter in culinary creations will add a nice buzz to any course. | |
Topicals
| Perhaps one of the most unconventional ways to enjoy cannabis are weed-infused topicals, which have become quite popular over the past couple of years. Along with moisturising your skin, cannabis-infused lotions and creams can help care for your muscles in a new way. They're also a wonder for supple joints, along with tackling sensitive, red skin especially well. Thankfully, we've already got a recipe for cannabis lotion! Note, however, that you'll be replacing "15–30g of flowers" with 2–3x the amount of stems, or the closest you can get. |
| Perhaps one of the most unconventional ways to enjoy cannabis are weed-infused topicals, which have become quite popular over the past couple of years. Along with moisturising your skin, cannabis-infused lotions and creams can help care for your muscles in a new way. They're also a wonder for supple joints, along with tackling sensitive, red skin especially well. Thankfully, we've already got a recipe for cannabis lotion! Note, however, that you'll be replacing "15–30g of flowers" with 2–3x the amount of stems, or the closest you can get. | |
Arts and Crafts
You might not think about it often, but there's a good bit more you can do with cannabis outside of enjoying its effects. It's a natural plant material like any other, and that means it can see a lot of use in arts and crafts!
Paper
Weaving Small
Weaving Bigger
Mulch
| Capping things off, you can even use your stems to grow yourself some more cannabis! Specifically, you can use a wood chipper (or another processing method) to turn the stems into a reliable mulch. This will protect the soil under it, making sure plants keep as much of their rainwater as possible. There's a lot more information to cover when it comes to properly applying mulch in the growing process, but we hope to have sparked your interest in the idea! |
| Capping things off, you can even use your stems to grow yourself some more cannabis! Specifically, you can use a wood chipper (or another processing method) to turn the stems into a reliable mulch. This will protect the soil under it, making sure plants keep as much of their rainwater as possible. There's a lot more information to cover when it comes to properly applying mulch in the growing process, but we hope to have sparked your interest in the idea! | |
Put Your Humble Weed Stems to Good Use
See? There's no need to get mad at the humble stem! There's a world of use to be found if you've got the right supplies, and you can even get high on them if you play your cards right! We hope this has helped you appreciate just how versatile the cannabis plant can be!
