Last updated April 26, 2024

Tutorial: How I make Cannabis Salve

This is a post I had originally written last year on my cohost. I wanted to update it a little and bring it over to my website!

Preface: I am writing this from a recreational use legal state. Please follow your own local laws. I am not writing this post to encourage anyone to break the law. Also I am not a doctor or any sort of medical professional. Nothing said here is meant to diagnose or treat any diseases. Use your own common sense. If you have adverse reactions, stop using and consult a doctor. Cool. Now that we have that out of the way, let’s move on with the show.

Cannabis salve is basically an herbal extract using cannabis and oil. At its very base it is just weed infused into coconut oil, but you can make it more complex from there if it tickles your fancy. Cannabis salve is usually used for helping soothe localized pain caused by injury or inflammation. It can also help soothe dry skin/eczema and its base form can be used as a personal lubricant if you are into that. (But remember that oil + latex don't play well together) Some people also make suppositories for period cramps. There are a lot of options I am probably not even mentioning here.

I am writing this as someone with some experience making herbal infusions. I have made lotions using herbs grown in my yard for a bit now. However I do not claim to be an expert. There are tons of ways you can go about this, I am just telling you my personal way of doing it.

Supplies:

An oz of cannabis (see note below)
14-16 oz of coconut oil
Pressure cooker (somewhat optional, see next note below)
A slow cooker
Cheesecloth
Glass mason jars with metal lids
Glass measuring cup
Containers to put your finished salve in. You can reuse clean containers for this, as long as they are heat safe. I personally use little 2 oz tins. You can buy them really cheap online

Optional supplies:

Canning funnel (makes straining the solids out a lot easier)
Beeswax, shea butter, cocoa butter; these can be used to make your finished infusion more solid like a balm. Really you only need beeswax, but I add shea butter for the moisturizing properties. Coconut oil melts very fast at skin temperature and will quickly turn to mush in a warm environment. If you plan on traveling with your finished salve, you may want to use one or more of these. If you plan on using your finished item as lubricant don't add this or any other extra add ons to it.
Other dried herbs. I personally use lavender, chamomile, and calendula. These can also help cut the smell a little bit. Herbs must be dry or you can spoil the oil by introducing too much moisture. Make sure you are buying herbs that are meant for ingesting and not decorative herbs. If you have one of those fancy health food stores around you, they probably sell dried herbs as well. Or you could rip open some herbal tea bags.
3-5 drops of essential oil. I personally don't use EO in my salves anymore and I really don't like recommending essential oils. Especially if you aren't trained on how to use them. Really the only reason to use essential oil is to cover up the weedy scent. If you want to use essential oil, probably use something like lavender, rosemary, or a mint. Stay away from citrus scents, at least if you plan on being outside afterwards. Citrus EO can cause your skin to burn in nasty ways if exposed to sunlight too soon after applying.

Note about cannabis: Do not use your top shelf good stuff for this. If you know someone who grows, ask about getting shake from them. Some dispos will also sell ozs of shake for a discounted price. I am lucky and have a relative who grows and gives my dad a bunch of shake every time he visits. You don’t need to use top shelf weed for this, and honestly I think it would be a waste if you did. If you have CBD flower you can mix that in as well. You don’t need to grind the weed you are using, but if there are any big chunks you might want to break them down a little with your hands.

Note about pressure cooker: I use a pressure cooker to decarb my weed. The pressure cooker also then works as a slow cooker for the next step. I like it this way because it is all done in one appliance and also decarbing in a pressure cooker drastically cuts down on the smell. Keep in mind there will still be some scent though. If a pressure cooker isn't an option for you, you could also use an oven to decarb weed. But I have never done it that way. I hear it smells. You will have to figure that out on your own. I also have heard people say it isn't really necessary to decarb weed meant for salve, but I haven't tried and compared it yet, so I can't recommend it myself.

Okay so now let's move on to the process

Place your weed in a mason jar, screw the lid on finger tight (you want the lid on securely, but you don't need to clamp it down hard). If your pressure cooker has a tray/lifter, you want to use that. You don't want to have your glass jar directly touching the bottom of your pressure cooker or you risk the jar shattering. Add some water to the cooker. You want to cover some of the jar, but it doesn't need to be completely submerged. Set your pressure cooker on high for 45 minutes and go fuck off for a bit.
Once your pressure cooker is done, go ahead and flip the steam release. There will be a bit of a scent here. If this is a concern you could let your pressure cooker release the steam naturally, but that will take forever. I flip on the kitchen vent and just let it go. The scent doesn't seem to linger long. After the pressure has released remove your jar with a hot pad and let it cool until it is safe to handle. You have basically just canned weed, that means the contents inside that jar are kinda under pressure. When you go to open the jar 1.) It will stink 2.) Some of that stuff is going to come flying out of there. Either open it up over the sink or take it outside.
You can start this step while you are waiting for your jar to cool off. You need to melt your coconut oil. You probably don't need to melt it entirely, but you want to make it easier to get it from its current jar to your mason jar full of decarbed weed. If your coconut oil came in a glass jar you can double boil it on the stove until it melts. If your coconut oil comes in a plastic container you can uhhhh..... microwave it. Yeah that's what I do. Just microwave a couple seconds at a time. It really doesn't take much heat to melt coconut oil.
Pour that melted coconut oil into your jar with your decarbed weed. If you are using dried other dried herbs, this is the time to add them! Put the jar in your pressure cooker and change it to slow cook on low to 4 hours. Same as before, you want water partially covering the jar but it does not at all need to be submerged. I do not cover the pressure cooker or mason jar for this step. You do not want it to overheat at this point. You want the cannabis to infuse with the coconut oil, but you aren't trying to cook it. I come out every 45 minutes or so and use a chopstick to mix everything up.
After 4 hours your coconut oil should be looking mighty green. You are now going to strain your herbal infusion to get all the solid bits out using your cheesecloth. I strain this into a glass measuring cup because it makes it a lot easier to fill your little containers. If you have a canning funnel this is when you will use it. Also before you use the cheesecloth you should probably "wet" it down with another oil. I use regular kitchen olive oil. This keeps from a bunch of the good oil being wasted when it absorbs into the cloth. Also, squeeze those herbs and get every last bit of oil you can out of there. I know this isn't recommended with cannabutter because it makes it bitter, but we aren't eating this, so it's okay. Bonus that you now have hands covered in warm oil. Give your loved one or yourself a massage. If you are not adding anything else to your salve, you can go ahead and pour it into your containers and call it a day. If not, move on to the next step.
If you are adding hardeners to make this more like a balm, now is the time. Start with about 1/3rd cup of beeswax. You can use a little less if you plan on using shea or cocoa butter too. Throw it right in your measuring cup and you can use that measuring cup as a double boiler on the stove. Heat everything low and slow. You aren't trying to boil anything, you just want it to make it hot enough to melt your solids. Once they are fully melted, dip a spoon in it and throw that spoon in the freezer for a minute or two. Grab the spoon back out and feel the salve. Are you happy with the consistency? If not, you can add some olive oil to make it softer or add more solids to make it harder. You are just about done! Take it off the heat and add the optional essential oils after letting it cool a little. Then you can pour it into your jars. Depending on how warm it is in your house and how much hardeners you added, this may take a while. If you are impatient you could throw it in the fridge after it has set up for a while. I just usually leave them on the counter because I worry about spilling them when moving it to the fridge.

If you have any questions or I missed anything, go ahead and let me know. Either comment on my neocities profile or pop me an email at sadflowerprince@outlook.com. If I don't know the answer I will try and direct you to some place that does. Remember that if you want to use this for lubricant or suppositories only use coconut oil and weed. Don't add extra shit. Coconut oil is perfectly safe to use for lube for most, however some people do have sensitives to it. If you get UTIs/yeast infections easily, proceed with caution.