Decarbing before introduction to solvent or in oil state

Do you decarb before or after you submerge the leaf in a solvent?

Almost everyone decarbs oil after extraction because it’s easier to know when it’s finished.

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My experience is when you are dealing with an agricultural feedstock, things work out better when you do everything you can to pre-process the feedstock into a uniform state.
Drying and decarbing your size classified feedstock goes a long way towards making downstream processing predictable.

Decarbing large amounts of flower properly is a pain in the ass though when you can process first and decarb a much smaller amount of oil and be certain of when the process is complete. Decarbing flower always seemed like there was a certain amount of uncertainty involved without visual markers to identify where you are in the process.

if you want your terpenes at all, decarbing first is not generally considered a win.

when decarbing oil, the thermal transfer properties and end point are much better defined.

solvent of choice also makes a difference. the acidic cannabinoids may have different solubilities in your solvent of choice…wouldn’t want to deliberately lower your solubility right before extraction (super critical CO2 does better with decarbed material)

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If activated carbon is part of your process I believe working with decarbed material is better.
It is rumored that THCA has a much greater affinity for AC than THC.
This fits my experience but I have never seen any real data on the subject.
Can you explain why decarbing before extraction loses terpenes, that does not fit my experience?

Terpenes are volatile & labile.
Decarb requires heat (or a catalyst).

Therefore: grabbing terps before heating gives mo’betta terpenes.

I too have heard rumors of affinity differences for acidic vs neutral cannabinoids. Waiting on in house analytics before I can verify.

Plenty of folks using AC on THCa etoh tincture who are not reporting significant losses, suggesting materials or technique may play a part in product loss.

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Myrcene boils at around 170 C at atmospheric pressure.
That is a reason to use inert gas blanketing instead of vacuum during decarb.
I prefer moderate vacuum and dry N2 purge as a compromise.
Cannot smell any terpenes in the exhaust of my rough pump or in the cold trap.

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