I want to make some cartridges from CBD distillate and cannabis terpenes, no other cuts. Obviously the CBD crystallizes in the cartridge pretty quickly.
Ive got 100g of gold high grade distillate that is viscous at room temp but is starting to slowly crystallize. I made 7g of blue dream terpenes using my apex co2 extractor, did a sub critical run while we trimmed (that room smelled amazing) to see what the results would be from a quick turn around.
I have a little ultrasonic homogenizer, hot plate stirrer, some of the usual equipment.
What percentage of terpenes would keep this CBD distillate from crystallizing? I know that different terpenes act as different solvents.
10% a good starting place?
Ouch, 10% terps? To each their own I guess, but I’d try it with a small batch before you do the whole lot. 5% had me coughing pretty bad, but I’ve got asthmatic bitch lungs so YMMV.
FYI, I find 60% CBD to be the magic number for when carts start crystallizing unless it’s cut with MCT, THC, or you have some of that magic crystal-resistant stuff. I filled a bunch of carts that ended up testing at 58.5% (was going for 50%, whoops) and didn’t have any crystallization even months later. But I had a guy wanting to sell his “uncut” 600mg carts on consignment and the whole batch started crystallizing within a week. I’m glad I decided to wait a week before throwing them on the shelves because I thought it was suspicious when he said he didn’t have any crystallization problems. Retail returns suck for everybody.
Have you tried adding some CBDa back into the distillate to prevent crystalization?
I’ve been thinking about running some cbd crude dissolved in pentane through a crc column to get it light enough to not through off the color of the distillate.
I’m hoping that as little as 5-10% CBDa would prevent crystallization.
I thought about that, but what about the heat from the atomizer? Wouldn’t that eventually decarb the CBDa and end up with a half to 1/4 filled crystallized cart?
That does make sense, just wondering how the only the strong diamond/sauce tek will work with hemp since CBDa won’t crystalize to create the diamond/terp layer.
I was leaning toward pentane and crc since I already have pentane on hand for making CBD Isolate and don’t have a butane CLS anymore but it’s definitely something to think about.
Wait so to confirm your saying to just use the hemp biomass CRC extract in carts and the cut the extract with isolate to bring the CBD percentage up?
I guess my goal is different than the OP’s.
I’m trying to create crystal resistant CBD distillate not just a CBD cart that won’t crystalize made from a hemp CRC extract.
Edit
If that’s the case then the point @coppertop made about the heat of the cartridge decarbbing the CBDa and causing the cart to crystalize is still a concern.
So here’s some results. First pic is the distillate (63% cbd). In the jar it hasn’t crystallized but in a small container like a dart or cartridge it crystallizes within a day.
Second pic is with 5% blue dream terpenes that I mixed a homogenizer for 45 seconds. So far (3-4 days later) it hasn’t crystallized but I’m stuck with the tiny bubbles. Taste is better than most CBD carts without a film or aftertaste. Only done this with the blue dream terps. I’m going to run some sherbet and gorilla glue today and see how they taste.
I found that briefly heating the CBD distillate to 140F after homogenizing gets rid of the bubbles without damaging the terpenes. I put it in the syringe immediately and fill the carts. Using a cartridge with an internal heating element that is supposed to heat slowly. I’m looking to try quartz coil cartridges for CBD as well.
You just solved your own problem
