You've probably read how "decarbing" first is the most important step in preparing cannabis for consumption. The process makes sense, but getting an accurate temperature with the oven is close to impossible. For maximum potency you need maximum efficiency and sadly toasting your bud in the oven is highly inefficient.
Here's why you might want a more accurate method...
The solutions that currently exist for patients wishing to decarb all fall short of full THC activation. Not only are they complicated and labor intensive, they make accuracy all but impossible. The result is fluctuations in strength and potency of medicine that can have detrimental effects on patients. Before discussing how patients can decarb right, it is important to understand why and how the other methods fail.
What's wrong with the oven method?
Preparing cannabis for medicinal purposes is a scientific process that should never be trusted to an oven. The process performed this way can never be precise.
Oven thermostats fluctuate an average of 10 degrees in both directions, which is detrimental to the decarb process. Opening and closing the oven further alters the temperature, leaving patients who use this method constantly guessing.
Here's a good example of the oven method. It demonstrates how impossible it is to get a reliable result this with this method. It's inconvenient. You can’t leave the kitchen, you have to constantly monitor, and it makes the whole house smell. You can hear the chef admit that an oven varies 10 degrees in either direction and that you can expect decarboxylation to leave your bud toasted (no, no, and NO!).
Using a huge inaccurate oven requires you to constantly check, makes the entire house stink, and leaves you with crunchy brown bud .
What is the oven doing to the bud scientifically?
Take a look at the test results below, comparing a raw sample with the same plant decarboxylated using a toaster oven and conventional oven.
The imprecision of the oven method can lead to under-decarbing, resulting in waste, leaving much of the THC is still in its acid form.
It's always critical to see before and after testing when it comes to decarboxylation. A test result could appear to show a fully decarbed product, but if you compare that same sample pre-decarb, it will reveal that many of the cannabinoids have been burned off.
How can I get an accurate decarb?
The pitfalls and uncertainty of these methods lead Ardent to develop the NOVA™, a precision temperature, lab-grade decarboxylator that allows patients to decarb. It is the only accurate, hassle free way to decarb, and ensure 100% activation.
