Magic mushrooms are growing in popularity, with several locations decriminalizing their use, and some states looking to legalize their recreational use. We also know that mushrooms are generally eaten, with some administration methods providing less useful means of delivery. Right now, some companies are working on ways to make transdermal patches for absorption through the skin. But there’s another way to consume them: as magic mushroom tinctures. Here’s what a magic mushroom tincture is, and some basic information on how to make one.
Making magic mushroom tinctures might not be for everyone, but it does provide an entirely different way to consume psilocybin. Interested parties should proceed with caution. We are an independent publication reporting on everything important and interesting in this growing world of psychedelics. Keep up with us by signing up for the The Cannadelics Weekly Newsletter, and get your daily dose of industry news, while being first in line for new promotions and deals on psychedelic products, as they start to become available.
What’s a tincture?
A tincture is an extraction that’s used on pretty much any plant, where a solvent is employed to take out different plant constituents. Tinctures generally use ethyl alcohol, and some will only consider an alcohol extraction to be a tincture. However, whether simply considered ‘extracts’, or tinctures as well, these same extractions can be done using vinegar and vegetable glycerin. Whether the latter two are used for magic mushroom tinctures is hard to say, so for this article we’ll focus on tinctures as solely an alcoholic extraction.
There are different ways of making tinctures, but the general idea is to leave plant material in a solvent over time, with shaking used to agitate the material in order to help particles move away from the plant, and into the mentrsuum – which is the solvent material. Tinctures are often left for several weeks at a time, if not more, in order to allow this process to happen. For some plants there are expedited tincture recipes that call for hot or cold in order to speed up the process.
When a tincture is done, its run through cheesecloth one or more times to separate the plant material from the alcohol, which is chock full of plant constituents. The remaining tincture is very concentrated, and can generally be administered by the drop. Tinctures allow a product to last longer, as an alcoholic tincture has a shelf life of many years, so long as its kept in an airtight container, and away from sunlight. They are often put in dark glass bottles to keep any light exposure to a minimum.
Tinctures have several benefits. In the case of weed tinctures, for example, the user doesn’t have to smoke the plant, though this is less relevant with mushrooms. What is relevant, is that tinctures can be taken sublingually – under the tongue, to allow for quick absorption through the many blood vessels under the tongue. This is enhanced by using alcohol for the tincture, which allows even quicker permeation through cell walls.
While mushrooms are generally ingested, sublingual administration allows the user to bypass the digestive tract, meaning the psilocybin goes directly to the bloodstream (like with patches). If a user wishes to only have this part, they can spit out the tincture after taking it sublingually, in order to keep anything not already absorbed, from going through the digestive tract.
Magic mushroom tinctures
Mushroom tinctures exist for different kinds of mushrooms, and are often used to access the medicinal components of mushrooms, in a more concentrated way. Common mushrooms for medicinal mushroom tinctures include chaga, cordyceps, lion’s mane, reishi, shitake, and turkey tail. Of course, you can also make a magic mushroom tincture in the same way.
Magic mushroom tinctures are not the most popular way of consuming magic mushrooms, but as the industry grows, they can be expected to make more of an appearance. In light of current state decriminalization and legalization measures for psychedelics, it becomes that much more important to know all the ways they can be used.
In order to make magic mushroom tinctures, you’ll need just a few things: 1) dried out and powdered magic mushrooms (this can be accomplished by grinding a dried mushroom in a mortal and pestle, 2) a glass jar with an airtight lid, 3) a very high proof alcohol (as close to 100% as possible), 4) cheesecloth, and 5) dropper bottles for the final product. *While I will explain the basic process next, I am not encouraging anyone to use illegal substances, I’m simply giving instructions on how to make a tincture.
How-to make magic mushroom tinctures
Step one – Take your mushroom powder and pour the alcohol over it. Make sure they are thoroughly mixed. Leave the mixture to sit for at least 24 hours, and up to several weeks. In terms of quantity of powder vs alcohol, you’ll want to make sure the alcohol just covers the powder, with nothing extra. Approximately two grams of magic mushroom powder should equal about 1ml of tincture at the end, and about 1-2ml is needed to produce a good psychedelic experience. Of course, using more alcohol is always okay, but it will take longer to evaporate it out at the end.
Step two – During the waiting period, shake the mixture several times, this acts to agitate the material and helps remove the plant constituents from the plant material, and into the alcohol.
Step three – Filter out the mushroom material from the alcohol. This is done with cheesecloth. You have the option of running more alcohol through the mixture, and then combining the two sets of alcohol together – therefore making for a double extraction. With some mushrooms, the second part is done with water to ensure that water-soluble plant constituents get removed as well. This is not required though, just a way of getting more active compounds out of the plant material. The result of the filtration is a thick, goopy substance.
Step four – Allow the alcohol to evaporate out. As psilocybin breaks down in heat, this part shouldn’t involve extra heat to quicken the process, and can take a day or so to finish. Obviously, you’ll leave your jar open so the alcohol can evaporate out, and leave it for as long as it needs to be left.
Side note* – Magic mushrooms come in different potencies, so the idea of precise dosing once a tincture is made, is a bit difficult, and should be done carefully. How strong the final tincture is, is dependent on the strength of the original mushrooms, the growing medium, and how the tincture extraction is done. This makes it important for prospective makers of magic mushroom tinctures to know average potency for the mushrooms they choose to use, and the weight of the powder being used. Also, this recipe applies to psilocybin mushrooms only, not fly agaric mushrooms.
You can also buy magic mushroom tinctures
You can always tell when a market is starting to blow up, by the inclusion of more and more varied products for sale. Such is the case with magic mushroom tinctures, which are now advertised online. As of right now, I see the majority of sites coming out of Canada. As these sites do not operate legally, I will not link to them, nor encourage anyone to use them.
Not because I think they’re definitely bad, either, but as an unregulated industry, it means no testing measures spoken about on these sites are likely to be legit, and its impossible to speak to the quality of the product, or if any bad materials are used. Sure, they could be fine, but good marketing is easy to come by, so an inviting site does not mean a quality product.
Buying illegal drugs online is always a bit dicey, and this isn’t because the drugs in question are necessarily dangerous. Magic mushrooms don’t come with a death toll, and have been shown more and more to be useful for tons of medical issues. But this doesn’t mean that opportunistic and unscrupulous businesses won’t attempt to take advantage of your desire to procure illegal drugs. If you are looking to buy online, find out as much as you can about the company you choose to buy from. If they’ve been around for awhile, or sell other quality products, you can have more faith in them. If you find a bunch of articles telling you to beware…then best to beware!
How else can you use magic mushrooms?
Now that we know that magic mushroom tinctures can be made, how else can magic mushrooms be used? Well, first and foremost, you won’t gain much by trying to smoke them, and you might make yourself a bit sick. As mentioned earlier, psilocybin is not thermally labile, meaning it breaks down with heat, meaning you probably won’t get the hit you’re looking for with smoking.
The one exception *might be fly agaric mushrooms (Amanita muscaria), which are not psilocybin mushrooms, but muscimol and ibotenic acid mushrooms. Though all mushrooms could be called ‘poisonous’ mushrooms, that’s what these mushrooms are designated as, and not hallucinogenic mushrooms. This is all semantics however, as they do similar things, but with different active compounds. These mushrooms have a slightly better reputation for being smokable, but interested parties should be extremely careful if this is something they want to try, as mushrooms contain many different, often dangerous, compounds, and smoking them introduces molds and fungi into the lungs.
Magic mushrooms as an edible is the primary way of consumption, and though mushroom teas are not new, magic mushroom tea is a more modern invention. Even boiling water can be hot enough to degrade the psilocybin and psilocin of the mushrooms, so making sure your tea water doesn’t stay at that high a temperature for too long is important when attempting a magic mushroom tea. In fact, it would likely be beneficial to let the water cool a few degrees before applying it to the mushrooms. Much like with a tincture, this isn’t done with fresh mushrooms, but with dried, powdered mushrooms.
Another growing use of magic mushrooms is with skin patches, aka transdermal patches. These patches are employed quite a bit for pain medicine administration, birth control, and to take off warts, among other uses. Though they come in different designs, they all revolve around the idea of medicine put in or around the adhesive layer of a patch, which allows the compounds to enter the bloodstream through the skin over time.
Several different biotech companies are currently making magic mushroom patch formulations. These include Nova Mentis and Mycrodose who teamed up to investigate using psilocybin patches for fragile X syndrome. Another partnership exists between Ei.Ventures and Tioga, who are researching using said patches for psilocybin medicine delivery. And a third venture by The Terasaki Institute for Biomedical Innovation (TIBI) and Pharma Ther, Inc., is geared at using micro-needle patches for the delivery of psychedelic compounds like MDMA, LSD, DMT, psilocybin, and ketamine.
Conclusion
Whether you’re a big magic mushrooms fan, or simply looking to make a high-powered medicine, magic mushroom tinctures provide a way to create a strong psilocybin extract. Obviously, care should be taken by anyone attempting to make such a tincture. However, I do expect that as the industry grows, and as legalizations come through, that these tinctures will become much more commonplace, being made in homes, and with plenty of pre-made products on shelves.
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