If you use a dab pen or wax pen, reclaim is going to be a constant part of your life. Not all of the vapor from your wax will actually make it into your mouth – a portion of it will condense inside the mouthpiece and other airflow components of your device. It’s likely that your device’s coil will collect a good deal of residue as well. Although you can always clean your dab rig by soaking the components in rubbing alcohol, you’ll have to throw the alcohol away afterward – and that means you’d be wasting active cannabinoids that are still usable.
A good dab pen from a company like Rokin Vapes will provide many months or years of high-quality vaping – and the residue that’s left behind when you vape is often almost as potent as the wax itself. If you want to get the most for your money, you don’t want to throw that residue away – you want to reclaim it. Making a tincture is the best way to use your reclaim, and in this article, we’re going to explain exactly how to do it.
First, though, why should you bother making a reclaim tincture in the first place?
Why Is a Tincture the Best Way to Use Your Reclaim?
Making a reclaim tincture requires a fair amount of work. Why is it worthwhile to go through all of that effort when you could just soak your dab pen’s dirty components in rubbing alcohol instead?
- If you use rubbing alcohol to clean your dab pen, you’re wasting material that’s still useful. Although fresh wax is always more potent and flavorful, reclaim still has active cannabinoids. It’s worthwhile to use your reclaim instead of throwing it away. Testing has suggested that reclaim could contain as much as 50 percent THC.
- Making a tincture is a great way to use your reclaim because putting reclaim on your dab pen’s coil and vaping it isn’t particularly tasty. If you make a tincture from your reclaim, you can use only fresh oil with your dab pen without worrying about wasting material that’s still usable.
- You don’t have to use your tincture right away. You can save it for a rainy day when you don’t have any fresh wax available.
How to Collect and Store Reclaim
The yellow, brown, and black residues that collect throughout the components of your dab pen consist of resinous compounds that still contain active cannabinoids. That’s reclaim – and once you’ve collected it, you’re going to need a place to store it. The best place to store your reclaim is in a small glass or silicone jar with a tight-fitting lid. Reclaim can be very fragrant, so you definitely want to use a smell-proof container.
Your strategy for collecting the reclaim will vary depending on where it’s located on your dab pen and the type of material from which you’re removing it – metal, glass, silicone or something else.
- To collect reclaim from metal or ceramic components such as your dab pen’s heating coil or chamber, try scraping the residue with a dab tool. You can also use a wooden toothpick if you’re worried about scratching your dab pen’s components.
- The easiest way to collect reclaim from silicone components is by putting those components in your freezer for a few hours until the reclaim hardens. After that happens, you can separate the reclaim from the silicone easily with a dab tool.
- For components that are too narrow or delicate to scrape with a dab tool, you can remove the reclaim by soaking the components in the liquid that you use to make your reclaim tincture. Keep in mind that it’s important to use as little alcohol as possible for soaking, though, because too much alcohol will weaken the tincture.
What You Need to Make a Reclaim Tincture
To make a reclaim tincture, you need the following:
- A small glass container. Shaking the container may help to dissolve the reclaim more quickly. If you’re going to shake it, the container should have a tight-fitting lid.
- At least one amber glass bottle with a dropper. Amber glass is important because it protects your tincture from degradation due to light exposure.
- A funnel for dispensing the tincture into the bottle.
- A coffee filter. You’ll use this to filter undissolved solids out of your tincture, which will make the final product tastier.
- High-proof drinking alcohol. Some of the highest-proof spirits include Bacardi 151, Devil’s Springs, and Everclear.
How to Make a Reclaim Tincture
To make your reclaim tincture, follow these steps.
- Put all of the reclaim in the glass container.
- Pour just enough of a high-proof spirit into the container to cover the reclaim.
- Stir the mixture with a dab tool for several minutes – or close the container tightly and shake it – to dissolve the reclaim into the alcohol. Continue until all of the solids appear dissolved.
- Place the funnel in the amber glass bottle and put a coffee filter inside the funnel. If the funnel is too small for the filter, tear off a piece of the filter and use the piece instead of the whole filter.
- Pour the mixture through the filter and into the bottle. Close the bottle tightly. Your reclaim tincture is now ready to use.
How to Use a Reclaim Tincture
Now that you’ve made your reclaim tincture, what exactly can you do with it? To use the tincture, place a dropper under your tongue, hold it there for several seconds and then swallow it. You can also simply swallow the tincture without holding it under your tongue – or even mix it with a beverage if you like – but it’s important to know that absorption will be a little slower if you don’t take the tincture sublingually.
When you use a reclaim tincture, it’ll take anywhere from about 15 minutes to an hour for the effects to kick in, and you’ll probably continue to feel it for several hours. Because of how long the effects last – and the fact that reclaim tinctures can vary significantly in strength from batch to batch – it’s a good idea to start with a small dose in order to gauge the potency of the tincture.
According to Leafly, an alcohol-based tincture can last almost indefinitely thanks to the alcohol’s antimicrobial properties. Store the tincture in a cool, dark place and keep it away from heat and sunlight.
