What Is Infused Weed?

Many cannabis production businesses are starting to infuse their pre-rolls and produce infused cannabis products because of their popularity and excellent return on investment. If your business is interested in enjoying the benefits, you must understand what infused weed is.

If you decide to implement this innovative way in your cannabis production, you must find a way to make the process easier. That’s when our Jiko and Jiko+ automated pre-roll infusion robots come to save you time and money.

Let us, Sorting Robotics explain what infused weed means and whether it is a good idea to invest in it.

What Is Infused Weed?

Infused weed, or edibles, in short, are drinks or food items infused with cannabinoids. Before the cannabinoid is induced, it goes under the process of decarboxylation. In simple terms, the substance is heated to a specific temperature to activate the compounds in the buds, leaves, trim, and kief of the plant.

Aside from infused cannabis products, the joints you produce can be infused. Infused joints are pre-rolls filled with cannabis which are infused with a concentrate of choice. The most used concentrates are live rosin, live resin, distillate, badder, CBD, D8, HHC, and Shatter.

Infused pre-rolls are gaining a lot of popularity among the smoking community. To meet customers' demands, cannabis businesses are increasing their infused pre-roll productions.

The infused pre-roll sales are starting to take a larger share of the market. In fact, the infused segment of the US pre-roll market consists of 32.4% of the total sales. It is estimated that pre-roll sales in the United States generated $2.8 billion, making them a popular product for infusing.

Methods of Infusion

Now that you know what infused weed is, we can move on to the infusion methods. There are many different methods of cannabis infusion, and they can vary according to the specific type of product you want to produce.

Some of the most popular infusion methods businesses use are:

Pre-roll infusion
Oil infusion
Butter infusion
Alcohol tinctures
Glycerin tinctures
Water-based infusions

As a rule of thumb, the cannabis must be decarboxylated before beginning any infusion method. That way, your product will be high-quality and use all of the benefits of cannabinoids.

Important note: As a business, you are generally not allowed to produce and sell any type of food containing THC or CBD on a federal level. Regarding the other cannabis-infused products, they need to have less than 0.3% THC to be legal.

However, state laws can vary greatly. There are exceptions, so it is good to check the laws in the state in which your business operates. For instance, medical cannabis-infused teas, sodas, tinctures, and edibles are legal in Illinois.

Joint infusion

A joint can be infused in two ways – externally and internally. Externally, the joints are typically kief coated, while the internal joint infusion can be done by adding different concentrates.

For internal infusion, you can use two methods. One is by mixing the concentrate with cannabis before it is rolled. The other is injecting the concentrate into a pre-roll.

We at Sorting Robotics have automated the pre-roll infusion process. Your company can pick between our two automation solutions – Jiko and Jiko+.

Jiko is suitable for infusing any type of meltable concentrate into various-sized pre-rolls. By automating your pre-roll infusion, your business will save time and money and get high-quality products. The robot can infuse around 800 joints in one hour.

The Jiko+, on the other hand, is designed for melding concentrates into donut-style pre-rolls. Our state-of-the-art technology has a spillage rate of nearly 2% and evenly distributes the meltable concentrate through the flower's center.

Many clients may ask if infused joints get you higher. It depends on the infused joint you produce, but most of them have a higher potency than joints only with cannabis. Additionally, depending on the concentrate you choose to infuse, it might boost the flavor and balance the smoke.

Source: shutterstock.com/ Photo Contributor: Olga Alper

Oil infusion

The decarb marijuana can be infused into different types of cooking oil. If you want to follow in the footsteps of the competition, you can pick between olive, coconut, and grapeseed oil.

To incorporate cannabis-infused oil into your business product page doesn’t require a lot of changes. The process of infusing cannabis into any type of oil is easy. Both the oil and the cannabis need to be combined, heated, and strained.

The advantage of producing cannabis cooking oil is that it has versatile use. Potential customers can use it for making different kinds of foods. It can be used for everything from cooking and baking to making topicals and tinctures.

Because of the wide use, chances are your business will have high demand for the product.

Butter infusion

Another popular cannabis-infused product you might want to consider producing is the cannabutter. The decarbed cannabis is infused into butter or ghee. The product might have a solid return on investment because it can be used for making various sweet and savory recipes.

Alcohol tinctures

Making alcohol tinctures is another product your business might want to consider making. The process is straightforward and includes a neutral and strong alcohol and cannabis flower.

By leaving the flower in alcohol, you can extract the terpenes and cannabinoids. Some of the reasons to consider producing cannabis tinctures are their long shelf-life and the discreet sublingual method of consumption.

Glycerin tinctures

If your business is considering enlarging your customer target group, having alcohol-free options might be a good idea. Just like the alcohol tinctures, you may want to produce glycerin tinctures. They are made by infusing cannabis into glycerin.

The final product is a cannabis-infused sweetener with multiple discreet and versatile uses. Customers can consume them by putting the products under their tongue or mixing them with food or beverages.

Water-based infusion

This is, without a doubt, the hardest cannabis infusion method. The cannabinoids are hydrophobic by nature. Thus, specially formulated water-soluble, micro- or nanoemulsions cannabinoids are needed to make water-based cannabis-infused products like teas and beverages.

Common Cannabis-Infused Products

Edibles

Edible cannabis products or edibles are cannabis-infused food or beverages. To turn food into an edible, it must contain milk, oil, butter, or any other kind of food with fatty substance.

Some examples of edibles are:

Cookies
Chocolates
Gummies
Baked goods
Potato chips
Soda
Tea
Coffee
Alcohol

Tinctures

As we previously mentioned, tinctures are a type of liquid cannabis extract that is made by infusing decarb marijuana into glycerol, ethanol, fatty oils, propylene glycol, and water.

Tinctures are often stored in dropper bottles for easy and controlled use. The packaging makes them discrete and easily accessible for oral use.

Topicals

There are multiple cannabis topicals that your business might consider producing. They come in different forms, such as:

Creams
Lotions
Oil
Salves and balms
Gels
Transdermal patches
Other beauty products

Source: shutterstock.com/ Photo Contributor: PRO Stock Professional

Pre-rolled joints and cones

Ready-to-smoke joints and cones can be produced in different potencies, sizes, and strains. When it comes to infusing the pre-rolled joints and cones, our Sorting Robotics team has developed two automated solutions to speed up the process. On top of that, the clogging issue from resin buildup is solved thanks to our innovative approach.

Benefits of Infused Cannabis

There is a wide range of benefits of infused cannabis for both businesses and consumers.

Longer-lasting effects

Typically, medical cannabis-infused products might have longer-lasting effects than smoking or vaporizing. Sometimes the effects of infused cannabis might last up to 12 hours, which is several hours longer than flower smoking and vaping.

Discreet consumption

By figuring out what infused weed is, you must have understood that one of the biggest benefits is that it is discreet to consume.

For some clients, being able to take cannabis discreetly is a game changer. Thus, your business can take advantage of this benefit and start producing some kind of infused cannabis products.

Variety of consumption methods

As cannabis can be infused in a variety of products, it will offer your consumers a wide range of consumption methods. Infused cannabis can be consumed by drinking, eating, placing it under the tongue, and even topical consumption.

Non-smoker-friendly

Every infused cannabis product except the pre-rolls is non-smoker-friendly. Many cannabis consumers prefer other products over smoking flowers. If you want to increase your sales, you should enrich your production and offer non-smoking cannabis products.

Cannabis flavor and strain variety

Another advantage of infused cannabis is that your business can offer different flavors. Some of the most common are:

Earthy and herbaceous
Fruity and floral
Woody and nutty

Cannabis strains also come in different varieties. Generally, there are two categories – pure and hybrid. The widely used cannabis strain varieties are cannabis indica, cannabis sativa, and cannabis ruderalis.

Considerations Before Trying Infused Cannabis

Caring about your customers is what will make you stand out from the competition. That’s why you must promote responsible usage of infused cannabis and pre-rolls.

Your customers can have the ultimate experience from taking infused cannabis only if they are well educated. Hence, every cannabis processing company is responsible for educating its customers.

Dosage control

Typically, infused cannabis products need to be labeled correctly and contain the precise THC and CBD concentrations. This way, your product users will have better control over the amount of cannabis they consume.

Here is one example of how should a label for cannabis tincture look like in Washington State.

Onset time

The onset time of infused cannabis is generally longer compared to vaporizing or smoking. As a rule of thumb, it might take from 30 minutes to two hours for the customer to start feeling high.

Avoid mixing with alcohol

Mixing cannabis and cannabis-infused products and alcohol might have side effects. Some of the potential risks and side effects of mixing alcohol and marijuana are:

Enhanced effects of THC
Possible overdose
Dehydration
Decreased judgment and rational thinking
Possible struggle with elimination
Psychological consequences

It is recommended for businesses to include a sign on their cannabis-infused products that the customers shouldn’t mix them with alcohol.

Practicing Mindfulness and Tolerance to Ensure Safety

Infused cannabis should be allowed enough time to take effect. Customers should be aware of the delayed onset time of your products. Promoting responsible usage might lower the risks of overconsumption.

Additionally, everyone should plan their consumption of infused cannabis products. For instance, inform your customers that it is not recommended to drink or drive after consuming cannabis-infused products.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I make infused weed products at home?

Yes, some of the infused weed products are easy to make if you have the right ingredients. However, before you start, check whether making and using infused cannabis products is legal in your state.

What's the difference between THC and CBD-infused products?

The main difference between THC and CBD-infused products is their psychoactivity. CBD products are often sold in the form of oil, and they do not have psychoactive components. On the other hand, THC is the chemical that is found in marijuana that might trigger psychoactive behavior.

How long does it take for the effects of infused weed edibles to kick in?

There is no straightforward answer because it depends on the person. Generally, it may take anywhere between 30 minutes and two hours for the consumer to start feeling the intoxicating effects of the edibles.

Conclusion

Now you don’t have to wonder what is infused weed. You can assess and determine whether it is worth producing some of the popular products in the community.

If you want to produce infused pre-roll, let us automate the process for you. Your work will be more efficient and bring better results.

Contact us today and see why the best are already working with us.