Twice a month, American comedian, musician, writer, actor, activist, juggler, and publisher Ngaio Bealum—host of the Netflix show Cooking on High and trivia app Daily Bonfire—answers Leafly reader questions on cannabis, regarding personal use, family, community, state, and country. This week, Ngaio helps the many folks new to edibles.
Dear, Ngaio,
I have two questions about edibles: What’s a good dose? Are there any strain-specific edibles? Thank you for your time.
Sal L’Vating
Hey Sal. The best advice for dialing in your preferred edible dosage is this: Start low and go slow.
There is no need to eat 100 milligrams of THC on your first day. Try 5 or 10 milligrams, wait an hour or so and see how you feel. You can always eat more.
For me, anything over 20 milligrams can cause problems, but I know some people that regularly ingest 200 or 300 milligrams a day. For most people, that much THC at one time (and remember, ingested cannabis is metabolized by the liver, making the effects stronger and longer-lasting) leads to anxiety and discomfort.
I know a guy who once ate a 1,000-milligram edible on a 10-hour flight….
Although, I know a guy who once ate a 1,000-milligram edible on a 10-hour flight. He said he knew he would start to feel hella weird, but he wanted to be high the whole time, so he just white-knuckled it through the anxious and paranoid phase. This guy is a heavy-duty weed-smoking cannabis OG, and even then he said he was on the verge of a full-blown panic attack a few times.
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I’m not sure why anyone would subject themselves to that on purpose, but if you accidentally get too high and find yourself starting to feel weird or uncomfortable because you had too much, remember that CBD blocks the THC receptors in your brain, so smoke a CBD rich doobie or ingest a high CBD tincture and you should smooth out after a while.
Oh and don’t forget to stay hydrated.
As to the strain question, you can definitely use specific strains to make your infused butter and oils, but you won’t really taste the flavor of the cannabis in the butter. Terpenes (the chemicals that give cannabis its unique aromas and effects) are extremely delicate and evaporate at high temperatures.
So if you are roasting a chicken, and you want it to have a hint of Trainwreck (mmm, pinene and rosemary are a great team), your best bet is to grind up a little herb and sprinkle it on the chicken just before you serve it. Experiment with different strains and see how it goes. I bet that Birthday Cake infused ice cream would really hit the spot on a summer day.
Next month—Ngaio answers your burning questions about what to do if your tolerance to THC is too damn high.Ask him questions in the comments below, or by emailing askngaio@leafly.com.
From the askngaio@leafly.com inbox
Incoming questions:
- Can I get COVID from secondhand marijuana smoke?
- What’s the etiquette on problematic pot odor from a neighbor?
- What’s the proper way for a new tenant to make friends with their connoisseur stoner neighbor ‘without coming off like a total sponger’?
And a selected response to our first advice column, on maybe avoiding smoking amid COVID in 2020:
“I guess he really IS a comedian because anyone telling me to cut back or quit smoking weed after a HALF CENTURY of rolling joints has me chuckling. What’s so hard about sipping ice-cold water after each toke in order to negate some of the effects of inhaling something hot and combustible? BTW, I’m 70 and plan to get baked for at least the next 30 years.”
—360dunk
