As the world’s many cannabis fans already know, decarboxylation is a vital step in ensuring the potency of cannabis edibles. THC — the famous psychoactive compound in cannabis — isn’t actually present in great amounts in the cannabis bud. What’s actually there is a precursor called THCA. Smoking cannabis — or vaping it in a device such as the V2 Pro Series 3 vaporizer — instantly removes the carboxyl group from the THCA and converts it to THC. You inhale it, and good times ensue.
2020 Update: The Magical Butter DecarBox isn’t up to snuff, but we’ve found something that is. Read our Ardent Nova Decarboxylator review.
Vaping or smoking doesn’t work for everyone, though. Some people prefer to take their cannabis orally, and decarboxylation is an essential step in ensuring consistent potency of oral cannabis products. The Magical Butter DecarBox is a product that’s supposed to make decarboxylation easy, consistent and smell free — but it misses the mark. We’ll explain why.
Why Is Decarboxylation Important?
The problem is that not everyone prefers to smoke or vape cannabis. Consuming cannabis as a tincture or food produces effects that come on more slowly and last longer. Taking cannabis orally is also more discreet and less smelly than smoking or vaping it. Many medical patients prefer oral cannabis use because it makes consistent dosing easy and allows them to achieve the desired level of relief without feeling overly medicated. You can’t just eat the raw bud, though, because the bud contains almost no THC before decarboxylation. You also can’t just cook with the raw bud if you want a consistent result. The heat from your oven will only partially decarboxylate the herbs. The rest will be wasted.
Home cannabis decarboxylation is the process of cooking the herb in the oven at a low heat setting to convert the THCA to THC and prepare the herb for use in a tincture, butter or other edible product. The standard method involves cooking the herb at about 240° Fahrenheit for around 40-50 minutes. Done properly, decarboxylation should result in near-complete THC conversion with little loss because the oven temperature isn’t high enough for the THC to vaporize.
Why Do I Need the Magical Butter DecarBox?
The first time you try decarboxylating cannabis at home, you’ll know why a product like the DecarBox would appeal to many people. Oven temperatures are inconsistent, so it’s hard to tell whether you’re getting a complete conversion or wasting some of your material. If you’re using the whole flower, you may experience some loss if you’re not careful because the tiny trichomes — the most potent parts of the bud — are small and tend to fly everywhere. If you’re trying to use cannabis discreetly, though, the worst part about decarboxylation is the smell. If you bake your cannabis in an open tray, the smell will fill your house for hours.
The Magical Butter DecarBox is a silicone box that’s supposed to resolve the issues that make decarboxylation difficult. It has a thermometer port that allows you to monitor the temperature of your herbs during decarboxylation. Since it’s a silicone box, it should ostensibly preserve the beneficial compounds in your herbs — and contain the smell — during the decarb process.
Magical Butter DecarBox Review
On the surface, you’d think that a sturdy silicone box would make the decarb process easy and fun. Our experience with the DecarBox, however, was sorely lacking. The first issue we noticed was that the thermometer doesn’t include the required batteries — so the DecarBox isn’t actually ready to use out of the box. Things only got worse from there.
The DecarBox simply isn’t well made enough to contain the potent small during decarboxylation. The box doesn’t seal well enough because the fit of the lid is imperfect. Although using the DecarBox wasn’t quite as smelly as using an open tray, the box didn’t contain the smell nearly as well as an oven bag.
An additional problem with using silicone for decarboxylation is that its surface is tacky. We found getting the herb out of the box difficult because the herb stuck to the box’s tacky surface.
The sticky surface of the DecarBox caused an additional problem after getting the herb out — even after a trip through the dishwasher, the DecarBox reeked of cannabis after a single decarb session. Do you dislike the smell of cannabis filling your house for an hour or two during and after decarboxylation? Try dealing with the smell permanently because once that smell sticks to the DecarBox, it’s never going away.
The Better Way to Decarb
Although the thermometer is useless out of the box, it was wise for Magical Butter to include one with the DecarBox because oven calibration can greatly help to ensure that you get the same results from the decarb process every time. Nothing else about the DecarBox, however, is better than decarboxylating the traditional way.
We place the herb in one of the rectangular containers from the Pyrex Ultimate Food Storage Set for decarboxylation. The surface of the borosilicate glass is extremely smooth, so cannabis doesn’t stick to it. There’s also no lingering smell; the Pyrex comes completely clean in the dishwasher.
The Ultimate Food Storage Set includes silicone lids that seal much better than the lid of the DecarBox. Being silicone, though, the lid may absorb the smell from the cannabis. Instead, we use oven bags. They’re cheap, and they’re extremely effective at containing the smell of decarboxylation. While the smell does stick to the oven bag, that doesn’t matter because you throw the bag away when you’re done.
Magical Butter DecarBox Review: Conclusion
If you’re serious about decarboxylation, you probably noticed when Magical Butter announced the DecarBox and wondered whether it would be better than your current decarb method. We’re sad to say that it probably isn’t. The DecarBox is a product that’s simply not ready for prime time. It doesn’t contain the smell of decarboxylation, but the box itself will smell forever after you use it once. Since cannabis sticks to the box, it’s also too easy to waste material when transferring it to another container. Pyrex is a better decarb solution in every way. The smell doesn’t get through it, nothing sticks to it and it cleans fully when you’re done. If you’re already using a Pyrex bowl and an oven bag for decarboxylation, there’s no need to purchase the Magical Butter DecarBox. It’s not better than what you’re already using.
Jason Artman founded eCig One after switching from smoking to vaping in 2010 and has been a professional writer and SEO consultant since 2007. His work has been featured on television and in leading publications, and it has been referenced in numerous peer-reviewed journals. Jason works with leading vape brands around the world to generate targeted web traffic and increase their revenue.
I’m personally thinking of trying parchment paper today with my decarbox to see if that keeps the stickiness down and the permanent smell. Fingers crossed ??
Tell us how it goes, Maynard! We had to throw ours away because it was just too stinky — but your experiments might help other readers!
I just put my cleaned, dry box in a 2.5 ziplock bag. It keeps the smell contained until I’m ready to use it again
Sorry I bought this thing. Whole house stunk for hours. Don’t trust the box calibration either.
I’d love to know how it goes! I’ just received my kit and have yet to use it.
Please stop by and tell us what you think, Cynthia.
Are you memelonglashes? You look like her!
Can’t wait to get my decarbox, I’ll review after using!
We’d love to hear your thoughts, Shirley.
I just tried to calibrate this with my oven and the thermometer has melted. Oven set on 110 degrees celsius and the alarm sounded just when the oven got to correct temp but can no longer read display on thermometer. Does not seem like it can survive inside the oven. Complete waste of money especially if the smell is not contained.
I use regular oven thermometers. Sometimes 2, cuz cheaper ones can be sketchy too.
The instruction booklet clearly states, multiple times and in several areas, that the thermometer is never to be placed anywhere inside the oven. Putting it in the oven will destroy it.
U dont put the unit inside oven. It says just the probe in box and unit outside oven, hence the long wire.
Omg did you really put the actual thermometer in the oven ?
Steve, the thermometer part does NOT.GO IN THE OVEN, IT’S MAGNETIZED STAYS OUT SIDE, ONLY WIRE PROBE GOES IN
That should be 110F. No wonder it melted.
Don’t think thermostat goes in oven
It seems I am the dummy here. Do not put the thermometer in the oven. It is not oven safe. The instructions could be a little better to clarify this. Anyway my melted thermometer seems to be working now.
Just got my Decarbox today and was so excited. I put a little over 4oz in it and there was still room. I am still learning so much about everything, but I decided to cook it at the suggested 320 for 120min because of the desire for the bud to release. These are the darkest buds I’ve every decarbed and I am praying that I have not lost potency. Yikes! I did ask about a refund policy and was told 30 days. My house wreaked so very badly! I was hoping to not purchase the Nova by Ardent as it only has a 7 day warranty. Anyone know about it?
Thanks!
Mary
I have used a Nova for decarbing about 12 oz of flowers. I usually stay between .25 and .5 oz. I find the process to be easy. The results are superior. The smell is minimal, more like leaving your flowers out than the anything else. I’m very pleased with the results. Others marvel at the consistency of my infused MCT oil.
The Nova looks like it might be an excellent device. We’d love to review it on eCig One, but Ardent unfortunately declined to send a review sample.
i have been very happy with the Nova….
I just got mine and read the reviews here. Oh my 🙁 I think Im starting to regret this purchase. I guess I’lll try to put aluminium foil inside so it wont stick. Is that okay? or should I really use parchment/wax paper?
Any of those will probably help with the stickage, Skye. Unfortunately, they won’t do anything about the smell!
You mean they would still smell even though they’re already sealed inside the Decarbox?
In our experience, Skye, the lid of the DecarBox doesn’t actually create a seal and therefore does little to contain the smell of the herb during decarboxylation. It’s better than decarbing the herb on an open baking sheet, but it doesn’t work as well as an oven bag.
I have a glass bowl that the lid sits on without attachment. Would this be good to decarb in?
I have had good luck getting smells out of plastic bottles and refrigerators, ice chest with newspapers wadded up loosely and left inside the container for a while. I have used this for a pill bottle for years now and it doesn’t reek of used pipe.
sorry.. might sound a bit silly. But you put the herb in the oven bag? and then seal the glass container with the silicone lid. Will a glass lid provide the same sort of seal?
Not purchasing a box now I don’t think.
thanks.
You are only supposed to put probe in oven!