It’s time to tackle another common question – “After I infuse, how much THC is left in the bud? Should I throw it away, or can I reuse it to make other things?”

A great question, and we’re here with a real answer steeped in science. First, there are two terms that are relevant to this conversation, extract and raffinate. You probably know what extract is – a substance that contains cannabinoids like THC and CBD, retrieved from the cannabis plant material. Raffinate is the starting material. In the case of cannabis infusions, it is the leftover flower strained out after infusion. In order to see how much was left in this raffinate, we saved the strained plant material and had it tested. see the results below!

The RESULTS – While it’s nowhere near as strong as decarbed cannabis, the raffinate (strained flower after extract) does have some cannabinoids left and can be used to create different products.

There are two reasons the raffinate retains cannabinoids. First, the extraction process on average removes approx 95% of the cannabinoids like THC and CBD from the decarbed cannabis flower. That means the material left over after the straining can still retain a small percentage of the original amount of THC or CBD. Second, the raffinate can soak up a small amount of the oil or solvent used to extract. These two combined lead to a raffinate that is useful for low dose edibles or other applications.

We tested Strawberry Lemonade decarbed flower that was infused in oil. One gram of decarbed flower had 169 mg of THC per gram after decarb* and the infusion had 157 mg of THC. The raffinate had only 9.7 mg of THC remaining. Almost all of the THC is extracted during the process, but there is a small bit left in the strained raffinate. Keep this in mind and think of interesting ways to use yours! Leave a comment below if you already use your leftover raffinate from infusion in your cannabis routine. SPECIAL NOTICE – If you are a current owner and not yet part of our private owners only online group, you are MISSING OUT on some MAJOR announcements and owner’s-only info. Click here to join Ardent You Glad You Can Decarb (please be sure to answer all of the required questions – this group is restricted to owners only)



*If you want to know how many mg of a cannabinoid in a gram, just move the decimal point one to the right. For example, this decarbed flower testing shows it is 16.9% THC, which is 169 mg per gram. The raffinate shows 0.97% THC, which is 9.7mg of THC.