Repurpose Your Already Vaped Bud

The folks at thefreshtoast.com have done it again. This time they’ve come up with three great uses for already vaped bud. It’s both informative and cost-effective.

Vaping dry herb is more popular than ever. It’s more discreet and healthier than traditional methods of smoking. And it’s an easy way to conserve your cannabis.

Some call it ABV (“Already Been Vaped”), while others refer to AVB (“Already Vaped Bud”). While the color may have changed from green to brown, that doesn’t mean your AVB is useless. A common misconception is that the remnants left behind after vaping are the same as ash and should be disposed of. Sure, it has that brownish-green color and appears to have wholly served its purpose, but it still contains valuable cannabinoids which can be put to good use – there are multi-purpose secrets locked inside that AVB.

Three factors determine how much THC is still in your AVB: 

• Temperature: vaping at a lower temperature leaves more residual cannabinoids than higher temperatures.
• Duration: a shorter vape session will likely leave higher cannabinoids behind than longer vape sessions.
• Original Potency: if you’re vaping cannabis around 25% THC, you will have higher residual THC levels in your ABV.

Vaporized bud is perfect for making cannabutter. It is decarboxylated (that means it can be eaten without heating it). The THC is bio-available and psychoactive. You could conceivably sprinkle it on food (it won’t be very tasty). Instead, add already vaped flower into melted butter. Then, cook that mixture on low for 45 minutes, stirring regularly to prevent burning. After that, strain the butter into a glass container. When you want to whip up a batch of pot brownies, cookies, or other cannabis-infused goodies, your cannabutter is ready and waiting. The ABV is much less potent than fresh cannabis, so don’t be afraid to use plenty of it.

That vaped bud works great for infusing coffee or tea, too. Before brewing your coffee, add it to the ground beans. Then, prepare your coffee as you usually do. One caveat, the taste will likely be… let’s say, “lacking.” If so, add flavored creamer to mitigate the less-than-desirable taste (as a bonus, cannabinoids bind to the fat in milk and cream). If you want tea instead, wrap a spoonful of AVB into a cheesecloth and steep it in hot water. You can tone down any bitterness by steeping with fresh honey or a dash of sugar.

Water curing gets rid of the bitter taste from ABV weed. While THC is not soluble in water, the bitter taste is. To water cure your AVB weed, wrap it inside a cheesecloth ball and tie it closed. Then submerge that in a cup of water and leave it up for a week.

The brown colors will have leached from the AVB weed into the water. Next, remove the ball of AVB weed from the cheesecloth and squeeze it. Then, air-dry the water-cured ABV weed. Instead, you can put it on a baking tray in an oven set around 75-90ºC for a couple of hours. You can now use your water-cured ABV weed for smoking or cooking.

A slightly more radical option is to put your ABV into empty capsules and swallow with a drink. Empty capsules can be found online or from your local health food store. You can get either gelatin or vegan capsules.

Like so much of the packaging we use today, vaped bud can also be recycled. It won’t provide quite the same sensation as un-vaped – and it may taste worse than you’d like – but a mix of fresh and recycled can help make your stash last twice as long.

It’s nice to know that along with being healthier than traditional smoking, vaping dry herb opens up a world of repurposing options, too. Better still, saving money on cannabis leaves with more money to spend…on cannabis.