AN INTRODUCTION TO KRATOM TINCTURE
Consistently rated as one of the easiest and most convenient ways to take advantage of kratom, kratom tincture products give individuals a chance to sort of self modulate individual dosages of kratom in a way that other delivery systems make pretty difficult.
At the same time, a number of FDA regulations in the United States have made it a little more challenging to get your hands on commercially available kratom tinctures. It’s not impossible, but it’s definitely more difficult now than it ever used to be in the past – and the odds are pretty good that isn’t going to get any easier anytime soon.
For this reason (and a bunch of others we dive a little deeper into in just a moment) you’ll want to decide whether or not a DIY kratom tincture approach makes more sense for you than buying these tinctures commercially.
As we highlight below the process of making DIY kratom tinctures isn’t all that challenging, isn’t all that time-consuming, and doesn’t require you to spend a mountain of money on new equipment or fancy ingredients – and all the while you’ll be in a lot more control over the kratom substances you are putting into your body.
Let’s get right into it!
What Are Kratom Tinctures?
Kratom tinctures aren’t any different than any other tincture on the market today, with tinctures being an all-natural remedy made when organic compounds (this case plant material from kratom) are dissolved in some sort of alcohol or acid.
Kratom tinctures almost exclusively use high-quality alcohol as the solvent to dissolve the kratom compounds themselves, if only because ethanol (the most popular alcohol for tincture creation) helps to maintain a lot of the alkaloids and biochemicals found in kratom that would have otherwise been destroyed by more severe or damaging acids and alcohols.
We’ll dive a little deeper into making your own kratom tinctures in just a second but at the end of the day, DIY and commercial options almost exclusively use ethanol to get the job done.
DIY or Ready Made?
There’s a lot to be said about the convenience and accessibility that ready-made kratom tinctures provide, something that you aren’t going to get with DIY options.
Not everyone has the time on hand to make their own kratom tinctures, and even those that have a bit of free time to do so may not be inclined to go through the process of getting this kind of solution ready to go.
At the same time, DIY options definitely give you some big benefits that you won’t enjoy with commercially available kratom tinctures – and you won’t have to worry about the FDA rulings that are making it hard to get your hands on commercial kratom tinctures with a DIY approach, either.
DIY
Right out of the gate, DIY kratom tincture approaches give you far more control over the finished product than you would ever have with a commercially available option.
Not only are you going to be able to pick the individual kratom powder and strain that you make your tincture from (a game-changer in and of itself), but you’re also going to be able to control the potency, the other ingredients you add or remove from your tincture recipe, and a whole host of other details that let you customize this solution to your specific needs and interests.
Having an opportunity to really dial in the potency of your tincture all on your own is one of the biggest benefits of the DIY approach. You can create super-powered tinctures, more mild tinctures, and “everyday” kinds of tinctures from the same kratom powder and kratom extract – depending on how much you dissolve in your alcohol – and can toy with different potency levels until you find something that really suits your needs perfectly.
The last big benefit we want to highlight is the extra safety and security you’ll have creating your own DIY tinctures going forward. You’ll always know EXACTLY what makes it into your tincture without exception as you will be in control of the organic compounds you choose to dissolve in the ethanol before you make a new batch.
Ready-Made
On the flip side of things, it’s hard to argue with the ready-made benefits that over-the-counter tincture options have to offer.
For starters, it’s definitely a lot easier (and sometimes a lot less expensive) to simply pick a tincture from a kratom vendor and then have it delivered to your doorstep in just a couple of days. You don’t have to go through the DIY process, you don’t have to worry about following any steps or sourcing any other ingredients, and you don’t have to worry about sitting around and waiting for your tincture to be ready.
When you order kratom tinctures from reputable vendors you’re also going to enjoy a lot of consistency that might be difficult to come by when you are just getting started making tinctures on your own. These major commercial operations have ways to streamline and systemize the tincture creation process that a DIY approach (especially undertaken by a newbie to the process) just won’t have in place.
How to Make Your Own Kratom Tinctures
If you are going to go down the DIY route you’ll want to make sure that you zero in on the details we highlight below.
Ingredients
- Powdered Kratom
- Citric Acid
- 80-100 Proof Ethanol
- pH Strips
- Mason Jar
- Tincture Container
- Cheesecloth
Choose a Strain
The first step in creating a new tincture from kratom is sourcing the right kratom extract, to begin with.
You’ll need to find a strain that offers the kind of potency and health-boosting benefits you are after, and this can take a little bit of time. You’ll have to first pick whether or not you want a red, green, or white vein kratom strain, will then have to select the individual type from that subcategory, and will need to make sure that your purchasing high-quality kratom to build your tincture from, too.
You’ll need at least 5 ounces of kratom extract or kratom powder to work with if you’re going to create enough tincture to make this process worthwhile. It might not even be a bad idea to get your hands on even more kratom than that so that you can with up big batches of a tincture, especially since these kinds of tinctures can remain shelf-stable for a long time.
Blend Ingredients
The next step in the process is to blend the ingredients you are going to be working within your tincture recipe, which is really only necessary if you’re going to be adding other organic compounds into your kratom tincture.
Some folks are going to be happy with a kratom only tincture recipe, but others look for ways to add different organic materials to improve the overall health-boosting benefits their tincture makes possible.
Add Alcohol
The next piece of the puzzle you’ll want to get right is to add your kratom directly to the ethanol that you are making your tincture from. 1 L of ethanol per 5 ounces of powdered kratom is recommended, though you can certainly add even more kratom if you’re looking to make a tincture that has a little more juice behind it.
After you’ve settled on the amount of kratom powder to use, and have mixed up the alcohol and kratom together, you’ll want to add your citric acid. This is a necessary ingredient to convert the alkaloids in kratom over to salts, making them a lot easier to extract and a lot easier to use later down the line.
Age the Tincture
Aging your kratom tincture is super straightforward, you simply let the entire mixture sit around for a week or two – shaking it up every couple of days so that the mixture continues to be evenly distributed throughout.
After a week or so in cool temperatures, the mixture will be sufficiently aged and ready for the next step in the process. Just make sure that you do your level best to keep it out of direct sunlight as the UV rays can do a number on the kratom compounds.
Allow for Evaporation
You’ll need to pop open the lid and strain the tincture through cheesecloth, returning the liquid back to the original jar and then leaving it uncovered so that evaporation can take place. You want to reduce things down to the original amount of kratom that you added – so if you started with 5 ounces of kratom you’ll want to be left with 5 ounces of kratom tincture when all is said and done.
Kratom Dosage Details
As far as individual dosing is concerned, it’s a good idea, to begin with, half a dropper to a full dropper of kratom tincture as an individual dose to get things started.
You want to begin with smaller dosages to get a feel for how your body responds to the power and potency of the tincture that you have created, ramping things up (or scaling back) as necessary from here on out.
At the end of the day, as long as you have followed the details we included above, you’ll be ready to rock and roll with a high-quality kratom tincture that is at least as good as any commercially available options on the market today (and likely much, much better).