A whole 12 percent of Americans say that they smoke marijuana, but what if you want to consume weed without smoking it? Then you should turn to one of the other most popular ways to take it: cooking with cannabis.
Edibles have a feel all of their own and also let you flex your culinary muscles while you get high. You can cook with cannabis in other ways too: there's a process called decarboxylation, where you use heat to break the weed down and make cannabinoids available for use in other substances like lip balms and coconut oils.
Yet if you want to decarboxylate your weed or make some tasty and potent edibles, you've got another problem: the smell. If you don't want to make your whole home smell like bud, how does cooking with cannabis work?
In this guide, we're going to take a look at a few different methods of cannabis cooking that can dramatically reduce the smell of cannabis. Ready to learn how to make edibles without spreading the smell around? Then read on and get ready to grab your chef's hat!
Use Less Weed At a Time
The first way to reduce the smell of cannabis in your kitchen is easy: use less weed while you're cooking. The more weed you cook at a time, the more it will smell. While some strains are stinkier than others, there is no weed that will smell more if you use less of it.
If you want to make loads of cookies, brownies, or other edibles, this news might be a bit of a bummer. Don't worry, there are other solutions, but it's worth remembering this simple rule when it comes to cooking with cannabis.
If you want your home to smell less like a dispensary, consider using less weed at a time and making small batches of your fave sweet treats.
Cook Something Else At the Same Time or Use Other Scents
If you really love cooking and being in the kitchen, then you could consider learning another recipe while you're pondering how to make pot brownies. While weed has a strong and distinctive smell, it's far from the only ingredient that does.
You could consider cooking something that goes heavy on onions, garlic, fish, tofu, or strong cheeses. These smells might not cover up the smell of weed completely, but they'll probably alter the smell-scape enough that others won't be able to pick up the underlying smell of bud.
If you've got all your food sorted and you don't want to make anything else, then you could consider using other scents to cover up the smell of weed. For instance, you could burn some incense sticks, spray air fresheners, or light up a scented candle.
As with the food, the weed will probably still cut through the other smells, but it's going to be better disguised, which means that other people probably won't instantly figure out what you're up to.
Use Concentrates Instead of Bud
Concentrates are an interesting way to go about making edibles. Instead of having to decarb the weed yourself and stink out your kitchen, ready-made concentrates come ready to use, and don't smell much at all when compared to bud.
If you want to make brownies, you can use cannabis oil, which is super easy to dose with, too. One problem that some people have with edibles is inconsistency or difficulty of dosing. When you use cannabis oil, the strength should be uniform, which means that you can make them as strong or as mild as you like.
There is a range of different concentrates available and you can use whichever ones you like when you cook. You can even decarb shatter and infuse butter to make cannabutter, which will be a lot less smelly than the traditional stuff.
Take a look at the wide range of options that you have available to you before you start cooking with cannabis. There could well be a more stealthy and easier option available that you could take advantage of instead of bud.
Use a DecarBox
If you want to decarb your weed at home and make your own cannabutter but without the smell, then there's a fantastic gadget that you should know about. The DecarBox is a box made of food-grade silicone that traps the smell of the cooking cannabis so that you can cook in the comfort of your own home without disturbing anyone else or spreading the smell beyond your kitchen.
The box holds up to two ounces of weed, so you can decarboxylate a lot of weed at once too, so you won't have to make multiple batches of butter from one load of pot. The box has got an integrated thermometer too, which means that you can get perfect results every time: you won't overcook your weed and you also won't fail to reach the right temperature.
It's made from quality material and lets you get the most out of your weed for very little effort. Take a look at these today and see how they could help make you a lean, mean edible making machine!
If you're interested in ways to cut down on your time in the kitchen, you should also take a look at our cannabis butter maker, the MB2e, which makes cooking with cannabis a breeze.
Keep Your Kitchen Ventilated
You might have hotboxed a car or a room before. If so, you know how much the smell lingers without proper ventilation. Well, if you're cooking cannabis flower, you should make sure that your kitchen is well-ventilated and that you've got plenty of fresh air coming in.
While this does spread the smell outside somewhat, it also means that your home is less likely to smell like weed for ages afterward.
You should flip the extractor fan in your kitchen on too, as these will draw the smells out of your home. Good air circulation is key when it comes to getting rid of potent smells.
Cook When You're Alone In the House
If you live at home with your parents who don't approve of weed, or have roommates who don't partake, you could wait to cook until you're alone at home. If you wait until everyone else is gone, you can cook the smelliest bud that you like without worrying about bothering anyone.
This is also perfect for parents who don't want to cook with cannabis while their kids are at home. Depending on the time you have, your home could be completely free of the smell of cannabis by the time they get home.
You could also use air fresheners to cover the smell as it starts to fade, which could help you a lot.
Use a Sous-Vide or Mason Jar
You can use a sous-vide technique to make cannabis-infused oil. This is a technique that requires you to boil the weed in a vacuum-sealed bag, which means that you'll keep smells to an absolute minimum. If you already have a sous-vide device, then this method is a fantastic option for smell-free cooking.
You can also seal the weed in a mason jar before you make cannabutter, which is another very low-smell option. These are particularly solid options for people who want to make edibles in their apartment.
With both options, there will still be some smell but it shouldn't permeate your home and should be easy to get rid of after you've finished cooking.
Put a Damp Towel Under the Kitchen Door
If you want to limit the chances of the smell spreading, you can use a very old-school stoner trick: putting a damp towel underneath your kitchen door.
This works as a rudimentary draught excluder and also stops smells from leaving your kitchen, which means that your home won't smell as strongly. As you may already know, this isn't a completely fool-proof option and is unlikely to get rid of the smell completely, but it's a cost-effective, fast, and easy option if you don't have anything else to hand.
Cooking With Cannabis With Less Smell
While any cooking with cannabis is likely to smell a little, some methods are a lot better than others. We'd recommend taking a look around our site for more information on our products and how they can help you when it comes to making edibles.
If you're in the creative mood right now, why not take a look at our recipes section and see what you could make?
