Making CBD Medicated Salve

[No3odiesShad0w]

I need some advice with making some CBD salves. I recently got 5oz of White Widow CBD 1:1 ratio flower. I'm going to make some edibles with it but I also wanted to make some medicated salve. My mother has arthritis, my friend has a bad back, my knee acts up sometimes, so I thought it would be great to make a medicated salve that's also good for the skin. The beeswax is going to be the solidifying agent, as well as the cocoa and Shea butters. Vitamin E as preservative. Arnica and Wintergreen oils for pain. Some essential oils for a nice scent. Msm for absorption

Extraction.
I think for the extraction I'm either going to make RSO(Rick Simpson Oil) or I might use MCT oil as the carrier oil. (Or maybe Olive, almond or coconut oil is better?) I'm thinking the RSO might give me the best results but I might try both methods and see what I like better or what's more effective. I have 5oz to play with. Next time I'm going to grow something that's higher in CBD like 30:1 ratio. I regret not doing that this time around.
I know not all oils make good carriers that's why I'm debating between the oil or the RSO. Which would give me the FULL spectrum extraction that I want? If anyone has any experience with extractions, please let me know. (I also have frozen trim I would like to extract and make some vape liquid THC carts)

Composition.
I think a 4:1 ratio of beeswax/butter to oil is needed for a solid but malleable salve.
Shea butter and cocoa butter are great for the skin. They're inexpensive. While the Shea doesn't have much of a scent, the cocoa butter smells AMAZING!!! Like chocolate! The dance is going to smell like minty chocolate 🤤

Carrier- oil or RSO
The RSO is basically a cold ethanol quick extraction and then vaporizing off the alcohol leaving you with a thick green/golden gunk. I just need a bottle of Everclear to make this. Also I think you can make smaller batches with this method. You can use an 8th or an ounce and use the same amount of alcohol because in the end, you're going to evaporate off the alcohol, leaving with a consolidated cannabis oil.
Oil option consists of picking an oil like olive, almond, coconut, MCT or other plant oils. Decarb first then You use a double boiler to infuse your oil off choice with your herb then you use the oil for your salve. I think this option is better for making larger batches. For an ounce of flower, you need a few ounces of oil to soak all the flower.

Medicated.
Along with the CBD/THC and other cannabinoids from the extraction, I wanted to add Wintergreen oil. This is the oil that's in Bengay or winterfresh gum. It has that cooling and warming effect to soothe muscles and pains.
To aid the wintergreen, I also wanted to add arnica oil. It is great for inflammation and sore muscles. Since I didn't grow a high CBD variety, I figured get some other herbs and oils in here that are known for pain relief.

Scent- Aromatherapy
I don't want the scents to clash to much because it will smell funky. I want to have an earthy minty chocolate smell too this salve. The cocoa butter will give me chocolate while the wintergreen will give me the mint. I'll also add some peppermint oil and a drop of turmeric oil to help bring out the chocolate smell.
If I don't add the wintergreen and use menthol instead or forgo the mint to make a wider range of scents. I can do lemon basil or olive rosemary or orange tea.... That box of 16 essential oils is amazing. So many scent combos are possible.

Absorption - MSM
This oil was a last minute add on. Apparently it can be taken orally or topically and it's supposed to aid in the absorption of medicines and other oil compounds. It got me thinking of nutrient chelation and fulvic acid. It helps take that CBD, arnica or wintergreen oils and absorb them more readily into the skin. There's disputes about how effective it actually is but with little to no side effects, I figured it wouldn't hurt to try.

Preservation - Vitamin E
This is a nice 1 for 2 addition. Not only is the vitamin E good for your skin but it acts as a natural preservative. It helps extend the shelf life of your salve and keeps things stable

The flower will be ready at the end of February for extraction and salve making. I've been researching extraction methods and different products I can use. I've just never tried anything like this so I def wanted to put some feelers out and see if anyone has any recommendations, tricks, tips, etc. Am I on the right track? Am I way off? Thanks in advance. Happy growing!

[crucialbunny]

Try and keep it simple. The fewer ingredients the better. I use coconut oil & beeswax with a hint of eucalyptus oil. Nothing else. Your biggest challenge will be to get it homogenized as it sets because it wants to separate which leaves you with layers and chunks of wax. My solution was to pour the melted mixture into a mixing bowl and then set it into an ice bath using an electric hand mixer I continuously whip the oil while it cools. It has taken me years to get everything figured out but now my product is super creamy and consistent.

Good luck!

[No3odiesShad0w]

Good tip. I'll def keep that in mind. Homogeny is important!

[Ckbrew]

I think you are on the correct path. I mostly use my version of the Q-WET extraction method to make a concentrate like this...

https://forum.growweedeasy.com/forum/growing-community/532902-making-tincture-how-i-do-it

The concentrate can be used to make just about anything an edible, and is user friendly when incorporating the tincture into different bases. I regularly make a glycerine tincture from this base for an ALS patient. For ingested preparations I like to use a fat based food, bacon grease, nutella, butter etc. It can also be incorporated into topical lipid bases. What I am getting at is the concentrate makes it easy to dose a batch in a reproducible way. Then again if you know you want to end in a lipid base, there is nothing wrong with a direct extraction in the lipid, saves time. The concentrate may be more efficient as there is little process loss with the Q-WET extraction. Something to consider, my process recovers the ethanol solvent. If you use a lost solvent method, this will get expensive real fast. 95% ethanol is preferred. My intuition says the loss is greater in a direct lipid extraction but I have never been able to verify that. I have had good results with coconut oil as a topical base for trans dermal absorption. The use of essential oils is one that I have not thought about. Maybe not mixed with an aromatic like wintergreen. If you are experimenting with mixing things like bees wax and oils, work on the base formula being finalized as to how you like it before you commit to adding your flowers or extracts. Keep us posted.
PS Ethanol and vapors are very flammable, use appropriate precautions.

[Puglover1]

Whether or not I have weed I buy dispo syringes on sale. Olive oil and beeswax, thc and cbd ... my first jar lasted two years. Since June's surgery I'm going through it faster but it still goes far.