If you love cannabis-infused edibles, chances are you have tried making oil infusions or thought about making them at least. The whole process from breaking down to heating can be tedious. It might look easy when you read or watch tutorials, but when you get to the dirty work, it might be discouraging, especially when you fail your first attempt.
Now, some machines help you make this process much better. One of them is the Magical Butter MB2e. Compared to other infusion machines, the MB2e is on the more affordable side at $175. But is it worth buying?
The quick answer here is: it depends.
Yes, because it depends on how often you plan to use it. Remember that machines like the Magical Butter produces oil infusions that are supposed to last. You only consume a few tablespoons at a time, and not cups like coffee
First Impressions
The MB2e is the first countertop botanical extractor that was made for infusing the essence of herbs into butter or oils, which is used for tinctures, lotions, or salves. It features an immersion blender and a programable thermostat and heating unit that lets you create infusions from different recipes with little effort.
The MB2e can grind, heat, stir and steep your herbs with the right intervals and temperatures to get that infusion right. Each MB2e comes with a steel pot with a lid that holds the control panel.
The magic happens on the control panel, which gives you access to presets for temperatures and time Among these presets, there is one that everyone will enjoy: Blend/Clean.
The Blend/Clean is one of the strong selling points of this machine, as it handles the blending of your infusions. And after you are finished draining and sifting your oil, you can use the same function to clean up.
Cleaning after infusions can be tedious, given the amount of residue and bits of cannabis you need to clear from the pot. Aside from the pot, the MB2e comes with a silicon glove, a Purify Filter to catch those bits of herbs, and a cookbook for different infusions. You can say it has pretty much everything you need to get started. But, before even proceeding, you need to
decarboxylate your material. Magical Butter sells a
Decarb Box you can use, but unfortunately, it is not part of the package.
Operation
The MB2e is quite simple to use. Just make sure your infusing material (such as butter) is in a liquid state before starting. Other than that, using the MB2e is as easy as plugging it in, pouring your oil and herbs, and setting the temperature and time.
To give you an idea of the time the MB2e uses, if you are going for oil infusions, it should only take an hour. Two (2) hours is recommended for butter infusions and four (4) hours for tinctures. If you want a deeper or more intense flavor, select 8 hours.
Once the process is complete, you prepare your container and the Purity Filter and pour your infusion into the filter to separate the oil and herb.
Once you have emptied the pot, take your silicon gloves and squeeze the remaining oil out of the filter so that you get everything out. You can then cool it in the fridge or use it for cooking.
The MB2e is a self-cleaning unit, as described earlier. All you need to do is fill the pot halfway with water and put a small amount of dishwashing detergent. Close the lid and turn it on to the Clean setting. The cleanup runs for around 15 minutes, which results in a near-perfect cleaning. Near-perfect, because there might be some hard to reach corners missed in the process, which you can wipe off with a paper towel.
The Verdict
The way the MB2e simplifies the whole process of infusing cannabis into oils is remarkable. No frills, and it’s a plug and play machine. If you want to get into infusing, this machine is a good starting point.
One thing you will notice here is that any odor emitted by the machine is not as strong as other machines. This feature helps a lot, especially if there are people who cannot stand the scent of heated cannabis. Of course, there are things it could improve on, such as having a precise temperature setting or even decarboxylation. But the latter will definitely jack up the price and become less competitive.
All things considered, if you regularly infuse oils, then, yes it is worth the $175 you pay for it. Remember that the quantities the MB2e processes are for many uses that are probably going to last you a month or two, on average. If you won’t be infusing regularly, it might just end up as another kitchen appliance gathering dust in your home.
