Time for Tinctures: Spiked Flamingo

Originally featured in Fat Nugs Magazine Product Reviews

Tinctures have not been part of my cannabis connoisseurship efforts until this year. I’ve been trying some different consumption methods as I experiment with my cannabis moderation and medication. I decided to try switching temporarily from concentres as my go-to consumption method to tincture, and the results have been interesting. The whole process is definitely different from the ritual, to the onset, to the duration and after-effects. I finished this bottle in a little under two weeks and have learned a lot. There are some novel aspects of comparing the effects here. In my previous experiences with tincture, I was combusting flower or vaping concentrates at the same time, making effects hard to parse out from one another. This time, I had the tincture by itself to see how it felt and if it was “enough.” I don’t know why I went into this doubting tinctures a bit; I think it’s because I am passionate about high-quality flower and concentrates. It felt like an odd avenue to explore, but I’m glad I did.

Spiked Flamingo is a Las Vegas-based brand that can be found in most dispensaries down here. I tried to locate the company, but searching for it only turns up options to buy it from various dispensaries. On the bottle, it says “Manufactured by Las Vegas Cannabis Company,” but as you can imagine, searching for that also turned up a bunch of dispensaries not “the” company who made this. I think this expresses one problem in cannabis where you can’t figure out who made the product. I’ve got a Metrc package tag number, but that alone tells me very little. That being said, maybe this is standard with tincture brands, but coming from flower and concentrates I wanted to know the source and learn about the company behind the brand.

There are many flavor options and cannabinoid combinations available by Spiked Flamingo. Not going to lie, the idea of “flavored” tincture drops kind of weirded me out. I just want the tincture not a burst of pina colada flavor too. But again, these are made for all kinds of consumers, so they could be paired with food or potentially used as additives in drinks or cocktails. There are several options to choose between once you’ve settled on flavor. There’s the standard one I got, then some ratio combinations using CBD including a 1:5 Daytime, 5:1 Nighttime and 1:1 anytime. I’ll be trying some of these next but wanted to try the full THC tincture to begin with. Packaging on this is very nice and simple with a clear plastic seal around the lid. Many brands go way overboard putting the bottle in the box in a package in a sleeve into another box. If you’re currently doing that for a brand, consider reducing the packaging to help from a cost perspective and an ecological one.

I cracked it open and waited until ~3 PM PST. Part of this exploration in cannabis connoisseurship is entwined with my efforts to moderate my consumption. I was finding it too easy to take another dab or roll another blunt which was kind of reducing the enjoyment overall and increasing the cost of my routines more than I’d like. When 3 PM comes around, I take a full dropper of the stuff and put it under my tongue. There is some sublingual absorption that happens in the mouth with tincture so I held it there for a moment before drinking some water to wash it down. The flavor was fine overall. I’ve supplemented with MCT oil in the past, so the flavor was familiar, and I couldn’t discern or taste much of the cannabis in the tincture at all. There was no lingering flavor other than a little after-taste of MCT. Now for the weird part, I just went about my day, where normally I would chill a bit and enjoy that rush of the dab. Tinctures act slowly, so I did my thing again and waited for the effects.
Sure enough, 30-45 minutes in, I could feel the initial effects around my eyes before it evolved to more of a body buzz easing tension and improving mood (I work too much) and pain (old gym injury regularly gives me hell). It wasn’t as “strong” perhaps as a straight dab or two, but it was solid and lasting. This was the biggest surprise to me; I was feeling it for a good while, maybe 2-3 hours before noticing any diminished effects or feeling that pang of wanting more.

For the last two weeks, I started with a full dropper of tincture sometimes with an extra half dropper (bonus) after my work was done for the day. This was around 30 to 45 mg then later closer to bedtime I’d take 20 to 30 mg of edibles. I’m trying to find the minimum effective dose for me over time. This whole thing felt strange to begin with, but I got used to it after three days. I missed the ritual aspect of grinding up flower and/or preparing the Puffco for a dab but enjoyed the ease of use and the duration of effects. I could medicate and move on with no Q-tip cleaning or time spent rolling up a joint. 

The other benefit I noticed was being able to truly (albeit with ~15% variance according to the label) measure and track the dosage. With concentrates, it’s always a little different scraping off some with a hot knife. You get similar effects, but there’s a real variance there depending on the heat, batch and dab size. Each dropper was the same, and the effects were the same too. This avoided the bad feelings that come with buying crappy concentrates and realizing they aren’t as potent as you wanted, which happens more often than you’d think in markets like Las Vegas.

I did some reading on tinctures and saw suggestions to consume them with a meal or at least with fat to optimize the effects. I tried some days with meals, some with tincture only on an empty stomach and some days I ate a tablespoon of grass-fed butter with it (for science!) The jury is out though on the best method. I couldn’t get a very concrete feel on one scenario working “better” than others or maybe the differences were too slight. I’ll be documenting the next bottle in a little more detail to try to get the most out of the tincture and the cost. At the bottom of the bottle now, I’ll be grabbing another for the next two weeks and keeping the routine similar for the time being.

Overall, it was a good experiment, and I’m kind of surprised to say I enjoyed the tincture. It will be in the rotation for me going forward. I do think smoking while trying tincture in the past blurred the lines too much. With tincture alone, I could see the effects and felt “right” through the day and more importantly, I could get to sleep. I can still say that the rush of the dab is missed right along with the delicious terpene-rich flavor and the story that goes with its production, but tincture has its time and place. I won’t doubt that anymore. I’d recommend trying tincture if you haven’t already; it’s a good consumption method if you’re in areas where smoking isn’t cool or if you have kids around. It can also spike food, drinks and more if you prefer to get creative. Lastly, for moderation or medicinal purposes, the dosage can be measured and maintained which is key for new consumers and those who need measured relief.