Here is a video of Logan showing you how to make pine pollen tincture.
What you’ll need to do this includes:
- Mason Jars
- Pine Pollen
- Alcohol (recommended high-quality vodka that is at least 70 proof)
- Spoon or similar instrument for stirring
Optional tools include:
- Dropper Bottle
- Funnel
- Paint Cone Strainer
The process to make pine pollen tincture is actually quite simple. Pour the pine pollen into a glass jar. Then add alcohol in sufficient quality to cover it all. After that you let it sit for about two weeks.
The pine pollen and alcohol will separate. This is good as you just want the pure alcohol, as the pine pollen won’t really have anything beneficial left in it. You can use a dropper to squeeze the liquid off the top. Or you can pour it off into another jar through a strainer to separate the liquid from the powder.
By creating your own tinctures, you can save a lot of money over buying them, although it will take some work. Since the pine pollen tincture has the benefits of delivering the hormonal components even better, many people prefer this form.
I would recommend you start with a dropper-full and you can increase it from there. I personally can feel something stronger when I take pine pollen in tincture form, rather than in a powder. I’ve gone up to 6 full droppers at on time.
Pine Pollen Acetract (Tincture Alternative)
We sell more Pine Pollen Tinctures than anything else here at Lost Empire Herbs. (We do sell more Pine Pollen Powder, but it’s spread across our 50-gram bags and the 250-gram megadose versions, so less individual units of each.)
But some people do not want to take tinctures, because they’re sensitive to alcohol, such as recovering alcoholics who are trying to stay 100% alcohol-free, or others who may have concerns due to a medical condition, etc.
In our post on How to Take Tinctures, I mentioned a method that mitigates the alcohol. By squirting the tincture into boiling hot water, much of the alcohol evaporates off because at it’s boiling point it’s less than that of the water.
Well, now we offer you another alternative…the Pine Pollen Acetract.
Acetract! Unless you’re an herbalist, I’m willing to bet you’ve never heard that word before.
To get into the terminology a tincture specifically refers to an alcoholic solvent of an herb.
But there are other solvents available too. With the ever-common water, you’d be making an infusion or a decoction. Glycerin makes for a glycerite. And vinegar makes for an acetract. The root acet- being the same as what you see in acetic acid, the main acid found in vinegar of all types.
Now, the reason that alcohol is used is because it is one of the very best solvents. Vinegar works too but to a lesser degree. I figured I’d run a little experiment…
Does an acetract or vinegar tincture of Pine Pollen work as well as a normal Pine Pollen Tincture?
Does it produce the same hormonal effects?
Well, I started this acetract a while back, promptly forgot about it, but then discovered it again and filmed the pressing of it to give it a shot. Warning, if you choose to try this. The taste of vinegar is intense. It’s hard to tell if the immediate effect was the same I feel from a Pine Pollen Tincture, or if it simply was from the intensity of tasting the straight vinegar.
I’m still early in my experiment with this, so I can’t say for sure. but I’ll offer it up to anyone else to try if they’d like to avoid alcohol altogether as an option. If you have tried this or use this method, please post your results in the comments section below.
I know someone is going to ask. What type of vinegar should be used to make pine pollen tincture? What kind did I use? I’m not sure. It wasn’t on the label and I don’t remember. (This is why you should put lots of details on your labels when you’re processing your own herbs.) It’s likely either apple cider vinegar or white vinegar. And either of those are good to use.
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jman says
update here ,,so i collected the pine pollen from the catkin ,,didnt weigh it but im guessing about 3 grams ,, i poured the vodka until it was about 2 fingers above the pollen the alcohol seperated almost immediatly,,but here is my questiion some of the pine pollen settled to the bottom of the jar but most of the pollen has risen to the top of the jar so what i have is the alcohol sandwiched between the pollen is this normal
Pau says
Hi, just wondering if you did make your own and as you say you’re up to 6 droppers at a time. What would be the impact of continuously ingesting alcahol daily.
admin says
6 droppers contain about 6 grams of alcohol, which is less than a half of content of one drink. Apparently, this is the perfect measure for decreasing a risk of heart disease.
“A European meta-analysis of data from 34 studies involving more than 1 million people showed that risk of heart disease decreased with an intake of up to 2 drinks a day for women and up to 4 drinks a day for men, but the maximum protection was seen at a dose of 6g alcohol – approximately half a drink per day.”
http://archinte.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=769554
I would also recommend cycling the tincture, so you wouldn’t be taking it every day of a week. Long story short, I don’t think there would be any serious impact from ingesting that amount of alcohol daily if you’re a healthy individual and not on any medication.
Paul says
Thankyou
Paul kelly says
Hi if you use the tincture on weekdays and have a break at the weekends can you use it for life and what’s the recommended daily dose.
Mikayla Gibson says
I am sure you could – you may need to adjust the dosage along the way for yourself though.
Recommended daily does (you can find this on the side of the bottle as well) is 1-2 droppers daily.
jman says
will give it a try
jman says
i live near a park that must have over 2 dozen monterey pines..When exactly should i harvest the pine cones and once i have them how do i extract the pollen
admin says
Truthfully it is not an easy process. Around spring time the pollen will simply fall out of the catkins when you shake them. It’s not actually in the cones. A useful idea is to just tincture the whole catkins rather than trying to get the pollen out, if you’re doing it at home.
Vergie-Genie says
If anyone else here makes their own tincture, please comment on alcohol/water percentage and taste. I’m finding my tinctures of vodka 90 proof, brought down to 25% or so (eyeballed it) by dilution of water to be tasting… odd. Smell is ok and doesn’t appear to be rancid, but the taste/sensation is a bit odd/fruity/stale/oily/watery; not sure if the best way to describe it but don’t know how… doesn’t taste like the pre-tinctured bottles.
Fadile Yusuf says
Am in Nigeria and very interested in buying the pollen pine extract. How can I get it in Nigeria.
admin says
Not sure if its available in Nigeria, but you can certainly place your order with us.
Vergie-Genie says
Just finished up my 2-week tincture making following your video-guide; thanks for posting this. Any thoughts on the apparent difference in solution results, mine on the left (a clear-yellow end product) and the bottles you sell on the right (milky-white end product)?: http://imgur.com/mzovUmd
admin says
The one we sell is made slightly differently. It is extracted in pure alcohol then the water is mixed in later which creates an emulsion which naturally causes diffuse reflection to light. They both work the same in my experience.
Vergie-Genie says
One other question to add, all said and done and in a loose/general sense: when following your method for making a tincture, will we find the end product is stronger or weaker than if purchasing a bottle direct? I’m fine with either way, just curious on what to expect.
Vergie-Genie says
Logan,
Thanks for the guide! I am a bit confused, as seems a handful of others, on your recommendations for proper dilution. You mention in video and elsewhere using 40-50% alcohol as the menstruum but on the bottle sold and elsewhere you also recommend 25% alcohol. Which way do you recommend or am I confused? Isn’t 25% alcohol too low, and preservation-defeating or are you finding this not an issue? If the final recommendation is to, for example, dilute vodka down from the typical 40% to 25% are we doing this before adding to pine powder, or after tincture extraction is complete and marc discarded. Can we do it after; is there benefits before or after?
admin says
You only need about 20% alcohol for a tincture to be preserved. As for whether 25 or 40 or another % is best, no one has done enough research to know the answer for sure. The short answer is they all work. As for how strong it is compared to what we sell I would say it is roughly equal.