New to the herbal world and unfamiliar with how to take tinctures?
Don’t worry, I made a video for you…..
A tincture is an alcohol extract of an herb or other material.
While other things can be used and are sometimes called tinctures, alcohol is the solvent for a true tincture. A vinegar tincture is known as an acetract. A glycerin tincture is known as a glycerite.
Overall, it’s quite easy. Take the dropper bottle, squeeze the dropper and squirt it into your mouth.
And yes! You can combine multiple tinctures into your mouth at the same time.
Typically, when squeezing the dropper, the liquid will only fill up to about halfway. Although it is not full, this is considered a dropperful. If you want to get more exact with it, you can count 30 drops. One dropperful is the typical dosage for many herbal tinctures, but there are exceptions. Sometimes larger amounts like teaspoons and tablespoons are advised. Other times you only want to use one drop.
Ideally, you want to hold the tincture under your tongue. This is known as taking it sublingually, meaning under the tongue. Because the cell walls are thin in this area and the tincture will absorb quickly and straight into the bloodstream.
This is especially important for our Pine Pollen Tincture because it allows the hormonal signals to enter the bloodstream, rather than go through the digestive tract, where they are broken down and lose effectiveness.
Still, for best results, all tinctures should be taken sublingually. Hold the liquid under your tongue for approximately 30 seconds before swallowing. Taking tinctures allows you to taste the flavor of the herb. As previously covered, this allows you to know more about the quality of it and clues your body as to the effect it should have. For instance, the bitter nervine quality of Blue Vervain begins with tasting the bitter flavor.
For people who want to avoid alcohol, you can use the following method:
Alcohol has a lower boiling point than water. This means if you make a boiling cup of tea (or even just hot water), the alcohol will largely evaporate off, leaving only the herbal components behind. You can then drink the hot water or tea to get the benefits. Now, depending on the temperature of the water and how long you let it sit, more or less of the alcohol will evaporate. In either case, trace amounts are likely to remain.
If you need to avoid alcohol completely, you can look for glycerites or acetracts from other companies, make them yourself, or just stick to herbal powders instead.
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Lost Empire Herbs
Thank you for the information on the Proper Way to Take Tinctures
I have been taking it under the tongue, but I wanted to make sure I was doing it correctly
Your article above is a great help
Thank you
Thank you for the information on the Ashwagandha tinctture. The Ashwagandha sleep tonic receipe online calls for 1 tsp of Aswagandha root powder equivalent to 1 g. How is this dosage comparable with the 30 drops of the tincture. Do you carry the root powder at Lost Empire? Thanks.
Betty Njos
We do not carry the powder at this time. There is not an exact equivalence when comparing powder to tinctures, but I’d say one dropperful may be roughly equivalent to that.