I've recently tried smoking mugwort as an alternative to weed and I find it to be very pleasant; subtle but has a lovely calming aspect to it. I thought it might be nice if I could make an extract which I could turn into a tincture or simply put in some gel caps.

My initial thoughts would be an ethanol extraction possibly using a soxhlet. Im assuming at this point it would be a similar path to making aromatherapy tinctures?

Has anyone else tried this? or successfully managed to make a mugwort extract?

Also does anyone know a good way to seperate the twigs from the dried leaves? The twigs make smoking a little harsher than it should/could be.

Missed this thread while off gallivanting earlier this year. (Mugwort is a good luck charm for travellers, btw.)

I've made mugwort tinctures simply by soaking the dried plant material in vodka.

As far as separating stems from leaves goes, that's easily done if you've a whole plant where you can just strip off all the leaves by pulling the stem through your fingers. If your material is chopped, I can only suggest patience and tweezers; ditto if the petioles (leaf stalks) are the issue.

What species did you use because mugwort can refer to different species within the genus Artemisia.
I once made a tincture of A. absinthium which provided somewhat of a pleasant buzz but it could not be distinguished from a placebo effect.

However, I also made some DIY absinthe with it

I highly recommend to see this documentary, if you're interested in mugwort.

LINK to youtube

I always take Mugwort, in the absence of other qualifying terms, to mean common mugwort, Artemisia vulgaris.

I've experienced some odd sensations after drinking a large mug of strong wormwood (A. absinthium) tea. The experiment was somewhat spoiled by synthetic cannabinoids - it ended up being such a crippling, paranoid, hallucinatory trip that I'm pretty convinced there's an interaction between them.

Nice to hear you've had a go at absinthe making - I hope you distilled it. Feel free to share your recipes and experiences in our absinthe thread(s), which can be found by following the nutmeg index post linked in my sig.

I like to put a little mugwort in my absinthe, it adds a honey-like note. And the salvia divinorum spirit seemed rather fond of my absinthe, which is a nice surprise since she hates beer.

Mugwort also contains thujon, just like a.absinthium. It blocks GABA receptors, so that would definately interact with the effects of cannabis. Even more so with some synthetic cannabinoids wich are full agonists of the two canbabinoid receptors i suppose.

I personally like that GABA inhibiting effect of cannabis a lot, but it could definately become too powerfull in combination with other GABA inhibiting drugs, up to the point of triggering seizures.

I once tried to make some absinthe myself as well from some twigs of a.absinthium, but it tasted horrible and didn't realy produce any extraordinary effects.

You made wormwood tincture, I suspect - if it's not distiled, it's not absinthe. Of course, it's still possible to mess up a distilled product since there are many nuances to obtaining a palatable result. Share your dismay in the absinthe thread

Triglav - thanks for the video link; it's a detailed and broadly enjoyable productions. I only had a few gripes as a chem nerd
It's well worth watching all the way to the end since the conclusion is arguably the best bit.

Yes, it was actually a wormwood tincture, along with some other herbs. It didn't smell that bad though.

i drink mugwort every night in the winter. it's a powerful dreamherb, and the effect builds up (i did it everyday for a year, it took months to wear off... )
I'm tempted to dry to do a crude extract ; maybe soxhlet then evaporating it to a tar.

though the tea is quite perfect, the taste is just so addictive too.

Absinthum is a bit weirder (and way too bitter) ; for me it has too much of a down effect; i don't like it as much

Thanks for the link! Good info and a bit unusual (at least in my bubble) since it both want to cover modern scientific aspects as well as more traditional / folk medicine ways.
I'm into all plants in the Artemisia genus, trying to grow the ones that is possible here outdoors.

I'm not sure I've every really returned after spending a year or two with great bales of mugwort in my bedroom, and that was 15 years ago
tbf, there's been a whole lot of other stuff gone on before, during and after then so it's a bit hard to say (but it was the aliens mugwort... )

I like to grow mugwort and tarragon besides wormwood; I can get hold of A. annua very easily but the limiting factor has now become the amount of space available in my garden. Many of these artemisias can get quite big.

Great to hear someone else hanging around with bales of herbs in their bedroom!

Yes they can be quite big. A. annua grows fast and can become large. I've not used it medicinally but have both as a tincture and tea... and yes I've also vaped it together with cannabis a few times. Not that a have malaria but, just in case
I also likes Artemisia abrotanum, I have a 'cola' variety that can at certain times have a distinct smell of that brown sugar water that fellow humans seems so fond of. Speaking of huge, I have two stands of Artemisia princeps (yomogi or Japanese mugwort) but I'm still waiting for that spring I will make my own yomogi muchi... one day.

If space is a limiting factor in your garden perhaps you can spread them further away in the 'wild'. If there is some space around?

Ha, I totally forgot about the abrotanum that I have sat next to my postbox so the postman gets the cola smell
I also have a little tincture from a 'non-cola' abrotanum I had where I used to live.

Yes I do have another space where I could try growing some princeps, for which I'll take your mention as a recommendation.

It looks as though there will be a few artemisias on my spring shopping list.