Celebrity cannabis chef Laurie Wolf takes you from zero to hero in the kitchen with our series “Cannabis Cooking Basic with Laurie Wolf.” This week: how to make your own cannabis capsules.

Cannabis capsules, also known as canna-capsules, are food-grade capsules that have been filled with concentrated cannabis oil. These can be swallowed as you would an ordinary pill. Capsules provide similar effects as edibles and are ideal for those who wish to ingest cannabis but don’t want the added calories. They are a simple, smokeless way to ingest a standardized amount of cannabis. They have a slow onset (taking anywhere from 30 minutes to 3 hours to kick in) and a long duration (effects last 4 to 8 hours). Like edibles, capsules may provide stronger and longer psychological and physical effects. Capsules provide a fairly consistent experience, although effects are influenced by the stomach contents.

Tip

It is advisable to take a canna-capsule with a little bit of food—not on a completely empty stomach, but not on a full stomach either.

How to figure your correct dosage

In our kitchen, we cook with cannabis that has 15 percent THC, which results in 5 milligrams of THC per canna-capsule, which is generally a good starting dose. If you need a higher or lower dose, you can use more or less cannabis when making your canna-capsules.Start with one canna-capsule and wait four hours to fully assess your reaction to its strength and effects.

Laurie Wolf is a leader in the edible community and an award-winning culinary entrepreneur. She recently published four cannabis cookbooks. Her brownie recipe on The Cannabist won Leafly’s Brownie Bracket challenge, naming it “the absolute best cannabis brownie recipe of all time.”