Herbal Infusers and Decarboxylators: Do Butter Machines Beat the Stovetop?

Making cannabutter used to mean a hot oven, a saucepan and a home that smelled like a grow room for the rest of the day. Now a row of countertop machines promises to do the work with buttons, timers and odor filters.

They do not all do the same job, though. Some decarboxylate, some infuse, some do both, and prices run from about $190 to $330. An oven and a pot can still match them once you know what the machines automate.

Key takeaways

• Raw cannabis needs heat to turn THCA into THC, a step called decarboxylation, before it can make strong butter or oil.
• In a 2016 lab study, almost all the THCA was gone after 30 minutes at 230°F, or after 6 minutes at 293°F.
• The Magical Butter machine blends and heats butter or oil, while the decarb step usually happens in the oven first.
• The Levo 2 dries, decarbs and infuses in one unit, but its herb basket holds only 3 to 7 grams.
• Ardent's decarboxylators heat flower in a closed canister that keeps most of the smell in.
• Ardent's claims of near-full activation come from the company, and we found no independent test of them.
• An oven and a saucepan do the same job for little money, with more smell and less control.

Decarboxylation and why heat comes first

Raw flower holds mostly THCA, the acid form of THC, which does little on its own. Heat knocks a small chemical group off the molecule and turns it into THC. A lighter or a vaporizer does that in a second, but butter and oil need the flower converted before or during the infusion, or the edible comes out weak.

A 2016 study at the University of Mississippi measured how fast that happens. The researchers heated cannabis in a vacuum oven, and decarboxylation conditions were examined at 80°C, 95°C, 110°C, 130°C, and 145°C for up to an hour. At 110°C (230°F), THCA approached zero in 30 minutes. At 130°C (266°F) it took 9 minutes, and at 145°C (293°F) only 6. The vacuum kept out oxygen and light, which can break THC down into CBN, a weaker cannabinoid.

Home ovens are less precise than lab equipment. Thermostats swing up and down, and flower on a tray heats unevenly, so home cooks usually go a little lower and a little longer.

Heat costs flavor too. Terpenes, the compounds behind a strain's smell and taste, evaporate as the flower warms. In a 2024 Italian study, a 30-minute microwave decarb at 120°C (248°F) drove off about half of the flower's terpenes, mostly the lighter ones, and the team caught them in olive oil.

Magical Butter machine, a blender with a heater

Florida inventor Garyn Angel came up with the idea in 2011 and opened for business in November 2012. By January 2014, Angel said more than 10,000 Magical Butter machines have been sold since the product first hit the shelves, Bay News 9 reported.

The design is simple. "Basically, the machine has an immersion blender combined with a digital thermostat and a heating unit," a Bay Area Reporter columnist wrote in 2020. You still decarb the flower in a low oven first, then toss the toasted, ground flower into the metal pitcher with melted butter or oil and press a couple of buttons.

The maker says butter takes about two hours, oil about one and tinctures about four, at 2 to 5 cups per cycle. When Engadget tested this herbal infuser in 2014, the testers set it to 160°F for the two-hour butter program and noticed little odor from the machine, which has a lid designed to lock in scent. The oven step still smells. The current MB2e model costs $189 on the company site, on sale from $224.95.

Levo 2 and the herb basket

The Levo 2, which the Denver company writes as LĒVO II, skips the blender. In Engadget's 2019 hands-on review, ground herbs sat in a stainless steel basket that holds 3 to 7 grams, while a small mixer paddle that affixes to the bottom of the tub and spins via magnets stirred 5 to 16 ounces of oil or butter.

Six buttons or a phone app switch between drying herbs, activating cannabis and infusing, and the unit heats from 150°F to over 200°F. The whole process, activation included, took about four hours, and the machine cost $350 in 2019.

The current version, the LĒVO II+, sells for $329.99 on sale and adds a carbon filter against odor, the company says. The small basket is the trade-off. A few grams of flower makes a modest batch if you plan to bake for a crowd.

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Ardent decarboxylator and the smell problem

A decarboxylator heats flower in a closed container, so most of the smell stays inside while THCA turns into THC. Ardent's founder, Shanel Lindsay, is a Boston lawyer who helped write Massachusetts' 2016 legalization measure. It took her four years to develop and launch the Ardent Nova in 2016, Time Out reported, and the Ardent FX followed in March 2020.

The Nova, the first Ardent decarboxylator, is about the size of a coffee grinder. A Bend Source writer who tested it in 2017 found that it takes between a quarter and a full ounce of flower in a metal canister. You press one button and come back 90 to 120 minutes later, and he noticed only a light smell when he opened it. The company says the Nova can also infuse oil, butter, ghee, milk and cream. It sells for $199, and the FX for $299.

The activation numbers need care. Boston.com reported that testing Lindsay commissioned on her own homemade products found decarboxylation maxed out at 70%, and Ardent says the FX fully activates plant material, at 97% to 100%. We found no independent lab test of either figure, so treat both as numbers from the company and its founder.

Oven and saucepan, the old way

The cheapest method needs no new gear, only patience and a window you can open. The same Bend Source writer used to bake flower on a sheet at 225 to 240°F for 45 to 90 minutes. He called it a very inexact science that fills the house with the smell of roasting weed, adding that even with the right settings and timing, it reeks.

Infusion on the stove takes as long as in a machine or longer, two to three hours of simmering in a pan, Willamette Week found. Barney's Farm's own method calls for decarbing at 240°F for 30 to 40 minutes, then simmering for two to three hours:

1. Heat the oven to 240°F (115°C) and check it with an oven thermometer, since dials often run hot or cold.
2. Break the flower into small pieces, spread it on a tray lined with parchment and bake for 30 to 40 minutes, stirring once halfway.
3. Melt the butter with some water in a saucepan, add the decarbed flower and hold it at 160 to 180°F for two to three hours without boiling.
4. Strain through cheesecloth into a bowl, chill it, then lift off the butter once it hardens and pour away the water.
5. Label the container with the date, the strain and the estimated strength.

Flavor carries into the butter, so pick flower you would enjoy in a dessert:

• Strawberry Cheesecake Auto, a Strawberry Pie, Afghan OG and BF Super Auto #1 cross at 23% THC, has a sweet, fruity terpene profile with creamy undertones and goes from seed to harvest in 75 to 80 days.
• Tropicanna Banana, a Tropicanna and Banana Kush cross at 28% THC, brings banana and citrus notes and can yield up to 2 kg per plant outdoors, enough flower for a long run of batches.

Choosing a machine or the stove

In our experience, the right tool depends on batch size, budget and how close your neighbors live. Side by side, the options compare like this:

If you bake big batches a few times a year, the oven plus a Magical Butter machine gives you the most butter per cycle. If smell is the problem, as it often is in an apartment, a closed decarboxylator matters more than any infuser. If you make small batches of oil for daily use, the Levo 2's all-in-one cycle saves the most hands-on time.

Whatever you use, homemade butter rarely gets a lab test, so its strength is an estimate. Start with a small serving of anything you bake with it, wait at least two hours before taking more, and keep it labeled and locked away from children and pets.

Buttons, ovens and better butter

Butter machines do nothing a stove cannot. Decarboxylation turns THCA into THC in about half an hour at 230°F, and infusion takes an hour or more of gentle heat whatever you use. What the machines sell is control and less smell. The Magical Butter machine blends and heats, the Levo 2 runs the whole process in one small unit, and an Ardent decarboxylator keeps the smell in a closed canister. Choose by batch size and by how much your neighbors can smell.

Grow the flower, then pick the tool. Barney's Farm has been developing premium cannabis genetics since the 1980s, with over 40 Cannabis Cup wins. Explore our full seed catalog and find strains bred for every climate and skill level.