Edibles come with important time limitations: how long you stay high, how long cannabinoids remain in your system, and how long the product itself lasts before it expires or loses potency.
Staying on top of these variables can help you achieve a better high and keep edibles fresh longer. The answers can also vary between marijuana and hemp products, such as delta 8 gummies or HHC gummies.
Each question plays into the others, as well. If you’re not looking to stay high for long or temporarily abstain in order to clear out your system, it’ll take you longer to consume your stash—and the longer it takes to consume your edibles, the more attention you should give storage and expiration.
It’s all about balancing your needs with the lifespan of edibles like gummies, chocolates, or similar cannabis products.
How long do edibles last before running out?
It’s easier to quantify if you’re buying from a dispensary. The most common dose sizes for individual gummies, chocolates, and other commercial edibles is 5-10 milligrams (mg) of THC, and products commonly contain 10-20 servings—so, a total of 50-200 mg of THC in the package.
If you’re consuming a single dose every day, your edibles will last between ten and twenty days. Users with high tolerances will probably eat more than five milligrams in one session, but if you’re only using edibles a couple of times per week, they could still last for a month or more. Tolerances build over time, and you may catch yourself finishing products more quickly than you used to.
With homemade edibles, it’s simple to tailor the number of doses to your needs. Frequent edible users can cook up larger servings that take longer to finish off.
When do edibles go bad or expire?
Going by the expiration date alone, you’ll have several months to enjoy all the edibles in the package. However, homemade edibles—especially baked goods—go bad more quickly. Freshly baked weed brownies may only last for a week, unless you freeze them.
How do I keep edibles fresh for longer?
Always store edibles, including gummies, in an airtight container. This is the easy part if you’re buying from a dispensary or hemp seller. Just keep everything in its original packaging, and you’re probably all set.
With homemade edibles, you’ll need your own silicone or glass storage containers. Sealing your creations and freezing them is an even more effective way to keep them fresh. If you don’t want to use the freezer, cannabis edibles should be kept in a cool, dark location. Your fridge is a shorter-term solution, but it helps.
By keeping your edibles cool or frozen, you can prevent:
- Degradation of THC or other cannabinoids
- Mold or bacterial growth
- Undesirable changes in flavor or texture
Freezing is likely unnecessary for frequent users, especially if you consume every dose within a few days. Just keep in mind that baked goods won’t last for more than a couple of weeks without a freezer.
How long do the effects of edibles last?
Not only is getting high with infused gummies, chocolates, or other edible products a waiting game, but the effects last longer than other modes of consumption. Vaping or smoking weed will get you high much faster, but the effects can peak in as little as thirty minutes, and the high may fade significantly before the two-hour mark.
It takes much longer to absorb cannabinoids via the stomach and liver than the lungs. Slow absorption through the digestive system also means the drug and its effects can linger for up to ten hours. They can even last longer than that, especially if you’re a new user taking a large dose.
For most users, the effects peak between two and four hours after consuming THC edibles.
My experience
When I worked part-time at a New England dispensary, I’d sometimes get asked how long certain products last. Gummies were a common concern.
It’s such a subjective question, especially if we're talking effects. While I would hazard a guess and maybe even offer my experience with the product, I always made it clear that everyone responds uniquely to THC. Dosing and tolerance are just two variables.
The effects of edibles don’t usually last long for me, but I’ve learned not to assume. It was maybe two months ago that my partner offered me a gummy that, to my surprise and dismay, kept me high for over five hours. While that may be the goal for some people, I’d rather sober up within a couple of hours max—just a personal preference.
I'd imagine for most, a short-lived high is better than one that lasts too long. At least in the first case you can just bump up your dose or eat a second gummy when the effects wear off. You can’t exactly extract THC from your system.
I’m still learning and experimenting. I already said it, but it’s worth reiterating that there’s a vast range in duration of edible effects. So start with a smaller dose if you’ve never tried a certain product or a specific cannabinoid before. You could be surprised how it hits you.
Delta 8 THC vs delta 9 THC edibles: which last longer?
Delta 8 THC is around half as potent as delta 9 THC. A five-milligram delta 9 gummy and an equivalently dosed delta 8 gummy will both get you high, but the former is stronger. Delta 8 molecules don’t bind as effectively to CB1 cannabinoid receptors in your body. The effects tend to be milder and usually don’t last as long. However, the effects produced by a much larger dose of a milder cannabinoid may match or even exceed those of delta 9.
Your metabolism and consumption habits play a role, too. While delta 9 and delta 8 tolerances can go hand in hand, it’s possible to build more of a tolerance to one cannabinoid, especially if you consume it more often than the other.
How long do the effects of HHC edibles last?
Although HHC weed edibles are more chemically stable than delta 9 or delta 8 products, we know very little about their metabolization in the human body. Some believe that HHC highs last longer than those from THC. There’s no research to support this claim, however, and the matter is highly subjective.
Start with a low dose of HHC gummies and work your way up. Experimentation is the only way to safely determine how long your high will last, and it’s best to do it over multiple sessions.
How long do edibles last in your system?
At this time, standard urine tests can’t differentiate between delta 8 THC and delta 9 THC. Both cannabinoids produce the same metabolite: THC-COOH. After your liver has processed the cannabinoid, you’re left with metabolites that linger in the body for several weeks. These compounds are what testers seek to identify.
THC metabolites are usually detectable for several days to a week with one-time use. Regular users should abstain for at least a month before a drug test, while chronic, long-term cannabis users can hold onto metabolites for even longer. Hair tests are unconventional but can detect THC for up to three months.
It’s possible that delta-8-THC-COOH is not retained by the body for as long as delta-9-THC-COOH, though we don’t know how meaningful this is to everyday users or screening methodologies. Just play it safe and assume that delta 8 edibles will be detected—because they probably will.
Hayley Heidelbaugh
Vaping for: 4 years
Favorite products:
Favorite flavors: White Wedding, Northern Lights, Platinum Valley, OG Kush
Expertise in: Oil carts, cannabis concentrates, cannabis flower
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