I used a $300 machine to make weed butter and it was more hands off and less smelly than the stovetop method

Prices are accurate at the time of publication. When you buy through our links, Insider may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more.

The Levo II is a machine that infuses any herb into oil or butter. Lindsey Bartlett/Insider The Levo Oil and Botanical Infuser is an innovative kitchen gadget that allows you to infuse any herb into an oil.   You can use it to make your own cannabis edibles at home.

  Here is my experience making both edible cannabutter and then a lavender coconut oil salve. Levo II$349. 99 FROM LEVOOriginally $399.

99 | Save 13%Making weed edibles at home? Pass me a mason jar and call me Martha Stewart, I’m in. Edibles can be made at home in a few simple steps. Whether you’re making pot brownies or space cakes, the process usually starts with a cannabis-infused butter or oil, since cannabis must bind with fat molecules in order for its effects to be felt.

This process can be done easily on the stovetop, but is usually messy, and leaves your kitchen smelling strongly of weed.  Enter Levo, an innovative piece of kitchen tech aimed at further simplifying cannabutter (or any herbal oil under the sun) for the modern consumer. The Levo claims to make this process easier, less messy, and less time consuming.

 The Levo Oil and Botanical Infuser was created in Colorado in April of 2017 by Chrissy Bellman. Since then, the countertop machine has seen tweaks and technological advancements to evolve into its current iteration, the Levo II.  This type of modern weed innovation doesn’t come cheap, however.

The Levo II costs $399. 99 (on occasion during a sale, the sticker price drops down to $329. 99).

It’s a pretty penny, but to be fair, this is the nicest infusion machine I’ve ever seen on the market. Upon inspection, it feels valuable. My initial thoughtsLindsey Bartlett/InsiderThe Levo packaging is sleek, with stylish green leaves popping off the black exterior.

It fits in seamlessly with my air fryer on the kitchen counter. The look is reminiscent of a smooth, minimalist gadget, and doesn’t appear to be a “cannabis device” at first glance. As I peeled back the black cardboard box holding my new Levo, I was greeted by a quote from Pablo Picasso.

“Everything you can imagine is real. ” Am I already high?The machine is heavy. It has a few stickers on the facade (which I didn’t enjoy peeling off, but a little bit of Goo-Gone residue remover helped).

One sticker told me to “Download the app. ” I obliged while taking in all of her glory.  Making edibles with the Levo I have a decent amount of experience making cannabutter the old fashioned way, on a stovetop.

This was my first time using an infuser like the Levo. In each step below, I’ve outlined the steps to making infusions with the Levo, and my initial thoughts on the process as it compares to making cannabutter using other methods.  Lindsey Bartlett/InsiderStep 1: Grind the cannabisThe first step is to grind up some weed.

For my first infusion, I used a strain of cannabis that has an exciting flavor profile: Pink Champagne. Close-up, the sun-grown bud features purple hues and red hairs and has notes of mixed berry and grapes, with a dominant terpene Myrcene. It’s a sweet strain, with genetic lineage of Granddaddy Purple with Cherry Pie.

All signs pointed to it being perfect for infused oil.  I then ground 5 grams of cannabis flower. This is an ideal amount for the amount of oil I was working with, 8 fluid ounces.

The Levo “Power Pod” holds up to a quarter of cannabis. Using 5 grams, I filled the pod up ¾ of the way. This was purposeful: I wanted an effective but slightly less potent batch of a cannabutter.

You can fill it up less or more, depending on the effect you are aiming for. Just make sure not to pack it too tight. The cannabis wants a little bit of air to breathe during the infusion.

 Lindsey Bartlett/InsiderStep 2: Activate the cannabisThe activation step is also known as decarboxylating. On the Levo, this step is super easy. I placed the little metal tin or “Power Pod” full of ground-up cannabis into the container, which magnetized to the side of the ceramic bowl.

I pressed “activate. ” The Levo decarbs the cannabis at 240 degrees over 30 minutes. This step is crucial to activate the precious cannabinoids like THC and CBD, so you can feel the effects of the edible.

This step isn’t necessary if you’re infusing other herbs. The warming up phase takes a while: close to an hour, and then about 30 minutes to activate the cannabis. The aroma wafting from the herb during this step was pungent and aromatic, but the Levo subdues the scent pretty well.

This is a perk. It smelled a little bit like cannabis-meets-roasting popcorn. The terpenes in the strain began to come through.

For the Pink Champagne, I smelled its deeper, richer flavor profiles like berry. The magnet unfortunately came off of my “Power Pod,” which was frustrating. I thought my pod was almost immediately broken.

But then I fashioned a new magnet onto it, and it held. Another option is to buy a replacement for $19. 99 on Levo’s website.

 Lindsey Bartlett/InsiderStep 3: Add oilOnce the cannabis is activated, it’s time to add the oil. The Levo holds 2 cups or 16 fluid ounces of oil. I wanted to use butter, so I chose my favorite unsalted butter brand.

You can use any oil you’d like for this step: olive oil, coconut oil, grape seed oil, ghee, avocado oil, and the options are endless. It does need to be a fat, because cannabis is fat-soluble.  The metal container with the decarbed weed in it must be fully submerged in the oil.

One stick of butter is 4 fluid ounces, so I added 2 sticks of butter, equaling out to 8 fluid ounces, to submerge the amount of cannabis I had. I placed my butter into the ceramic bowl next to the “Power Pack” filled with weed. Make sure you put the magnetized “stirring mechanism” on the bottom of the ceramic reservoir before adding in the butter.

This slowly stirs the fat over the two-hour infusion step. Lindsey Bartlett/InsiderStep 4: InfuseInfusion is set at at 150 degrees on the Levo; low and slow.  This step took 1 hour for warm up and 2 hours to infuse.

My total time making this batch was about 5 hours. Levo isn’t for people who are in a hurry by any means. This is similar to making butter on the stovetop.

Patience is a virtue. We don’t want the heat set too high, because the heat will potentially damage the terpenes and cannabinoids. So we wait.

@lindse_y My first time using the @levooil 👀 Review for @insider coming soon. #fypシ ♬ Aesthetic – Tollan Kim Step 5: Pour the butterAfter 2 hours, my Levo played a little melody telling me it was ready. I pressed the “Reservoir Release” button to release the cannabutter and the smooth, gooey green butter dripped down into my glass container.

I suggest storing this butter in glass in your fridge, with a lid. It will last for 2-3 weeks. You can use the resulting cannabutter in any recipe that uses oil by simply replacing 1 or 2 tablespoons of the oil with cannabutter.

People often start with baked goods, but one of my favorite ways to use it is in stir-fry. For dinner, I stir-fried some broccoli, carrots, zucchini, and cooked chicken with 1 tablespoon of cannabutter. The effect was fantastic.

A nice, smooth microdose that lulled me to sleep. Step 6: Cleaning the LevoThe cleaning stage isn’t quite as easy as I wish it were. It’s a mess.

From my point of view, it’s not much easier than infusing in the stovetop method. You cannot remove the ceramic bowl; it requires a scrape-out clean, which didn’t work well. The little metal “Power Pod” is equally hard to fully clean out.

Having to scrape them both out was a tough reset.  Making other oil-infusions with the LevoIf you don’t want to make edibles, you can infuse any herbs into virtually any oil. You could use food items like chopped garlic, ginger, and mustard seed, as well as herbs like eucalyptus, oregano, thyme, basil, rosemary, and the list goes on.

 I decided to make a coconut oil salve infused with dried lavender for stress relief, to see if it would magically transform into a nice skin topical. I used 5 grams of lavender buds that I placed into the “Power Pod. ” You could easily add tea tree oil or beeswax to this process to make for a richer salve, in whatever scent you’d prefer.

 It’s a cool feature. The final product is not quite as nice as the salve I buy, but the machine is fun to tinker with. I am channeling my inner alchemist.

Cons to considerLindsey Bartlett/InsiderThe Levo app is the only thing messier than the clean-up process.  First off, there are actually two apps: one is called Levo Oil Inc. and the second app is called Remote Infusion, which turns your phone into a remote for your Levo.

It’s confusing that the second remote activation app doesn’t even say the word “Levo” in its name, making it easy to miss when you search for it in the app store. Splitting the functions onto two apps seems like a miss.  The Levo Oil app has become mostly an eCommerce store for Levo products, and it includes recipes and a dosage calculator, which is useful.

There’s a Levo loyalty rewards tab where you earn points for buying products, referring friends, or following their brand on Instagram. It’s all brand marketing, but not functional for consumers. I don’t mean to be a buzzkill, but I could just as easily press the button on the device.

I don’t have room for one (let alone two) new apps unless they serve a clear purpose. What are your alternatives?Levo also makes the Levo C ($299. 99), which looks more like a pour-over french press.

The main difference between the two is that the Levo C holds more oil and is better for large batches, while the Levo II is better for personal, everyday use.  There are also a few other competitors on the market today, including the Ardent, MagicalButter, and the Hi Herbal Infuser. In my experience, Levo makes this process the easiest.

But I also am still not sure it’s easier than simply making cannabutter on the stovetop with a strainer. Containing the smell was the main difference but it took just as long (if not longer) in the Levo than on stovetop.  The bottom lineMaking edibles at home is more hands-off with Levo.

It reduces the smell of cannabis that you’d normally expect wafting through the kitchen after this same process in the oven. It’s a sleek, modern solution to making cannabutter or oil. Levo also sells baking and gummy-making kits alongside its original infusion machine, so you can lean on their creativity and recipes for your infusions.

Pros: Levo is a useful device that looks better than its competitors. It reduces the cannabis smell during the decarb step, which was the biggest perk.  Cons: Cleaning the Levo’s ceramic reservoir was a literal hot mess.

The apps are unnecessary. It takes about 5 hours, as long or longer than stovetop methods. $349.

99 FROM LEVOOriginally $399. 99 | Save 13%Read the original article on Insider.