I want to buy the whole herb but should probably stick to tinctures

I've had some mixed feedback on what to do so I guess it'll be down to me in the end.

I know there's no right or wrong way, but I did pick up a statement in Buhner's book which stuck with me, and that is when he says he likes to consume the whole herb so that the body can take what it wants from the herb. Obviously the whole herb grounded and ingested.

I don't really like ingesting the add-ons (suspensions) used to hold the tincture versions of the herb. It feels as though I am paying for a glass bottle, water & ethanol and getting less actual herb so I'd like to cut down on the tincture versions.

Buhner recommends tinctures in some cases and powdered versions in others, and so I am going to follow his recommendations. Where he has no overall preference I'm going with the whole herb option and I'm going to grind down to powder as per Trav's instruction of preparing 2 weeks or so in advance. In otherwords having 2 weeks of readily ingestable powder ready at any given time.

Benefits to the whole herb appear to be, for one thing, cost. Secondly, I can grind down the whole herb into powder and have the choice of taking the powder with a teaspoon/tablespoon, or encapsulating the powder which is useful if I am travelling.

The most useful and practical way of self-medicating like many of us are trying to achieve here, appears to be capsule form, but I may be missing something on why this may not be the best option? One downside may mean chugging a huge amount of capsules a few times a day, but then again all that is needed is water. Capsules can be super-organised into compartmentalised carry-storage-pill boxes.

Tinctures require measuring, and so does the powdered herb. The whole herb is useless for travel if one has not spent time converting it into powder. The whole herb allows for both the measuring or encapsulation, and so appears to be the most conveniant. The only drawback that I can see is shelf life of the whole herb and shelf life of the powdered herb, and I'm as yet unable to find out how long either take to spoil. I would think blacked out, air sealed glass containers would preseve the precious constituents of the herb for a minimum 12 months. Perhaps someone can clarify? If the shelf life of these herbs is days to weeks then it makes no sense to order 1kg of the whole herb at a time.

I'm not sold on the easability of tinctures when travelling. You still need to pre-plan your doses and combine them into one whole tincture, or be stuck travelling with smaller bottles of each herb to then measure out ad-hoc, which is a topic of conversation if you are travelling with a party, and perhaps not one you want to have. Even if you pre-plan your doses into one tincture bottle, ingesting tinctures is for the most part vile. You need a medium like a fruit smoothie or flavoured softd rink to chug back the vile tasting mixture.

Lastly, I purchased a bottle of cat's claw encapsulated herb from amazon many years ago and checked the bottle to find the use by date was 2018. I remember buying it many years ago (at least 2013). So this is a long shelf life, if this is what can be achieved with all the herbs when stored correctly then it makes sense to go with the herb option. Perhaps some of these herbs age in the same way cannabis does? Cannabis is much like wine, in that it can actually improve with age - the taste, quality and potency of the high.

I was taking so many pills, I opted for tinctures when using Buhner's.

As for travel, I had a large camera and lens case that is super padded and can always be upright. I put my tinctures in a baggie (my 4 oz tinctures were too large to seal the baggie) and I was all set. I think I had about 12 tincture bottles in there and they traveled fine.

The camera case was super insulated but I did make sure that the case was not in the sun or heat.

Munkra, I want to comment right away on your first sentence. Most suppliers claim that their tinctures are made from whole herb. As long as they pull all of the essence out of the whole herb, that's what matters.

But if you are wanting to avoid the tincture and container it's understandable. Just realize that dose control is far easier with a tincture.

Also be aware that if you order whole herb with the intention of grinding it yourself, be careful of over handling and losing some of the outer substances to hands and equipment, and air.