You might've heard stories about "gummies" or "edibles" or, the most popular of them all, "pot brownies". They seem like ancient relics – shrouded in mystery with nobody knowing head or tail of them, and that too many of them will give you a bad, bad time.

But, if you really break it down into steps and a little bit of science, they're not all that bad!

The idea behind weed is simple. Like humans, weed likes being really, really hot, so to get weed to work, you have to do what any common arsonist would do – set it on fire.

That's the principle behind joints! Roll up some bud in a paper of your choice, light it on fire and take in the fumes, and you get as baked as a batch of brownies.

However, some people prefer to not condemn their lungs to the 9th circle of hell. Some people, maybe for health or for personal reasons, prefer other forms of consumption over smoking. That's where edibles come in – you get the weed nice, hot and bothered in the right way, and you'll have a whole other high, one that's very, very different from joints.

The principle behind it is simple. The recipes, unfortunately, are beyond the scope of this article, but any cookbook should suffice for that purpose. Our aim here is to make sure that people understand what's going on behind the scenes, and maybe get an idea of how to get the proportions right.

Weed, or the main "gets you high" compound in it, THC (Tetrahydrocannabinol), needs to be activated by bringing it up to a specific temperature – the ideal range is 230-250°F (110-120°C). The simplest way to do this is by sticking it in an oven on a tray with parchment paper for 30-45 minutes at that temperature, and shaking it every 10 minutes. This makes sure that it gets all hot and bothered, just enough to not burn up and stick to the pan.

Afterwards, when the THC in the weed is activated, you have to get it into something you can put into delicious edibles. The go-to for me is always butter. Take 1/8 ounce finely ground cannabis (3 tablespoons or 3.54g, more accurately), 3/4th cup of salted butter, and put them together in a pan.

You can put the pan in a water bath (A water bath is just a pan of hot water, onto which you put the dish that contains the food you need to cook), and let the weed-butter mix sit for 30-45 minutes on low heat, stirring occasionally. Sieve the mixture out, and you have enough "cannabutter" to put into 16 servings of whatever you would like.

The primary rule for edibles is to go low and slow. They take a little while to hit (anywhere from 30-60 minutes), so start with an amount smaller than you think you can handle, and take it gradually. They last longer too (anywhere from 3-4 hours)! Perfect for your stoned day in.