$249

The mid-priced LEVO II’s sleek design, available in five colors, distracts from its relative user-unfriendliness. Its two-cup decarbing-infusion chamber is made up of seven different removable parts that don’t always seamlessly fit back together and make cleanup a pain. They’re all dishwasher safe, but that only made it easy for me to lose one crucial piece the first time I used it. Its user’s manual is an eyeball scrambler, and I never was able to connect the machine to Wi-Fi or my own phone to the accompanying programmable app. Despite all that, the LEVO II offers the most granular and precise time and temperature controls among the group, allowing experienced cooks to coax particular cannabinoids and terpenes out of their specific strains.

Pros: 

• Sleek design looks good on the counter
• Widest range of programmable times and temperatures

Cons:

• Difficult to clean
• Too many tiny spare parts

Necessary accessory: 

• Spare parts bundle, for when you inevitably lose something

$350

Out of this group it’s the most expensive, but we loved Ardent’s second-generation decarb-infuser best for its simplicity, minimal design and ease of cleanup (though we’d prefer a less active color than Barney purple). Its inner chamber can hold up to 4 ounces of flower and up to 28 fluid ounces of infusing medium (but you can use as little as you want). Two different activation modes optimize THC or CBD decarboxylation, but there’s just one low and slow infusion cycle. The FX also has a mode that allows you to make edibles (cheesecake, oatmeal, sauces) in the chamber as well. With a handy carrying case, its portability and self-containment would make it the ideal travel companion or dorm room appliance.

Pros:

• Minimal design, easy to use
• Can infuse both small and large amounts of material with small and large amounts of cannabis
• Can be used anywhere there’s an electrical outlet

Cons: 

• Very, very purple

Coolest accessory: 

• Silicone sleeve for concentrates and infusions minimizes mess

$174.95

Aka the Magical Butter Machine, the MB2E is the grandaddy of extractors, and even though it’s gone through quite a few makeovers over the years, it still looks and acts a bit like something your graying stoner uncle rigged up in the garage from an old coffeepot. While it was the first mass-produced extractor on the market (introduced in 2013), its competitors have outpaced it in terms of convenience. For one thing there are no built-in decarboxylation functions, so you still need an oven, toaster oven or some other external heat source. (You certainly don’t need the silly silicone “DecarbBox” that costs extra.) Second, it features a noisy built-in immersion blender that periodically grinds up your plant matter, even though prevailing kitchen wisdom holds that fine-grinding flower doesn’t make your butter, oil or tincture any stronger, but it definitely makes it taste swampier. Finally, with five temperature settings and four time modes (plus a self-cleaning mode), it’s pretty easy to use. It’s useless for small quantities, though: you can infuse up to five cups of material, but no less than two. All that being said, the MB2E outperformed its competitors in at least one critical test we subjected it to (see “Battle Coconut Oil”).

Pros:

• Produces high-volume infusions

Cons: 

• Fine-grinds flower whether you want it to or not
• Can’t infuse small amounts of material

Coolest accessory: 

• 190-micron purity filter for straining

Article by Mike Sula