TheGreenPhantom
Established member
After a successful extraction run on 153 grams of A. confusa phyllodes taken from an old, C-shaped tree struggling on the side of a forgotten road in the woods, another extraction was decidedly in order. That first extraction produced a viscous, brown/orange resin that was extremely visual and physically sensual, inviting, warm and friendly. I expected that the second extraction, taken from another tree, would be the same – but this was not the case.
My first experience with A. confusa phyllodes is here, if you're interested:
Post in thread 'The Acacia Confusa thread' The Acacia Confusa thread
TAKE 2
Phyllodes were collected from a vigorous, bushy young tree about 8-10 meters high, growing on a sunny ridge overlooking the city sprawl below. It was mid-afternoon on a sunny day as I pushed my way through the head-high grass with my dog. I don't know about any of this spiritual stuff, so I cleared out a space in the shade beneath the tree, opened my knapsack and cracked the first of 4 brews. My dog lay down next to me. By the middle of the third brew, the timing felt right and I got to picking. I didn't break any branches, just picked the stems running along them. After I filled my knapsack, I took a nap.
The phyllodes were air dried for a few days before being dried out in a convection oven in small batches at 100°C, for 60 minutes. Instead of being ground into a powder, which was somewhat difficult to work with and strain, the phyllodes were crushed up by hand and separated from the twigs. In this, I differed from my first extraction, where the phyllodes were ground down to a fine powder.
156.8 grams of phyllodes were placed in a pot and covered with filtered water brought down to a pH of 3.5 with rice vinegar. I had to add more water and vinegar within the first 15 minutes since the dried leaves absorbed so much of it. This was simmered for 1.5 hours; the tea was then strained into a jar and the process repeated two more times.
The three teas were then combined and simmered down to ~550ml. The resulting tea was brown with orange highlights and had an oily film floating across the surface, with lots of silt that could not be filtered through a coffee filter. It occured to me to do an initial defat with naphtha or toluene, but I didn't wind up doing this. Maybe next time.
36g of salt was added to ~130ml of boiling water; this was then added to the tea.
150g of lye was added to 300ml of water, then added to the salted tea, turning it black.
Two days later, 5 naphtha pulls using a heat bath were done. The naphtha was a golden yellow with a slight green hue. On cooling, greenish particles precipitated.
Toluene was then added to draw out whatever might be left; 1/4 of it immediately turned into an indistinct brownish emulsion. After the toluene was pulled, another amount of toluene was added and pulled, then combined with the first toluene pull. Upon evaporation, 43mg of orange resin was left behind. Smoking produced a slight rush not unlike Anadenanthera perigrina, which subsided in mere seconds. This was followed by absolutely nothing.
After pulling out the thick, oily emulsion caused by the toluene, another amount of toluene was added. This evaporated down to 99mg of orange resin which had mild somatic and psychological activity – a +1 (at most) on the Shulgin scale.
The naphtha pulls were evaporated down to a greenish-black resin that weighed only 764mg. Correct my math if I'm wrong, but I believe that to be a yield of .487%.
25mg of this naphtha-derived resin was loaded into The Machine and smoked. No effects were felt, so more resin was eye-balled and loaded into The Machine. After a huge, smoky hit, only mild pressure around the eyes was felt. Once I laid down and closed my eyes, some dream-like CEVs were seen.
In an attempt to separate the wheat from the shaff, 747mg of the greenish-black resin was dissolved in 26ml of naphtha, warmed by a heat bath. After sitting for 30 minutes, a lot of grayish-green particles precipitated. The orange-green naphtha was poured into a freezer dish, leaving the particulate matter behind. The freezer dish was left in the refrigerator for a few hours before bing transferred to the freezer.
After a day in the freezer, the dish was pulled out. There were NO crystals, so the naphtha was set outside to evaporate for a few hours before being put back into the freezer for two days. Some crystals formed, and some of the naphtha was poured off – but not all. Blowing on the naphtha caused white clouds to form. Rather than pour off unprecipitated product, the naphtha was set outside to evaporate.
A waxy, slightly sticky residue resulted. A large, booger-sized portion weighed in at only 13mg. It tasted like spice, but produced no effects.
A few days later, around 50mg of the snot-like/booger material was loaded up into The Machine and smoked. The 15-20 minute bodyload was a +2 on the Shulgin scale – similar in strength to smoking good Cannabis; the visuals were quite mild: a +1. I think that had the experiment been carried out after dark, the visuals would have been slightly improved.
A bit disappointing for all the work involved, but the experience may have yielded some insight on what type of tree to look for. I plan to use a UV light next time to corroborate my hunch.
My first experience with A. confusa phyllodes is here, if you're interested:
Post in thread 'The Acacia Confusa thread' The Acacia Confusa thread
TAKE 2
Phyllodes were collected from a vigorous, bushy young tree about 8-10 meters high, growing on a sunny ridge overlooking the city sprawl below. It was mid-afternoon on a sunny day as I pushed my way through the head-high grass with my dog. I don't know about any of this spiritual stuff, so I cleared out a space in the shade beneath the tree, opened my knapsack and cracked the first of 4 brews. My dog lay down next to me. By the middle of the third brew, the timing felt right and I got to picking. I didn't break any branches, just picked the stems running along them. After I filled my knapsack, I took a nap.
The phyllodes were air dried for a few days before being dried out in a convection oven in small batches at 100°C, for 60 minutes. Instead of being ground into a powder, which was somewhat difficult to work with and strain, the phyllodes were crushed up by hand and separated from the twigs. In this, I differed from my first extraction, where the phyllodes were ground down to a fine powder.
156.8 grams of phyllodes were placed in a pot and covered with filtered water brought down to a pH of 3.5 with rice vinegar. I had to add more water and vinegar within the first 15 minutes since the dried leaves absorbed so much of it. This was simmered for 1.5 hours; the tea was then strained into a jar and the process repeated two more times.
The three teas were then combined and simmered down to ~550ml. The resulting tea was brown with orange highlights and had an oily film floating across the surface, with lots of silt that could not be filtered through a coffee filter. It occured to me to do an initial defat with naphtha or toluene, but I didn't wind up doing this. Maybe next time.
36g of salt was added to ~130ml of boiling water; this was then added to the tea.
150g of lye was added to 300ml of water, then added to the salted tea, turning it black.
Two days later, 5 naphtha pulls using a heat bath were done. The naphtha was a golden yellow with a slight green hue. On cooling, greenish particles precipitated.
Toluene was then added to draw out whatever might be left; 1/4 of it immediately turned into an indistinct brownish emulsion. After the toluene was pulled, another amount of toluene was added and pulled, then combined with the first toluene pull. Upon evaporation, 43mg of orange resin was left behind. Smoking produced a slight rush not unlike Anadenanthera perigrina, which subsided in mere seconds. This was followed by absolutely nothing.
After pulling out the thick, oily emulsion caused by the toluene, another amount of toluene was added. This evaporated down to 99mg of orange resin which had mild somatic and psychological activity – a +1 (at most) on the Shulgin scale.
The naphtha pulls were evaporated down to a greenish-black resin that weighed only 764mg. Correct my math if I'm wrong, but I believe that to be a yield of .487%.
25mg of this naphtha-derived resin was loaded into The Machine and smoked. No effects were felt, so more resin was eye-balled and loaded into The Machine. After a huge, smoky hit, only mild pressure around the eyes was felt. Once I laid down and closed my eyes, some dream-like CEVs were seen.
In an attempt to separate the wheat from the shaff, 747mg of the greenish-black resin was dissolved in 26ml of naphtha, warmed by a heat bath. After sitting for 30 minutes, a lot of grayish-green particles precipitated. The orange-green naphtha was poured into a freezer dish, leaving the particulate matter behind. The freezer dish was left in the refrigerator for a few hours before bing transferred to the freezer.
After a day in the freezer, the dish was pulled out. There were NO crystals, so the naphtha was set outside to evaporate for a few hours before being put back into the freezer for two days. Some crystals formed, and some of the naphtha was poured off – but not all. Blowing on the naphtha caused white clouds to form. Rather than pour off unprecipitated product, the naphtha was set outside to evaporate.
A waxy, slightly sticky residue resulted. A large, booger-sized portion weighed in at only 13mg. It tasted like spice, but produced no effects.
A few days later, around 50mg of the snot-like/booger material was loaded up into The Machine and smoked. The 15-20 minute bodyload was a +2 on the Shulgin scale – similar in strength to smoking good Cannabis; the visuals were quite mild: a +1. I think that had the experiment been carried out after dark, the visuals would have been slightly improved.
A bit disappointing for all the work involved, but the experience may have yielded some insight on what type of tree to look for. I plan to use a UV light next time to corroborate my hunch.
