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Active residue from changa - What should I do?

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Säure

Säure

Rising Star
Making changa seems to have some secret I am not able to get to. Since the first batch I did, a sticky yellowish residue has always appeared on the container where I do the process. Also, it seems to be way less potent than other changas I tried with th same DMT:HERBS:HARMALAS ratio.

The first time I used IPA, and I thought that it should be the undissolved harmala portion, but it seemed a lot for the little ammount of harmalas I used. So I decided to try it, to see if it was active. I scraped it, let it dry, and smoked it on my changa bong. I noticed that it was REALLY active, so I began to worry.

I decided to use a better solvent for harmalas, so I used ethanol, and made another batch. The residue appeared, and it was also active. I decided then to only use one herb at a time, since I read a post which claimed mixes to not distribute the goodies optimally, compared to single-herb batches.

I used ethanol to make another batch, and only one herb, mullein in this case. The residue was there. Tested it, and it was also active. As I thought it was a solvent problem, I decided to give methanol a try, as it would discard the undissolved harmala hipothesis (but could not explain the spice-like portion of the residue effects). I did not want to waste spice if it did not work OK, so I did make the smaller batch of all. The harmalas dissolved completely, the methanol evapped clean... But there it was, the residue. And this time there way much more residue than any other time.

Batches info:

1- Caapi leaves 40% + Peppermint 35% + Mullein 25% + 1 drop of lavender essential oil
(1:1:1/3) (DMT:HERBS:HARMALAS) - Used 99.8% IPA. Used 0,5g of DMT

2- Caapi leaves 25% + Calea 40% + Mullein 25% + Lavender 10% + 2 drops of lavender essential oil
(1:1:1/3) (DMT:HERBS:HARMALAS) - Used 99.8% IPA. Used 0,352g of DMT

3- Mullein 100% + 1 drop of lavender essential oil
(1:1:1/3) (DMT:HERBS:HARMALAS) - Used +-99% EtOH. Used 0,39g of DMT

4- Mullein 100% + 1 drop of lavender essential oil
(1:1:1/3) (DMT:HERBS:HARMALAS) - Used +-99% MeOH. Used 0,25g of DMT

I discarded the solvent hypothesis, and now, I have some new hyphotesis.

First one, the purity of the spice. I used always not-recrystalized spice for changa, so I plan to re-x all the spice left in order to get rid of this variable.

Second one, plant oils. This is what I think is less probable, as it can't explai why the residue is active.

Third one, is something I read from a post two days ago:

pitubo said:
Mechanical losses: some of the dmt sticks to the vessel you mixed the dissolved dmt and herb material in. losing 0.05 gram is not much and could easily be what is left stuck on the surface of the vessel.
Click to expand...

The next time I prepare a batch, I plan to use only one herb (most likely caapi or mullein). Also, I will re-x all the spice left until its white clean fluffy crystal. I purified the harmalas as well.

Having into acount pitubo's post, I should make bigger batches, but first, I want to be sure that all other possible variables are under control, and then, how much bigger should I make the new batch.

I don't know if it might make any difference, but I have always used petri dishes. Should I use something taller and narrower?

Thank you all.
 
Great topic.

My friend has noticed this residue as well when making changa. He scraped it up, redissolved it in solvent (IPA both times), and allowed it to evap over the herbs again. After the second evap there was still a small amount of residue left, but it was negligible.

Looking forward to seeing if others have had this same problem or found ways around it.
 
I have run into the same issue.
I have not made changa again to try this out, but I have a theory.

Maybe perfect saturation of the herbs is key. Using mullein, try dissolving your actives in the very least amount of solvent possible, & carefully dripping it onto mullein until while it soaks up like a sponge. Do not let the mullein absorb enough solvent to be sopping wet, just enough that it appears wet while not leaving much liquid when pulled across a pyrex dish.

This may be a little more difficult than it seems but more experimentation is needed.
Next batch of changa I make I will have to take the time to toy with it a little bit.
 
Don't use all the herb and all the solvent, keep some apart.

When most of the solvent has evaporated, a layer of active residue will almost inevitably have deposited on the walls of the evaporation vessel.

First use a spatula or a butter knife to wipe the walls of the vessel with some of the, still solvent wetted, enhanced herb. This will scrape off most, but not all, of the residue.

Then wet half of the spare herb with some fresh solvent and wipe the remaining traces of active residue off the walls. Put this herb with the rest of the herb at the bottom of the vessel and stir a bit.

Let the solvent evaporate nearly completely and dump the enriched herb onto a dish. Add the remaining bits of fresh herb and just enough solvent to wet the herbs to the emptied evaporation vessel and scrape up the active residue from the bottom. Add this to the rest of the herb on the dish and let the last bits of solvent evaporate. Don't mix it too eagerly or you'll coat the dish with active residue.

When the enriched herbs look dry and no longer wet with solvent, it should be safe to put the dish in an electric oven that has been pre-heated to 100 degrees celcius. Turn off the oven and bake of the last bits of solvent in the oven with the oven door slightly ajar. This will remove most of the solvent smell.

Let the dish stand for an additional hour in a well ventilated but dust-free place to remove the last traces of solvent.
 
Thank you guys for replying.

I have just finished to re-x my spice, and in some days I plan to make a new batch of changa. I will proceed as stated on the OP, and I will implement to the procedure all your tips.

I will post results as soon as I have them!
 
Intezam said:
why not try acetone?
Click to expand...

Acetone is a poor solvent for harmalas. I have noticed it seems to leave harmalas unevenly distrubuted or just kind of sitting on the outside of the herbs.
A better solvent for harmalas should leave I evenly dispersed throughout the plant matter much better but the usual solvents do not play well with harmalas.
 
Intezam said:
why not try acetone?
Click to expand...

Acetone is a poor solvent for harmalas. I have noticed it seems to leave harmalas unevenly distrubuted or just kind of sitting on the outside of the herbs.
A better solvent for harmalas should leave It evenly dispersed throughout the plant matter much better but the usual solvents do not play well with harmalas.
 
The new batch has been made, it was also a 1:1:1/3 blend, consisting of caapi leaves without any stems, double re-xed spice, and the cleanest batch of harmalas I had around there.

I proceeded as said on the previous post. Used methanol, a taller and thinner vessel, let it stay without evapping during a night, by covering the vessel with aluminium foil, and then let it evap slowly, stirring it a bit every few hours. I used the trick pitubo suggested, and it has been a complete success. Really, I thank you a lot for the advice. There was only a loss of 10-20mg of the expected weight, which is the most succesful enhancement I've ever done. It smells REALLY good, and the taste is also heavenly. No harshness at all, one of the most pleasant smoalking experiences I've ever had.

There has been only one downside. It gave me the same sub-breaktrought effects that the previous batches gave. At first, it seemed that it was going to be a blastoff, but it got down really fast.

I'm starting to thing that my bong is the main culprit, it is 22cm or so, but it is really thin, so maybe there is only room for 1/3-1/4 of the total vapour, which means that it can't be done in a hit. Also, I am not used to smoke, so holding all the hits and do them fast is almost impossible for me, with the addition that I "fear" it, don't really know why.

I've thought that maybe using a wider bong could clarify things, as I am a bit paranoid that maybe some naphtha condensed on the plastic wrap in the freeze-precip stage of the extraction, then fell on the rest of the naphtha, and some plastifyiers ended up in the spice. It's a suposition, only based on the fact that the spice seemed not to form needle like crystals, but a layer of constant density no taller than 0,05mm, covering almost all the bottom of the glass dish.

It could also be due to the fact that there was a lot of spice for a very little ammount of naphtha, and then the crystals had not enough room to form? I don't really know. Now, I have a changa batch that seems "perfect", but I don't feel it as this... Or maybe I'm overthinking, and the method/means of smoalking it is what causes the problem? Any feedback would be really helpful! Thank you all for your replies!
 
A bit late in the race:) but my friend found that dissolving the harmalas ( ethanol) and spice ( acetone) separately, and then evaping into the leaf first the harmalas and then the spice - was the most efficient.
In general, residues can be redissolved and evaped again.
My other friend found out that not mixing the herbs while soaking left less residues.
 
i find that the more "fancy" i get with my blends, the more residue/oils are left deposited on the edges of whatever container/bowl/dish i evap in. the more herbs (lavender, caapi, lemon balm, mugwort, etc) included in the formula, the greater the oily buildup. i found this to be the case with infused IPA as well - those oils remain in the IPA and they do not evap of course.

i have found that mullein has little or no residue. i make a basic changa with ONLY IPA, spice and mullein. then i blend that mixture with others to create something really nice.

Monomind has it right: make several batches with different ingredients and then combine them, taking note of ratios so that you know how much of what is in everything.

this way, if there is a residue from just the infused herbs, at least you know you are not wasting any spice included in that sticky mess on the sides of the container.

IPA, spice and mullein, i should say, is also an incredibly nice blend to vape; mullein is the most "spongey" herb i have found and it absorbs and distributes very evenly and cleanly. very reliable dosing.

cheers!
 
First of all, thank you all for your replies. At the end, it seemed that the problem was the bong size, using a wider bong with this changa allowed breakthrough at doses between 75-100mg. Using pitubo's technique, no more residue has been left after finishing any of the batches done after the one I talked about in the previous post.

Again, thank you all for your replies and advice!
 
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