Hi all,
I have been a lurker here for a few years. I first became interested in entheogenic experience when I was around 15 and ate morning glory seeds. I read and learned all I could about entheogens online.
I bought some Bolivian Torch seeds about five years ago and I have about 10-15 big ones now. I have been slowly processing them in a friends food dehydrator as they get big enough and storing the dried chips until we have enough for extraction. That day finally came recently and I have some insight to share regarding 69Ron's extraction technique.
First point is LIME QUALITY:
I purchased a bag of Mrs. Wages Pickling Lime about a year ago for this extraction..
Recently I have coincidentally started working with lime plasters (I do traditional restoration and renovation services). To make a strong chemical bond with your wall, you must "slake" the lime for a good while, at least a couple weeks, to ensure the hydroxide has thoroughly reacted with the water. So for my work, it is necessary to always have a relatively aged lime putty stored on hand.
I then made a huge logical leap that the longer one "slakes," or soaks, the dry Calcium Hydroxide with water, the more thorough the cactus will be alkalized and its cell walls broken down.
If you've ever gotten wet CaOH on your hands before, you know how fast that stuff will dissolve your skin. CaCO3 is just chalk, and has no caustic effect.
As with the dry "Pickling Lime," the longer it sits in that bag and/or is exposed to air, the more it will revert to its original Calcium Carbonate, which I ASSUME will be less effective at alkalizing, and "breaking down" the cactus. Correct me if I'm wrong, but why else would the tek specifically mention Calcium HYDROXIDE as opposed to carbonate?
I have very little knowledge chemistry, but I assume that this caustic effect is a key in making the cactus "give up the goods" to the limonene.
Sorry about the wall of text
TL;DR
I, an amateur traditional lime plasterer who coincidentally has a huge quantity of AGED, SLAKED (soaked) CALCIUM HYDROXIDE PUTTY. I have concluded that the longer one slakes the dry hydrate beforehand, the more alkalizing/breaking down effect it will have on the cactus. For those of you using pickling lime, I recommend mixing it with water ASAP into a STIFF PUTTY, and covering with a thin layer of water until you are ready to mix with the cactus powder.
I decided to use non food grade, yet higher quality lime in hopes of a better extraction of goods, and I am on my third pull of 86 grams of dried powder. It seems like pretty active stuff so far.
NEXT STEP: BASIFYING THE CACTUS POWDER
I have heard many accounts of people mixing their alkalized cactus/lime mix with the limonene, only to get to filtering and the mix will not separate from the limonene.
I believe the consensus is that the more water in your mix, the less easy will separation be.
So I recommend HYDRATING your "pickling lime" or what have you into a STIFF PUTTY, as long in advance as possible, which you then "cut" into the cactus powder like shortening into biscuit dough.
This is the same ancient process as making lime plaster and mortar, where the goal is to coat the particles of sand with the lime putty. If you add the putty to WET sand, or add excess water to the lime/sand mix, the lime will not adhere to the grains of sand and your the resulting chemical reaction will be weak.
Therefore, cut the putty into your cactus powder, until all the grains are coated with lime putty, then add water, a teaspoon at a time until you get it just wet enough to form a doughey mass.
FILTERING YOUR LIMONENE/CACTUS/LIME MIX:
I used a french press as recommended, and took the lid off of the main "piston" so I could really ram the filter into the mix.
What I found after really squeezing everything out, was that the last stuff to come out was this oily, fatty looking crap that WILL contaminate your acid pulls with a kind of emulsion.
My recommendation is to avoid decanting this fatty looking stuff into your clean limonene.
Decant just enough of the "clean" looking limonene before the fatty stuff starts to come out.
If you cant help it, just take a pipette or Buchner funnel or gravy separator and separate the limonene from the "gunk."
I tried doing an acid pull on the limonene/gunk mixture and it created a horrible, inseparable, bubbly, reddish tinted emulsion.
PIPETTE and PUMP:
My partner is working in a lab at school and knew about a tool called a pipette pump which is a tapered glass tube with a detachable plastic piston pump. This was very helpful in separating our acid/limonene.
That is all I have for now. Please leave insights and feedback!
I have been a lurker here for a few years. I first became interested in entheogenic experience when I was around 15 and ate morning glory seeds. I read and learned all I could about entheogens online.
I bought some Bolivian Torch seeds about five years ago and I have about 10-15 big ones now. I have been slowly processing them in a friends food dehydrator as they get big enough and storing the dried chips until we have enough for extraction. That day finally came recently and I have some insight to share regarding 69Ron's extraction technique.
First point is LIME QUALITY:
I purchased a bag of Mrs. Wages Pickling Lime about a year ago for this extraction..
Recently I have coincidentally started working with lime plasters (I do traditional restoration and renovation services). To make a strong chemical bond with your wall, you must "slake" the lime for a good while, at least a couple weeks, to ensure the hydroxide has thoroughly reacted with the water. So for my work, it is necessary to always have a relatively aged lime putty stored on hand.
I then made a huge logical leap that the longer one "slakes," or soaks, the dry Calcium Hydroxide with water, the more thorough the cactus will be alkalized and its cell walls broken down.
If you've ever gotten wet CaOH on your hands before, you know how fast that stuff will dissolve your skin. CaCO3 is just chalk, and has no caustic effect.
As with the dry "Pickling Lime," the longer it sits in that bag and/or is exposed to air, the more it will revert to its original Calcium Carbonate, which I ASSUME will be less effective at alkalizing, and "breaking down" the cactus. Correct me if I'm wrong, but why else would the tek specifically mention Calcium HYDROXIDE as opposed to carbonate?
I have very little knowledge chemistry, but I assume that this caustic effect is a key in making the cactus "give up the goods" to the limonene.
Sorry about the wall of text
TL;DR
I, an amateur traditional lime plasterer who coincidentally has a huge quantity of AGED, SLAKED (soaked) CALCIUM HYDROXIDE PUTTY. I have concluded that the longer one slakes the dry hydrate beforehand, the more alkalizing/breaking down effect it will have on the cactus. For those of you using pickling lime, I recommend mixing it with water ASAP into a STIFF PUTTY, and covering with a thin layer of water until you are ready to mix with the cactus powder.
I decided to use non food grade, yet higher quality lime in hopes of a better extraction of goods, and I am on my third pull of 86 grams of dried powder. It seems like pretty active stuff so far.
NEXT STEP: BASIFYING THE CACTUS POWDER
I have heard many accounts of people mixing their alkalized cactus/lime mix with the limonene, only to get to filtering and the mix will not separate from the limonene.
I believe the consensus is that the more water in your mix, the less easy will separation be.
So I recommend HYDRATING your "pickling lime" or what have you into a STIFF PUTTY, as long in advance as possible, which you then "cut" into the cactus powder like shortening into biscuit dough.
This is the same ancient process as making lime plaster and mortar, where the goal is to coat the particles of sand with the lime putty. If you add the putty to WET sand, or add excess water to the lime/sand mix, the lime will not adhere to the grains of sand and your the resulting chemical reaction will be weak.
Therefore, cut the putty into your cactus powder, until all the grains are coated with lime putty, then add water, a teaspoon at a time until you get it just wet enough to form a doughey mass.
FILTERING YOUR LIMONENE/CACTUS/LIME MIX:
I used a french press as recommended, and took the lid off of the main "piston" so I could really ram the filter into the mix.
What I found after really squeezing everything out, was that the last stuff to come out was this oily, fatty looking crap that WILL contaminate your acid pulls with a kind of emulsion.
My recommendation is to avoid decanting this fatty looking stuff into your clean limonene.
Decant just enough of the "clean" looking limonene before the fatty stuff starts to come out.
If you cant help it, just take a pipette or Buchner funnel or gravy separator and separate the limonene from the "gunk."
I tried doing an acid pull on the limonene/gunk mixture and it created a horrible, inseparable, bubbly, reddish tinted emulsion.
PIPETTE and PUMP:
My partner is working in a lab at school and knew about a tool called a pipette pump which is a tapered glass tube with a detachable plastic piston pump. This was very helpful in separating our acid/limonene.
That is all I have for now. Please leave insights and feedback!
