Intro from the Highlands

[MtHighlands]

Hello friends and fellow travelers.

I’ve had an account for several years and have found the forums to be an extremely valuable source of knowledge and insight. I’ve started this psychedelics journey later in life, in search of a method to short circuit negative thought loops. I needed a tool to smash through repetitive patterns that were not serving me. I’ve made some progress along the way, but I’m still trying to understand what impact these experiences have had. It’s quite difficult to quantify.

In any case, the extractions and grows have made for a rewarding hobby. I’ve really enjoyed the flow state I get when studying the nitty-gritty details of a TEK. The psychedelic rabbit whole has also led me meditation and breath work communities, which I’ve found of great benefit.

I wish our society and culture were more open to the point I could share this interest with more folks. The tide is turning, however and we are seeing very encouraging signs as far as legislation goes.

I would like to see more research of psychedelics on ‘healthy normals’. I think there could be tremendous benefits to end of life care givers in addition to patients in palliative care. A close friend recently told me that her memories of a San Pedro trip were the only thing that held her together and gave her strength when she was taking care of her mom dying of cancer. Her mom was dying for months on end and when I saw the women it freaked me out, she literally looked like a Walker from The Walking Dead. I don’t know how my friend had the psychological stability to stick through it without breaking apart. The way she described it, it was as if this divine experience of oneness from the cactus was a sort of spiritual fuel even years after the trip.

The media was once filled with stories of drugs destabilizing people, which may be the case, sometimes. But it’s also quiet possible to have an anchoring effect, even from the memory of a trip, years later.

I’m not a chemist or anything so I won’t be able to create new TEKs for the community as others have but I hope to be able to post results, questions and praise for others who have helped.

Thanks for consideration!

 

[downwardsfromzero]

Hi there, nice to see you return here!

How have things been going for you? Did you do anything more with caapi or San Pedro?

I'm feeling cautiously optimistic about the turning of the tide regarding psychedelics. It would be good to see that attitude spread through Europe at a legislative level. It's true that mescaline/San Pedro is a special kind of medicine. There is a mescaline medical trial under way in Switzerland at the moment, it seems.

Really, I look forward to being able to used sacred plants without even a hint of a feeling of potential for persecution.

 

[MtHighlands]

Hi DFZ! Yeah, lots of fun projects that last couple years. A few DMT extractions, San Pedro teas, and lots of mushroom grows, those have been the most rewarding. I really haven’t had much success as far as the MOAI extracts goes. Maybe I should just try a simple rue tek or something.

Some of my Pedros matured recently so I was going to try a Mescaline TEK. I’ve got really excited when I saw the CIELO ethyl acetate tek you were posting in recently. Looks super easy and I’ve been able to collect everything over the counter, which is always nice. Hopefully this weekend I can give it a whirl. Just wish I could post over in that thread. Hopefully I could be promoted soon Any suggestions on that tek for a noob? Or mescaline extraction in general?

I would be really curious to see what kind of discoveries are made from the mescaline trials. It seems understudied at this point.

Ditto on you your wish to be free from persecution. I just read about some bill in the US house to decriminalize drug possession. Probably won’t go anywhere for a while but it’s a positive sign.

 

[downwardsfromzero]

The main thing with rue extractions is to use whole seeds - do not grind the seeds! Lately I've rather enjoyed simple rue brews using toasted whole seeds and a twelve-hour soak with freshly boiled distilled water. This gives a lovely clear brew with a taste one can become accustomed to. If I wanted a quicker brew I would probably grind the seeds and use some kind of filter arrangement.

Seeing as you've collected the materials for an ethyl acetate cactus extraction, I'd say go for it. Just follow the instructions on the wiki to the letter, with chilled ethyl acetate. First things first, you'll have to prepare your cactus. There's good reason to think that some period of storage in a cool, dark place will boost the alkaloid content. After that you'll have to slice, dehydrate, then powder them if you want to follow the CIELO tek to the letter. One of these days I'll see if it works with fresh cactus, however.

 

[MtHighlands]

The main thing with rue extractions is to use whole seeds - do not grind the seeds! Lately I've rather enjoyed simple rue brews using toasted whole seeds and a twelve-hour soak with freshly boiled distilled water. This gives a lovely clear brew with a taste one can become accustomed to. If I wanted a quicker brew I would probably grind the seeds and use some kind of filter arrangement.

Seeing as you've collected the materials for an ethyl acetate cactus extraction, I'd say go for it. Just follow the instructions on the wiki to the letter, with chilled ethyl acetate. First things first, you'll have to prepare your cactus. There's good reason to think that some period of storage in a cool, dark place will boost the alkaloid content. After that you'll have to slice, dehydrate, then powder them if you want to follow the CIELO tek to the letter. One of these days I'll see if it works with fresh cactus, however.

I need to read up more on this strategy of allowing the cactus to rest in the dark after harvest. That’s the second time I’ve heard it boosts the alkaloid content. I would be curious to see some data on it. Must be some sort of hormetic response. Too late for me this iteration. My cuttings are dehydrated and ready to go, just need to find a French press. This should be fun.

When you prep your dried cactus to you despine and deskin it? Takes forever. I guess I’m used to doing it for tea but seems unnecessary for an extraction.

 

[downwardsfromzero]

I would say de-spining and skinning is best done with fresh cactus. You can just powder what you've got and have to accept that a tiny bit more plant wax will end up in the product from the outer cuticle. I've never tried skinning a dried cactus (making my comment somewhat null and void) although I have successfully despined dried cactus using a blowtorch - the same as I do with fresh cactus. You just have to be careful not to set the rest of the cactus on fire! The waxy cuticle can burn rather like a candle (unsurprisingly?).

The potentiation from dark storage is conjectured to be a part of the CAM photosynthesis in these kinds of plants. Carbon dioxide is only assimilated during the dark phase in order to minimise transpirational losses through the open pore, which is where the CO2 gets in. CO2 is then chemically combined into malic acid and the cactus produces alkaloids in order to keep the pH within a vital range. Miraculously, somehow one of those alkaloids is the rather wonderful mescaline. While DMT can clearly be seen to be a precursor of the auxin hormone indoleacetic acid, I don't know if the corresponding assumed breakdown product of mescaline, 3,4,5-trimethoxyphenylacetic acid, serves a similar function.

 

[MtHighlands]

I would say de-spining and skinning is best done with fresh cactus. You can just powder what you've got and have to accept that a tiny bit more plant wax will end up in the product from the outer cuticle. I've never tried skinning a dried cactus (making my comment somewhat null and void) although I have successfully despined dried cactus using a blowtorch - the same as I do with fresh cactus. You just have to be careful not to set the rest of the cactus on fire! The waxy cuticle can burn rather like a candle (unsurprisingly?).

The potentiation from dark storage is conjectured to be a part of the CAM photosynthesis in these kinds of plants. Carbon dioxide is only assimilated during the dark phase in order to minimise transpirational losses through the open pore, which is where the CO2 gets in. CO2 is then chemically combined into malic acid and the cactus produces alkaloids in order to keep the pH within a vital range. Miraculously, somehow one of those alkaloids is the rather wonderful mescaline. While DMT can clearly be seen to be a precursor of the auxin hormone indoleacetic acid, I don't know if the corresponding assumed breakdown product of mescaline, 3,4,5-trimethoxyphenylacetic acid, serves a similar function.

This time around I despined and skinned a couple fresh cuttings, then sliced and dehydrated. I’m getting better at the skinning but I’m hoping it can just be skipped.

For, next time any thoughts on the optimal dark resting period for the cuttings?