A big thanks to 69Ron for his limonene cactus tek, this tek being simply an adaptation for extracting iboga alkaloids. Thus I’m not really doing anything new, but as far as I can tell, this limonene tek has not been tested on Iboga before. When dealing with iboga I feel performing an alkaloid extraction may be advantageous for reasons I shall explain. I found this tek to be both non-toxic and incredibly simple to perform.
For a flood dose, one will need to perform an extraction of 25g of iboga root bark. It will need to be powdered prior to the extraction if not already in that firm.
As a tester, 5g of finely powdered Cameroon iboga root bark was purchased off the website of a well-known Dutch ethnobotanical vendor.
1. The root bark powder was put in a small glass bowl and 1.5g of calcium hydroxide and 18ml of water were added. The mixture was stirred thoroughly with a whisk and left to sit for 5 minutes.
2. Following this 20ml of limonene was added, and the mixture was again whisked thoroughly, and left to sit overnight. This may not be necessary; I just wasn’t in any particular rush; a longer soaking time, with occasional mixing, may make for a more efficient extraction. Longer subsequent soaks may pull more alkaloids out of the root bark.
3. After the overnight soak, the limonene, which should appear slightly cloudy, is poured off. No filter was required at any point, making this tek even simpler than the cactus tek. 2ml of distilled vinegar was added to the limonene, and the mixture shaken thoroughly in a jar, left to sit and shaken again several times. The vinegar should quickly turn a dark rusty brown colour. This step should be repeated again twice.
4. This is then separated via a pipette (I use a glass turkey baster and a disposable pipette). I then evaporate the vinegar using a heat mat (the kind used for reptiles) and an electric fan, which works well. This rapidly produced a thin layer of brown resin.
Steps 2 – 4 should be repeated 3 times. You may want to allow more time for the later limonene soaks.
This should yield an active and potent iboga alkaloid extract. It may be that this extract is more potent gram for gram than that produced by any other methods currently used. From the 5g of root bark, 318mg of extract was produced (6.36% by weight). iboga alkaloid content can vary from 1–6%, so this can be considered to be a potent extract by weight. A tiny quantity was tasted, which was both incredibly bitter and numbing to the mouth; a good sign. Obviously for larger quantities of iboga, the quantities of required chemicals can be increased accordingly. However this tek seems to be a simple and efficient use of limonene which is expensive in the UK. For example, 500ml of limonene is more than sufficient extract 50g of iboga root bark. Depending on the quality, this should be sufficient for 2 flood doses, and more for sensitive individuals.
This extract was consumed in a ‘00’ capsule one morning on an empty stomach. No more than 5g worth of extract should be taken in one go. It is wise to stagger taking doses of extract, so the transition is smooth on your system. The experience was both pronounced and subtle at the same time. The onset is gradual...one begins to feel a not-unpleasant, slightly sedated, drunk feeling, giving way to a feeling of being “comfortably numb”. No euphoria, but one feels content, tranquil. I didn’t have a desire for food until around mid-afternoon. When walking there is just the faintest hint of dizziness. It is fine, but with an increase in dosage I can imagine a sofa or bed being a necessity.
In the evening, after eating, I got strong tracers which I noticed on both previous encounters with iboga. This may be something to do with the brain being flooded with dopamine after eating, or the ibogaine being converted into noribogaine. This effect is noticeable and interesting. A little cannabis was smoked in the evening, which enhanced feelings of contentment and relaxation. Some repetitive shamanic drumming was listened to prior to sleep which increased feelings of peace and stillness. I awoke in the morning refreshed.
While unprocessed root bark is great for micro dosing and booster doses, when dealing with large quantities of iboga, based on my prior experiences, I believe performing an alkaloid extraction to be beneficial. My initiation was with methanol alkaloid extract, equivalent to 25g of root bark. This is the basis for my prior experience report and something I consider an incredible life experience.
My second experience was with 14g of root bark. This experience, surprisingly perhaps, was much more physically and psychologically intense than my initiation. While this dose was visionary, it never reached the depths of the initiation dose, to the realm of visual thought where I could converse with the iboga and be answered in thought holograms. I also had a high temperature at one stage like a fever and it felt much harder on my body than the crystalline experience of the extract, and also felt less clear than my initiation experience. Thus I feel performing an extraction leaves some nasties in the wood, or maybe our bodies are simply not designed to handle wood.
Around 50% of the alkaloids will be ibogaine, but the other alkaloids are synergistic with the ibogaine. They deepen, prolong and smooth the visionary and healing aspects of the experience, and are therefore worth including.
* A further optional purification step is rinsing the extract with Methyl Ethyl Ketone (MEK) a few times to produce a more refined extract. This is an unnecessary step, with the extract being fine to consume as it is, and MEK is not a food safe chemical.
For a flood dose, one will need to perform an extraction of 25g of iboga root bark. It will need to be powdered prior to the extraction if not already in that firm.
As a tester, 5g of finely powdered Cameroon iboga root bark was purchased off the website of a well-known Dutch ethnobotanical vendor.
1. The root bark powder was put in a small glass bowl and 1.5g of calcium hydroxide and 18ml of water were added. The mixture was stirred thoroughly with a whisk and left to sit for 5 minutes.
2. Following this 20ml of limonene was added, and the mixture was again whisked thoroughly, and left to sit overnight. This may not be necessary; I just wasn’t in any particular rush; a longer soaking time, with occasional mixing, may make for a more efficient extraction. Longer subsequent soaks may pull more alkaloids out of the root bark.
3. After the overnight soak, the limonene, which should appear slightly cloudy, is poured off. No filter was required at any point, making this tek even simpler than the cactus tek. 2ml of distilled vinegar was added to the limonene, and the mixture shaken thoroughly in a jar, left to sit and shaken again several times. The vinegar should quickly turn a dark rusty brown colour. This step should be repeated again twice.
4. This is then separated via a pipette (I use a glass turkey baster and a disposable pipette). I then evaporate the vinegar using a heat mat (the kind used for reptiles) and an electric fan, which works well. This rapidly produced a thin layer of brown resin.
Steps 2 – 4 should be repeated 3 times. You may want to allow more time for the later limonene soaks.
This should yield an active and potent iboga alkaloid extract. It may be that this extract is more potent gram for gram than that produced by any other methods currently used. From the 5g of root bark, 318mg of extract was produced (6.36% by weight). iboga alkaloid content can vary from 1–6%, so this can be considered to be a potent extract by weight. A tiny quantity was tasted, which was both incredibly bitter and numbing to the mouth; a good sign. Obviously for larger quantities of iboga, the quantities of required chemicals can be increased accordingly. However this tek seems to be a simple and efficient use of limonene which is expensive in the UK. For example, 500ml of limonene is more than sufficient extract 50g of iboga root bark. Depending on the quality, this should be sufficient for 2 flood doses, and more for sensitive individuals.
This extract was consumed in a ‘00’ capsule one morning on an empty stomach. No more than 5g worth of extract should be taken in one go. It is wise to stagger taking doses of extract, so the transition is smooth on your system. The experience was both pronounced and subtle at the same time. The onset is gradual...one begins to feel a not-unpleasant, slightly sedated, drunk feeling, giving way to a feeling of being “comfortably numb”. No euphoria, but one feels content, tranquil. I didn’t have a desire for food until around mid-afternoon. When walking there is just the faintest hint of dizziness. It is fine, but with an increase in dosage I can imagine a sofa or bed being a necessity.
In the evening, after eating, I got strong tracers which I noticed on both previous encounters with iboga. This may be something to do with the brain being flooded with dopamine after eating, or the ibogaine being converted into noribogaine. This effect is noticeable and interesting. A little cannabis was smoked in the evening, which enhanced feelings of contentment and relaxation. Some repetitive shamanic drumming was listened to prior to sleep which increased feelings of peace and stillness. I awoke in the morning refreshed.
While unprocessed root bark is great for micro dosing and booster doses, when dealing with large quantities of iboga, based on my prior experiences, I believe performing an alkaloid extraction to be beneficial. My initiation was with methanol alkaloid extract, equivalent to 25g of root bark. This is the basis for my prior experience report and something I consider an incredible life experience.
My second experience was with 14g of root bark. This experience, surprisingly perhaps, was much more physically and psychologically intense than my initiation. While this dose was visionary, it never reached the depths of the initiation dose, to the realm of visual thought where I could converse with the iboga and be answered in thought holograms. I also had a high temperature at one stage like a fever and it felt much harder on my body than the crystalline experience of the extract, and also felt less clear than my initiation experience. Thus I feel performing an extraction leaves some nasties in the wood, or maybe our bodies are simply not designed to handle wood.
Around 50% of the alkaloids will be ibogaine, but the other alkaloids are synergistic with the ibogaine. They deepen, prolong and smooth the visionary and healing aspects of the experience, and are therefore worth including.
* A further optional purification step is rinsing the extract with Methyl Ethyl Ketone (MEK) a few times to produce a more refined extract. This is an unnecessary step, with the extract being fine to consume as it is, and MEK is not a food safe chemical.