Burnt, I understand your position and welcome your comments. No room for ego here on my part, that would only interrupt the freeflow of information! Please continue sharing your insight, open debate is the key to finding a method that is optimal for everybody, not just based on the opinions of one person, even if that person is me!
Previously limonene has been ordered from thechemistryconnection.com on ebay. Today a better deal was found at greenterpene.com.
Swim used to feel like crap when he worked with petrochems, now he feels great whenever he's working with limonene. As burnt pointed out, there are mild psychoactive effects from limo, as with petrochems. The difference is that the petrochem effects feel toxic and make you feel worse, whereas the limo effects make you feel better. Still, adequate ventilation is a must... mild lung irritation can occur from concentrated vapors, though it's still nothing like the petro stuff.
I understand many people make a living working with petroleum, but the conditions behind its aquisition, and the overall effects of its use on our planet, make me want nothing to do with it. That, coupled with the toxicity thereof, makes the sustainable, environmentally friendly limonene seem a much better alternative. Please understand I mean no offense to anyone personally who may depend on petroleum for whatever reason, rather it is our overall cultural dependance on it that I am concerned with. Also, there is the overall "energy" to consider: while petroleum is still "natural," it's also a lot further down on the "death magick" end of the spectrum (petroleum being basically decayed corpses harvested from mass graves from thousands of years ago, also being something we fight wars for, and something that lets a handfull of assholes control the planet) compared to orange oil, which is true Life Magick. This is evidenced in petroleum's toxic effects on our body and environment, compared to that of limonene which according to the msds is not harmul to aquatic life in normally occuring concentrations, and it biodegrades rapidly, whereas even a little petro stuff can totally phuq up a water supply and does not biodegrade.
Granted, the "energetic nature" of one's solvent is only of importance to those who consider their extractions to be a magickal operation. And the solvent's biodegradability, sustainability, and environmental impact are only important to those who care about the future of our planet (and the future of dmt extraction, as petroleum prices increase). And the toxic effects are only important to those who care about their personal health, and the health of any family members who may be in their home whenever they're extracting. So if one doesn't care about energetic quality, the future of the planet, or their own personal well being, then I can see why none of this would seem important.
Admittedly the claims of several grams from 100g rb may have seemed a bit exaggerated, in that this was not pure n-n but a crude extract containing n-n, jungle, and various plant oils, plus whatever that crap is that vinegar leaves behind when you evap it. But that's part of the magick... Swim is really beginning to suspect, as are others on this forum, that plant oils play a signifigant factor in the overall experience. In fact, one thing that has been noted with this tek is that you can do pull after pull and you'll keep getting stuff, but the quality of it darkens and becomes less visually and mentally overpowering, while the trancey hypno vibe and cool physical qi flow re-alignment properties remain in the later pulls.
This has led to the current working hypothesis that perhaps the oils are responsible for the "lower frequency vibe" end of the spectrum, whereas the alkaloidal fractions are at the "higher frequency" end of the spectrum, with n-n being the highest, and jungle being some molecular combination of n-n and tannins or fats of some sort. This would explain the "wobbly, globular" quality noted with jungle rides, as compared to the high pitched buzzing energy of n-n.
Whatever the case may be, this "crude" extract is still plenty potent. 200mg of it, on top of 300mg freebase harmaloids, is a proper full-on ride for sure. Probly less than that is in order your first time trying it, I'd go with maybe 100mg extract and 200mg harmaloids for my first ride if I were somewhere where such things were legal.
Also I must emphasize the overall difference between oral ingestation using this tek, and smoking freebase. The entire thing is different. I understand if you don't wanna take some digital guy's word for it but man, try it for yourself, you will see. There's a whole lifestyle change that accompanies working with the plants this way, and it's one you'll be glad you made. If nothing else, just try it with 23g bark, 23g lye, and 100ml of limo and vinegar... that's a rather small investment for a test run, no? If I'm wrong about "limohuasca" being better, you can always just go back to smoking petrolextracted freebase.
Still, I understand wanting smokable freebase for whatever reason. This can be done by using pure undenatured ETOH to pull spice from the limo. So far this is the only tried and true method that has actually been tested and proven to work, but lab grade ETOH is rather expensive so this is only practical for someone seeking small amounts of freebase for special occasions, which seems best IMO anyway, while using the rest of the spice in salt form w/maoi to heal one's self and the masses.
Also, there is probably an easy way to make in intranasal "snuffing" spray with the acetate salts. This actually just now occured to me... I'll have to run it by Swim and see what he thinks!
With regards to evap, sadly, limo does not seem to evap cleanly. It leaves quite a bit of residue behind. However it seems plausible that distilled limo could be used... if it evapped once, it should evap again, right? One could easily distill limo by placing some in a large pan, then placing a bowl in the center of the pan, then place tinfoil on top of the pan with a weight in the center so that the foil comes to a downward point over the bowl in the center of the pan. The limo that evaps upon application of gentle heat will drip down the foil and into the bowl. Thus the bowl should be full of the more volatile fractions of your limo, which could then perhaps be used to extract, and subsequently evapped to reveal spice. But then there is still the matter of whatever else the limo pulls, which again is not necessarily a bad thing. Perhaps other terpenes or solvents can be used for some type of separation if so desired.
Freeze precip may work. Initial attempts at this failed, but that was back in the beginning with low-grade bark and in retrospect the limo may not have been saturated enough. However I think there's something going on here similar to whatever it is that makes freeze precip not work with toluene, xylene, etc. Something about the boiling point of the limo, methinks... remember reading aboot it but can't remember what it is, anyone who knows chem stuff (burnt?) feel free to chime in. Anyway I don't wanna rule it out yet but I don't wanna count on it working either. It seems almost certain that if one completely saturated one's limo, then evapped down to like 10% of the original volume, and perhaps even seeded it with a d cryztal or two, that the magick should surely fall out, que no? But the experiment has yet to be done. Sorry, but Swim rarely makes it out to international waters, and when he does he's usually in a hurry, so he had to choose between making an incomplete report or waiting until he tried all possible experiments, which at the rate he works would probably never happen given all the variables there are to manipulate here.
Swim would love to learn how to distill his own limonene so he can keep doing this after society collapses in whatever apocalyptic eschaton may lie in its future. If you have a reference for how to do this, brother burnt, it would be most appreciated. Though I agree it's much easier to just order some online in the mean time.
