[quote:4371234aad="Hyperspacetraveler"]well it was done this way, extracted using hcl ph 3-4, filtered with coffee papers, decanted twice. defatted with naphtha 3 times, kept aqueous solution, then basified the elfspice aqueous solution. ( made a premix naoh solution and added it to the elfspice) Im thinking its around here it went wrong, maybe made it too basic? maybe too basic to fast perhaps?, but made it to ph 13 then added warm naptha, collected the naphtha and evaporated it, so i guess the tek used would be volvins without his 7th step washing. The evaporated material left im sure was tiny amounts of impurities form the naoh, didnt smell like plastic , zero elfspice. I appreciate any help i could get from anyone,but please dont "duh" me cause i have went past trying to figure out what i could have done wrong with procedure , that is why im asking if anyone had any information on already ground up mhrb or maybe the quality of heavenly products jurema on ebay, also maybe you could comment on possibly destroying the elfspice when making the solution basic, i added the basified water rather quickly, could have this destroyed the spice?......... so has anyone used already ground up jurema successfully[/quote:4371234aad] I don't know what could have gone wrong, but this guy I know only uses STB teks and does very well with it - check the forum for more tips in terms of partial evaps and freeze precips to maximize yield. It's doubtful this stuff is bunk, although whole chunks of bark is really the way to go to ensure quality. Heavenly , hmmm, well this guy I know happens to have used this source recently and It turned out very well - but it was not pre-ground - whole bark is cheaper anyway, so stick with that.. Don't toss anything, it should be able to be worked out of solution eventually.