Solvents in Australia

[DMTPanda]

Taking a stroll through a local Bunnings the other day, SWIM could really only find Shellite and Xylene as solvents for extraction.
Shellite leaving an oily residue and Xylene stinking like a major chemical spill, are there any other solvents that could be suggested to SWIM?

Toluene I believe is highly carcinogenic.

D-Limonene sounds ideal for its smell, safety, and pulling ability however I'm pretty sure it's not an available product in Australia.

Are there any other suggestions of what products that can be used for extracting Obtusifolia?

 

[Northerner]

I wouldn't be making spice with anything that contains ethylbenzene. It's shown to be carcinogenic in animals and possibly so in humans. Just not worth it.

 

[Ozigoo]

Sorry for resurecting an old thread but as a newbie just wondering if
the Ausies can chime in on the most recent update on solvents
avaliable here in oz. Is Bun***** shelite still the go?
I can probably source n-Heptane from a local chem. company but being
a newbie still not sure whats best for my first attempt.
Any help greatly appreciated

 

[Ypsilophora]

I too am wondering this, as have attempted several times using Digg*** Shell*** with very little success, a little product, but definitely not worth writing home about!

 

[fathomlessness]

I too am wondering this, as have attempted several times using Digg*** Shell*** with very little success, a little product, but definitely not worth writing home about!

I have noticed a few people replying with comments similar to yours in the last couple years but I have also heard the opposite, here's one such post. I am not in your country so I can't test this but if it doesnt work, even trying it with a mini A/B with some pre made spice, then switch to other solvents like xylene and crash it out using FASA (u will need fumaric acid).

There are many methods for extraction, not just A/B and STB, have a look here. Also look at dry teks and FASA. I also hear your "methylated spirits" is 95% ethanol and 5% distilled water, go have a look at the spec sheets if you will as that is only what I have read.

 

[Acacia Sillycuntus]

Sorry for resurecting an old thread but as a newbie just wondering if
the Ausies can chime in on the most recent update on solvents
avaliable here in oz. Is Bun***** shelite still the go?
I can probably source n-Heptane from a local chem. company but being
a newbie still not sure whats best for my first attempt.
Any help greatly appreciated

G'day
Cross-linking this thread.

No naphtha... Diggers Shellite?? - FAQ - All your basic questions and answers - Welcome to the DMT-Nexus

And I would also like to add fumaric acid can be obtained in Australia online via a melbourne food supplier.

Happy preferred festivities everyone.

 

[Stepharx]

i've been doing a couple extractions with diggers shellite; doing an evap test leaves precipitation, and also the product i have recovered seems to be causing undesired effects- namely my upper body is swelling up, arms become like balloons, and i'm wondering if it's because of the shellite
anyone got any idea?

 

[Northerner]

i've been doing a couple extractions with diggers shellite; doing an evap test leaves precipitation, and also the product i have recovered seems to be causing undesired effects- namely my upper body is swelling up, arms become like balloons, and i'm wondering if it's because of the shellite
anyone got any idea?

If you don't dry shellite recovered alkaloids really well they can be really nasty and make you feel super sick even for days if you consume them. Poison.

Single drops do just fine on the evap test on every batch of shellite I've used. It does tend to be slightly endothermic on evaporation though so if your environment is humid you may see condensation but I have not seen oils or other residues that won't evaporate.

All that said it is a hydrocarbon product and it doesn't ever claim to be food safe. , so it's important to test every bottle you get, it may not be the same quality as the previous.

 

[Fruit is life]

Yeah whenever I use shellite I will re dissolve in anhydrous acetone and let the acetone evap to help remove any potential Impurities, it doesn't have to be anhydrous but it will take a long time to properly dry out otherwise.

 

[Northerner]

I've been drying shellite recovered alks in a small, cold, dry room. I turn the air-conditioner as cold as it will go on full and let it run for an hour, then let the alkaloids fan dry from directly above for an hour or so whilst keeping the aircon on. Turns out crispy. Probably seems overkill but as I live in the wet tropics the humidity is very high and fresh alkaloids will melt to goo in minutes and trap solvents, which can in turn take a long time to dry out properly.

Years ago I sickened myself from improper drying. Felt like fever and illness and lasted a couple of days. Awful experience. Never again.

 

[Stepharx]

Yeah whenever I use shellite I will re dissolve in anhydrous acetone and let the acetone evap to help remove any potential Impurities, it doesn't have to be anhydrous but it will take a long time to properly dry out otherwise.

I'm not sure i understand your method, you redissolve and evap acetone, how does that help? won't the impurities just precipitate back into it as it evaporates?

 

[Fruit is life]

If there is any shellite residue trapped within the freeze precipitated goo/crystal complex redissolving the alks in acetone can free the trapped residue allowing it to evaporate more thoroughly/completely, if your dealing with solid impurities then re-x in heptane/a purer solvent and then acetone

 

[habitualexplorer]

Hey all, any updates on this?

 

[Transform]

Hey all, any updates on this?

What's your personal position on the matter? (I'm not Oz, sorry…)

 

[reun]

Hey all, I wanted to join this discussion. I wrote about my own problems with this here. In short, Diggers Shellite does not pass the evap test, nor does Zippo lighter fluid. Options such as xylene, toluene and d-limonene can be sourced from the retail sector, but it appears they do not freeze-precipitate. Options like heptane can be sourced from a chemistry lab, but that is probably going to look very suspicious. I haven't found a resolution yet.

 

[reun]

Just wanted to share an update: I just got my hands on Sceneys Quality Shellite from an art store, and it passed the evap test! The difference between Sceneys and the others was noticeable immediately. Sceneys evaporated almost instantly, whereas the others took a few minutes. And, most importantly, Sceneys left zero residue. Now I just hope they are not going to run out of it, because even Sceneys website suggests that they don't make it anymore.

 

[MrAcuminata]

Just wanted to share an update: I just got my hands on Sceneys Quality Shellite from an art store, and it passed the evap test! The difference between Sceneys and the others was noticeable immediately. Sceneys evaporated almost instantly, whereas the others took a few minutes. And, most importantly, Sceneys left zero residue. Now I just hope they are not going to run out of it, because even Sceneys website suggests that they don't make it anymore.

That's awesome, is it much more expensive per litre than diggers? I'd imagine not really, well worth it anyway by the sounds

 

[Animistic]

That's awesome, is it much more expensive per litre than diggers? I'd imagine not really, well worth it anyway by the sounds

Last time I bought diggers for roughly $50 for 4lt so it's a little more expensive but diggers can be very unreliable, unless you're going to distill the solvent to clean it up but that requires specialised equipment and knowing what you're doing. I've seen discussion elsewhere about sceneys sometimes not passing evap test so not sure what to make of it, probably a bit like diggers really.

 

[MrAcuminata]

Last time I bought diggers for roughly $50 for 4lt so it's a little more expensive but diggers can be very unreliable, unless you're going to distill the solvent to clean it up but that requires specialised equipment and knowing what you're doing. I've seen discussion elsewhere about sceneys sometimes not passing evap test so not sure what to make of it, probably a bit like diggers really.

I've been using diggers since i first started extracting this year and it's cheap but consistently poor quality, you get what you pay for. Their xylene is the same. I just use the final product to make infused leaf with isopropyl alcohol to solve the residue problem. i wasn't aware sceneys was still available so I will also get some and see if there's any consistency with it across batches as the previous person reported success, stay tuned team.

 

[reun]

I've been using diggers since i first started extracting this year and it's cheap but consistently poor quality, you get what you pay for. Their xylene is the same. I just use the final product to make infused leaf with isopropyl alcohol to solve the residue problem. i wasn't aware sceneys was still available so I will also get some and see if there's any consistency with it across batches as the previous person reported success, stay tuned team.

So, you've been using Diggers even with failing evap tests? I thought it would produce a toxic product, isn't it so?

I'd love to hear about the "infused leaf with isopropyl alcohol to solve the residue problem" part! You are not talking about extracting freebase though, right?

 

[MrAcuminata]

So, you've been using Diggers even with failing evap tests? I thought it would produce a toxic product, isn't it so?

I'd love to hear about the "infused leaf with isopropyl alcohol to solve the residue problem" part! You are not talking about extracting freebase though, right?

Yep, extracting freebase from acacia acuminata. After mini a/b (some people call it a defat or backsalt) if you want solid white crystal and not goo with acacia you need to use shellite or n-heptane to freeze precip, so if your shellite is impure it will leave residue amongst the crystals at the end. I personally would definitely not consume this as it is and would never recommend anyone do so either, however there are a few ways to remove the shellite impurities after this that I'm aware of most of which involve redissolving the freebase in a cleaner solvent. The best way according to what I've read online is to recrystallize with n-heptane but as we know it's difficult/risky to acquire in Aus. Also if you have pure heptane there would not be a need for this as the final product would already be free of impurity from clean evap, assuming appropriate purification steps were taken prior to the final freeze precip. I've also read you can redissolve the freebase in anhydrous acetone to free the remaining shellite impurities and evaporate that. The other options are to use D-limonene for the final pulls of the extraction and slow evap that for a food safe pure dmt goo, or you can make an infused leaf blend by redissolving the freebase in isopropyl alcohol and adding this to a herb/leaf blend, (i just use plain mullein) allowing it to soak for a day or 2 then throughly drying the infused mix over a few days. So far my blends have been without issue, clean smooth smoke and no unwanted side effects. If any experts would like to chime in and explain if any of this is incorrect I'm always happy to learn and definitely don't intend to spread misinformation