I have started prepping the Cielo tek, cutting and drying my homegrown cacti (an unidentified mix of Peruvian Torch, San Pedro and Bridgesii) and gathering solvents and bases, but questions keep arising, so I started this thread for my own questions, and for others to post their questions when they arise.

My first question is on the subject of mold, believe it or not...

about 6-8 months ago, I did several cuttings thinking I would start extracting imminently. Last week I went to my basement where they had sat all this time on an old blanket to find a pile of snakeskin like lengths - they had COMPLETELY dried up. (pic below, and also of the five stacked layers of fresh material )

Convenient, right? well... there is some white powder on the exterior of some of the dried cacti, and they smell vaguely mildewy/fungal. I would never make a tea or a resin from this material, but am I right in assuming it is safe for an extraction (Cielo specifically)?

As I understand it, a clean extraction would only extract the mescaline and leave all biologicals behind - correct?

Thanks in advance all you wonderful chemists,

JBArk

It is not likely that micotoxins would be extracted but we can't say for sure.

I personally would inspect the xtals. If they looked normal I would use them for myself.

But that is just what I would do. It may be a bad idea and there is still risk.

Ok, worth an experiment, I believe. Given that, I won't mix it with my dried, fresh material! I'll eventually do a separate extraction, but there is far les material there (52g)

Thanks Loveall,

JBArk

How did it go? I'm about to start drying my cactus and give cielo a go, I too have some mold on one of my cactus...