So I've tried searching for this and I'm getting wildly different answers.

I've tried a DMT extraction with heptane instead of naptha and it resulted in some pure white crystals on the first pull. I then redisolved a little in ISO and tested with litmus paper and got an incredibly basic/alkaline result of ~10.
I was initally worried that I'd pulled some Lye into the heptane, but reading up online it looks like the lye just doesn't get pulled into non-polar solvents. I also found posts claiming it absolutely does and a sodium bicarb wash is essential to neutralise/remove it.

So is DMT in this form inhertently very basic? Is this why people claim it "burns" so much when vaporised? Can the pH of the DMT be reduced at all?

Thanks!

If your solvent is saturated with DMT it will be basic.. you could always rinse your solvent with slightly basic water (just a pinch of sodium carb or bicarb which will remove any excess lye if it is in contaminating your solvent.

[EDIT] .. its also possible you had tiny droplets that weren't really visible to the eye. If you don't let your solvent settle for a little while this is a very real possibility.

DMT freebase (hint, hint) will be highly basic in IPA solution. pH values refer specifically to aqueous solutions, but there is generally going to be enough water in the IPA, or enough solubility of the indicator dyes, to give a reasonable pH reading with a test paper.

The basicity of DMT occurs through a lone pair of electrons on the amine nitrogen atom, which have a high affinity for a proton - fundamentally, this is down to opposite charges attracting one another. The three bonds to carbon atoms around the nitrogen serve to increase the local negative charge at the lone pair as well, making it slightly more basic than ammonia. This basicity is a fundamental part of DMT's properties. Other than the aformentioned possibility of lye contamination, there is no way of altering this without converting some of the DMT back to the protonated salt form.

Thanks, I knew it was a basic solution, I just had no idea how basic!

I cleaned it up and the end result was the same, so I'm happy there's no lye contamination. I'm just not sure how on earth I'm going to actually vape this, it's much harsher than the more "full-extract" spice I've extracted in the past!

dmt vapor can be pretty harsh even when clean. It can help to acclimatize your lungs with some other vapor or smoke that isn't super harmful and won't blast you to another dimension.


When I first started with the emesh I could barley vape clean spice and now I can confidently clear 25mg on 22w.


If you don't have anything else to smoke to prepare your lungs then try working your way up with small doses. Start with 5-10mg 🙂

That's interesting.. I have never found clean DMT harsh at all but haven't used it in an electronic vape. In the vapor genie it just feels like breathing slightly sweet air. Burning it another story

I mean maybe harsh isn't the right word I just notice dmt to be a heavy vapor, I've certainly had hits before that weren't very harsh at all but idk I just think it's to be expected. It's like bark hash essentially