ok. just got my powdered bark from heavenly-products (which i ordered sunday night and now have on thursday...super fast). lye is on ups truck now. got everything i needed from ACE (naptha and 10% industrial ammonia). got mason jars, big pickle jar, measuring cups, scales, pyrex pan multi-pack, gloves, dual burner plug in stove top (no flames for recrystallization process). thinking about taking the NOMAN's tek route. couple questions...1) do i need a glass turkey baster/eye dropper or will a plastic one work? or plastic siphoning tube? tips/advice on that, please. 2) do i need to do the ammonia wash that it says i can skip if i'm going to recrystallize? i hope these questions haven't recently been asked/answered. i tried to look first. thanks and once i get cooking, i'll post a couple pics. i'm a perfectionist so even though it's my first time, i wanna do the recrystallization.

1.) *EDIT* Glass turkey basters work best, but HDPE turkey basters work too.*End edit* They take some damage when dipped in muriatic acid , but one turkey baster can make it through several extractions at least.

2.) SWIM doesn't use ammonia and just recrystallizes after extracting, so he doesn't have the experience to compare the ammonia wash to recrystallizing. However, he imagines that the ammonia wash takes less time but loses more product, while the recrystallization takes more time but gives a purer product with a higher % yield. Either way, it is highly inadvisable to smoke your first snow globes without cleaning them up a little bit. You might even find that crystal growing is pretty fun.


Safety advice:
Be careful when working with the lye; it is by far the most dangerous part of the procedure. I weigh mine out and mix it into solution in my shower because I can spray the whole area down with water afterwards (or just take a shower). If even a single pellet gets stuck between your clothes or in your eye it can cause some serious damage. Do you remember the chemical burn scene from fight club? This is the chemical that is being used. Please respect the power of this substance and be careful, dude. /endrant

Yield advice:
The best way to ensure that you end up with snowglobes is to maximize the temperature of the mixture at the time of separation (Keep the jar warm during step 5; partially submerge the jar in hot water). It's the same idea as with recyrstallization; a given volume of solvent holds more solute at higher temperatures. So the warmer the naphtha is when you mix it with the dissolved bark, the more spice can move to the naphtha. The article mentions that the naphtha can be heated on the last pull to increase yield, but it also mentions that MHRB quality has dropped. My rationale is to heat all your pulls and simply clean up the product afterwards.

If you need something explained more concisely or elaborately please let me know and I'll do my best to help.

Forget the ammonia wash.
It's outdated information and should either be replaced with a non polar wash or just jump straight to recrystalization.

yeah. looked through all kinds of info. k. here's what i've come up with: 50 grams powdered bark, 1150mL boiled water and 50g lye. it's been in the jar for 15 minutes or so. gonna take it out in an hour or so. then, add the 25mL naptha and agitate it and make the 4 separate jars, then put then in the freezer. take them out, filter them and then skip straight to recrystallization steps. couldn't find any bestine in the store so i'm gonna use naptha for this batch and order bestine off the web unless you've a better idea.

okay. just put third jar in freezer. doing 4th agitation now. seem to be getting more each agitation. first one got me like 20-30mL, 2nd got me 35-40mL and 3rd brought me 40mL+. light yellow liquid. have pics. post later. boiling water and filling sink with the hot water, putting mixing jar in sink. warming naptha each time before use. using 30mL each wash. feeling positive about this. gonna take the mason jars out of frzzer tonight between 10-12, so that'll give them at least 8 hours a piece in freezer, unless someone says i should leave them in overnight.

This is HORRIBLE advice!!!

Do not use plastic turkey basters unless they are HDPE and you are 100% sure that they are. I have neither seen nor heard of such basters. Any degradation (i.e. "some damage when dipped in muriatic acid" ) is no laughing matter and is horrific lab practice. Get a glass baster, they are cheap and will not degrade due to acid or non-polar solvents. DO NOT use a plastic turkey baster and non-polar solvents, this is asking for serious trouble (like plastic in your final product and lungs).

otay. thanks snozz. too late this time, though. i understand what you're saying. that's why i asked. good to know. need to get a glass turkey baster for next time. do you know a good place to get bestine (to recrystallize) or will my naptha work fine?

Naptha will work fine for re-x, that's what I use. You can get Bestine (heptane) at most art stores, it's used for dissolving rubber cement and cleaning art equipment.

OK, I hadn't thought of that. I learned that bit about degradation several years ago while attempting an A/B tek and haven't seen any degradation since. However I now realize that a glass baster is a worthwhile investment.

Hey Snozz, could you lay it on a little thicker next time?

Newfound_wonder, please understand that it is nothing personal. My main concern is with the health and well-being of anyone who is reading this thread/the Nexus as a whole. As the advice given was potentially very unsafe, I posted in the manner I felt would best prevent people from following said advice. The fact that I responded in such a manner in no way means that my respect or love for you as a fellow human being has been diminished and I hope you understand that.

peace
SB

Also with turkey basters the plunger is very important. Some materials used for the plunger will erode badly when in contact with solvents. Its good practice to try and not let the solvent make it to the plunger.

k. good to know. will get a better baster or maybe preparatory funnel once i get this down. any advice as how to how long to leave this in freezer? until frozen? 8 hours? the longer the better? gonna recrystallize after this.

k. put the first jar in freezer at 2pm and 4th jar in at 330pm. now, all 4 have some degree of crystallization. obviously the first has a good bit more than the fourth. feeling pretty good about this.

ok. had jars in freezer all night. still no more crystallization than before. small pellet sized formations at bottom but lots of naptha left. not very sticky looking. only a small bit of brown in bottom of a couple jars, not all of them. naptha is light yellow like it was before i put in freezer. guess i'm just gonna let them sit longer. i see some people let them sit in freezer for days. maybe evap them for a bit.

Leave them for 36-48hrs, don't disturb them. Hopefully your naptha was reduced enough before you put them in.