Hello! Your help will be appreciated. I'm new to extracting, and need some things clarified so no one gets poisoned.

First, what's the deal with lazyman's tek? I mean, it first uses lye, then naptha, then evaporates the naptha. Simple. So what's the point of something like noman's tek, which also uses lye and naptha, but a bunch of other stuff as well. What's the point of all that extra stuff, like a freezer, and amonia? Does lazyman's tek produce some different kind of dmt?

While I'm asking, I'm not clear on what kinds of dmt there are. I hear people talk about jungle spice. Is Lazyman's tek a mix of white dmt and jungle spice, and noman's tek is just the white or something? Why go through the extra trouble of noman's tek when you could do lazyman's?

While we're talking about naptha and lye, could we get a list of alternatives for those things, as those might not be available.

I believe heptane is a substitute for lye and and xylene a substitute for naptha.... or maybe I have that backwards I've read so much I'm all confused now. Can we place these alternative chemicals in the right place please? Thanks. If you want to add the advantages of each, that would be great.

xylene , heptane, limonene, toluene dxm, etc

Naptha Alternatives: Go
Lye Alternatives: Go

Toluene, naphtha, heptane, xylene, DCM (dichloromethane) and limonene are all nonpolar solvents for dissolving DMT and other alkaloids from plant material. Xylene and toluene are the best solvents for dissolving the DMT from a chemical standpoint, but naphtha smells better and is less toxic. Limonene is very nontoxic, but it has problems with evaporation sometimes. Heptane works pretty similarly to naphtha.


Sodium hydroxide (lye), calcium hydroxide (pickling salt), and sodium carbonate are all bases that take the salt form of DMT present in MRHB and converts that form to free base DMT. Freebase DMT dissolves in the nonpolar solvents mentioned above. Salt form DMT doesn't dissolve in nonpolar solvents -- it dissolves in polar solvents like water.

If you do an acid-base extraction, then first you take an acid (vinegar, or hydrochloric acid, or another acid, depending on the tek) and use it with water to dissolve the DMT in a salt form out of the MHRB and into the acid water. Then you put a nonpolar solvent on top of the water (nonpolar solvents do not mix with water, they form layers like water and oil), and add a base like lye or sodium carbonate. When the DMT salt converts to DMT freebase, it moves from the water layer into the nonpolar solvent layer.

As to the relative advantages and disadvantages of different nonpolar solvent choices, different teks, using acid/base versus straight-to-base teks like norman's and lazyman's, and even the advantages and disadvantages of different teks of the same category -- I don't have enough experience with them to speak on them. You'll hear plenty of differing opinions on this board about which is best, which ones you should do, which ones you should never do, etc.

SSU, thanks for your input. I'm also one of the newcomers trying to wrap his head around the extraction process, may I ask you some questions?

You said:



Then you said:



Which made me a bit confused.

I will try to summarize the process of an A/B extraction, would you please check whether this is alright?

If I understand correctly, MHRB contains the salt form of DMT. If one pours a nonpolar solvent (like naphtha) onto the bark, nothing happens, because DMT in its salt form doesn't dissolve in nonpolar solvents. If one puts the bark into water, on the other hand, then the DMT salt will dissolve in the water, right? But this doesn't happen automatically, because the DMT is "locked up" in the bark (inside the cells perhaps?). One must find a way to break those cell walls, so that the DMT can come out into the water. And that's the reason for the "acid bath" I suppose: one puts the bark into water+acid, the acid breaks the cell walls, then the DMT salt comes out and gets dissolved in the water.

When this is done, one puts the base (lye, pickling lime, whatever) into the water/acid/DMT salt mix, which causes a rise in the pH level of the mix (the more base, the bigger the pH). When the pH reaches around 9, the DMT salt gets converted into DMT freebase.

After this happens, one puts the non-polar solvent (like naphtha) into the mix and the DMT freebase "moves from the water layer into the nonpolar solvent layer". This is the first point which I cannot really understand. Not that it happens, but WHY it happens? What force makes the DMT "move" from the water solution to the naphtha? Do I have to stir the solution for this to happen?

Anyways, let's say it happens. Then the solvent - which now contains the DMT freebase and forms a well separated layer from the water+acid+base mix - is somehow removed from the mixing bowl, poured into a separate dish and put into the freezer for "freeze precipitation". This takes 24-48 hours, after which DMT freebase crystals will show up in the solvent. Then the fridge is opened, the solvent is poured through a filter (coffee filter?) back into its container, then the coffee filter is put to a dry place, the DMT crystals are dried (excess solvent on them is evaporated) and then scraped off with a razor blade or something into a vial.

The teks say that after this the recycled solvent should be mixed back into the water+acid+base solution and another "pull" should be made (mix, remove solvent, put into freezer for precip). I can't really understand why this second pull is necessary. Didn't the first pull take out all the DMT? Supposedly not... But why? And how do I know that I'm ready (don't have to make any more pulls)?

Tiz unfortunate that the last reply was never given, As SWIM is still confused as to how the "DMT" moves from the water to the top layer. (What activates it?)

the basification makes turns the DMT to FB, which is not water soluble. so it is actually the base that forces the DMT out of the water.

then its a matter of picking it up with the solvent. stirring isn't necessary, but for dry teks it definitely helps.

well there may not be enough solvent to absorb all the DMT (and even if there is, it is likely to absorb as much DMT as to reach equilibrium with the bark, rather than pull it all out).

as far as when you are done pulling: just pull until the amount becomes insignificant (or at least not worth the effort) or until you have a lifetime supply and get lazy and then your bark dries up (as it happened in my case).