Hi there,

For my second fourth post, I'd like to share my experience with infusing harmalas using acetone.
Context:
The first pull of my first DMT extraction yielded "goo".
I let that goo dry until it was almost solid. After a while, it switched from smoothy to grainy. After that, I "stirred" it a bit, let it dry some more, and it got to an almost solid state. It took at least two weeks, but I didn't keep track, sorry.
Anyway... it was still not as convenient as freebase, so I decided to infuse leaves with that goo.
I did so using acetone, and got 1:1 infused smoking blend.
Then, I performed my syrian rue extraction, and decided I should infuse my DMT blend with some of it.

Experiment:
I weighed the harmalas and herbs so as to end up with a 1:1:1 blend herbs:goo:harmalas in the end.
I poured the harmalas in a bowl and added some acetone. The solution was instantly cloudy but it also separated quickly back with the harmalas at the bottom. I added more acetone, stirred and didn't notice any difference (cloudy then quickly precipitated).
I could have stopped my experiment there and look for another solvent (IPA is recommended I believe Ethanol) but I decided to pursue.
I added the goo-herbs, stirred, put the bowl under a fan, and stirred regularly as acetone evaporated.
After a couple of hours, all the acetone had evaporated.

I have yet to try it. My last dmt-vaping session left me very scared (although the visuals were superb )

Pics attached to this post:
-Initial mix after the harmalas have precipitated.
-Same mix after stirring.
-Same mix after some evaporation.
-Same mix after almost all acetone has evaporated.


Conclusion:
I'm quite satisfied with the result, even though acetone was not recommended for this tek.
The "secret" is to stir regularly. Or get one of these lab magnetic stirrers...

harmalas are poorly soluble in acetone and IPA.. They are mildly soluble in ethanol, and they are soluble in methanol. Though methanol is toxic....

So I suggest either trying ethanol, maybe warming it up in warm water bath, or just sprinkle the harmalas on top of your changa mixture for a less than ideal way but at least it works.

Ah, I mixed up IPA and ethanol, sorry. Both are just 'alcohol' to me.
Ethanol can't be purchased around here... too many drunks in the country I guess. The only ethanol available is laced with naughty stuff to make sure nobody drinks it, AFAIK. It's used for indoor novelty table burners.

What I meant with my report is that solubility may not in fact be necessary... Suspension is enough to achieve what seems like an homogenous blend.
Also, considering that the harmalas haven't been dissolved by the acetone, I assume that they are "coating" the dmt-herb mix and maybe providing some protection from the heat of my lighter...


Edit: About that... Is it possible to acidify harmalas so that they become water soluble (or more soluble in acetone) and easier to infuse? Would I be getting a nasty vinegar/fumaric smoke taste?

Freebase harmala alkaloids are not very soluble even in methanol, it takes heating to the boiling point of methanol to get them to dissolve readily. Maybe heating would also help with acetone or ethanol and maybe even isopropanol.
Heating flammable liquids is dangerous, don't try it until you know what you are doing, what the risks are and have made proper disaster planning (it will happen sometime.)

With all the alcohols, there might be any kind of crap added, sometimes on purpose, to discourage drinking it, sometimes it is just of a very rough quality in the first place before adding intentional denaturants. The best is to distill before use, that way you are at least somewhat sure that it will evaporate cleanly. Unfortunately, distillation is not always an easily accessible option.

In my location, I can get undenatured ethanol at a pharmacy. It is a lot more expensive than the burning alcohol, due to taxes, but it is food grade.

It is not really advised. Freebase harmala alkaloids need a high enough vaporization temperature as it is already. Salts of the harmala alkaloids have even higher boiling points and at those temperatures, the molecules might degrade and decompose too much. I would worry more about that than about acrid vinegar smoke.

Diggers sell BioFlame Ethanol for their Ethanol tabletop burner, which is pretty cool.

I was told it was 'very popular' by staff when I bought it

The MSDS says there's only ethanol and water, so I guess it's safe

Thanks for all the details guys. I'll update the thread when I try my changa, but it will be my first changa, so I can only compare it to vaping freebase...

That would mean that they are selling really cheap vodka! I would not trust that MSDS like that. It may be the case that they're not obliged to list components and additives below a certain percentage. Some denaturing agents need to be added in only minute amounts. If you are so certain that it is all good and food safe, why not dilute with some water and carefully taste a drop? Or at least do an evaporation test?

I really hope for you that this is good, but IMHO you should be careful and not blindly trust a MSDS.

I don't have access to this product, unfortunately. Mine says on the packaging there is nasty stuff in it.

However, on a really positive note, I'd like to confirm that harmalas are soluble in DMSO!!!
I just dissolved 15mg syrian rue extract in 5ml 99.9% DMSO (I haven't tested yet the limit of this solubility, I'll report on it later).
I haven't seen any mention of this in the Nexus.

Here's the source and source.
In half the quantity of solvent stated in this document, I had only a little of very small particles undissolved (probably due to the lack of purity of my extract)

Cheers.