Edit: i started this thread because of an extraction fail but now the topic is all my experiences with cacti (extraction, trip report, growing cactus, ...)



hello, hello cacti extraction pros !

The name of mescaline is in my mind 25 years ago. Just recently, after discovering the main molecule on this forum, i though it could be the time to meet the myth and i managed to got some T. Peruvianus (supposed but who knows ?) from a legit source (at least for other products)

I did follow Kash's A/B tek because i felt that i understood it and i had all the ingredients. The result is very frustrating cause i only got a tiny amount of brownish goo that i didn't even try to clean(even not enough for a half of chiken, so for a bear like me...).

I did my homework, reading a lots of topics about mescaline extraction with no succes finding where is my mistake(s) and that's why i dare open this topic, seeking for help.
Of course, the first thing is the cactus quality. If there is no alkaloid, fail is the only option (BTW the taste of the green part of the dried chips wasn't very bitter. Should it be ?). I still have 150g of it, what could i do to check if it's a good one : make a tea with a sample ? With how much ?

Could anyone more experimented tell me where to dig ? I kept everything (basic soup, xylene) but the cactus itself.

This is the tek and what i did :

1) Begin by adding 100g cacti powder or diced 12in cacti cutting(s) to a pot. Add 30g citric acid or 200ml vinegar or 10ml glacial. If using cacti powder, add enough water to make it wet but not watery.
I used 100g dried chips hands crumbled (not very efficient).

2) To this add 2L H2O and simmer for 2hrs. Mix occasionally. Any cacti snot will boil off eventually and the tea should become nonviscous and watery.
First boil, i put it on the stove and i had to run to the toilet (you know, sometime in the morning your body choose for you what to do ^^). When i came back the foam was boiling over the pan. I lost about 0,75 liter from my 2 initial liters

3) Filter out liquid from plant matter with a cloth filter and funnel, and add the liquid to another pot. Reduce this to a low volume by boiling. Add plant material back to original pot, cover with 2L H2O, and simmer for 1hr. Mix occasionally.
Did it 3 time with citric acid and 3 time with plain water.

4) Repeat step 3 atleast four to six times total until the liquid filtered out has very little color. Discard plant material after final time and reduce all the aqueous cacti extract to around 500 ml. This can be put in a glass pickle jar. Allow to sit overnight to precipitate unwanted fine particles, but this is optional.
Did some extra-filtration with coffee filters (i discovered i like to filter things working with rue, i know, i'm weird) and reduced to ~400ml.

5) Now it is time to basify. Mix 50g NaOH in 100ml H2O. It will get VERY hot, it is recommended to cool the mixing container while stirring with a cold water bath or under the faucet. Add the NaOH solution to the aqueous cacti extract.
pH was 12,4. Is it high enough ?

6) Add 200ml toluene (or xylene) and mix for 10-15 minutes. Let the mixture settle and use a hot water bath to seperate the layers from the emulsion if necessary. The layers should seperate quickly. Seperate the layers with a pipet, separatory funnel, or syringe. Save the toluene in another glass container and put basic aqueous cacti solution back in original container.
No problem with emultion, i could crazy shake it. Everything at room temp. I guess the extra-filtration helped.

7) Repeat previous step atleast 4 times total. Discard basic aqueous layer after, saving the toluene extract which contains the alkaloids.
Did it 5 time for a total around 0,9L of xylene.

8.) To the toluene extract add 100ml H2O. Add 0.5ml concentrated HCl to this and mix well for 5 minutes. Check the pH. If it is still basic (pH 9+) then add incriments of 0.5ml HCl with mixing and checking pH until it tests acidic (below pH 7). Continue mixing for 10 minutes after. Only one acid salting pull is necessary.
Here, i messed up, adding to much HCL, so pH was 2,5. My understanding is : it should still pull the mescaline with more unwanted stuff, shouldn't it ?

9) Seperate layers, hot water bath may be necessary to seperate emulsion quickly. Filter and save acidic H2O layer and discard/recycle toluene. Evaporate the aqueous layer on a dish with aid of a fan and/or hot water bath. Never use direct heat it will scorch your product. Scrape up the crystals.
Did 2 acid pull and dried it with a cold fan for 36H. Result tiny amount of red/brownish goo.


The xylene is yellowish and there is a milky precipitate at the bottom of the basic soup
Anything salvable ? Or advice for the next time.

I'm still looking for solution on my side but, you know, sometime, when you're lost, someone showing the right direction can save your life (OK, my life is not in danger but i like a bit of grandiloquence)

Thanks folks !



Bisous

I still am a total newbie to the extraction of cacti ,but I too agree that you acidified too much maybe ph3-4 should have been ok?

In fact pH should be between 6 and 7.

At 7, 99% of mescaline is in salt form.

If i understood well, lower pH leads to more unwanted stuff (others alkaloids?) water soluble.

The thing i don't know is : is mescaline acid sensitive (destroyed in a low pH) ? I don't think so because mescaline is quite stable but i could be totaly wrong. That's why i cries for help .

i'd guess weak/dud cacti
especially if the dried flesh isn't bitter

I tried severals things with the xylene and basic soup left after my extraction failed and i managed to get some x-tals. The problem is that it's probably not mescaline because it's not really bitter and it's salted so i guess it's NaCl coming from NaOH+HCl left-over. It's brownish and it's not cleanable with acetone.


I should not thank you dg cause you killed my last hope. . But anyway, thanks


I should think about growing my own cause the weather is good for cacti where i live and after 25 years i can wait 3 more before i meet this molecule.

Is it OK to talk about sourcing cactus cutting as they are living plants ?

Swim ran into the same problem with 2 of the 3 cactus extracts swim has done. Swim would still test the final product just to be sure. Using vinegar swim's final product was small and nasty looking however it was a highly active single dose.
These guys are incredibly easy to grow however potency could be a problem. You could easily end up with a weak specimen and growing conditions can alter the mescaline levels. Swim has done one extract on a homegrown with no success. However the final salt was pulled using too much citric acid resulting in a weighted down final product. Before swim could dial in the proper dose the extract was gone. A new extraction is in the making using an easier tek and a acid that can evaporate from the final product. Don't give up just yet.

Yes it should taste bitter. A bitter taste dosent always mean mescaline is present , just that there are alkaloids present. The red colour is typical of using too much HCL but you still would have pulled mesc if it was there but probly wasnt anyway since you said it wasnt bitter.Dont give up :}

I did try the brownish/cristalish result (~400mg) and ... drum roll... nothing happened.

i will probably try a tea with the left-over material i got to see if there is any potency. My last hope.

Now, i have to dig to find an easy tek for cactus tea. Or this :


And thanks for your encouragement, i really appreciate.

Plain old water is best. Boil for 2 to 5 hours. Some people add lemon juice but the tea is already extremely bitter and this makes it even harder to drink. It literally jumped out as my mouth reacted to the bitterness. Make sure to reduce the fluid so you don't have to drink too much. Have a lime ready to bite on. I will probably never try tea again. Couldn't drink the consentrated lemon cactus to save my life.

Swim is feeling your pain. His yield looks the same as swiy described. Having used hcl to salt the outcome should have been a much more dry product. He still has yet to test the product but this size is also worrisome. Its probably around 200mg. This makes a total of 4 a/b extractions with only one success. Maybe 69ron is right about heat degrading the natural form of mescaline found in the cacti. Swim is still debating on whether this is true because one a/b extraction was successful using vinegar for the entire process. Maybe the stock cacti was at 5% and the heat destroyed 3%. Long story short swim is moving on to 69ron's stb tek.

I would like 69ron is right about heat degrading mescaline but others (too tired to dig for sources) use PC cookers. It means the temperature reach 120°C and they still extract some nice mescaline.
Or the problem is too much high temperature for too long. I don't think so because mescaline is quite stable. But i'd like someone more experienced chime in !

I tried to make a tea with my cactus sample but, in fact, i finished with a resin (evaporate the tea in the oven, not more than 75°C). I ate 1/3 of it (from 140g cactus) and if the potency is proportional to the bad taste, i should be dancing breakdance with Mescalito but i just lay down alone in the dark .

Bad karma for me, hope yours is better bro'.

no he was quite wrong actually

Too bad for me ☺

Thanks |͇̿D͇̿&͇̿G͇̿|

Maybe its all just a case of over thinking. Just weak starting material resulting in low yield. Dg seems to know a thing or two. If its not temps or acids it has to be weak cacti. I guess the real question is how can this be avoided? Is it always a gamble? Or should one figure the source is weak ie .5% and begin the tek with 400g to assure a 200mg dose will be extracted? Its quite frustrating to spend time and money to be left with nothing.

Sorry the tea didn't work for you my friend. But there is another thing that worries me. Does mescaline build a tolerance like LSD? Maybe the tea did work except the small dose from the first extraction clouded the trial with the tea. Should someone wait a certain period of time before testing a new extraction?

I think I think too much.

From reading the posts here, it sounds like the weak cactus is probably the cause here.

I had a batch once where I ground the stuff up, and put 100g into pill capsules. It took bloody ages to do, then went at the caps (which, to their credit, completely disguised the foul tasting contents). 50 caps in, nothing was brewing, so I took the rest for good measure. Absolutely nothing. Apart from the next day when I went to the loo, which I won't describe in any sort of detail for fear of nauseating those reading this.

EDIT: Oh, and pretty sure mescaline does build tolerance, and it can also be affected by LSD and shroom intake. I tried the cactus ball method once as demonstrated in the pic above after a LSD trip (with no sleep at a festival, I was being a complete clown) and while the visuals didn't kick in, I got the fear about the thick, sticky mud which had been created after a day of hot sunshine on wet festival floor, and just stayed at the tent cursing my enthusiasm.

Still about cactus but other topic :

I found a different sample of SP (how lucky i am !). It's powder, so i just put some water (not to much) in it, made some balls and swallow them with water.
It was ~40g so effects where not to strong but very noticeable. It was a mix of two different sensations : i felt very dreamy (sedative effect) and at the same time i couldn't not move (stimulating effect). Not enough energy to move around but to much to rest. I actually danced lying on my bed .

Mescaline is supposed to be stimulating so i guess the sedative effect was from others alkaloids in San Pedro.

Is extracted mescaline very different from full spectrum alkaloids ?

Is there a big difference between San Pedro and Peruvian Torch about this full spectrum ? I'm not asking about Achuma cause it seems more difficult to find

Yes, it is fine to discuss, but the suppliers section is probably the best place for it.

Mods, this topic could be moved to the cacti area

Swim's successful sp extraction was full spectrum as the yield was too low to warrant cleaning the extract. The effects were very interesting however. Visuals were much like mushrooms except for there being a lack of tracers. The body high had a really strange set of chills that seemed to start at the head and travel down the back and shoulders. As the chills moved they turned into a tickle that released a wave of euphoria. Its easy to understand why people describe it as "candy flipping" or MDMA and LSD. Swim felt it was more like MDMA and mushrooms. Very pleasant. Swim read over his lab notes to discover that the only successful extraction was never boiled down to reduce the volume of solution. Maybe heat did play a role in the breaking down of the actives. Anyhow it was time to start with a new source.

Swim used 28g of torch and decided to test the cacti before wasting any time on an extraction. He packed 24 0 size gel caps resulting in 15g total weight. He swallowed 10g and hoped the cacti wasn't 5%. 1 hour latter nothing happened so he took the other 5g. 2 hours after the first dose he was ready to make another batch but it was getting late so he decided to wait until the next day to increase the dose. 3 hours after the first dose it was on! Swim felt the body high of LSD with the visuals of mushrooms but again lacking tracers. The "chill" effect was not present and swim was more fearful like the roller coaster that LSD can be. 12 hours after the first dose he back to base line and could finally sleep. Swim has a 1/4 pound but has not carried out the extraction yet.

Moderator wrote:

Edited by moderator.

Hey Morbidbystandard ! Glad to see you're still on cacti's road. So i am .
You should edit your post because mentioning your source is a big no no here.But i'm glad to know.


What tek do you want to use ?