You could sandwhich a piece of aluminum foil in between?



I tried it without the foil but the naphtha loosend the plastic rings untill they fell right off.

Aluminium is not suitable for use with acids or bases so that isn't a great idea.

Mason jars are far from ideal but they can still be used without the lids.
Just get a large wooden spoon & stir t houroughly but not violently.
If you do it like this, have vinegar on hand to neutralize spills, gloves, & goggles at the very least in case some splashes or gets spilled.

I use mason jars with lids that screw on like these:


I buy an extra pack of the lids and I switch them out after each extraction so they don't have much of a chance to leech anything into my base/solvent. That's the best approach I've found aside from the advice already given; stir instead of shake.

Yeah, this last one...and there's a trik from one nexian, sorry i don't remeber the name...to boil some water and put for some time inside the used lid then reuse, like regenerate it, when you use then for a while they lose and when you shake spill the liquid out...soak them in hot water.

I like the clip-top lid. You can use them without the rubber seal (just don’t expect them to be able to hold liquid in if moved too much).

If I put one in the freezer that way I would either wrap the outside with cling film or put into a sealable box.

Ok, thanks for that



I will put jar in a big PP/HDPE container for the shake, then pour spillage back in. Can't find screw top jars atm.

Really? You can purchase them in many, many places. Easily found. They sell them at my local grocery store. Local markets. Even a local hardware store, a large chain that is found in almost every city within a 100km radius. I've found them at W-mart plenty of times as well.

It would just be a hell of a lot easier to get some screw lid jars rather than using a jar without a reliable seal which you then have to place inside another container, which you will then have to pour any spillage back into the original vessel..... That also doesn't sound completely safe to me either; what happens if one of those containers breaks?

If you don't have the funds that's understandable, but those jars are very easy to find

I use quart vinegar bottles with short narrow neck because it cuts down on fumes from napatha and is easier more controled way to pipette out the napatha pulls...

Mason jar lids are wide mouthed and alow a lot more napatha fumes into the air you breath...

The ideal containers are lab quality but not everyone can afford them so pint or quart sized glass vinegar bottles work well for me..

The cap is lined with a somewhat acid resistant plastic liner intended for light acids like vinegar but will degrade over time in contact with napatha and lye..

If anything leaches into the soup from cap liner..it must be very little and i doubt it will pass through into napatha pull in any large amount...

I would like to find a better cap .but glass vinegar bottles work well for me they are a better container for the soup than mason jars that could be knocked over easily and cause a nasty smelly mess...

About the vinegar caps..i simply watch the inner liners for signs of deterioration and use a new one it it appears to be desolving into the soup..

Hhmmm, I think maybe this could be more of a geographical issue. I have specifically looked for glass vinegar bottles, with absolutely no success. All the vinegar sold locally is in plastic bottles, or very small 'specialty' vinegars in glass bottles (like balsamic). But mason jars, you can find those everywhere here

I suppose it's just best to use a bottle with a tight fitting lid. A tapered neck does allow for better separation of solvent, if you can find glass bottles like that But to cut down on fumes I just do my pulls out of the mason jars very quickly; I use a glass turkey baster and pull the solvent along with some of the base liquid, and transfer that to a smaller container to settle. Then I pipette out the solvent.

how dangerous are these fumes? im just trying to get an idea

Yes a tapered bottle neck keeps the process neater less chance of content splashing on table..
I also use clear glass bottles to see what is going on better...

If you are from the USA look in wallmart or target or safeway food stores..they are everywhere in plastic and glass...

I often go to second hand stores and look through the junk racks for that perfect sized and shaped clear glass bottle..

You can use any glass narrow necked bottle as long as it is..[ clear glass]...[beer...whine..any type ofglass bottle will work...

For the fumes i often set up near a window then place a small computer fan in window to pull fumes outside and away from me when im adding napatha..or lye to soup and or doing napatha pulls..

[when doing this make shure you cant be observed by anyone near by.. also take into concideration that your napatha fumes arent within range of any neighbors noses!..

Never use exylene..its extra nasty and].. you can smell it a block away! unlike napatha as its smell doesnt go that far then thins out..

Using the window..ive got lots of light to see good when pulling the napatha out of top layer of soup..
[[with a small pipette].. .. [NEVER use a turkey baster to pull out the dmt rich napatha!]... dont pull any of the dark crud below napatha level on top..

I think that lab quality glass vessels are best if you can find them just be carefull avoid messes. ...

I wouldn`t worry too much about fumes while pipetteing off the layer or naphtha.
When you evap down to super saturation before freeze precip, however, it is a lot worse if the area you are in is not well ventilated.
The smell will linger for quite a while & it is not really a health risk you want to take. I was reading theough the MSDS for a particular brand of naphtha & noticed a warning I have not read well enough to notice before. Something along the lines of exposure in an improperly ventilated area may cause permanent central nervous system changes.

Aha, I only use those jars for freeze precipation really. For the base stage of extractions I use pyrex bottles.

I don't know why people on here seem so intolerant of plastic and solvents. Sure, I have read the Phthalates thread but endlessness clearly states that if you convert using fumaric acid then you can just acetone the nasties off. Not only that but he did an analysis of solvent from ebay stored in plastic container and it had minimal plastic contamination and he said he might be being overcautious with the glass only approach.

I am skeptical of this overcautious attitude and think you would have to put tons of plastic over many years in a solvent and for it to really disrupt your endocrine system, which seems to be the only real health defect here.

IMHO, when it comes to extractions/solvents/acids/bases and the like, there is no such thing as being too cautious.

I like to use glass and stainless steel wherever possible as they are durable and easy-to-clean. Lessening likelihood of unwanted chemicals leaching into product is a bonus, I happily used plastics for several years with no obvious issues though.

I have to go with The Grateful One here. You don't want even a tiny bit of plastic in your smoke, do you? That's not to say that you can't use plastic but you have to carefully choose what plastic you are going to use with what solvents and bases. HDPE2 is not strong enough for use with naphtha or xylene. Milk jugs are often HDPE2 and I wouldn't even consider taking them through an exothermic reaction from lye. I won't use anything but high quality mason jars for extraction right now because I haven't invested the research into the proper plastics which can be hard to find.

Well, if all you got is plastic jars around then it's seems fine only if you swap a naphtha freeze precip for fumarate conversion and then wash dmt-fumarate with acetone.

You've got fumaric acid around but not a couple bucks for a glass jar to keep plastic out of the extraction? Why would you create extra clean up steps (that may not be as easy as you think) just to avoid using a glass bottle? Are you guys seriously too lazy to stir your base soup? If you insist on using plastic, use one that does not degrade in the presence of a solvent i.e. stronger than HDPE2. Keep your extraction clean like it is something you actually really care about.

If you follow the techniques instead of trying to improve on all the little details you will end up with reliable results. If you change the techniques without completely understanding the entire process you are going to be back here in the FAQ telling us your spice is strange tasting, leaving a residue, is generally untrustworthy etc.