Hi guys,

First of all i am a newcomer to the nexus and after a week of heavy perusing on here i am really excited to be a part of this community. I have found a world of knowledge and some amazing insight into a subject matter that has always been of great interest to me and i am only just scratching the surface!!

I have recently completed my first tek and was a success which i am very happy about. I have always been interested in infusing some of my own changa but always wanted to take the time to get it right and not rush the process. For this reason after doing quite a bit of research i am very interested in infusing some IPA with some herbs/flowers that will add a smoother aroma/flavour to my changa. I am just unsure as to what will work with this, and what may be a step to far. I understand it is personal preference but im guessing some herb & flower combinations just probably wont work.

At the minute i am thinking of infusing some IPA with maybe some of the following (not all together): Red rose petals, Hibiscus flowers, Elderflower, Lemon Balm & Lavender. I am aware that the last two have been tried and tested to great success but was wondering if anyone had ever tried the first three?

Any input that anyone could offer would be greatly appreciated

Love & Light x

I actually haven't tried any of those that you mentioned but hey I have a whole lifetime, right?
I generally use a combination of mullein and pink lotus and sometimes I throw in some mugwort for a more dreamy effect.

I just wanted to mention that Everclear (drinkable grain ethanol) works better for dissolving harmalas than IPA. So if you can get your hands on some Everclear (95% or higher) that should help.

Welcome to the Nexus by the way!

Hi Grateful One, thanks for the info & also the welcome

Im from the UK, do you know if everclear is available over here? And also would it still be suitable to use for infusing the aromatics into the spirit? I wont be using the ones i mentioned in leaf/herb form for the Changa leaf blend, apart from possibly lemon balm!?

I think ive decided on a blend of Mullein, Damiana, a mixture of Pink & Blue Lotus with a small amount of basic caapi leaves for my Changa leaf, will also be using the caapi vine to extract the Haramalas from. I have also thought about using either motherwort or mugwort as i think it would be a great additive, i think i may save it for a future batch though. I really like the sound of it, but i would like to be able to distinguish the psychoactive effects as it will be my first time making Changa and also extracting/testing Harmalas.

Have you personally had any experience with infusing spirits with aromatics as an additive to your Changa blend? Im really keen to see how well it works!!

Love & Light x

I'm too in the process of getting my first changa ready, from all what I have been reading over the weeks, blue lotus, mullein, seems to be very good for a beginner like you and me.
As for infusing to enhance the aroma of the changa by extracting all the essence and leaving behind the harshness of the smoke, experienced ones recommend a blend of lavender, clove, muna and lavender, lemon balm, white sage. They have strong good soothing smell, but are extremely harsh to smoke. So by infusing you get the aroma and essence not having to put up with harsh smoke.

You might want to try Electric Sheep, 50% blue lotus 50% calea, apparently it's very good. That is going to be my first blend when I get my herbs. Then maybe the original changa of harmala:spice:enriched caapi leaves and to give it a rich flavour infuse some blue lotus, lavender or spearmint.

I'm also planning on making a mix of silene capsis (african dream herb), calea (also dream herb), lion's tail (euphoric herb).

Damiana seems to be a very good herb to smoke.

Hi desine. I couldn't find everclear in Europe. After a bit of investigation I ended up using straight methanol which is easy to come by. It also is the ultimate solvent for harmalas. Just make sure you evap well! It does evap very quickly.

Guys, I'd have a look on eBay, you should definitely be able to find an everclear equivalent on there.

Quite a lot of what is sold as 95% ethanol in Europe has some unfortunate additives - apart from methanol, they put in pyridine to give it a really nasty taste and smell and sometimes a bit of dye. Make sure you're not buying this when you go to eBay or Amazon!

I saw BioEthanol advertised in lots of places but I don't know the composition of this. Anyone know?

Place where i'm, I get both 99.7% ethanol and 99.7 % IPA, the only issue being they don't sell it to individuals/people unless they have a LPO (local purchase order) stamped from a company, I just have to forge one in my firm' name

Hmm, sorry I am in the United States so I wouldn't even know where to begin to try and find Everclear in the UK!

Mullein is a great base for changa as it has a very smooth smoke especially when used in a water bong with minimal water. It also has great absorption capacity making it ideal for soaking up all the "goodies" that make up changa (DMT + Harmalas). I am not new to changa but I've really only worked with a few plants so my knowledge is a bit limited on which ones work better and why. Here is what I have worked with:

Mullein
Pink, Blue, and White Lotus
Mugwort
Marijuana

I've combined all these in any/all imaginable combinations, sometimes leaving herbs out or what have you... I've noticed that Marijuana tends to cloud the experience a bit more than I care for and makes me very tired when I "come back." Similar experience with Mugwort, it is very dreamy when smoked on its own even, for me that is. If I'm going to use mugwort, I like to use a very small amount in comparison to the other herbs.

Of course this is all a bit subjective, so I would go ahead and experiment freely and find what blend you love the most. There are TONS of different options/recipes so have at it and let us know your results!

Good luck with your endeavors!

Hey grateful one,

I'm new to changa and would like your kind feedback, i have been reading online that mullien though is very smooth and has been used to bring out chest congestion and could lead to serious coughing, is that true ?
As for mugwort i read that it's extremely harsh, it's also a dream herb eh ? I was thinking maybe i would just infused some mugwort in IPA for a few days and then use that for dissolving harmalas and spice.
Unanimous opinion about blue lotus is that it's one of the best to add to changa in terms of flavour, smoothness and definitely aesthetics of changa so to speak.

I have with me blue lotus, calea, mullien, lion' tail, mugwort, silene capsis, damiana, mugowrt, peppermint, lavender, white sage and spearmint. Also some caapi, syrian rue and chaliponga. Any idea on how to go about mixing these ?

To be honest, any type of smoke from any sort of plant can cause one to cough up a lung, so to speak...

Fortunately, I have not had this problem but I do smoke cannabis on a regular basis and I used to smoke cigarettes so maybe I am just used to handling smoke these days...

If you have some free time, I would try smoking your herbs all by themselves (and one at a time) before infusing them with anything. This way you can get a good idea of how they will affect you and you (hopefully) won't end up with a batch of changa that you can't smoke. I use a regular water bong for changa with about half the water I would normally put in it if I were smoking cannabis. The water helps with harshness and acts as a filter for some plant particles/what not.

As for mixing them, well that would depend on your personal preference which requires some experimentation on your end... Like I said, mullein is a great base for building your changa blends so I almost always use at least 50% mullein and then mix and match the other herbs to color the trips and the flavor. I hear peppermint is nice in small amounts and has a cooling effect since it is minty. I'd imagine spearmint to be similar.

If I had your herbs on hand I would make something like this:

50% Mullein
30% Blue Lotus
10% Lavender
5% Mugwort
5% Peppermint

This is hypothetical of course but then I would infuse my extracted harmalas and DMT into that mix. I have not had the pleasure of working with caapi when it comes to changa but I would like to someday. Therefore I always stick to extracted harmalas.

So hopefully that gives you an idea of how to go about this, it is very exciting to be going down this road. Changa is a beautiful thing. Some even consider it an art form! It really is.

Good luck!

Thanks grateful one, that was an answer and a half.
I don't smoke anything at all, never did, so yeah things could be very different for me.
But nevertheless it sounds logical to try out the herbs first one by one inorder to know how harsh/smooth the smoke is and how the taste it. With how much I read, blue lotus seems to be very smooth, so is damiana. I will make something artistic, that will smell and taste good and please the senses aesthetically.
3 blends of changa is what i'm looking for. I will grow from there, thank you brother.

Hey guys, thank you so much for all the info

Really looking forward to getting started now!! Just managed to get some beautiful slightly off-white spice from the first extraction (that i had done by myself), well chuffed to say the least!! Now just really excited about taking the time to find my perfect changa blend

Think i have an idea of the first herbs i will be using for the leaf mix and also think i have decided to leave mugwort or motherwort out for now. Despite it being quite out there i think i am going to use red rose petals, elderflower & hibiscus to infuse my spirit beforehand. Could obviously go one way or the other, will just try it on a small amount to begin with.



NotTwo: Is methanol the best to use for changa IYO then & if so what are the benefits? Will it also be okay to use for infusing flavours & scents before dissolving the spice? Sorry to ask its just that most people always recommend IPA on this forum and never heard of people using Methanol before

Another couple of questions i have. Personally the best changa i have ever smoked had quite a small percentage of spice in it, i believe it was only 15%. If i was to make one with this little spice would it be recommended to marginally increase the amount of harmalas present in the blend? I was only planning on putting 500mg harmalas to 1g spice but say if i chose to put 0.65/0.75g spice would i want to increase the haramalas content?

Also ive read that caapi is the preferred ingredient to extract harmalas from for changa, what are the benefits of using caapi over say syrian rue? Ive read that they have slightly different chemicals within and syrian rue can add a level of sickness or upset that isnt present within caapi. Has this been experienced by anyone?

Love & Light x

desine,

I just finished making a batch of changa and used methanol as my solvent for the first time. In the past I have used 93% IPA, 190 proof everclear, and acetone. For dissolving harmala crystals with the quickness methanol has been my favorite solvent. However, it should be noted that it is highly toxic and your mix needs to completely dry before smoalking. (I realize this might be hard at first but patience is a virtue when working with these chemicals.) For infusing flavors into your changa I believe your best bet is either IPA or Everclear. I would try to get 99% IPA or 190 proof everclear if you can. To dissolve the harmalas in these solvents you are probably going to need to give the solution a heat bath to dissolve your goodies better. Another route you can take is soaking your caapi for a month in IPA and filtering the menstrum and dissolving your spice in that and then pouring the solution over your base herbs. I have had success using that method as well.

IMO Caapi is the best source of harmalas for changa due to the THH content in it. Some people say that rue has a different personality than caapi. In my past experiences Rue has caused me to get stuck in a loop a number of times while caapi has not. However that might be dose dependent.

Check out some of the stickies in the Changa section. There is a lot of good info on there. Additionally, I like to read threads starting from the oldest and progressing to the newest. It's kinda cool to see how this art has evolved over the years.

hortwizard, this is all very valuable information, and specifically experience. Thank you very much!!

I have managed to source 99.8% lab grade IPA so think i will use this for my first infusion as infusing the aromatics is of much interest to me and very much looking forward to it. A hot water bath always seems the best route for dissolving both the spice and harmalas. Was included in the tek im planning on following for the first time anyway so happy days!

By soaking the cappi in the IPA for a long period of time, is this breaking down the harmalas into the menstruum thus having to technically skip the extraction stage? That would actually be a good thing when planning in advance. I reckon i will do the extraction tek to begin with (just to save time), but then maybe leave a large amount of shredded bark soaking over a month or so for later infusions. Would i be able to mix this caapi infused IPA with other aromatic IPA infusions before adding to leaf, or might this have an adverse effect?

Another thing i was wondering after today sourcing many different type of caapi vine. What are peoples favourite to use out of the Caapi Vines available: Red, Black, White, Yellow and then maybe some other rarer vines as well: Cielo, Yintil & Tigre. And also what are the notable differences between the vines, if anyone has had any expereince with any of these different types that is? Could you also potentially lose any yield from shredded as apposed to whole caapi bark?

Sorry for the 20 questions haha I have believe it or not been reading the majority of the stickies but it always nice to have some extra personal experiences thrown into the thread.

Thanks again guys!

Love & Light x

Bioethanol from a popular UK DIY chain is denatured with MEK, which shouldn't present too many problems, just don't drink it! I'm not sure if there's anything non-volatile in there - particularly Bitrex - but, as a rule, solvents should be distilled before use if at all possible. The MEK can't be separated by distillation but a nifty way of separating it out involves chucking in a couple of Campden tablets (sodium metabisulphite) per litre and filtering off the precipitate after a fortnight or so. Then distil it.

hello wizard !

some interesting read this tread, a lot of valuable information indeed !

now i was wondering, did you try to do the cap soak and to do an infusion after that as well? did that work out?

... or of course any other thing you learned since is very welcome for share.


thanks !