Hey everyone!
I performed Cyb's Max Ion using around 100g of MHRB a few months ago.
The bark itself was over 2 years old, and I took breaks inbetween each pull as I didn't have the most optimal pipette and glassware at the time and I spent a few hours on every pull.
The basified bark + leftover naphtha often sat for a week or longer in the extraction vessel before taking the next pull, and due to my impractical pipette I also got little bits of base solution in with the pulls. No problem as I was going to recrystallize the end product a few times anyway.
Pulls were combined and left to entirely evaporate. I ended up with a small jar full of brownish waxy stuff, which I saved in an amberglass jar in my freezer.
Fast forward 5-6 months, I have been trying to clean it up a bit.
I did not weigh the product beforehand as it was far too gooey and would stick to everything it touched. I poured it straight into a small erlenmeyer flask, added a bit of heptane and put it on low heat on my hotplate, stirring it until fully dissolved. I separated the solution from the oily sediment and again left to evaporate (no freeze precip).
First re-xHere is the result after first re-x:
Scraped up:
Second re-xDissolving impure dmt:
Fully dissolved (should I have stopped at previous picture instead?):
After evap:
Scraped up (weighed in two batches as it would not fit on there, 1.345g in total):
Third re-xSidement left behind in flask after third re-x:
After evap:
Scraped up:
As you can see, the end result is definitely looking cleaner after every re-x, it went from waxy brown to only slightly sticky mostly freeflowing yellow/orange crystallized powder. It seems like I am unable to remove the yellowing though, and I'm wondering if this is because I have lots of n-oxide or if there are still a bit of plant oils in there that I somehow can't separate using re-x.
I'm wondering if I maybe used too much heat during these recrystallizations? I used generous heat to make sure everything dissolved fully, and there was always some visible sediment, but at the same time my heptane is always colored a deep golden orange, kind of like honey:
Is it possible that I'm getting it too hot and impurities are also being dissolved into it? Where do you draw the line that you're no longer dissolving your DMT into the solvent but also the impurities?
Should I attempt a mini-A/B or "backsalting" to clean this up further, or does it look ok to vape as is?
From what I gather this means:
1. Add impure spice to minimal amount of naphtha / heptane
2. do three pulls with vinegar solution (ph 2-4; 100ml of pure 7% white vinegar can be used per pull? No need to let it soak for a while?)
3. combine vinegar, add lye until pH 12, mix thoroughly
4. do three more naphtha / heptane pulls
5. combine pulls and evap / freeze precip?
"The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion." - Albert Camus