I have read dozens of methods for extracting alkaloids from iboga bark to produce iboga TA. After soaking the powdered bark in vinegar for a few days to extract the alkaloids (and convert the alkaloids into their salt form) the next step is to filter out the bark and then add a base, such as ammonia or sodium carbonate. The alkaloid extract then precipitates to the bottom. Then the vinegar is decanted off and the remaining substance dried and then put into capsules.

Simple question: can I simply drink the vinegar, which contains the alkaloids, instead of having to precipitate out the iboga alkaloid extract using a base? Dr. Jenks who first wrote about this method said he drank the liquid/tea which had a similar effect. I understand that the alkaloids may not last as long as the dried extract but that is not an issue. Can I simply drink the alkaloid vinegar with the same effect? Any help would be appreciated.

Would you really want to drink that? Would you even be able to get it down? I don't think drinking a lot of vinegar is good for the gut either. That said, I don't see why it wouldn't work as normal! I think it's something you'll try once and never again, though, unless you're one of those weirdos who drinks vinegar every morning already.

Generally, alkaloids in salt form are more stable than freebase.

Thanks for the feedback. Yes, I drink a few ounces of vinegar every morning. However, I mix it with a bunch of other things, such as lemon juice, ribose, camu camu, orange juice, sodium bicarb, and potassium bicarb. After stirring down all the bubbles, it tastes pretty good. If I could take the iboga vinegar like this, with all the added ingredients, that would be ideal, especially when micro dosing. However, adding all the bicarb, and neutralizing the acid, which brings the mixture to pH 7.0, might precipitate out some of the alkaloids, making it more difficult to drink. Any thoughts on taking iboga in this neutralized, sweet-tasting vinegar mixture?

If drinking vinegar is not preferred, because it may not be good for the gut, how about drinking a 5% HCl solution, with the iboga alkaloids extracted into it? HCl is very good for the gut, even in large doses. I take a tsp of betaine HCl in water (pH>1) about an hour after meals. Great stuff! Might be even better, in certain applications, with iboga TA in the solution.

It seems like the vinegar drinking method you are doing uses a couple bases to somewhat neutralize the acidity. So it stands to reason that if this is the method you intend to use, you would be freebasing the stuff anyway. Also, I'm going to presume that it's apple cider vinegar you're drinking in the morning, does it have the same acidity as good old white vinegar, which is what the alkaloid extraction you spoke of uses most likely...

Just for my own curiosity, what is your reason it intention for using iboga? Q

My preference is to use HCl, at pH 4, and simply drink that, with the alkaloid salts already dissolved in it. Would this method have the same effect as the more involved method of precipitating out the alkaloids with a base and then drying and then putting it into capsules? ... My primary intention for using iboga would be to gain spiritual insight. Bufo Alvarius venom was too intense for me. However, I initially got involved with iboga at the behest of a friend who has a heroin addiction. Hence I would like to understand more about the use and preparation of iboga TA (micro dosing and flood dosing) as it relates to the treatment of addiction.

Man, I hate to be that guy, but you seem to really like the drugs that come from endangered (which, I believe b alvarious has been, or will soon be upgraded to due solely to drug poaching) things. Doesn't matter cuz you don't like it, but to all who do, synth is perfectly awesome.

Gabon law restricts exportation of iboga with some pretty heavy penalties, I believe, due to it's status in that country as a sacred plant and a threatened one. Now of course, if one is growing their own from seed in their own place of origin, that is another story. And it is a personal value as to whether one likes to keep caged animals. I've been in jail too much to be able to, personally.

I'm not trying to offend you and please don't be, I don't mean this as an attack, but seeing both of those things listed made me want to put this note in the thread. I don't think these things are mentioned enough to prevent ignorance of their status being a legit excuse to use them Along with those, peyote is another that should not be included in the lists of previously banned substances now potentially becoming unrestricted in decrim measures.

If one wants to do any of these things, plenty of innocuous options and alternatives are available, from synth to home grown to san pedro. The only argument I have ever heard put forth favoring toad venom over synth come out of some superstitous new age belief systems that place a kind of deified status to the beast itself, annnnd uhhh yeah, no.

Again, peace to ya, I apologize if you feel like I'm calling you out, that is not the spirit in which this is intended.

A friend of mine had a few b alvarius toads. They were not endangered. ... but, not into having any caged pets.

I'm not talking about the toads or the individual towards your friend keeps. I would've hoped that, at least, would've been apparent. The species itself rather...

Regardless that is not what this thread is about.