i don't have much experience with teas (i always found potency loss compared to whole flesh) though find it hard to believe someone could get a more potent batch from boiling compared to eating low-temperature dried flesh whole UNLESS their digestion was challenged somehow.
i went straight to eating whole dried cactus cos i never felt it was possible to get a more potent product than a whole food.
even if the issue of heat destroying mescaline isn't valid, still when you strain the pulp from tea you are leaving behind alkaloids in the cactus.
no matter how long you boil it there is still going to be some left over in the pulp.
but i dunno, i have a fiery metabolism too, so maybe others stomachs aren't up to par and leaving behind alkaloids in the pulp in the stomach!!!
it's worth noting the fact that the majority of the population doesn't produce sufficient hydrochloric acid content in their stomachs due to nutrient deficiencies.
organic sodium especially, and other electrolytes (from fresh fruits and veggies NOT from Tablesalt!!) form a protecting alkaline layer between the walls of the stomach and the hydrochloric acid so that the stomach doesn't eat itself.
when people chronically eat junk food and life-less foods, the body is lacking in the proper nutrients to buffer these acids.
taking note of the Standard American Diet or similar diets from "modernized" countries, it's not so hard to believe that the majority of people in the population don't ingest enough nutrients for proper physiological functioning.
so the body responds by not producing sufficient acids for proper digestion. (the body finds indigestion a safer prospect than eating itself!!!!)
maybe this has something to do with it???
if not, than sorry for preaching!
peace and love...

From swim personal exp:

Heating water/hcl with mes, pyrex dish on hot plate at high temps, but not boiling, = active results.

Mesc is a stable molecule when it comes to evaping the water, but of course it will denature more easily when your on hte final bit of evap because its possible to burn xrystals etc

Evaping at high temps seemed to rendure lighter coloured products i.e less tan, but wether the heat is the cause of this am unsure. Maybe run some test of equal pulls at ya set temps.

ok, before bake test, and after bake test images

note: went in gas range oven at 305*f for 1hr, then increased temp for another 1/2hr
still dry white crystals. zero oxidation or goo/discoloration nice buzz from 100mg today, the same low dose i take regularly

note: a gas range is more humid that an electric range as well

conclusion, pure mescaline sulphate does not turn to goo/discolor/or oxidize at temps up to 300*f

I am in the middle of making a batch of tea. Instead of boiling, I have been simmering in a crock pot on low for over 24hrs. Does anyone have experience with this method? Will such a low heat still effectively pull alkaloids from the Cactus?

Thanks

when the remaining cactus is still bitter afte making a tea, then you might want to consider making another tea... (that you can put with the first tea before evapping the total to desired volume/resin.)

The fat cat made some resin from such a tea (without boiling). This resin is very active, though much more sedating than acetone&IPA washed mescaline product made from the same batch of cactus. If i remember correctly 69ron said in another thread the tail end of the resin experience is (more) mescaline-like, because the mescaline is longer active than the other (sedating) alkaloids.

Last weekend i ate some resin, and indeed, when the sedation had subsided the bright and happy mescaline feelings pop up (must note i drank some beer during this phase of the experience). Others have noticed the end of the resin experience is more 'frisky' than the first hours? Or was i biased by 69ron?

yes/yes

Thanks guys,

I've actually ended up having my tea simmering for almost two days without boiling. The cactus was still somewhat bitter after about 8 or 10 hrs, so I moved the plant material into the freezer overnight and then continued simmering today. My cactus chunks look and taste pretty spent at this point. I have a nice rich brown tea waiting for the right time, how long will it keep in the fridge? If I don't plan on drinking it very soon do I need to evap it down to resin?

if storing for more than a week or so, store it in the freezer

Thanks DG, will do!

I have never heard anything but anecdotal evidence to support the idea that mescaline is sensitive to heat during or after the extraction process. Most of those anecdotes also seem to come from a handful of particular individuals. Everything I know about chemistry and the physical data on mescaline says it should not be effected (at least not in it's salt form).




IIRC The salt form of mescaline cannot be smoked. It's heat of vaporization is too high.

I disagree that heat as low as 175F can decrease dry cactus potency.

I re-dried cactus powder in the oven for 5+ hours at 175F. A subsequent CIELO extraction gave the same mescaline citrate yield I usually get with this material (~1.2%, pictured below).

I don't dispute that some people noticed/measured less potency/yield when drying cactus at temperatures above 120F (e.g. 69ron in this thread). However, I don't think the interpretation of mescaline salt degradation is correct. Plant extractions are complex and changes to proteins, etc from heat could affect the yield of certain extraction paths (e.g. degrading a plant compound that enhances mescaline solubility in limonene) while the mescaline itself remains intact. It could also be that there is a very narrow temperature window where mescaline does degrade because of a specific enzyme activity in a specific phenotype in a particular temperature window at a particular moisture and pH level. Any of these reasons could explain why some people had different observations when drying cactus at higher temperatures

I can say with certainty that extended time at 175F did not degrade any mescaline in my dry cactus powder.

Did you dry at 175F or 175C? You mention 175F at the beginning of your post and then 175C in the last sentence.

175F, the C was a typo, lol (corrected)

I did another baking test with 100g of dry cactus powder. Increased the temp to 300F for two hours. Them, 375F for about half an hour. Cacti powder turned brown. Powder was turned into a wet alkaline paste (per CIELO Tek). Ethyl acetate extract was a dark caramel color. The typical mescaline xtals precipitated with citric acid addition. No change to yields or final crystal color after washing with EA right on the collection filter.

Only difference was that the typical dark green color from EA became dark brown because of chlorophyll and other plant-stuff degradation. Natural mescaline salt was unaffected and was stable at these higher temperatures in my case.

Edit: after measuring weights, there does seem to be a decrease in yield. Visually yield looks fine initially. Not sure if the mescaline was destroyed or if it was more difficult to extract and xtalize.