SWIM ordered ethyl alcohol to make changa. When it arrived it said "Note that this is denatured Ethyl Alchohol, meaning additives are mixed in making it toxic if ingested". It says under WARNINGS, "Ingestion can cause narcosis, coma, respiratory failure, and death in significant quantities". Is this a safe substance to make changa with, since a) it is being evaporated out and; b) it is not being ingested, but rather spoked. My guess is that it is probably unsafe, but SWIM would really like to be sure before SWIM goes and purchases from another supplier.

When ethyl alcohol is denatured they add methanol. It evaporates clean so it is fine for making changa. I wouldn't drink it though

Your denatured alchohol may well contain Denatonium aka bittrex; not toxic as such but horrid tasting. I once tasted a pin-head of material containing this and was still swilling out my mouth 3 hours later. I don't know if it will come across in a smoke or not but if so you may well have wasted your ingredients. Acetone or iso are a much better bet and easy to get.

It probably contains benzalkonium chloride

http://en.wikipedia.org/...alkonium_chloride#Safety

Denatured ethanol very rarely if ever contains methanol. They use extremely bitter agents and sometimes dyes to stop people drinking it.

It might be worth evapping a small amount of it on some plant material. If the plant material smells fine, perhaps try smoking a little bit of it. I'm sure bittering agents will be extremely noticeable; even benzalkonium chloride smells like almonds, no? Not to doubt mumbles, but I've also heard that methanol is thrown in as a denaturing agent, and if that IS the case then your solvent will be fine to use for changa (I just use pure methanol).

(EDIT: Brill idea, why not just ask the company you ordered from what they use to denature the alcohol?)

The product is from united nuclear. SWIM found the product sheet:
http://www.jtbaker.com/msds/englishhtml/E2012.htm

Its says:
95% Ethyl Alcohol
4% Methyl Isobutyl Ketone
<1% Kerosene

Is this still ok?

Kerosene can take a while to evaporate, but it is OK. To be sure just do an evap test.

Anyway, to enhance leaves you have a fuckton of chemicals to choose from. Methanol, acetone, isopropyl alcohol... while your ethyl will work, methanol and acetone are readily available and are the best evaporation time-wise, IME.

what about the Methyl Isobutyl Ketone? Is that safe? Does that take long to evaporate?

It evaporates a bit slower than ethyl alcohol; it's the long carbon chains in kerosene the problem. Anyway, it's pretty safe, just follow the usual safety precautions: don't breathe it, don't drink it, keep it out of your eyes, use gloves.

I had a look at the MSDS and it states a evaporation rate of 3.3, while 95% ethyl alcohol is 1.4, that just doesn't make sense. WTF.

cant you get something else, like pure IPA, or acetone? Even vodka would work, but it would take long to evaporate because of the water content.

How long would one expect the solution to evaporate? Is hardware store acetone acceptable? Where could I get 100% IPA?

You could all ways buy 70% IPA or acetone and make it anhydrous by using a desiccant like dried epsom salts (magnesium sulphate).

is 70% IPA really better than what SWIM has?

is there a chemical SWIM can use that he could buy in the store that doesn't require any preparation or anything?

They are already listed. Methanol, 99% IPA, acetone.