Hello new friends, I hope you are well.

I'm a 50 y/o man. Lately, I have been pondering the "Who am I?" question, which really is more of a "who am I not?" type investigation. Words are not particularly helpful on this journey.

I have found marijuana (sativa) to be an effective tool on my quest, but lately I have become interested in other compounds. I recently used Spice (jwh-01, but that failed miserably. I wanted to experiment with Salvia D, but the iron fist of my state prevents that. Now I'm curious about DMT, although the extraction process seems a little daunting. Since my curiosity is now peaked about this substance, I'm fairly certain I'll give it a go.

Any helpful advice as I go forward?

Welcome to the Nexus!

The usual advice goes: Check the wealth of information in the WIKI, the FAQs and so on.

It may at first seem daunting but if you keep reading it will start making sense If theres anything you cant find answer to in your information quest, feel free to ask us

See you around.

For on the fly help you can always try the chat function.
Also, once you've read a few extraction procedures I'm sure you'll find it's a lot easier than you thought. Because it is actually pretty easy However the right tools are essential IMO. Good luck in any case!

Welcome to the Nexus!

much love

Find out what kind of experience you would like... ayahuasca, pharmahuasca, vaporized dmt... (or perhaps other psychedelics?)
then find what tek you can use to obtain the molecules needed for that experience..

Look up roughly what ingredients, equipment and chemicals are needed/used for those teks... If you know what is avaiable to you, then you can decide what teks you can use... If you have trouble weighing pro's and con's against each other, do ask the people with experience.

Then, after deciding what tek to use... dig into the tek and learn all about it...
Try to see where people are having problems, often you can find the answer to problems in other threads. You do not have to re-invent the wheel. You just have to become familiar with the search and wiki. In the mean time start getting ingredients, equipment, chemicals etc.

Dont take it lightly or hasty. When you have no background in chemistry(?) there is many things that can go wrong. Stupid mistakes are very common. On the other hand, take your time, organise your plans, ask help when you really need it, and you will be fine.

Planning on using Norman's tek

1) "Mix 15mL water and 1g lye per gram of bark in the mixing jar."
does the water temperature matter?

2) "After the final agitation, separate the two layers."
Not having a separatory funnel; will a turkey baster work for this, or is there a better method?

3) "Pour each jar of naptha out through a coffee filter."
At 10 below, naptha is in liquid form? Can you see the crystals at this point? What do they look like?

4) "Spread each filter out to dry."
Once dry, is the spice good to go?


Thanks

if you put your naphtha in the freezer (-20°C) the crystals usually form at the bottom of the jar or on the sides. you might have a few floaters that you will have to catch with a filter, but the majority should be on the glass. Once you decant you just put the glass somewhere upside down with a tilt to it so the rest of the solvent can evap off the crystals. Make sure you have a plate or something underneath it in case some crystals fall down when they dry. Then when you're sure they're completely dry you can scrape them from the bottom and decide whether they're clean enough for you or if you want to reX them ...

if they're white they're prolly good to go but you should decide that for yourself.

Two snow globes were just removed from the freezer, the first is mostly white, with a tinge of yellow. The second appears more yellowish. The 'crystals' resemble mold spores, but they are upside down, tilted, and evaping now.

What is the procedure for "reX"?

Congrats - a good feeling, no? Re-xing is usually done with heptane (Bestine is a brand name of a rubber cement solvent available in art stores), but can be done with naptha. The procedure is outlined in the FAQ.

Good luck,

JBArk

"a good feeling, no?"

Yes, absolutely. Eagerly anticipating my first experience. Although I do have mixed feelings, my intended purpose is to examine any "spiritual" connotations, but I'm fairly certain chemicals aren't really necessary for that type work.

Guess I'll know soon enough. I'll post a follow up after.

Thanks for the reply.