I have been using the diviner's sage on and off for a few years, either by smoking extracts or smoking plain leaf. I feel as though I've sort of run into a wall with smoking, and have become interested in the traditional methods of use, i.e. Chewing the leaves or making a tincture for sublingual use.

I have tried chewing the leaves that I have few times (up to whole mouth fulls) with only minimal effects. Either my technique is off (probably) or the leaves I possess are stale (certainly by now). This is why I want to try making a tincture, but there seems to be a shortage of Teks elaborating the process.

I assume high-proof ethanol would do the trick? Just soaking the powdered leaves in this for some weeks with regular agitation and the then strain? And use?

Hello AFR, yes, Salvia tincture is a lovely (and useful...if you have a question you want answered) experience.

This page may help...you basically just soak leaves in high-proof alcohol.

Good luck.

Ah thank you, that's exactly the information I was looking for!

Has anyone ever tried this "tek" before? I just added a little over 100g of powdered Sally foliage into 200 mL of everclear. It called for .5g of leaf per mL of alcohol. The powdered leaf just absorbed all the everclear. I added a splash of distilled water to give it a little more volume. In a day or two i will strain with an old t-shirt and try to get as much of the everclear out of the powdered leaf as I can, and report back with results.

Please do, I'll be trying in a week or so

I just crush the leaves before soaking. But even so, the alcohol does pretty much disappear into the leaves. I do it in little screwtop jars, and there is just enough liquid that you can see it when you slowly roll the jar (to ensure all the leaves are being extracted). Then you squeeze the leaves against the bottom of the jar when you finally pour the alcohol out.

I'm pretty sure I use a little more than ml/.5g. I think that figure is the maximum salvia-goodies that the alcohol can physically contain (and you do want it to be as strong as possible), but you may need a little more alcohol to make the extraction practicable. You may have more luck with crushed leaves.

[EDIT: I've just looked it up, and the last one I did was 3.5g with 15ml...so that's twice the amount of alcohol suggested in that article...works nicely though. ]

Also, you want the alcohol to be as strong as you can get...so distilled water will work against that.

Limeni, I'm aware of the distilled water working against me, but i don't think I added enough to do any harm, especially since I started with 190 proof everclear. We will see though!

And how can i measure .5 ml without something that goes that low? How much is one full dropperfull? Or is this a dumb question and I should just Do my own legwork.

I'm not sure exactly how you would go about measuring that small of an amount (other than graduated cylinder), and it depends on the dropper how much a dropper full is.

To be safe though, I would just take your smallest dropper, and just do one drop under the tongue, see how you feel, and go from there.

Where does .5ml come from?

Oops, I'm dumb!

It was .5 grams of leaf per ml. I got it, sorry!

And I of course aire on the side of caution with the magic mint! After my initial (breakthrough) smoked extracts experiences I have always been VERY cautious with her. Such hidden power the little leaves have!

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Yes, you obviously want to be careful with quantities of smoked extracts - but tincture is a lot more subtle experience, and you would have to be using say 8 or more dropper-fulls to get into extremely strong dose territory (or so I'm told...I've never done that high a dose yet).

This page gives the dosing information from Daniel Siebert's tincture (basically, 1 dropper for Mild, 2 for Moderate, 4 for Strong, and 6 for Very Strong). Personally I would start at 3 droppers to get a decent starting experience, but we are all different. (By the way, compare the prices with what you can make it for! )

Last night I tried my homemade salvia tincture. I was able to squeeze about 2fl oz. out of the powdered salvia. Remember that i had used 190 proof, which translates to 95% alcohol.

I put as much in the dropper as it would pick up (which was about half the dropper), and squirted it under my tongue. HOLY FREAKIN CRAP it burned like a mofo, but i still held it under my tongue for about four minutes. I repeated that process two more times. I did feel a little strange, I had the ever so slightest wavy visuals in the corner of my eyes, and I could feel the tinge of Salvia gravity pulling at my arms. But it never got stronger than this.

Also, i burned the shit out of my the area under my tongue. Literally, there are pieces of fresh skin just dangling like tentacles on the bottom of my tongue, and it really hurts. Hopefully, it will heal itself in a day or two, but for right now..... ow

Hmmm...you started with 200ml (6.7 fl oz) and ended up with 2 fl oz. I've always used crushed leaf rather than powdered - the crushed leaf absorbs a bit of the alcohol, but nothing like that much...and the Salvinorin A is said to be on the surface of the leaves, so it is not essential to powder them.

The burn is less easily solved. As you started with 198, it would probably be OK to dilute it a little. The current wisdom is to let the liquid sit on (the top of) the back of your tongue, and after a while sloosh it around your ckeeks and the outside of the gums, and then back onto the tongue. Anyway, you need to have it in your mouth for 15-20 minutes IME to get the full effects going (so your 4 mins would explain the disappointing results so far). After that, swallow/spit and take some more fresh dropperfulls. I've also heard of people mixing it with a bit of honey to make it less burny - but never tried it like that.

Because the effects are so much less forceful than smoked, a lot of people seem to give up with tinctures. But for me it is much more magical, personal and 'shamanic'. If you have a 'what should I do next?' or 'what don't I understand about this situation?' type question, ""the plant"" seems to provide you with successive visions which let you see the situation from various different angles (including other people's angles). Psychotherapy without the couch/certificates.

Limeni- That sounds really awesome, and I would LOVE to keep working with the tincture, as I have always had a great relationship with Sally and would hate to give up on her now.

But quite honestly, I am scared of the tincture now. I literally have FRESH, not dead, but fresh skin that is peeling away from the bottom of my tongue, and still hurts a considerable amount almost a day later. I swear i can literally see what looks like a hole that was even burned into my tongue on the bottom. Its in bad shape. And as much as I love Sally, there has got to be some war around this.

^^^

This sounds awful! I have my 95% ethanol but this scares me.

Has anyone else used a homemade tincture and burned their tongue?

I've never used a tincture just because of stories like that.

You might want to ask "burningmouth" how he got his name.

Tigerstrike - I'm so sorry to hear about your mouth. It is definitely the big problem with pure alcohol tinctures, and why we are all trying to find another (non-smoking) delivery method. If it's any comfort, I got bad burn the first time I used a bought tincture, but the skin does seem to strengthen itself on healing - so subsequent usage was much less destructive. I think it would depend how much you salivate though. Tincture under the tongue makes me salivate quite quickly, so the alcohol is soon diluted.

Really don't want to come across like I think I'm the guru or anything, but

I would suggest either:

. . Dilute the tincture a fair bit before using it, until your mouth is happy with it...but then swallow and replace every 20 minutes several times (I find there's a natural slight return towards 'reality' every 20 mins, which gives you just enough coordination to slip a fresh batch in, and then go back in). Obviously the effects won't be quite as strong, but after several sessions your mouth may become used to it, and you might then be able to dilute less.

Or

. . Try the mixing with runny honey thing (never tried it myself)

And/or

. . Let it sit at the back of your mouth/throat on top of your tongue (instead of underneath, where the skin is so sensitive).

Also, I forgot to say, for those trying tincture for the first time...with this method you are not forcibly removed from 'reality' like with smoking. You have to do some of the work yourself by providing the conditions the plant needs to work its magic. i.e. Lying down, clearing your mind, and getting as close as you can to that hypnagogic state between wakefulness and sleep. But the plant will do the rest. .
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Well, I have the powdered foliage soaking in the ethanol, turning a lovely emerald green...

It's her subtle magic I am seeking, not the sheer drop-off into the hall-of-mirrors. I need healing, not novel intense psychedelic experiences... I've had plenty of those with little effect on my actual life.

The tincture from Sage Wisdom suggests that you add 1 part hot water (use boiling water) to 2 parts tincture. The hot water keeps the salvinorin from coming out of solution. Take this mixture immediately in the mouth, under tongue, back of mouth, etc., and hold for 20 minutes. This decreases the alcohol burn substantially. There is still some effect on the mouth mucosa, but not bad. Definitely recommended. Also, keep water away from your tincture, which means use a different eye dropper for the tincture and another one for the hot water. Mix in a small glass, like a shot glass.