I've been doing extractions, making changa, and brewing caapi for several years now. And up until recently I've done it safely. This is kind of an embarrassing post to be writing, but I want to warn people to be careful when working on extractions and such.

I know several people who read this will shake their heads at the situation and think "how stupid", "where's the common sense?" , but this isn't for them. It's for people who don't know any better and try to take short cuts.

So any ways here goes
I had caapi soaking in acetone for a couple of weeks to make 10x changa. Unfortunately I didn't have a crock pot to heat up and reduce the level of the acetone so I figured I would just double boil it on the stove. It was a gas stove, open flame, big big big nono!!! I had done it on the stove once or twice before with no accidents, but this time was different.

I had never used this much acetone before, which I think was part of my problem. Any ways to cut to the chase, a good amount of acetone caught on fire The flames were huge! I literally thought I was going to burn my apartment down. So I did the best I could to extinguish the fire. I even yelled "fire" at one point during the incident. I know I should have tried to cap the pot, but that not what my reaction was. I managed to get the pot to the sink and turned the water on(mistake #2) and just started to beat the flames out. The paint above my sink blistered and my dish rack melted. Also the rug in front of my sink on my hardwood floor caught a lil flame.

I had never been so scared and panicked in my life. While extinguishing the fire I managed to get second degree burns on both of my hands. Large portions of skin were burned off. A couple of hours later I went to the ER. There they gave me morphine and Vicodin. I was out of work for 2 weeks. This is my second week back and my hands have healed up nicely

I was very very lucky. Not only did I severely burn my hands, but I put the lives of my neighbors in danger, and that messed with my head for a while. Not to mention I almost needed surgery on one of my fingers.

SO PLEASE FRIENDS, BE CAREFUL!!! USE A CROCK POT!

So like I said, this is and was truly embarrassing, but also quite humbling. I hope other members don't think less of me, but I just felt called to post this.

Only a small handful of my friends really know what happened...as far as every one else knows it was a grease fire from frying chicken. Ugh.

Soulshine

P.S.- I finally finished my 10x changa and will be going on a test flight tonight or tomorrow

We've all done stupid things in our lives. You obviously feel horrible about your mistake, you've learned from it, and now you've made efforts to make sure others don't follow in your footsteps.

I know that you will probably be one of the most careful nexians going forward, and no one was hurt irreparably, so in the end you can view it as a positive experience.

Live and learn. Forgive yourself so you will have the strength to forgive others.

Peace and Happy Journeys with your completed 10x changa I hope your hands continue to heal nicely.

glad youre ok, thanks for sharing your humbling experience


this reminds me of that time phlux burned himself really bad as well

Thanks for the kind words, lesson learned, the hard way

I had the same thing happen to me once as well... luckily my reaction was to put a lid on the fire and that did the job nicely without any further damage than a racing heart. I suppose having a fire extinguisher around in general isn't a bad idea either, though I didn't have to use one. better safe than sorry.. eh?

but yeah, solvents + open flames = very bad idea.