Non toxic food safe extraction of mescaline using d-limonene (orange oil)

Revision 1.221


What you need:

* 100 grams of died cactus, preferably dried green outer flesh with the core, spines, and the thin waxy skin removed from it.
* 25 grams of edible calcium hydroxide (hydrated lime).
* 300 ml of any type of drinking water. Tap water is just fine.
* 900 ml of food grade non-toxic d-limonene (orange oil). Note that some non-distilled d-limonene apparently contains traces of citric acid (less than 0.1%). Someone brought this up as a possible concern. The amount of citric acid present is too small to have any impact at all on the extraction process. We would need at least 10 grams of citric acid for there to be any impact at all on this extraction process. 0.1% of 1000 ml is only 1 gram, and most non-distilled d-limonene would contain much less that 0.1%. So don’t worry about traces of citric acid present in non-distilled d-limonene, its of no concern at all. Citric acid cannot be distilled, so distilled d-limonene cannot contain any at all.
* 150 -225 ml of vinegar.
* 3 coffee filters.
* A large container to hold the cactus mix. It's best to use glass or metal. If plastic is used, HDPE or PP is best. Do not use polystyrene because it dissolves in d-limonene.
* A dish for evaporating your final alkaloid extract in.
* A glass gravy separator or a separatory funnel (HDPE or PP plastic could be used instead of glass)


Here's the procedure

1 - Powderize your dried cactus. Mix 100 grams of dried powderized cactus with 25 grams of calcium hydroxide. Add 300 ml water to make it feel wet but not watery. Mix for about 5 minutes.

2 - Add 300 ml of d-limonene. Mix well. Let sit a few hours.

3 - Pour off the d-limonene through a filter. (It's really cool if you use a French Coffee Press for this. Using a French Coffee Press you press the cactus mix and squeeze out the d-limonene to get every last drop of d-limonene out. Then filter it through a paper coffee filter.)

4 - Add 25 ml of vinegar to the d-limonene. Mix thoroughly.

5 - Separate the vinegar from the d-limonene (the vinegar is at the bottom, the d-limonene at the top). This vinegar will contain mescaline acetate. Evaporate your vinegar in a food dehydrator at 155 F to get waxy amber slightly impure mescaline acetate. NOTE: to separate the vinegar from the d-limonene you can use a glass gravy separator or a separatory funnel. Seperatory funnels are considered laboratory glassware and are banned for individual use in some locations. A gravy separator works almost just as well and can be found at some local kitchenware shops.

6 - Repeat steps 4 and 5 at least 2-3 times.

7 - Repeat steps 2 - 6 at least 2 times.


Comments

The great thing about this tech is that is it 100% food grade and non-toxic. You can buy food grade calcium hydroxide at many places, it's often called hydrated lime and is used in cooking (making pickles, tortillas, etc.). Make sure to use non-toxic food grade d-limonene, that way if any d-limonene residue is left behind its safe to ingest it. Use regular white vinegar that is 5% acetic acid.

The result is a waxy amber colored slightly impure mescaline acetate approximately 85-95% pure. It might take a while to dry complete. Have patients.

SWIM has used this tech and got yields you cannot believe. Mescaline acetate is a little waxy, and tends to stick to things. It's texture is not as nice as mescaline HCl which is much more powdery in texture. However, SWIM has found that mescaline acetate is stronger by weight than mescaline HCl. He's not sure why. It should be weaker because it's heavier. I believe it absorbs faster and that's why it's stronger. It definitely comes on much quicker than mescaline HCl does.

The purity of this extraction is good enough for a great trip. You really don't need 99% purity. You can get close to 95-99% purity using the purification steps below, but without the purification steps it's about 40-90% pure depending on the cactus used. Without purification, it's still concentrated enough to put into gel tabs for a really nice convenient trip without all the bulk of the cactus. Pure mescaline acetate is a little stronger than pure mescaline HCl, but not by much.

Note that this tech was originally developed for San Pedro cactus but work equally well for Peyote, Achuma, and Peruvian Torch.


Purification of Mescaline Acetate

The alkaloid extract produced from this tech is a mix of various alkaloids. The exact mix of mescaline to other alkaloids present depends on the type of cactus used as well as the individual specimen extracted. Mescaline acetate is a white free flowing powder. If the extract is brown or amber, or sticky, it's got a high number of non-mescaline alkaloids present. It can be used as is for the full spectrum effects, but if one wants a more pure product, the other alkaloids can be easily removed.

In this section we talk about a very simple technique for cleaning up the mescaline acetate by removing the non-mescaline alkaloids.

Mescaline acetate is insoluble in MEK (methyl ethyl ketone). MEK is a solvent that is found in fruit, similar to d-limonene. It's a normal part of the human diet, but only in very small amounts, like acetone. D-limonene is a much safer solvent, but MEK evaporates really fast so it's easily removed from the end product.

To clean mescaline acetate, dissolve 200 mg of impure sticky amber mescaline acetate in 2 ml of cold MEK. Smash the pure mescaline finely in the MEK. You want the mescaline acetate to form a fine powder at the bottom. Wait for a while until the mescaline acetate powder sinks to the bottom and simply decant the MEK slowly, being careful not to disturb the mescaline acetate. After one cleaning, the mescaline acetate will still be somewhat amber or tan in color. Repeat with 2 ml more cold MEK. After a second wash and decant, dry the mescaline acetate with a fan. After all the smell of the MEK is gone, you're left with off-white nearly pure mescaline acetate.

The impurities removed by the MEK in some cases can be as much as 60% of the alkaloids extracted. The impurities tend to be much less for Peruvian Torch, and very high for Achuma and some varieties of San Pedro.

The amber impurities in the MEK can then be evaporated and used separately. They are typically very sticky and will not form a dry powder even after the MEK is completely evaporated. There are at least two active alkaloids present if the cactus used was San Pedro or Achuma. They are psychoactive, but very much unlike mescaline. San Pedro's impurities tend to be more sedating, similar to the effects of harmaline. Both San Pedro and Achuma have an impurity present that seems to have some MAOI activity which can be used to greatly enhance the effects of morning glory seeds, HWBR seeds, and ololiuqui seeds.

Pure mescaline acetate is a white free flowing powder with a slightly waxy texture very similar to freebase DMT. You'll find that it's much easier to manage after purifying it, being not nearly as waxy, and no longer sticky.

After purification, the experience is a much finer clearer experience far more resembling the effects of LSD, especially when taken with coffee. It is to some, far superior to the effects had from the full spectrum of cactus alkaloids.

NOTE: for the tech to remain food grade, USP or FCC grade MEK must be used. If technical grade or ACS grade is used, it's no longer food grade.




Dosage Information

Here are the dosages as stated on Erowid for mescaline HCl. The dosage for mescaline acetate is nearly identical, but this extract is roughly 40-90% mescaline acetate along with the remaining being other alkaloids so this dosage guide is more accurate for pure mescaline acetate. If you purified the mescaline acetate using the steps above, then this quite is very accurate. Mescaline acetate is slightly stronger than mescaline HCl, but not by much.

Threshold 100 mg
Light 100 - 200 mg
Common 200 - 300 mg
Strong 300 - 500 mg
Heavy 500 - 700 mg

SWIM does not recommend more than 200 mg for a first time experience. 100 mg is enough for SWIM to experience some minor psychedelic effects. Below that it’s mostly just a pleasant euphoric stimulant very similar to MDMA. SWIM can feel the effects of as little at 50 mg of mescaline, but it’s not psychedelic at all at that dose. For him, the psychedelic effects kick in at about 100 mg, but are mild. At 200 mg the psychedelic effects are very noticeable, but not too heavy. At 300 mg and above, it becomes quite a heavy experience from many people.

Dosage Using Gel Caps

The following shows how much dry mescaline acetate (extracted using this tech) will fit into the specified gel cap if tapped down tightly. Using this information you can measure doses without the use of a scale.

1 size "5" holds 65-75 mg
1 size "4" holds 110-120 mg
1 size "3" holds 165-175 mg
1 size "2" holds 205-215 mg
1 size "1" holds 280-290 mg
1 size "0" holds 390-400 mg
1 size "00" holds 540-550 mg
1 size "000" holds 790-800 mg

Most people find a size "5" to be very euphoric without psychedelic effects.

A size “3” is a good starter dose. That’s enough to know what mescaline is like without being blown away by it.

A size “0” and larger should be avoided unless you’re really comfortable with mescaline.

Pictures

Here's a picture of a glass gravy separator which can be used to separate the vinegar from the d-limonene. The top filter is removable.

To separate the d-limonene (orange oil) from the vinegar solution, simply pour the solution into the gravy separator (with the filter removed) and wait for it to settle into two separate layers. If any d-limonene gets into the pouring spout, just pour that out and put it back into the gravy separator. Then pour out the lower vinegar layer. The d-limonene stays on top of the vinegar and won’t come out of the gravy separator until almost all the vinegar is out. It takes a little practice to get the handle of using it, but once you do it works really well.




Here are some pictures of what the resulting crystals look like up close. The first is from the center of SWIM's evaporation dish where the white waxy mescaline acetate crystals are about 95% pure. The second picture is from the perimeter of his evaporation dish were the mescaline acetate is about 70-80% pure. You can see amber colored alkaloids surrounding the mescaline acetate crystals making them appear amber. At least one of these other alkaloids is psychoactive.

(NOTE: these photos were NOT taken by me.)

See also: Pure white mescaline HCl from cactus using d-limonene (orange oil)

Great job! SWIM can't wait to give this a try sometime. He is so anxious to do mescaline again that he will probably do the cooked potion route first, but eventually he'd love to give this tek a go.

Are we looking at about a 2oomg dose there?

One thing I should mention is that San Pedro contains alkaloids other than mescaline. Using vinegar in this tech with San Pedro causes at least one of them to get extracted along with the mescaline acetate. SWIM doesn’t know what alkaloid it is, but it’s hallucinogenic like mescaline and seems to be more potent. It comes on faster than mescaline does and is slightly sedating, and only seems to last about 3 hours.

Peruvian Torch seems to lack that alkaloid, whatever it is. Achuma seems to have it along with some other alkaloids.

I would like to know if there’s some way of separating that non-mescaline San Pedro alkaloid from the mescaline acetate. I know that if the mescaline acetate is converted to mescaline hydrochloride, then washing it with acetone removes the other alkaloid. But I’ve read that you cannot wash mescaline acetate with acetone because it’s soluble in it.

SWIM will be doing some solubility tests on mescaline acetate. So far he found it’s soluble in water and soluble in 99% IPA, and insoluble in xylene and insoluble in d-limonene.

Hopefully SWIM will find a solvent that can be used to isolate the mescaline acetate from the other San Pedro alkaloid. SWIM would like to have them both in isolated form. The non-mescaline alkaloid is interesting. He likes the fact that it is so short acting. But never experienced it in isolated form. It might only work if mescaline is taken with it.

Thats interesting about the achuma... swim has worked with bolivian achuma for years... and it is anything but yawny... if any thing pachanio is dreamy and yawny... achuma is a firey mind ripping stimulant... and this has been reported frequently by many...

So SWIYs not getting that from torch... but huachuma and achuma... this leads to the question of whether or not your achuma is possibly huachuma misidentified...
SWIMS FOAF has extracted full alkaloid extracts from achuma and achieved the same stimulant effects.
Shulgin discuessed these chems with us at a con these are the chems responsible for making the stimulant effect as well as the potentiation effect of the mescaline. seeing how achuma has less mescaline but is stronger then huachuma or torch... it makes one wonder if SWIY is getting actual bridgesii.

SWIM has no way of knowing if its true achuma or not. He trusts that the vendors know their cacti. The alkaloid extract was much stronger than mescaline, at least twice as strong, but with a dreamy sedative component at the start and it never got that simulating. SWIM's friends said it was a lot like Peyote.

SWIM's achuma feels nothing like San Pedro or Peruvian Torch. They are worlds apart. If it's not true achuma I would be surprised. It was purchased from the most popular entheogen vendor in the US.

SWIM feels a very heavy sedation at the onset, and then that gives way to a more mescaline like effect after about 3 hours. The second half of the trip is very unlike San Pedro and different from pure mescaline. SWIM’s San Pedro, although also slightly sedating at first, is far more like mescaline than his achuma is. SWIM’s achuma is more like Peyote than either San Pedro or Peruvian Torch.

Lacking the skills for cacti identification, SWIM just has to trust the vendors.

Maybe yours is misidentified and actually Bolivian San Pedro which is also called achuma. Did you think of that possibility?

That's a quote from another member here. SWIM and his friends find that to be very accurate. Achuma is more like Peyote. That's exactly how SWIM's achuma is, so I believe it is the real deal. SWIM's achuma is more like Peyote than San Pedro or Peruvian Torch. The difference is very noticeable.

"Maybe yours is misidentified and actually Bolivian San Pedro which is also called achuma. Did you think of that possibility?"

nope and for good reason...
SWIMS bridgessi comes from La paz, hand collected by shamans that swim knows personally... The only trich growing in la paz is bridgesii, which they call achuma... swim did not buy it from the internet. Swim has bought cuttings from trusted sources who know the difference between the subtleties of the many different varities and cultivars of TRICHS... swim trusts these supplier because they are sceintists themselves and growers and not folks profiteering off of the inter web ethnobotanical sales...
Swim has grown cuttings from these sources and done comparisons with them and other cacti as well as what has come back from la paz... and they are stimulant like and much stronger then other sanpedros in potency requiring only two table spoons of cacti skin mixed with cold or warm water...
SWIM has taken this same combo dozens of times in ceremonies with over a hundered people over a period of 7 years all reporting the same results... its stronger then anything else outh there and its deffintely bridgesii and its from la paz and it only requires two table spoons AND its more stimulant in its effects.

Could it be that whether it's stimulant or sedating is dose dependant? Or maybe it's not one single alkaloïd and it's an alkaloïd mixture that widely varies with types of strain and climate conditions. Never had any sedating effect from cactusses myself. Always stimulating. Also with peyote.

I don't want argue about this. It's pointless. I've known people who are cactus experts who agree with my take on its effects, and others who do not and have argued this before to no end. I don't want to start another argument about it here. It's completely pointless without the two parties using the exact same cactus from the same cutting at the same dose.

How it feels for SWIM is how it feels for SWIM. You cannot tell SWIM otherwise unless you've saw SWIM's cactus and tried it yourself. Everyone seems to claim their cactus is the "authentic" achuma. Whether you pick it in the wild or buy it makes no difference. Stuff picked in the wild could still be misidentified.

So arguing about this is useless.

I believe shulgin said that it was some isoquinolines that where responsible for the stimulant as well as the MAOI effects in the achuma... this was a while ago... and i use the term MAOI effect loosely now... who knows whats happening when they get extracted honestly.
I dont think that whether its stimulant or depressant is dose dependent honestly... ive just never ever heard of it being sedating... there are A LOT of Aussys working with different strains of Bridgesii the regular one that most people get the mutant clones and good ol ellien who is different in taxonomy then the T. Bridgesii that i most commonly see, longer spines as well as different shaped ribs... but its still a bridgesii and they all report it as being stimulant in effects as well... most folks prefer working with something other then bridgesii because the stimulant aspect of it creates a major push that makes people feel really almost forced to deal with some of their major issues.
people always report that pachanio is the more dreamy of the ones that people work with...
my question is whether or not this is one of the other cactus out there, besides the more common... terscheckii, or any of the others.

its just not making sense from what ive heard over and over again. and what ive seen and experienced... so i dont know...
Swim Knows lots of FOAFs that work with achuma too... all report the stimulant side.
so im baffled...
are these bioassys of it being more depresent in effects just from extractions? that may be the difference... i dunno

It’s well documented that everyone has slightly different responses to peyote and all the others, so that is not surprising. Some people always vomit from peyote, and some people (like SWIM) never do. If I say peyote does X and Y, and for you it does A and B, there is still no argument to be had.

The same is true for all herbs. Not everyone is affected in the same way.

SWIM can easily detect the initial sedative effects of San Pedro and Achuma. SWIM can also easily detect the vast differences between the two. An alkaloid extract from Achuma is much stronger than an alkaloid extract from San Pedro. The quality of the effects are very different. San Pedro is more like pure mescaline than Achuma is for SWIM. If it’s not that way for you, it doesn’t mean it’s not that way for SWIM.

None of the cactuses ever make SWIM vomit or get nausea. Pure mescaline also doesn’t make SWIM vomit. I cannot say that peyote doesn't make you vomit, because I know it does make some people vomit, even though SWIM doesn't.

SWIM has pure mescaline and several full alkaloid extracts from Torch, Pedro, and Achuma. Their effects are all different from each other. So SWIM’s achuma is definitely NOT Torch or Pedro, and the double potency of the extract indicates without a doubt that it’s Achuma according to other reports I’ve read.

jeez man... kinda defensive... im not trying to argue with you at all... its just every thing your saying about achuma is totally contrary to every thing that SWIM has EVER heard, seen or experienced... and i find that curious. I know cactus experts as well, and I am also the moderator of a sanpedro forum.. so i hear alot about achuma... and this is new to me man.
I find that just curious thats all. I also do not hear of to many misidentifyed achuma cactus, and I dont hear of to many people misidentifying it either. So im not disrespecting you or trying to argue with you at all... I AM just shocked by what your reporting and I am trying to figure out how that could be thats all.
if it makes you feel sedated well thats a trip bro... never heard of that before... and ive had alot of opportunities... So im intrigued thats all... and curious about it.
I also dont feel that discussing it is pointless... i do think argueing about it is counter productive and thats not my intention at all...

im not trying to argue that... with you nor argue at all...
and SWIM is well aware that herbs and chemicals effect each person differently... I thought it odd that it effected you in that way... and felt your statement that it was sedating in general needed to be corrected. it felt that you were making the point that your particular reaction was common to the experience for every one in general. that may not have been what you where stating but it seemed so. whihc is contrary to every thing ive ever heard read or experienced so... you can imagine my surprise and reason why i asked if it was achuma.

For SWIM achuma is like peyote.

For SWIM the peyote experience comes on in waves like achuma. It starts with an initial dreamy sedated feeling that gives way to a more stimulated mescaline like experience, and like achuma, it never becomes a true mescaline trip. It’s got its own character that separates it from the affects of pure mescaline. Pure mescaline doesn’t have a sedative component to it at the onset. It’s more like Peruvian Torch than any other cactus.

Achuma, like peyote, is stimulating as the trip builds, but the onset is very sedating for SWIM. It’s different than San Pedro’s initial sedative effects. It’s more stoning, more mentally intoxicating than San Pedro.

SWIM’s Achuma cannot be San Pedro because the alkaloid extract is about twice as potent as a San Pedro alkaloid extract and the effects are very different. There’s no way it’s San Pedro.

If it’s not Achuma, its some new highly potent cactus I’m unaware of. It cannot be San Pedro, Peruvian Torch, and surely not Peyote.

I'm used to that response. Everyone always says how mescaline makes you vomit and peyote makes you vomit, etc., etc., etc., and it's just not so for SWIM.

SWIM is very sensitive to the slightest variations in alkaloid content. What SWIM perceives as an initial sedative effect felt about 15 minutes after ingesting achuma, others might not even notice.

For example, SWIM can tell the difference between mushrooms high in psilocin and mushrooms high in psilocybin, while many other people cannot. SWIM is very sensitive in that respect.

I getcha...
thats interesting.. im well aware of the effect your talking about with peyote... and how you put it with the 15min being sedating thats interesting... and it is more clear to me what your expressing. and your right peyote does get more stimulating after a bit...
thanks for your clarification and further communicating with me on the subject. I see what your saying much more clearly.
I agree with you it sounds like what you have is achuma due to the strength.
I know what you mean as well about the vomiting... achuma and mescaline very rarely makes swim vomit either... SWIM is much more likely to poop during the onset then purge... lol

69ron- you have inspired SWIM he cant wait to try this in the next few weeks thank you

quick question... 500ml glacial acetic acid should be able to make 10 liters 5% .... right?

That sounds right to me. But why use glacial acetic acid when you can just buy vinegar at the local store?

i just would appreciate the simplicity of a small concentrated bottle that i could premix rather then bottle after bottle after bottle... besides i get nervous buying that much vinegar... who buys gallons of vinegar so often

i saw it cheap on ebay and was getting spastic was just a thought i very much will likely continue buying it at the market