Hello all! So SWIM is sorta new to this - has been researching teks for several months now but has been unable to settle on the most appropriate/safest ingredients.

Living in Dublin Ireland, the common solvents suggested are unavailable (VM&P naphtha, etc...). SWIM is aware of other threads on here from people living in Ireland struggling to find the right brands. Members very kindly make suggestions but none of them definitively answer the question. Some suggest this or that, but then others come along and warn against it (Zippo lighter fluid, etc...), leaving SWIM wondering which opinion to trust. The same with brands for lye/caustic soda. Perhaps SWIM is being too cautious, but he really doesn't want to accidentally use the wrong stuff!

So would it be possible for someone on here, who has performed a clean and successful MHRB extraction in Ireland, to tell SWIM the specific solvent and caustic soda brands they used, that can be bought locally? Any suggestions/personal experience would be HUGELY appreciated!

I used Zippo. I didn't die. Is that available in Ireland?

As for lye it should be readily available online or in store. It's a common home chemical used for cleaning. Any brand will work, cause all caustic lye is the same compound: sodium hydroxide.

Personally I think it's better to just make a tea and skip all the fuss with extractions.