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  • AADD Moderators: swilow | Vagabond696

Alternative method 4 extracting THC

Lord Kaos

Bluelighter
Joined
Feb 6, 2002
Messages
91
I luv weed, and I luv ingesting it in all ways, but my fav has 2 b hash or hash oil.
The other day while browsing erowid I came across some information that enabled me to form this theory;
Butane could be used to extract THC, and thus produce hash oil.
my question is after the butane has evaporated, would the left over oil contain anything that I wouldn't want to smoke?
 
As long as you've left it long enough to evapourate off all the butane you should be fine with it :)
[edit] Damm replies popping up while I scratch myself ;)
[ 13 June 2002: Message edited by: Fry-d- ]
 
If you're extracting the honey oil using butane forced at high pressure into a PVC pipe, please take extra care that you and your plastic are earthed. It would be a terrible circumstance to be holding a pressurised pipe full of butane gas at the same time as static electricity from your body discharged in a big spark from your hand to the PVC.
BigTrancer :)
 
thanks 4 the tip BT....I hadn't thought of the static electricity.
How does one tell wen all the butane has evaporated?
 
^^^
Butane is hella volatile, so just let it sit in a ventilated area for a while and it'll all be gone.
I must stress VENTILATED, or else there's gonna be some heavy shit coming down. I.E explosions and the such.
BTW, the use of any non-polar solvent (butane, acetone and the ilk) is actually a good way to purify active ingredients from some natural sources. There is a few sections in erowid that deal with it. Salvia and mescaline come to mind.
(That was the 3rd time I edited this post... Bah to late nights!)
[ 13 June 2002: Message edited by: Fetish Jester ]
 
In the interests of harm minimisation, suggestions are made concerning safety issues with this extraction of essential oils with butane.

The major problems with this method are:
  • 1) It's VERY dangerous
  • 2) t may (depending upon plant material used) constitute an additional and more serious crime than obtaining and smoking the raw material.
  • 3) It pollutes the environment.

Three good reasons not to do it?

If you are still determined, here are parts of the procedure with added safety notes. However, you need to realize there are no fail safe guarantees with a leaking bomb. Automation would be the only way to go – while people stood well clear. If you are a gasfitter, or an industrial chemist, you may be suitably qualified to handle inflammable gases in this way, but for sensibility’s sake you probably wouldn’t want to.

So beware! you have been warned. Using this process cannot be said to be practicing harm minimisation - it’s simply that dangerous - so think carefully before confusing your tobacconist with an order for a pallet of lighter refills.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
THIS PROCESS IS ILLEGAL AND EXTREMELY DANGEROUS
IT IS HIGHLY DISCOURAGED

Adapted from Information sourced through Erowid, Rhodium & related forums, and a parent concerned at the blasé attitude shown by some young people using this method.
Oil from butane via this process constitutes making a leaking bomb.

A highly dangerous situation. In industry such an occurrence is termed an emergency!

If you decide to do this despite the above warnings, pay close attention to the safety aspects of the following explanation!
-------------------------------
Firstly, BT’s warning on static electricity. This can’t be stressed enough. Dick Smith has computer earthing belts, three are required, one for the apparatus and two for the operators – doing this on your own is plain dumb.

Also to help ensure protection against static discharge this should also only be done outside on damp ground, preferably on a high humidity day.

Persons having contact with containers MUST NOT wear synthetic clothing, but should DEFINITELY wear eye protection and fire retardant gloves.

ENSURE THE WIND IS BLOWING FROM BEHIND - THEREBY TAKING GASES AWAY FROM THE OPERATORS. A cold day is also better as it helps lower flash point potential (careful, really cold winters days often increase risk of static discharge, so ensure high humidity also).

Make absolutely sure there are no naked flames or sparks anywhere. Check locations of gas hot water cylinders, electrical switches and possible sources from neighbours etc. Pay particular concern to pool filter pumps which can spark on starting. If possible have 2 or 3 people survey the area to stop anyone with a cigarette from walking in.

Regarding the material of the pressure container, PVC may not be suitable, as butane may react with it (from my organic lecturer). This is possibly not in accordance with the chem. literature I have on chemical resistance to plastics. It lists PVC as being good for n-heptane and hexane. However it doesn’t list butane so can’t be sure here, and I imagine butane is potentially more reactive in a supercritical state. The CRC handbook lists butane as being soluble in all proportions in all organic solvents.


Its best if a suitable plastic container is used (as opposed to metal), one with a screw top which has previously held a non-polar solvent. High density polyethylene apparently works well. It doesn’t need to be big. 500ml is ample for doing small amounts. The top is removed. Several small holes are made in the top, and the inside fitted with a small piece of coffee filter paper.
The plastic bottle is inverted and a small hole is made in the base. This is where the butane can is attached; by the supplied nozzle.

The plant material is prepared by the process described elsewhere. I desist from details here, only to say that with a bit of thought, the efficiency could dramatically be improved.
The container is then filled and packed tightly. The top is then screwed on (also tightly). ENSURE THE CONTAINER DOES NOT LEAK AROUND THE ENTRY OF THE BUTANE NOZZLE. Being squirted in the face with super cooled butane would not be pleasant. A can of compressed air could be used to check.
----------------------------
This is a variation on the Erowid paper (from memory). The hot water technique is used when all persons can stand well clear while the gas evaporates. (Remembering the cold liquid is not flammable - just the gas, which still may be floating just above the liquid ‘water’ line, even when very cold.)

BEFORE STARTING MAKE SURE SOMEONE WITH A FIRE EXTINGUISHER IS SANDING BY. Seriously, a cloud of butane that suddenly ignites is nasty stuff!

A kettle of hot water and 3 large cereal bowls are gathered. Everything is taken outdoors including the person with the fire extinguisher. Goggles and fire retardant gloves are donned (welders gloves will do). In a perfect world one would use fire proof suits. Perhaps they could be hired for the day if a large quantity of material is to be processed.

This can’t be emphasized enough.
MAKE SURE THE WIND IS CONSISTANTLY BLOWING EVERYTHING AWAY FROM PEOPLE AND PROPERTY.
IF NOT - DON’T DO IT.

The top of the prepared container is aimed at a wiped dry pre-cooled bowl. The butane can is loaded and the prepared bottle-butane can is aimed at the bowl. The gas will pressurize the prepared bottle if everything has been done correctly. It may appear the gas is not going to come out at all. Eventually the super critical butane mixture will come and spray into the bowl, while simultaneously butane furiously evaporates (boils). The whole can is used, and not removed until butane stops immerging. Within a minute the collected mixture will stop boiling and frost up the container. Hot water is then placed in a 2nd bowl (half filled) and the solvent containing dry bowl is stood in the water. This can be done while all are safely out of reach and the gas can harmlessly [?] disperse.

THE MOST DANGEROUS TIME is when the gas is first spewing out because the operators are likely to become clouded in it. Any mistake at this point could cost a life or cause serious burns, blindness etc.!! This is a “no fuck around process”, so ensure stray flame watchers are on guard! The process should be completed as quickly as possible, but without rushing - about 10-15mins reports say, from loading into the prepared container.
Throughout the process the butane rapidly changes state and energy is consumed, resulting in everything around it becoming colder. Before the butane is boiled off, the container will start to frost again.

The above hot water –bowl thing is repeated until all gas is boiled off. When all the butane is gone, what appears is oil with something which looks like impurities. Formation of the crystal like lumps will also be observed as the butane boils. This is only water (and a little chlorophyll) trapped in the heat exchange process.

A GOOD 5 MINUTES AFTER it appears no gas remains, the water can be removed by gentle heating. The oil can be scraped up while warm and soft. I’VE HEARD OF EYEBROWS DISSAPEARING IF GAS IS TRAPPED IN LARGE BUBBLES, so wait and check.

If done correctly this should produce a combustible product free from many of the carcinogen producing constituents of any smoked raw plant material. It does however contain many substances, so don’t get the impression it is a pure single ingredient product. Further refinements require tricky distillations and chromatography.

The physical properties of butane make this a very unique ‘solvent’ for extracting hydrophilic (fat soluble) oils from plants. Butane is supercritical at -0.6 degrees C [correction: boils at -0.6, SC at ~20]. The amazing thing is that butane does this at std atmospheric pressure. Lots of other things can be made supercritical (including water) but I’ve yet to hear of anything besides butane which does it room temp and pressure. You can think of supercritical as a state of matter between liquid and gas.

Supercritical extraction usually produces the finest quality oils, but for obvious reasons butane is not used industrially. CO2 is supercritical at temperatures of ~31 %C and 72 atmospheres. So although not inflammable, it requires big equipment to make the CO2 supercritical. CO2 is very non reactive but this also makes it limited as to what it can extract. Chemistry had to come to the rescue here. Copolymer surfactant tails are used to “attach” things to the supercritical CO2 molecule. When the pressure is released, the tail falls off and detaches from the very pure product. It is so efficient and selective that levels of DDT in plants and soil can be ascertained via this extraction method.

With the right parameters/ surfactants etc. a CO2 extractor could undoubtedly extract a very pure and specific plant extract. Now there’s a project for the home handyman!

[Fixed up paragraphing; p_d]
 
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i didnt want to start another post so heres my question. how and or what are the bags for that` ice olator method made from are they just ya regular white 2 way bags u use in pots or what?
i hope yas have heard of the iceolator method b4 and if it works well?
 
personally, i've done the butane method... after the butane has evaporated, add metho/ethanol and then put a few drops into something to smoke it out of (tea candle holder things work well, with a straw :) ) then just heat the ethanol til it evaporates (or bursts into flames :) ) and then smoke the oil.
M
 
Sorry, I'm getting confused. Is this about using this butane method to extract THC or is about getting high off the butane?
 
anfalicious: You're using the butane to extract the THC from the pot. The butane then evapourates and you're left with a (relatively) clean extraction of the goodies in the pot.
You don't wanna get high of butane, it's up there with sniffing petrol as "stupid ways to get high."
 
The name of this thread reminded me of my mate the other night. We were scraping the mullamatic after having a few cones and my ingenius friend came up with the idea of snorting the powder as there wasn't enough chop to make a cone. I told him he was stupid and it wouldn't work but he did it anyway and he said he got a little light headed and he said he 'thinks he feels it a bit'. As i said we had already had a few cones and it was probably the placebo effect but is it possible for the THC to enter the bloodstream through the nose?
 
Term of the day: "Bubble Hash". IMHO extraction via this process is a hell of alot "cleaner" than using the butane-extraction method, as you only use water...it's alot less dangerous as well. A search on any search engine will give you any info you need :)
[ 05 September 2002: Message edited by: samadhi ]
 
Yes it is, but as to how quick this would happen, and how much would get trapped within mucous is hard to say.
THC can be absorbed through the skin, and has in fact been a rather tricky subject for drug detection companies producing urine test kits. THC is present in small amounts in all hemp cosmetics. I know, you are saying that the dope grown for hemp products is supposed to be THC free. Well there are small amounts in these products which can accumulate in the body over time. Just imagine, you use hemp products for everything; shampoo, body lotions, bath oils and cosmetics.
Transdermal THC
So in answer to your question, theoretically yes, but the powder is an irritant and your nose would run in an attempt to limit such absorption. The head rush was probably more sinus related in my opinion.
 
Hey samadhi you missed a great party! 4 decks blending acid trance with scratching from The Master!! It really helped re-establish our credibility in production after being dormant for most of this year. The venue owners may even be up for another..
I agree with the bubble method. Ultimately it may contain more undesirables than butane extraction, but I've seen remarkable results. All in the skill of the operator I guess.
And as you said it is much safer than butane or any other solvent extraction for that matter.
Kewl home page ;) Call when next in our neck of the woods
 
Hey back Phase_dancer!!! :D
AArrrrgh! we're both really p**sed off that we couldn't make it up....but check your email...Miss K has JUST sent you an email! Next time we'll make a weekend of it :)
...Thought you'd like the homepage ;)
err...back on topic ;) Bubble method, if the proper method is undertaken (ie, correct bags with proper micron sized nylon) then, as you said, remarkable results can be seen...blonde, blonde, blonde hash...almost looks like white clay! The smaller the micron, the more pure the hash will be. :) As you said though, there may be more undesirables in the end product, but it is more natural method of extraction than using butane...ewww...butane
sicka.gif

[ 05 September 2002: Message edited by: samadhi ]
 
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