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Harm Reduction Cold Water Extraction (CWE) Mega Thread & FAQ v2.0

SWIM has it down to a very good science, only way SWIM could get it better is with chloroform. Take pills, cover 200 with about a cup and a half of EXTREMELY cold water. Put a clean stainless or silver spoon in and spin it around a bit but take care to not crush. Leave until its moosh and no pills are left undissolved, and check with the spoon. Having the spoon in while its dissolving helps, as does using thick glass that is very very cold before you start. Prepare two funnels, works best if you have a setup with a pole so one drips into the other and then into a flask or pyrex dish. The first funnel has a loosely packed cotton ball in the spout and the other has a basket style coffee filter or better a lab grade filter that has been pre-wet with extremely cold water. Let it go slowly, don't rush it. The final product will be absolutely clear, if its not you fucked up with the stirring and broke the filler molecules apart and it will make you sick as hell because more of the gack will stick to the water and the goods. Its smart to use a airtight container and keep it cool, the second and third pull is nowhere near as potent so be careful if you have a heart condition large amounts of caffeine could hurt. This only works with aspirin, codeine and caffeine pills. Add a little salt to the final mix to not harm your tissue - it also tends to make a bit of caffeine drop out. This is suitable for plugging but don't make a habit of it - it causes massive bile ejections to go up, and because the caffeine is a diuretic it will also tend to cause little funny liver stones and gall bladder blockage. Not to mention hemmhoroids, varicose veins and potentially serious damage to the bottom foot of your colon if you use too much, clench hard or have shit that is going to suck up everything you just used. Its perfectly fine orally but be careful, if your ears have a distant hollow sound or start sounding like you are underwater you fucked up, and the cold water was nowhere near cold enough. It should be right on the virge of freezing and absolutely free of chemical contaminants. City water treatment not only is bad for your insides but it also has factors which cause unpredictable leaching of gack into the final product by changing the fundamental bonds that make a CWE possible. If you intend to store it for a period of time take care to not have any air there - codeine sublimiates very rapidly even when it appears stable, and if its meant to be stored make sure the solution going into the container is the same temperature that it will be stored at, changing the temperature of the water with it completely saturated with codeine will cause some crystallization of the gack and end up with a horrible mess. SWIM has mused to me about the potential of a coldfinger for the x-traction, not really sure about that. If you are really serious about long term use of codeine or using it with a catalyst or whatever, invest your time in getting USP chloroform, not trying to fuck around with things that will eat your liver and leave you with leaky gut syndrome.
 
also, I strongly suggest that anyone like SWIM who has been shunned by doctors and absolutely needs the grey area pain control - don't use any pill with acetomenophen, don't get in your head that taking NAC makes you safe. Acetomenophen is incredibly toxic but not in the same the suicidal ideaists think it is. I once was in a hospital bed and watched someone die from chewing percocets for 10 years and it was horrible, he shit himself every 10 minutes uncontrollably and was completely incoherent, there is no fade into the white light shit, dying from lack of gluthiaone induced liver failure is a slow, painful, embarassing and ugly thing, let alone how stupid everyone thinks you are for doing something so foolish. Additionally, SWIM's experience with working with acetomenophen products in a lab setting established that even the same brand's gack behaved much differently depending on humidity, temperature and tended to make paper filters useless because of its tendency to turn into a gunky solid mess. Note: I am not encouraging people to try to get high on something that isn't even really a good buzz. I take the risk of posting SWIM's experiences on this because I know there are a large number of victims of the war on drugs who are left in a lurch with chronic pain, lack of health insurance or little family support who legitimately need more pain control than aspirin or ibuprofen provides. Canada is already in the works of criminalizing codeine products and requiring driver's licenses to purchase it, it seems to me and SWIM that its a major step backwards.
 
I was considering making up some of my own chloroform to try and do extractions with, but the hassle is not worth it when the time from going out shopping to getting dosed up is about 2 hours for me. :)
 
Four major do nots of the CWE technique:
- If you're using a fabric filter (e.g. cut-out of an old T-shirt or whatever), don't be tempted to look at the solution and think "that'll dampen the filter itself." Soak the filter with water. Not only does it make the process quicker but not soaking it will end with a lot more paracetamol in the end product than you expected.

- When in doubt, use less water than you actually estimate you'll need. The time difference is negligible but it's infinitely safer to dissolve in "too little" than too much.

- If you don't have a significant amount of solid residue left in the filter at the end, don't touch the end product. You cannot accurately estimate how much paracetamol has gotten in there (without drying the product anyway), so it's far safer to just avoid it. The opoids are worth far less than your life! Also, you can always re-filter. :D

- Definitely do not adopt the "fuck it" attitude to CWE. You don't have to drink the end product just because it took a minor time/money cost to create.
 
^ Good points, all of those. And that is very true, you can always re-filter. If you are unsure, re-filter it. :)
 
Codeine Cold Water Extracts; Your estimated yield?

I've experimented with Codeine cold water extracts for almost 4 years now. During this time i've had the chance to try pure 60 mg codeine tabs, codeine linctus & 30/500, 8/500 preparations.

Usually if i CWE i'll buy 32 8/500. This is 250 mg pretty much.

What i have found, is my extract, using 80 ml of water for 32 tabs is on average comparable to a dose of 180 mg of the pure tabs or linctus. I have never managed to CWE a dose that feels even close to the euphoria/analgesia of say 250 mg, meaning i never manage to extract the full amount of codeine available.

This puts my estimated yield at about 75% of the 250 mg so around 170 180 mg

People are always saying on here "yeah, i did an extract on 64 pills (8/500) so i was on like 500 mg at once" This is oft quite wrong, i think if people dropped 500 mg in pure codeine linctus or prescription tabs, they would notice a big difference between that & a CWE. See my point?

I'd like to know what other experienced CWE xtractors estimate their average yield to be?
 
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This probably belongs in the megathread, but it's an interesting discussion. :)

doppelganga, what is your CWE method? I think it would be good to have people detailing their method and their estimated yields.

I get tablets that dissolve really easily, put them in cold tap water and filter through a shirt.

My doses right now are too high to confirm unless I somehow found an unlimited supply of pure codeine, but I remember 450mg of pure codeine was about equivalent to my 500mg CWE dose, so around 90%. This figure will vary though, some tablets are a lot harder to work with and especially in the high doses I use.

A CWE will never have 100% yield, even if you are doing it in a lab with multiple washes.
 
You can use more water, but remember – more water means more acetaminophen in your final product.
I dont get this statement. I thought Acetaminophen wasnt soluble in water???? I figure you'd just have more skanky product to drink.

Can someone explain please?
 
^ It is water soluble, only slightly so though. About 1 gram can dissolve in 100ml of 21C water. I think the stats are on the first page of this thread.

So the more water used, the more APAP will go into solution.
 
Mr Blonde-
Thanks for the reply, I saw the stats but I still dont get it.:(
Sorry, but this is what I think:
Dissolving the pills in warm water, cool it down and I usually see the solution separate.
Isnt the clear solution on top the safe stuff and the gunk on the bottom the bad? Filter it all and you're done?
 
^ Yes that is correct. There will still be some APAP in the safe part, though not enough to cause you damage... unless you are using say 400mL or over of water to do the extraction.

Is the original FAQ not clear enough on this? If so, I can revise it as I want to possibly expand on effervescent tablets as well.
 
No, there's no need to do an update- I think everyone gets it except me-LOL.
Its not effervescent tabs I was asking about- just plain old Canadian apap/codeine that I picked up while back in the states, (took a small bridge to our sister country).
I think when it was first explained and shown to me, by a 'whacked out person', it wasnt mentioned about apap left in the solution nor the water amount making a difference.
So, when I decided I needed to CWE I checked this post and it didnt make sense from the 'so-called' class I had a few years back.
Now it does make sense, so thank you very much:)
 
try doing a 40ml cwe and then in the same filter run 40ml of ice cold water through and this should help to get more out of it.
 
Years ago when I did codeine there were 20/300 tablets here. I guess I used 10ml per one packet. I ended up with something looking like a mash but after filtering it twice, once using tissues just to get most of the insoluble part, and then once through 100% cotton filters (I used 10ml or 20ml syringes, I would push cotton into a syringe and then I would pour almost pure solution, anyway, remains on cotton filters would always show there was still something insoluble). Sometimes I washed with little water the insoluble part again as some codeine is always trapped there. Then one can use a heated bath to get rid of too much water at temperature that doesn't cause discoloration of solution. I stopped caring about starting temperature of water quickly as I got addicted and I i.m.'ed codeine. Slightly cooled from room temperature regular mineral water was fine.

Yields do vary, I sometimes noticed difference but it was more from my laziness or rather craving to shoot it as fast as possible. I had to do it daily eventually (12-hour breaks at least to feel another dose, 18-hour break was just fine) so I guess I did it quite fast, like 10 minutes for the whole process of extraction and another 5-10 minutes to apply it in a few places to be ready for the early bus to get to school. Well, I can say if it weren't for codeine, I wouldn't move on to morphine and further... Yeah, codeine showed me that opioids were the drugs that could fill the hole in my soul that had hurt me so much earlier...

And the yield in numbers... 28% (70mg from 250mg) is quite a lot. I guess I used to lose less as I jumped on 40mg morphine one day but I never did an analysis. Now I'd do both quantitative and qualitative analysis but they have raised taxes this year (from 7% to 8% for medications, those pricks).
 
With my extractions I find that 64 x 8/500 (512mg if 100% yield) is about equal to 450mg of codeine in linctus form. I assumed it would be around 80% yield so when I got some linctus I just took 60mg off the supposed full CWE dose (conveniently precisely half the 300ml bottle of linctus). Felt pretty much the same as a CWE (though lasted a bit longer - not sure why).

Slightly unrelated, but I also always swallow 5 Nurofen Plus or Cuprofen Plus (200mg Ibuprofen/12.8mg codeine) with my dose to add an extra 64mg. These aren't extracted though so it should (hopefully) always be 64mg on top of my dose. Just thought I'd add this incase anyone didn't know they could do it - life saver when your tolerance is just over 1 pack or 2 packs of APAP+Codeine, saves buying an extra pack for a few pills.

My Method
1. Chill 200ml water in freezer to get it fucking cold. With my old freezer it took about 10 minutes for ice to appear, the one where I am now takes about 20, I try to take it out before this happens.
2. 32 tabs in one glass, the other 32 in another glass, all ground up nicely with my grinder. Add 100ml water to each and stir vigorously for 4-5 minutes for each glass. If I'm using tabs which dissolve easily, I'll add the water, leave them in the fridge for 5 mins and then stir for 2 mins. Seems to work out about the same.
3. Wet an old work shirt and set it up over two pint glasses, add the solutions and give it around 15 mins (until the liquid has become sludge).
4. Pepare another pint glass with a wet coffee filter. Gently(!) squeeze the two 'parcels' of CWE into their respective glasses until it starts to run cloudy and then squeeze the rest into the coffee filter.
 
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My Method.

* Bust 32 pills out of their hiding place into a measuring cup of 80 ml water.
*Chill the solution in a frosted beer mug down to about 10 c
* Pour into a fine plastic mesh coffee filter, let drip for 15 to 45 mins.
*Drink with the zeal of man long accustomed to such bitterness.

The only thing that ever changes is occasionally i wont bother to chill the solution as it is much quicker (15 mins) than when chilled (45mins) however when chilled there is obviously a little less apap in the final solution.

I can put the missing 25% down to not getting back the full 80 ml of water so i often will pour another 20ml or so past the gunge to try & rinse what remains. Either way i only feel i get around 75%. Never 90%

P.S I've used things like old work shirts or handkercheifs but over time i've learned my filter is very safe so gives peace of mind & i really dont like buggering about with washing old fabric or feeling guilty about ripping/ruining Handkercheifs... My filter is clean & efficient.
 
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Oral route has been compared to be 60% worth of intramuscular and rectal routes. As I just figured out that nobody here injects codeine i.m., p.r. is the way to go, the only difference between i.m. and p.r. is Tmax and Cmax of course.
 
If you are in Canada you can get aspirin with codeine instead of apap as well (so long as you are not allergic). Aspirin is less water soluble so there will be less in the clear part, and it doesn't turn into the clay like substance when wet like apap does. It stays more like sand and filters faster. Furthermore chronic consumption of aspirin can be tolerated better than apap. It doesn't focus on your liver but can cause stomach ulcers, still people with a family history of heart attack are sometimes prescribed aspirin daily for life.
 
I've experimented with Codeine cold water extracts for almost 4 years now. During this time i've had the chance to try pure 60 mg codeine tabs, codeine linctus & 30/500, 8/500 preparations.

Usually if i CWE i'll buy 32 8/500. This is 250 mg pretty much.

What i have found, is my extract, using 80 ml of water for 32 tabs is on average comparable to a dose of 180 mg of the pure tabs or linctus. I have never managed to CWE a dose that feels even close to the euphoria/analgesia of say 250 mg, meaning i never manage to extract the full amount of codeine available.

This puts my estimated yield at about 75% of the 250 mg so around 170 180 mg

People are always saying on here "yeah, i did an extract on 64 pills (8/500) so i was on like 500 mg at once" This is oft quite wrong, i think if people dropped 500 mg in pure codeine linctus or prescription tabs, they would notice a big difference between that & a CWE. See my point?

I'd like to know what other experienced CWE xtractors estimate their average yield to be?

Merged per OP request.
 
^I think you're dead on.

I knew a guy who got really messed up on codeine getting pure pills after doing CWEs for a while and thinking his tolerance was way bigger than it was. Have a thread on it here somewhere.
http://www.bluelight.ru/vb/showthread.php?t=537226

I've managed to get about %90 with a chemical extraction.
 
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