Note: The ethylphenidate I am using was bought from a 'reputable' vendor, and was described as being ethylphenidate 'crystal' rather than 'powder' (many sources seem to offer these two types of ethylphenidate. I don't know if they're chemically different.)
There seem to be very few mentions of smoking / vaporising ethylphenidate on this thread and others. Everybody seems to be insufflating, which causes a good deal of pain and membrane damage by the looks of it. What interested me was smoking ethylphenidate.
Vaporising on tin foil as a ROA, on paper, has its advantages. It provides a much greater rush than snorting or swallowing. It avoids the pain of insufflation. It requires less substance to produce an (albeit shorter lived) high.
However, having managed to retain a dew degrees of common sense since first getting my hands on this stuff, I have to say I had plenty of reservations about smoking the stuff. First up is the obvious question of whether it would work, or whether the heat would destroy the molecules activity. I have no knowledge of chemistry; don't know my freebases from my salts; even talk of simple acid/base procedures leaves me confused. So concern 1 is:
1. Will vaping the stuff get me high?
Secondly, and more importantly, comes the question of physical harm. I've seen for myself the chaos this causes to a user's poor nose. Words like 'irritant' and 'corrosive' are thrown around a lot in ethylphenidate discussions. Is inhaling the vapour (which smells like burning plastic btw) and holding it deep in my lungs just begging for serious respiratory problems? so worry 2:
2. Will vaping the stuff kill me?
Anyway, figuring methylphenidate is pretty darn similar to ethylphenidate, and knowing MPH is smoked as 'kiddy crack', I decided to give it a go. I tried vaping as-sold ethylphenidate off foil, and tried vaping some 'crack' style EPH i'd made following an online tutorial which describes the manufacture of smokable methylphenidate using ritalin and bicarbonate of soda, substituting the MPH for EPH.
It's very difficult to say if the two substances vary very much in their psychoactive effects. Straight up ethylphenidate vaped on foil until it melted and 'ran' produced a strong sensation of stimulation at roughly 40mg. The smoke was not harsh, but did numb the lips and mouth.
The 'crack' style EPH did not melt over the heat; rather, it stayed in little clumps which became hard and brittle, sometimes completely refusing to change their appearance even after giving off 'smoke'. The high from the 'crack' form was no better than normal EPH smoked; in fact, it was hard to tell if the 'crack' form gave any real stimulation at all.
Perhaps if I'd known the chemistry behind what i was doing I could have predicted such results.
Conclusion: vaporised ethylphenidate gives a decent enough stimulant rush, but with little euphoria for me. Converting what the RC vendors sell as 'crystal' EPH into 'kiddy crack' seems worthless. Although smoking doesn't cause lung pain, I guess we're all pretty much in the dark regarding how much lung damage smoking EPH causes.
Edit, to ThrowawayAus; three weeks use wouldn't be considered long term for most drugs, but with RCs maybe my experience would be of some use. After using orally and nasally for about 3 weeks daily, in addition to using some other substances, mostly benzos and weed, I'm currently feeling stomach pains in the left lower area, sensations of nausea and 'loose bowels' (but nothing's coming out). This is only of limited use to you though, as the other drugs I've been taking, particularly the benzos, which i stopped then restarted abruptly, are known to cause similar symptoms in withdrawal.