Ok all.

I got a few questions.
SWIM is from the UK and gonna do Noman's STB tek using MHRB and he has brought a list of ingredients. If anyone has any better suggestions could you please let me know.

250g MHRB

Kleenoff Household Ammonia 500Ml: http://www.amazon.co.uk/...=oh_details_o01_s00_i00

Home Care Caustic Soda Powder: http://www.amazon.co.uk/...=oh_details_o04_s00_i00

Aeropress Replacement Micro Filters: http://www.amazon.co.uk/...=oh_details_o03_s00_i00

Winsor And Newton Artists' White Spirit: http://www.artstore.co.u...pirit-75ml-c-179-p-3402

Would these be good starting points?

Also in Noman's tek he didn't mention if SWIM need to use distilled water or tap water and at what ph is the best. SWIM lives in a fluoridated hard water area and would like to shed some light on this. Any ideas?

Just a quicky. If SWIM want's to smoke STB would you recommend the Sherlock VG to maximum effect?

Thanks in Advance.

I wouldn’t use an ammonia wash, if you want to wash use sodium carbonate (easily made from baking soda, check out the wiki for conversion teks).

Unless you want to do base-acid-base, use light naphtha rather than white spirit, which is heavy naphtha. Although you can get good results using white spirit it will add more more difficulty for you as a new extractor. White spirit holds onto the spice more vigorously, so will pull more but also be less willing to give back, it is also much slower to evapourate. Lighter fluid in the UK is all light naphtha.

Tap water is fine to use. I used to use de-ionised water occasionally, but more for the HDPE containers! No need to worry about the initial pH of the water, with Nomans tek you will be trying to aim for 13 or 14 anyway, which is far above that of tap water!

Regarding vaping implement, the GVG is the wonder-tool. If you can afford it – invest.

Hey Bud,
Well first off don't use the ammonia many people report a loss of product with an ammonia wash so do a sodium carbonate(Washing Soda,Soda Ash) wash instead. Just add a pinch of Soda Ash to 100ml distilled water, shake and separate.

The Lye should be alright if you checked the MSDS and it just contains Sodium Hydroxide you'll be fine, when you get it make sure their are no silvery flakes in it.

The solvent your using appears to be fine, but always preform an evap test on it to be sure it will not leave any residue.

Hope it helps.

You can make a solution of sodium carbonate by vigorously boiling sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) for a minute or so. This way, at least you know it is food-grade and can also pay cash at your local supermarket rather than buy it as part of an extraction shopping list from amazon.

http://antoine.frostburg...ate-decomposition.shtml

Boots and Homebase are good sources for caustic soda. Outdoor shops are good for coleman stove fuel, which is a light naptha similar to lighter fuel. There is also a Swedish-made pure alkane light naptha called Aspen 4 fuel, used by posh people so their lawnmowers don't stink. 'Panel Wipe' from your local car paintshop is also a light, reduced odour naptha.

Thank you! That looks a lot faster than my current method of heating it dry on the hob.

Thanks for the heads up guys. SWIM will let you know how he gets on and with piccies hopefully ;-)

I'm not sure whether this applies to unwatched chemicals but if you're buying them in certain combinations don't alarm bells ring? Or am I just being paranoid?

Avoid amazon, buy ronsonol petrol fluid and get sodium hydroxide from b&q

Oops...Best cancel that Terrence McKenna book then lol

<3 I wish I could have met the great McKenna :'(

Would that be the same 500g stuff they have in Homebase? It's only cheap but it doesn't specify the concentration and I can't find an MSDS on it...

The soda I got hasn't got any MSDS info on either. It came through the post this morning. Hopefully It should be ok.

Still gonna get some baking soda just incase.

BTW. Has Noman got an updated tek if the method is better without ammonia or caustic soda?

cheers

I decided not to risk it on the sodium hydroxide and ordered some 99% purity stuff online. Wasn't expensive.

Solar Jetman - Get yourself some Zippo premium lighter fluid for your naphtha.

Cheers buddy. Swim brought some ronsonol just before you posted....doh

Should be ok though.

Ronsonol is just fine....I tried Zippo and found it good but not as good. (and too expensive)

Good luck... I'm looking forward to mine

Homebase Value Caustic Soda seems to be OK - fine white prills. Wouldn't surprise me if most grades of sodium hydroxide come from the same wagonload and the only difference is the batch testing and quality assurance. It is a cheap industrial chemical. The more the testing and certification, the higher the 'grade' and cost, even though it is the same stuff. Some OTC chemicals are obviously impure and adulterated, but this one doesn't seem to be.

I was going to use that but there is nothing on the packaging or online to verify its purity...

SWIM has grinded down 50g of MHRB ready for soaking.

SWIM has a lot of pinkish powder and some whitish fibers which won't grind.

Are these fibers worth putting in the water for soaking cuz they look like they have nothing left to give.

Cheers

Yep...it all goes in..fibres and all
and plz no SWIMing..it drives us all nuts