It seems someone at my local coffee shop has a taste for the spice, as I found the following while enjoying a frosty beverage:
Q21Q21 Tek 2: Vinegar, Lime & Naphtha
Note: When working with lime and/or naphtha, safety precautions should always be followed. Nitrile gloves, safety-goggle and ample ventilation were used here. A bandana around the face was preferred over any kind of mask (naphtha fumes are toxic, and at the least can cause nausea, headaches and hot-flashes- even in small amounts)
It was the first night of the full moon. We listened to The Grateful Dead 5/11/78 to set the mood and enhanced the vibrations
100g powdered Mimosa Hostilis root bark (Mexican) was weighed and placed in a pyrex bowl (roughly two grams was dropped during this process, leaving roughly 98g mhrb). 100ml of 5% distilled white vinegar (room temperature) was stirred in slowly until the mixture was homogeneous. After 15 minutes 100ml of near-boiling tap water was stirred into the vinegar-bark mixture, leaving a consistency that now "flowed from side to side."
A bowl of primo cannabis was smoked while Mama Hostilis and the Dead worked their magic under the full moon.
After the 45 minutes was up, 75g of Calcium Hydroxide (Mrs Wages Pickling Lime) was measured and, bit by bit, mixed into the bark-mud. Not satisfied with the consistency, or color (more red than expected), and with the lack of PH Strips, another 5-10 grams of Calcium Hydroxide was added. This was allowed to sit for 6 hours, partially covered near a fan.
When the time was up he mixture had reached the consistency of the top of an apple crisp and the bowl was placed in a hot water bath for 25 minutes to bring the temperature up (the house got cold while I was out). the bath was then replaced with a fresh batch of hot water in preparation for the non-polar wash.
100ml of VM&P Naphtha (Kleen-Strip) was added to the rootbark-crumble and stirred thoroughly. This was stirred 5 times over 15 minutes, making sure all the mush was submerged between each stirring.
At this point, the naphtha was careful poured (pressing the rootbark with a spoon to get as much as possible) in to a small glass-on-glass mason jar, buffered with a thick layer of foil, and placed in the freezer (on the coldest setting).
After a few hours, considering it had become rather cold out, the jar was left out under the full moon for about an hour before being placed back in the freezer.
24 hours after first going in the freezer the jar was pulled and the naphtha was poured through a coffee filter (luckily it all just stayed in the jar) and the jar placed in a ventilated, shady area in order to dry completely.
The remaining solvent was saved for subsequent Non-polar washes, enough being added only to bring it back to 100ml each time. Here is an analysis of washes/yields (on the same batch of bark) where T0:00 is immediately after basification with the Calcium Hydroxide.. Note that the time reflects the time of the non-polar washing, not removal from freezer.
T+ 6:00 187mg very white spice
T+ 30:00 239mg very white spice
T+ 42:00 246mg barely off-white spice
T+ 1week 262mg slightly off-white spice*
*there were a few yellowish spots in the fourth pull (as reported by others), which was separated for further experimentation and is not reflected in the weights displayed.
So far 934mg of spice (unwashed, satisfactory quality) has been pulled from 98g of MHRB giving a 0.95% yield over 4 pulls in 1 week. Now that the pulls are getting yellow spots, the remaining bark will probably be washed with xylene for a nice batch of jungle spice.
A very successful first time indeed. Much Gratitude.
"If you want to know where you are, ask the Nonlocals"