Hey,

When you guys extract mescaline via STB or 69 ron's drytek, do any of you buy the fresh cactus and dry it? I was wondering if it is necessary to remove the waxy layer from the skin before drying.

what do you guys usually do?

I don't remove the waxy stuff.
a few people I know don't
others might
no idea about that
i only know I don't

With 69rons tech you definitly should dry the cacti. It really isnt necessary to remove the waxy layer though you can if you want.

Okay good, because removing the waxy layer without removing green skin is a real pain in the buttox ( as if de-spining, de-coring drying and grinding aren't already a pain enough).

This is asked asked because every extraction done has left some slight cloudiness in the non-polar solvent which causes some emulsion when salting.

I though that maybe the waxy skin layer is somewhat soluble in the non-polar solvent.

I suppose I can further narrow down the cause to something other than waxy skin crap getting into the NP solvent.

This problem has been consistent throughout 69 Ron's drytek (salted with acetic acid) and STB extraction( salted with citric acid.)

Hopefully with extra care the NP will not end up cloudy.

I believe that the cloudiness comes from small particles and water floating in suspension within the nonpolar. Try taking a piece of the skin wax and see if it dissolves mixed in np solvent.

A piece of waxy skin was set in about 20ml of d-limone for several hours. The d-limonene pulled the chlorophyll and other colors but nothing else.

I believe the cloudiness is due to some of the fine cacti parctles floating around like you said.

Putting The NP solvent (d-limonene in this case) in the fridge for about 3-5 hours causes the cloudiness to completely settle out. I then pour the solvent through a cotton ball filter. Works like a charm