Hey Pandora! Thank you for your kind words 💜
I suppose I was a little brief, huh?
I did indeed extract, twice, and learned a lot. I decided on using Noman’s tek with slight modifications per the suggestions of so many other helpful users. The first extraction I ended up with a rather low yield and chalked it up to learning; the biggest obstacle was using jars the first time around. They just aren’t the move when it comes time to scrape. I did my best to document my second extraction so I could share the results. I was less than precise measuring my yield, but didn’t really care in the moment because the success level and yield was obviously majorly improved from my first run.
I performed both extractions using 750ml water/50g lye/50g MHRB. On the second extraction, I also included 50g rock salt, which did seem to significantly improve my yield, but there were also many other mechanically and procedural improvements from the previous experience, so it’s unfair to attribute the increase solely to the salt.
I decided, on the second extraction, to let the bark/basic solution sit for 2 days, shaking it whenever it was convenient, prior to pulling with naphtha. For each pull, I used room temp naphtha and rolled it throughly without creating emulsions for about 8-10 minutes. I let it sit for another 30 min and repeated the agitation. The first pull, I let the naphtha sit in the solution for about 24 hours before pipetting it off; I was rather busy the week I decided to extract and so there were times I felt as though the naphtha sat with the basic solution longer than it needed to, but it didn’t negatively impact the end result in any perceivable way. I performed a total of 5 pulls. I froze a final sixth pull, but the resulting freeze precipitated xtals were slightly discolored and few in number so I chose not to harvest them.
I found 20ml naphtha (again, using 750ml water) the ideal amount to saturate fully but also be relatively easy to pipette off the top. I used a small shot glass as an intermediary for any moments when the pippette also pulled up some of the basic solution with the naphtha.
The biggest single improvement I made on round two was freeze precipitating in rectangular Pyrex instead of jars. It also made evaporating the last little bit of naphtha after the pour off, a lot easier vs a jar. Scraping them was a moment of pure joy hahaha! Scraping the jars effectively was close to impossible.
The first couple pulls yielded around 200mg xtals. After that, my measuring was less than accurate.
As for experience, I have had a couple opportunities to try spice before setting out on my own learning/extracting journey, but I will make a follow up post with all the details to help me stay organized 🫶🏼 I have tried some of the herb and “scrap” xtals from cleaning up after scraping and VERY MUCH enjoyed the moderate~middle dose experience, which was relatively easy to maintain and continue enjoying because I was still able to effectively interact with material reality.
Thank you so much for taking the time 💜
”She, the adorable one, seated in the Heart, is the power that gives breath. Unto Her all the senses do homage.”