pyrogenesis

Now you have a couple of options. (1) You can set it on the shelf for a day to allow the cannabinoids to dissolve in the hexane. After a day you will need to filter the hexane out (save it!) and add new hexane. This should be repeated 3 or 4 times. This process takes several days. If you choose to use this method, you can follow steps 8-11 to filter your crude product. Then continue to step 12 to purify it.

Attached Thumbnails

 

pyrogenesis

Or you can gently heat it. I recommend this process, and this is the one I detail in the tutorial. This second process will give a higher yield and is much quicker, but it also requires a few safety precautions. I always wear goggles when doing chemistry. I would recommend that anyone else also wear goggles. Although you are not evaporating the hexane yet, you are heating it, which creates more vapors. It’s not crucial at this point, but if possible, do this in an open area.

When you heat the trimmings and hexane, put your wooden stick in the container. This stick will prevent the mixture from bumping. Bumping occurs when the vapor bubbles “pop” all at once, and can splash solvent out. The boiling stick provides a surface for the vapor bubbles to form on, preventing bumping. Another method used to prevent bumping is stirring. Stir the solution a few times while heating.

Hexane boils around 70 C, but it will vary. What you have is probably “hexanes,” a mixture of different isomers of hexane (a six-carbon saturated hydrocarbon). They can be manufactured to boil at different temperatures depending on the exact ratio of isomers. In any case, the bpt is not really important.

Boil and stir for one minute.

Attached Thumbnails

 

pyrogenesis

Now take your filter paper and fold in it half. Fold it again. And again. One more time. Unfold it, and cut the outer edge down so that it fits nicely in your funnel. Pour the liquid out of your Pyrex container and into the filter paper in the funnel. Collect this liquid in Pyrex dish #2 and SAVE IT.

Note that this liquid will be above 70 degrees C. It will be HOT. Use gloves or a holder is necessary.

Attached Thumbnails

 

pyrogenesis

If you pour slowly, all the trimmings will remain in the bottom of Pyrex dish #1. If you poured the solids into the filter paper, return them to the Pyrex dish #1 before continuing to the next step.

Attached Thumbnails

 

pyrogenesis

Repeat this process 3 or 4 times, using fresh hexane with each step.

Attached Thumbnails

 

pyrogenesis

Look at all the worthless nasties that you no longer have to subject your lungs to. Throw them away.

Attached Thumbnails

 

pyrogenesis

Now you are ready to finish the process. Pyrex dish #2 should be filled with a clear, yellowish liquid. All you need to do to get honey oil is remove the solvent from it. You can either let it sit for a few days and evaporate at room temperature, or you can speed up the process by heating it. We are doing the latter of the two.

pyrogenesis

Return the container to your heat source and add the boiling stick. This will create some vapor fumes, so do it in an open, well-ventilated area.

Add a boiling stick and gently boil the liquid. A gentle airflow over the surface of the container will greatly speed up the evaporation process.

Attached Thumbnails

 

pyrogenesis

Continue boiling until you have a thick, gooey, dark yellow liquid. Do not scald it. Let it cool to room temperature.

Attached Thumbnails

 

pyrogenesis

CONGRATULATIONS! You now have honey oil. The oil, now that you have cooked it down, will be a dark, golden color with a pungent piney/skunky aroma (depending on the genetics from which it was made). What you do with it is up to you. You can cook with it (do I hear brownies?) or smoke it directly (i.e. freebase), or mix it with some shake to make it more manageable. This last one is probably the most popular option, so it will be detailed here.

Get a little pile of shake and the fruits of your labor, your newly synthesized honey oil.

Attached Thumbnails