sdavis29

GaNgA FaRmEr

I've been told heating you trimmings with whatever solvent you use is not a good idea, mainly because you are extracting waxes and stuff out that you don't want.

We've done it by simply washing all the trimmings with ice cold ISO through coffee filters, we repeat the washes 15 or so times using 4 or 5 new coffee filters each time.

Then boil down (or should I say simmer) the iso and there's your honey oil!

I guess if your concerned about getting every last little bit of tch and not so concerned about things like wax and stuff then cooking is great.

We just wash the crystal off the fine trim and go with that

bongboy420

Hey pyro, i cant find naphtha anywhere... can i use terps?
-BB420

bongboy420

sorray, not naphtha.. hexane (i can get naphtha but i got terps in my basement so i rather ue it )
-BB420

Fgid1

ISO is Isopropyl rubbing alcohol?

pyrogenesis

Hexene doesn't have many uses because it's bpt is so low. I think you probably meant hexane, which has many, many uses. It is used extensively in food grade extractions. Check out page 2 of this tutorial for more info.

Doubtful that anyone would suspect you're using it for extracting THC. In any casde, it doesn't really apply, because it appears hexane is no longer easy to find. Most paint suppliers do NOT carry it. I apologize for my error here.

Following this procedure with Naptha or Mineral Spirits rather than hexane will yield the same quality product (they are also nonpolar solvents). However they have higher bpts, so your evaporation will take longer. They also have a more "solventy" odor than hexane (this is not really relevant, but I like the sweetish smell of hexane )

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pyrogenesis

If you are in a hurry, butane would be fastest. However, like Biker said it is a gas at room temp, making it difficult and inconvenient to work with. To do the extraction you must work with butane at 0C/ 32 F (it's boiling point) or lower, and at this low temp, thc is less soluble. You would either have to do the extraction in outdoors in winter or in a large walk-in freezer (so that it doesn't all boil away as you are working with it). If you do it in warmer temps outdoors you will only have a few minutes to work with it before it evaporates, limiting its effectiveness.

Damn I'm wordy... IMO butane will work, but it's not very effective.

I bought some mineral spirits, and tested it: it evaporates clean, so it's safe to use. Many people have used naptha as well. Both are equally effective.

Exactly. Always good to have input from someone who has actually tried it. Naptha and Mineral Spirits have higher bpts, so it will take MONTHS to evaporate if you set it on the shelf. You must use heat.

I would use naptha, simply because i'm not fond of the smell of mineral spirits.

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pyrogenesis

Ya, it looks to me like the same stuff. But Naptha is very easy to find (I promise! not like hexane :-( ...) I wouldn't go to the trouble of ordering it online.

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pyrogenesis

I'm not sure who told you that. It is exactly the "waxes" that you DO want, and all the other stuff you DON'T want. [read the last couple paragraphs for clarification] The general term for all the psychoactive compounds in cannabis is "cannabinoids," and these are all fat-soluble. The cannabinoids are not actually waxes, but they are in the same class of biological molecules: lipids.

We've done it by simply washing all the trimmings with ice cold ISO through coffee filters, we repeat the washes 15 or so times using 4 or 5 new coffee filters each time. Then boil down (or should I say simmer) the iso and there's your honey oil!

This is also odd advice. Heat will increase the solubility of ALL soluble components. Doing 15 cold extractions is rather wasteful. A few warm extractions will accomplish the same thing.

By "iso" do you mean isopropanol? This is a moderately polar solvent, so you will exctract all the non-fat-soluble compounds as well as the cannabinoids. In truth, it is these non-fat-soluble compounds that you do not want.

I guess if your concerned about getting every last little bit of tch and not so concerned about things like wax and stuff then cooking is great.

You are partly correct.

Choice of solvent will dictate what compounds you extract. At the most basic level of extraction, which is what this tutorial details, We have three choices:
(1**) We can use a nonpolar solvent to extract the the nonpolar compounds (i.e. the fat-soluble compounds)

(2) We can use a polar solvent to extract the polar compounds (i.e. water-soluble or non-fat-soluble compunds)

(3) We can use a moderately polar solvent or a mixture of polar and nonpolar solvents to extract BOTH the polar and nonpolar compounds

**This tutorial uses (1) Here we have chosen a nonpolar solvent so that we only extract the fat-soluble compounds.

Among the nonpolar biological molecules (lipids) are fatty acids, steroids, terpenes, terpenoids, waxes, prostaglandins, etc. Cannabinoids are terpenes (they are actually dimers formed from the condensation of terpene and phenol precursors). Among the more common cannabinoids are THC, delta 9-tetrahydrocannabinol; CBD, cannabidiol; CBC, cannabichromene; and CBG, cannabigerol.

GaNgA FaRmEr, This is where you are partly correct: we do not want the waxes. Nor do we want any fatty acids, steroids, etc. However, with a simple extraction we cannot help but remove all these compounds.
To do so would require a more advanced extraction, such as an acid base extraction, in which the cannabinoids are converted to salts, extracted into the aqueous layer, separated from the organic layer, acidified to remove the salts and return them to the organic layer, then neutralized to remove any excess acid.
This gives almost pure THC, but it is not really necessary. I have done it and it works, bit in my opinion it is not really worth your time to attain this level of purity, especially if you only have a few pounds of trimmings to work with.

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pyrogenesis

I'm not sure what "terps" is. Is that a brand name?

I'll assume "terps" means terpenes, in which case YES, that would work.

Check the boiling point of the solvent before you begin the procedure. You don't want to end up with all your THC dissolved in a solvent whose bpt is so high that you can't evapoate it.

To test this, put a small amount in a pot and gently heat it. If it boils at a reasonable low temp (say, less than 100 C), then it will work. If not, find something else.

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