Tek Solvent Extractions

[herbivore21]

This is a thread for solvent based processing. This includes methods using Isopropanol, Butane, Ethanol and others.

Please understand that most of us should never even attempt this kind of processing. There are many pressing safety considerations that must be addressed and carefully managed in order to do this kind of processing without risk to yourself and others and each of your respective property.

The following is from the Extraction Labs Sticky Guidelines:

BE SAFE WITH SOLVENTS. I do not generally encourage the use of hydrocarbon solvents in extraction, if they can be at all avoided. Please consider solventless methods such as rosin or the various hashes. Solvents are flammable. Some of them are very explosive. You should only store or handle these products in approved vessels in safe and approved (according to your local regulator/s) environments. You should only use them in accordance with the relevant MSDS and your local safety regulations.

Please do your homework and consider relevant literature online from relevant authorities in your locale for guides on how to handle various implements and solvents that you might need. Check out the guidelines and exposure limits provided by the OSHA or your local regulators. Always read the MSDS. Never deviate from these instructions. Please do not extract with solvents in any unlawful or potentially unsafe context. People's lives and property are precious.

Almost all kinds of extraction can carry some risk. Some are more risky than others. Please be mindful of hot surfaces, risks of crushing injury (rosin), risks or water damage and contamination of starting material, solvents, water, ice and other extractions implements/tools. Practice good hygiene. Clean your tools/screens/implements. We will discuss all of this here and I encourage you to ask any and all questions relating to these topics.

With all of that out of the way, I look forward to reading all of your questions and comments on solvent extracts. Solvent extracts are very useful in large scale processing scenarios and a variety of other niche situations.

If you have any related questions please post them here!

To show you guys an example of what you can produce with solvents, here's a picture of one of my first QWISO shatters - Blue Cheese.

 

[Killick]

I lack both vacuum and oven, and have kinda given up on 'shatter' results, instead settling for Green Oil, as output from the Green Oil Machine. Instead I play around with other interesting techniques. One thing I've managed to do is figure out how to decarb in mason jars.

This might sound somewhat innocuous, but it goes like this:

Stuff bud into jar (120 grams seems to fit fairly well)
Bake in oven with lid on loosely - use whichever time and temp you usually use
Remove from heat and secure lid. You'll hear a pop and your herb is in vacuum. Store as desired.

Next steps
Remove lid (pry it off with a spoon handle - the vacuum should be fairly strong)
With a muddler/wooden spoon/chunk of stick you can crush your herb down substantially. This allows you to get even more herb into the jar.
Pour frozen alcohol on frozen herb, and leave it in the freezer for a couple of days.

Anyways, the main beauty of this is for vacuum sealing herb for storage. The added bonus was crushing dried herb for soaking in solvent - you can get a *lot* of herb into the jar, meaning you need a *lot* less solvent to get the goodies off the plant. I have a couple of jars in the door of the freezer, and every now and again give them each a good shake.

Cheerio :)

 

[herbivore21]

I lack both vacuum and oven, and have kinda given up on 'shatter' results, instead settling for Green Oil, as output from the Green Oil Machine. Instead I play around with other interesting techniques. One thing I've managed to do is figure out how to decarb in mason jars.

This might sound somewhat innocuous, but it goes like this:

Stuff bud into jar (120 grams seems to fit fairly well)
Bake in oven with lid on loosely - use whichever time and temp you usually use
Remove from heat and secure lid. You'll hear a pop and your herb is in vacuum. Store as desired.

Next steps
Remove lid (pry it off with a spoon handle - the vacuum should be fairly strong)
With a muddler/wooden spoon/chunk of stick you can crush your herb down substantially. This allows you to get even more herb into the jar.
Pour frozen alcohol on frozen herb, and leave it in the freezer for a couple of days.

Anyways, the main beauty of this is for vacuum sealing herb for storage. The added bonus was crushing dried herb for soaking in solvent - you can get a *lot* of herb into the jar, meaning you need a *lot* less solvent to get the goodies off the plant. I have a couple of jars in the door of the freezer, and every now and again give them each a good shake.

Cheerio :)

I should clarify that the shatter in my OP here was made with no vacuum nor oven. That one was purged with an induction heater and a little setup that I jerry-rigged together to maximize heat transfer across to my glass purge vessel. :D

Great to see you here brother! I've been wondering when we'd see you make a first post

There are one or two things I ought to mention about your method above that might benefit from adjusting for safety purposes in the next day or two, I'm just a little busy right now with my scholarly work

Thanks for joining us man, stoked to see some of my extraction people coming out of the woodwork!

 

[SamuraiSam]

I hope to have the chance to chime in regarding solvent extraction with butane and propane. Solvent extracts are my favorite way to preserve terpenes in cannabis (while hashish is my favorite way to enjoy the full spectrum of cannabinoids). I like all the things! and have been learning techniques to create high terpene extracts. I've used a wide variety of equipment of the years from open-blasting tubes outdoors and griddles with makeshift vac chambers, to the BestValueVacs aluminum cookpot vacuum chambers, to closed loop extraction systems with jacketed solvent tanks and collection pots, and properly heated Across Intl' vacuum ovens.

 

[Killick]

@SamuraiSam yes please! I've recently found a source for clean, solvent-grade propane and have been thinking about giving it a whirl. For the record I've never used any gases (nothing xxtane anyways). I did a couple of ISO washes when first starting, but didn't trust my purge tech enough and used it for topicals. So the short story is I want to learn how to use those techniques properly, even if I never try them IRL. People use what is available to them. I'd hate to see someone not make their own meds simply because they can't find the 'best' solvent available. Everything can be done safely.

The Mason jar method was a recent addition. I was wondering about storage and heard about canning and it seems to work dandy. It also worked well for the whole 'smush and fill with frozen EC' step yesterday. I'm always open to pointers, especially if I can make shatter as pretty as Herbies, as mine always comes up dark and sticky. I'm *finally* starting to realize this is because I'm washing too hard/long in all methods - bubble, solvent, etc. I've been trying to get everything first wash, which is fine for anything besides vaping. Next alcohol wash will be a 3 minute soak, 1 minute agitation, and fast filter. The herb will get another soak for FECO. Bubble, well, now I know there is more than 1 wash... I wonder if the stuff I put in the composter last fall could be cleaned up and run again? Or just start from fresh and be more gentle this time?

PS - now's likely a good time to thank @herbivore21 for all the kind assistance over the past few years. There are others, as well, but Herbie really goes out of his way to ensure we're doing things safely, and that has had a great impact on many of us, especially when we were first getting started. Now that I'm getting better with tech Herbie continues to provide great insight, and now I almost know what he's talking about - thanks Herbie - it's really appreciated :)

PS - I also have a High 5 rosin press. I wish it could hold an oz per squish, but it's pretty good for bubble :)

 

[herbivore21]

I hope to have the chance to chime in regarding solvent extraction with butane and propane. Solvent extracts are my favorite way to preserve terpenes in cannabis (while hashish is my favorite way to enjoy the full spectrum of cannabinoids). I like all the things! and have been learning techniques to create high terpene extracts. I've used a wide variety of equipment of the years from open-blasting tubes outdoors and griddles with makeshift vac chambers, to the BestValueVacs aluminum cookpot vacuum chambers, to closed loop extraction systems with jacketed solvent tanks and collection pots, and properly heated Across Intl' vacuum ovens.

Welcome old friend! I would love to have you aboard to shoot the shit on Propane and Butane extractions especially, since you have experience with different extraction hardware that I have not used personally. Thanks for coming aboard!

I heard Bubbleman saying on one of his recent wake and bake videos that he has come to prefer the cured bubble hash and dry sift from cured flowers, since those volatile low boiling terps (especially from live resin and fresh frozen) are quite harsh on the throat. I agree with this fully. Especially as I have got older (interesting that Bubbleman says the same thing about age and tastes), I find that the fresh plant resin (especially from plants that have not been allowed to flower super late) is very harsh when I dab it comparatively. I am sure this is a cumulative effect of years of combustion as well, but I definitely find a night and day difference between the harshness of a cured full melt vs a high terp containing solvent extraction.

With that being said, the new generation of high terpene BHO/PHO extracts that I've seen coming out of your part of the world are clearly another level of quality and I am so glad to see that such high quality solvent extracts (which are always going to have a place in the market for most people as a low-cost, high yield extract that can reach a much larger audience than low-yielding full melts ever will) are getting out to the people. Also happy to see that good people like yourself are making the meds - you've always struck me as an ethical person and we need more people like that manufacturing MMJ products for patients

@SamuraiSam yes please! I've recently found a source for clean, solvent-grade propane and have been thinking about giving it a whirl. For the record I've never used any gases (nothing xxtane anyways). I did a couple of ISO washes when first starting, but didn't trust my purge tech enough and used it for topicals. So the short story is I want to learn how to use those techniques properly, even if I never try them IRL. People use what is available to them. I'd hate to see someone not make their own meds simply because they can't find the 'best' solvent available. Everything can be done safely.

The Mason jar method was a recent addition. I was wondering about storage and heard about canning and it seems to work dandy. It also worked well for the whole 'smush and fill with frozen EC' step yesterday. I'm always open to pointers, especially if I can make shatter as pretty as Herbies, as mine always comes up dark and sticky. I'm *finally* starting to realize this is because I'm washing too hard/long in all methods - bubble, solvent, etc. I've been trying to get everything first wash, which is fine for anything besides vaping. Next alcohol wash will be a 3 minute soak, 1 minute agitation, and fast filter. The herb will get another soak for FECO. Bubble, well, now I know there is more than 1 wash... I wonder if the stuff I put in the composter last fall could be cleaned up and run again? Or just start from fresh and be more gentle this time?

PS - now's likely a good time to thank @herbivore21 for all the kind assistance over the past few years. There are others, as well, but Herbie really goes out of his way to ensure we're doing things safely, and that has had a great impact on many of us, especially when we were first getting started. Now that I'm getting better with tech Herbie continues to provide great insight, and now I almost know what he's talking about - thanks Herbie - it's really appreciated :)

PS - I also have a High 5 rosin press. I wish it could hold an oz per squish, but it's pretty good for bubble :)

Man I can help you with ISO for sure, purging and wash time are the key variables with ISO washes. If your wash time ends in minutes, you've washed for far too long with ISO.

Also if you wanna get clear glassy material like mine above, you should consider winterization with your ethanol washes. Actually, the above pictured blue cheese was initially extracted with ISO, then winterized with ethanol. Also as you rightly identify, much shorter washes with ethanol are going to get you much clearer material (30-40 seconds is a good starting point). I found that 2-3 washes would deplete my material when doing shorter washes like this.

One more thing, which you may already be aware of and have accounted for (needed to check just to be safe, that is what we are here for after all lol), is that traditional mason jar lids are not appropriate for use in an oven. IIRC the seal/internal lid material on traditional mason jars is not especially resistant to heat. This could lead to leaching/outgassing and subsequent contamination of your meds.

Of course, there are lids available for oven canning methods which are safe for oven use. You may already have them

Your long washes and decarb are obviously good for edibles etc like you say I used to sometimes do a long second wash on my material and then decarb that during purge for the same purpose back when I used solvents all the time!

Finally man I'm glad to have helped, I am always thrilled to hear what you are doing with the things you have learned about MMJ. I am glad to have contributed in any way to that. Patients helping patients is what I'm here for brother

 

[SamuraiSam]

High terpene doesn't require fresh, monoterpene heavy material. it can be extracted from well cured material, given that the extraction is done using the proper equipment and technique :) Agreed that the monoterpene heavy live resins while aromatic, are often harsh to dab.

 

[herbivore21]

High terpene doesn't require fresh, monoterpene heavy material. it can be extracted from well cured material, given that the extraction is done using the proper equipment and technique :) Agreed that the monoterpene heavy live resins while aromatic, are often harsh to dab.

I understand brother, I was just remarking that so far the examples of these higher terp extracts that I've seen have been mostly live resin/fresh frozen.

One of these days I will probably speak to you about closed loop equipment recommendations so that I can extract from cured flowers in the way you describe, there may be a need for solvents to reenter my quiver, for those times when access to flowers is not so good.

Tell me, what temps and chamber/oven pressures do you prefer to use when purging butane as opposed to propane?

 

[SamuraiSam]

There isn't a single temperature and pressure (or vacuum) utilized in the methods that I have been learning. The pressure in the purging chamber, for example, is varied throughout the purging process. I'm not really at liberty to discuss the particulars of when and why those parameters are adjusted. As a student and not a master, I must admit to not knowing whether it is the presence of propane present in the slab purging, or the higher concentration of terpenes in the extract, that require such additional attention and adjustment to be made during the purging procedure (otherwise they disappear in the oven). While I can't discuss particulars I know, that you know, how volatile terpenes are especially when subject to heat. BTW, I have done straight butane, and mixed n-butane and n-propane runs, but never just propane, so there is always butane in the oil I've purged. I don't have any experience purging propane only, and I'm fairly certain that I won't ever be trying straight n-propane runs- I just dont like the flavor.

Using a pump to recover solvent in the CLS, not passively recovering, and I notice that recovery seems to be quick initially, and slower later on. Is that because the propane is being distilled first, and the heavier butane second? If so, I don't imagine that there is much propane present to be purged from the slab in the oven, but that is based on conjecture, not measurement. More experience is required on my end.

For producing shatter, propane isn't necessary, and I throw as much vacuum as I can after the muffin has collapsed. 30 inches of mercury? -maxed out. Body temperature seems to be a good limit for HTE's (learned that from @extractioneering, along with a lot of other information pieced together from breadcrumbs on his instragram ), a little more heat can be used with shatter, not as much to worry about preserving with shatter.

 

[DieHard]

Great to see @herbivore21 bringing the science.
My question is about the mystery of HTFSE and HCFSE. I'm not too sure about the solvent used in these. There are many claiming to be making this stuff, but it is usually just underpurged live resin "sauce". I really only trust Extractioneering because they are the ones to coin those two phrases.

 

[SamuraiSam]

Great to see @herbivore21 bringing the science.
My question is about the mystery of HTFSE and HCFSE. I'm not too sure about the solvent used in these. There are many claiming to be making this stuff, but it is usually just underpurged live resin "sauce". I really only trust Extractioneering because they are the ones to coin those two phrases.

Lol, I learned a lot from his posts, but extractioneering is dressing his products in some serious marketing sauce. Wonder if he'll accept that head to head challenge.

They are using mixed n-propane, n-butane, and isobutane. http://www.extractioneering.com/faq.html they state it right there. Same solvents I use. One difference, is that the Precision PX1 I'm being trained to run recovers the solvent used for extraction and distills it, cleans it, cools it, and uses it again; extractioneering states that they do not recover their solvent, and this has lead many to wonder if they may be "open" blasting unrefined solvents under a fume hood....

*break for extract humor, be warned the comments go on forever*
https://www.instagram.com/p/BSD-jSQlG04/

https://www.instagram.com/p/BSJHtp2lAXh/

https://www.instagram.com/p/BSJd-PNFhLM/

https://www.instagram.com/p/BSJ7dW7DCKs/

*back to our regularly scheduled programming*

If you use uncured material, the live resin will be monoterpene heavy. Treat the trim same as flower and cure out those harsh terpenes, use solvents that will extract the full spectrum of cannabinoids and terpenes that remain, and pay attention to a few key factors, and it should be possible to emulate that product.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BPog6c9lo-H/

https://www.instagram.com/p/BRrzsrNBoYe/

That's who I've been learning from, and what I've been learning how to make. I'm just here to extract, not use trademarked hashtags though! FWIW, those five letter acronyms are just two parts of a whole "Full Spectrum Extract" allowed to sit, crystalize, and separate, the terpenes are literally poured off once the crystalline matrix has stopped growing.

 

[Killick]

PS - I've *really* missed you guys :)

 

[herbivore21]

Lol, I learned a lot from his posts, but extractioneering is dressing his products in some serious marketing sauce. Wonder if he'll accept that head to head challenge.

They are using mixed n-propane, n-butane, and isobutane. http://www.extractioneering.com/faq.html they state it right there. Same solvents I use. One difference, is that the Precision PX1 I'm being trained to run recovers the solvent used for extraction and distills it, cleans it, cools it, and uses it again; extractioneering states that they do not recover their solvent, and this has lead many to wonder if they may be "open" blasting unrefined solvents under a fume hood....

*break for extract humor, be warned the comments go on forever*
https://www.instagram.com/p/BSD-jSQlG04/

https://www.instagram.com/p/BSJHtp2lAXh/

https://www.instagram.com/p/BSJd-PNFhLM/

https://www.instagram.com/p/BSJ7dW7DCKs/

*back to our regularly scheduled programming*

If you use uncured material, the live resin will be monoterpene heavy. Treat the trim same as flower and cure out those harsh terpenes, use solvents that will extract the full spectrum of cannabinoids and terpenes that remain, and pay attention to a few key factors, and it should be possible to emulate that product.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BPog6c9lo-H/

https://www.instagram.com/p/BRrzsrNBoYe/

That's who I've been learning from, and what I've been learning how to make. I'm just here to extract, not use trademarked hashtags though! FWIW, those five letter acronyms are just two parts of a whole "Full Spectrum Extract" allowed to sit, crystalize, and separate, the terpenes are literally poured off once the crystalline matrix has stopped growing.

Thanks for filling us in with some of this background Sam

One thing that you have not raised here @SamuraiSam which has been very noticeable to me observing many lab results on HTFSE's (I've read a hell of a lot of these) etc is that in one/some cases I have read (this was during a period between 6 months and one year ago), there was recorded residual cyclohexane/benzene showing up in double digits of PPM. IMO, this was a strong indicator that cyclohexane was used in Extractioneering's processing.

I know that cyclohexane is useful in chromatography related processing for isolation of cannabis actives (could terps be isolated in this way, then reintroduced in high quantities into more typical high terp BHO in order to precipitate crystallization/separation?), and also as an extraction cosolvent/solvent for cannabis. However, cyclohexane is also a potentially dangerous chemical solvent itself. Moreover, I've seen cyclohexane/benzene results from Extractioneering products that may actually entail unsafe levels of benzene (the two are not distinguished in testing, benzene is dangerous in very low digits of PPM - benzene and cyclohexane are fractional distillates from fossil fuels and they have nearly identical boiling points, meaning that full isolation/separation for analytical and manufacturing purposes is very difficult).

I know somebody who asked Extractioneering about this, but Extractioneering assured it was not benzene (didn't present lab evidence, nor a compelling explanation at the time of course). The amount of marketing puffery that Extractioneering uses is often impenetrable - I fully agree with my buddy @SamuraiSam.

With all of this said, I have seen test results of HTFSE's that do not have any residuals of these products. Another confounding variable is that small amounts of this solvent may be present as a residue from manufacturing of other solvents used in cannabis extraction, IIRC it can be found on the nozzles of butane cans. If this is the source of contamination, this may (but does not necessarily!) be evidence of open blasting of canned tane/pane.

As we can see, it is very difficult to know what Extractioneering is doing precisely. His products are fire, no doubt. Always demand test results though, and IMO avoid anything with any residual cyclohexane/benzene if the two are not reported separately in the lab COA.

I should highlight that the test results that I bookmarked from SClabs indicating residual benzene have been pulled from the site, with an error message now greeting users. Search engine results can still reveal one of the test results (for those interested, the partial SC Labs sample ID number listed in the entry is: 160805M003, benzene/cyclohexane level = 22ppm).

Extractioneering ended up posting a few weeks ago on IG that the abovementioned test result that was circulating with residual PPM of benzene/cyclohexane was a 'software blip' at SClabs, claiming that a new updated report is not available that does not show those PPM. However, when searching SClabs for the test result, it returns nothing but error file not found.

Also @SamuraiSam are you aware of how to use the vapor pressure of a solvent to determine ideal temp-pressure variables for boiling a given substance? This may help you in understanding why various temp/pressure combinations are being used at the place where you are learning CLS tek

 

[DieHard]

Ok, just so we are not talking about Unicorns here... here are some Macro shots of extractioneering HCFSE sugars. First is OG Kush and the more yellow is Sour Diesel. These really do taste and smell very much like the raw flowers. More so than Xtractology shatter with the same name. Both brands are amazing I should add.

 

[Killick]

I just googled HTFSE (it's like WTF, but with more letters in it?) Anyhoo - High Cannabinoid Full Spectrum Extraction, and there isn't a whole lot of info available. I saw the Extractioneering site, but tend to avoid vendor sites as too much 'rah rah buy my stuff' for my liking. As a legal Canadian cannabis patient I only have access to dried flower and veg oil infusions, so everything else has to come from my own home lab or I'm potentially afoul of the law. Weird, eh? The 3.5gram bud of Pineapple Nuken on my desk, compliments of Potent Industry, would maybe make me a criminal according to the letter of the law, but as a legal patient I'm willing to take the risk of having that conversation with someone who may want to put me behind bars. I'm a huge risk somehow...

Anyhoo - what I haven't been able to ascertain is whether these unicorns can be made at home. Then I realized that 'solvent extractions' cover a huge area of expertise, and it makes me wonder whether we need separate threads for different solvents? I continue to utilize EC for the most part, having given up on ISO early on. A buddy recently dropped by with a 15 gallon still (I want to make bourbon, can I store this at your house?) so I have a pretty decent source of homemade EC, or will have when we figure out how it all works.

While learning about all the different solvents is great I can only guess that this thread could get very muddy and it'll be hard to find the related links and parts. I'm enthused to learn about solvents I've not experienced as yet. Propane? I found a source for lab-grade maybe 30 seconds after reading it was an option. I'm guessing it's not a million miles from using Butane, so if we're going to experiment with either it's likely down to cost of extraction per gram (once safety is out of the way of course. I tend to assume those steps are automatic.) PTFE and silicon-cured are good words to know. Plus Skunk Pharm had a really decent mockup of a fume collector (since pulled) but I like it as it lets the fumes vent in a specific area, instead of a cloud of gas around the operator, which is just wrong...

Hey! Our overnight temps are above freezing - this could be *the* best time for making ice-free bubble! Unlike just below freezing where everything turned into emulsified ice foam...

 

[herbivore21]

View attachment 206 View attachment 207 Ok, just so we are not talking about Unicorns here... here are some Macro shots of extractioneering HCFSE sugars. First is OG Kush and the more yellow is Sour Diesel. These really do taste and smell very much like the raw flowers. More so than Xtractology shatter with the same name. Both brands are amazing I should add.

100% agree with you man, I'd expect that the extractioneering material will be considerably better than stuff by xtractology, the test COA's are very clear about the far greater concentrations of terps in the extractioneering products (HTFSE etc). This is why I said that Extractioneering's material is no doubt fire. My comments were guessing at possibilities of how these products could be so. They are not the only possibilities and may be wrong, we don't have a lot to go by (which is also what we were saying above).

While learning about all the different solvents is great I can only guess that this thread could get very muddy and it'll be hard to find the related links and parts.

This may be warranted brother, let me give this one some thought over the next few days and I may do some edits and create some new threads here to do just that

Hey! Our overnight temps are above freezing - this could be *the* best time for making ice-free bubble! Unlike just below freezing where everything turned into emulsified ice foam...

Oh man that I would love to try!

 

[SamuraiSam]

Thanks for filling us in with some of this background Sam

One thing that you have not raised here @SamuraiSam which has been very noticeable to me observing many lab results on HTFSE's (I've read a hell of a lot of these) etc is that in one/some cases I have read (this was during a period between 6 months and one year ago), there was recorded residual cyclohexane/benzene showing up in double digits of PPM. IMO, this was a strong indicator that cyclohexane was used in Extractioneering's processing.

I know that cyclohexane is useful in chromatography related processing for isolation of cannabis actives (could terps be isolated in this way, then reintroduced in high quantities into more typical high terp BHO in order to precipitate crystallization/separation?), and also as an extraction cosolvent/solvent for cannabis. However, cyclohexane is also a potentially dangerous chemical solvent itself. Moreover, I've seen cyclohexane/benzene results from Extractioneering products that may actually entail unsafe levels of benzene (the two are not distinguished in testing, benzene is dangerous in very low digits of PPM - benzene and cyclohexane are fractional distillates from fossil fuels and they have nearly identical boiling points, meaning that full isolation/separation for analytical and manufacturing purposes is very difficult).

I know somebody who asked Extractioneering about this, but Extractioneering assured it was not benzene (didn't present lab evidence, nor a compelling explanation at the time of course). The amount of marketing puffery that Extractioneering uses is often impenetrable - I fully agree with my buddy @SamuraiSam.

That topic has been an interesting one. IIRC Extractioneering has defended his solvent sources as impeccably pure when he gets them, requiring no cleaning, and stated that distilling them would damage the solvent in some way? I am not sure how he thinks his solvents were purified before he received them. For whatever reason his insistence on not-distilling solvent seems very odd to me; a simple step to remove all heavier components and eliminate heavier hydrocarbons.

Also @SamuraiSam are you aware of how to use the vapor pressure of a solvent to determine ideal temp-pressure variables for boiling a given substance? This may help you in understanding why various temp/pressure combinations are being used at the place where you are learning CLS tek

Sure, I understand that theory, but the real world temperature has to be a bit higher than "ideal" to account for a few factors like the substance that is holding the solvent in suspension.

In an effort to prevent any hurt feelings, here's some High Cannabinoid and Terpene Whatever The Fuck You Want To Call It, or HTWTF for short, processed on 4/20.

(Same sour banana sherbert, different stages of separation.)

Some of the cannabinoid-heavy portion:

 

[herbivore21]

That topic has been an interesting one. IIRC Extractioneering has defended his solvent sources as impeccably pure when he gets them, requiring no cleaning, and stated that distilling them would damage the solvent in some way? I am not sure how he thinks his solvents were purified before he received them. For whatever reason his insistence on not-distilling solvent seems very odd to me; a simple step to remove all heavier components and eliminate heavier hydrocarbons.

Man ain't that the truth! I wonder how he thinks his solvents were isolated in the first place as you say

Some nice looking material there too man, did you make that?

 

[DieHard]

There is definitely some voodoo magic going on there. I just wish that extractioneering was a little more transparent...though I can understand why they want to keep their hand close. The stuff is fire!!

 

[SamuraiSam]

Some nice looking material there too man, did you make that?

I am still in learning / training mode and while I've had a hand in a a few runs here, I would not say "I've made it" unless I did every step start-to-finish, and I certainly haven't done that at this lab yet. I've mostly been doing labor for, and learning the process of ECC's head extractor as an 'intern' if you will. Due to the time it takes to process hydrocarbon extracts, I won't be completing anything solo until I come on board as a full time employee. I'll be sure to let ya know when that's happened, hopefully just a few more weeks.

Have any of ya watched Bill Nye's new show?

It's not magic, it's science!