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Cannabis Alchemy anyone tried it?

Cannabis Alchemy by D Gold


Anybody done any of the experiments in this classic book

Anybody converted THC to THC aceate

Is it worthwhile to isomerise the smaller unripe popcorn buds
 

GrowGeek

Member
As a matter of fact, I just got that book tonight from a used bookstore. Just digging into it, but it looks like a good show thus far.

Never done anything of the likes... But who knows! :)
 

Zar^

Member
Anybody converted THC to THC aceate

Is it worthwhile to isomerise the smaller unripe popcorn buds

Hi,a good friend of mine from madrid, long ago, from explanations of the book, what he calls isomer, with buds and makes the end result is too little, just tasteless as to refine both, terpenes disappear and the rush of just a hair greased into a cigarette is impressive, cold sweat on his neck, but you have to spend money on laboratory products and solvents such as ether and stuff


very good to go where you can not smoke that just smells and a small boat given to many joints

Namastè
 
U

ureapwhatusow

yes

the tech works

you can make a home made rig

far easier than you an image
 
M

medi-useA

Damn!


You guys!...gimme a break!...I got too damn much I'm interested in and following up on...now you throw this one down....when am I ever gonna get some rest! :)

Got me another book to order, read and learn from!

muA
 

puffin fresh

Active member
ICMag Donor
It's alright, I did the isomerisation etc but after proving the process I have never given it another thought and probably never will.
You are basically just refluxing your oil in an alcohol/acid mixture to convert cannabidiol into tetrahydrocannabinol. Unless your bud/oil/hash is really high in CBD this experiment will yield negligible results, as most of the cannabis strains available today are high THC low CBD strains with less than 1% of cannabinoids being CBD. Also some prefer higher CBD strains for medical use as it can good for pain.
Good luck chem is always fun so give it a go. :)
 
Thank you for the input everyone

So it looks like isomerisation is a waste of time with modern low CBD stains but useful for hemp. Gold from dirt in a way, got me thinking, anyone experimented with this?

ureapwhatusow your comments have made my day, sorry but more questions. What about the chemicals used, any advice you can give and also what about the effects, that is the root of it all. How do you get the wife to give in and let you play about with chemistry sets in the house, just after xmas so budget low for flowers for wife.

Medi-useA, i am like you and use for medicine, not to get stoned but it a nice side effect. I would recommend Marajuana Chemistry by Micheal Starks also, its a good book but you really need to be a organic chemist to fully make use of the book. There is some good info in there but it dated. As for the THC acetate, i am just very, very curious about it, i have to try it. Look up the 1,2,dimethylheptyl molecule of THC, gets you stoned for days not hours.
 
Hi puffin fresh

I agree with what you say, i have found that a collection of cannabinoids gives better effects than THC alone. Been asking about and former users of Marinol tell proof of that.

Can i ask how much you roughly used in your experiment? How far from estimated harvest date were the materials you used? What acids/ solvents you used?
 

puffin fresh

Active member
ICMag Donor
Hi T,

I used Technical grade alcohol to disolve some very black already evaporated iso oil made from ripe OD buds, I used 10g alcohol to 1g oil. Added HCL acid to adjust solution to .05% by weight. Refluxed for an hour and a half, cooled, adjusted ph to 6.5 with sodium bicarbonate, filtered and evaporated the solution. I might have forgotten something but that sounds right.
I also refluxed the result in toluene/toluenesulfonic acid or some such thing for multiple hours etc etc but the details are hazy, and the results were nothing to write home about or I would still be doing it. :)
As for the acetate salt I don't like your chances of getting hold of acetic anhydride, although I do have glacial acetic acid at hand which you can no doubt get, maybe you can cool that, vacuum etc etc, it may work i don't know, maybe I will try it one day. It's hard trying to find the time for all these fun things. :)
 

RPsmoke

New member
Man, have used this sites for facts for a long time now. Great place. Just never joined.

Recently just picked this book up. Was thumbing through it over the weekend. Subscribed to see what more people have to say.
 
U

ureapwhatusow

It's alright, I did the isomerisation etc but after proving the process I have never given it another thought and probably never will.
You are basically just refluxing your oil in an alcohol/acid mixture to convert cannabidiol into tetrahydrocannabinol. Unless your bud/oil/hash is really high in CBD this experiment will yield negligible results, as most of the cannabis strains available today are high THC low CBD strains with less than 1% of cannabinoids being CBD. Also some prefer higher CBD strains for medical use as it can good for pain.
Good luck chem is always fun so give it a go. :)

this process as described in the book and relative for the times how to process high CBD imports (i think it 1971 circa ??)

its dangerous, but if you go deep enough into purification i find it gives you an excellent product relative to the process

with that said, this was used to extract and purify oils from low grade imports that had oblivious degraded between harvest and final arrival

he covers all solvents including butane which is excellent solvent which does not require refluxing

im the back of the book he discusses colonial experiments with oil making that used long soak and heat applications to make red oil

conversely nevil searched out better cannabis because of the dangers of using flammable solvents under heat to distill oil
 
Can someone confirm that most lighter fluid for Zippo lighters is pure hexane

I found out that diethylether can easily be found for de-icing the car, just read the can to confirm you got the right brand

De-ionised water is used to top up car batteries, so pick some up while at the auto shop for the ether
 

Oilmeister

Member
I've been reluctant to mess around with Pet ether, dangerous stuff when you can make a great product with butane. Just my opinion.
 

Grow Tech

I've got a stalk of sinsemilla growing in my back
Veteran
Hey Guys,
Forgive me if I'm totally missing something...I havent seen the book thats mentioned.

Here's my question, is this possibly a process that would be good to run on wild hemp. My understanding is that wild hemp is typically much higher in cbd.

I'm actually looking for high CBD strains for medicinal purposes but this thread caught my eye for some reason.
 

reckon

Member
I got the book THIRTY FIVE YEARS AGO (it had already been in print 4 years) and it was a good read then, and it IS fairly advanced "chemistry class" information......BUT,.....

1) you can make better quality HO in 1/30th the time, using either BHO, or QWISO methods, where as his quickest uses "a light shaking in methylene chloride* for 30 mins" (*positively linked to cancer)

2) Isomerization (basically adding H2SO4 to cannabinoids in solution) is USELESS unless you actually have some CBD to convert,....so YES if you have a field of kentucky hemp, this is a good option, but for your indoor jack herer hybrid,......not so much.

3) LOTS of the chemicals listed in that book are difficult to come by and are dangerous to use (i.e. either & methylene chloride), and have become "on the list" type of chemicals, where procurement will arouse suspicions as to your intentions (these chemicals are also used to make "other" substances these days)


there has been much advancement in cannabinoid "alchemy" in all those years since and I for one really consider the book to be somewhat obsolete, although it is informative, and packed with solid facts, the facts are 40 years old and the book is about as entertaining as reading a chiltons manual for a late model ford.

I'm not knocking the book mind you (ok I guess I am a little), I DID buy it, and have read it about a gazillion times through, and I HAVE performed a reflux/isomerization, & a straight extract (yes, with the methylene chloride, ughh) evap'd onto an ounce of fan leaf shake, and the end results DID do what was described, but it took about 3 days total for the reflux/isomerization, I COULD have blown up the entire house several times and I got less than 3 grams of HO, now I wash 1/2 a Z of trim for 20 seconds and 30 minutes later I have the same amount of BETTER quality HO.

it's a coffee table novelty book now imo

(sorry if I have offended anyone)
 
More input people, thank you all for stopping bye

So isomerisation is for hemp or bird seed, whatever you can come across easier, but not on todays stoner genetics.

I got the book a while ago, had a read of it again last year and curiosity got the better of me, i got to try the acetate just for the hell of it.

The idea about the isomerisation would be if it would be any use for a crop that was harvested early, try and get the ratio of CBD to THC converted to more THC

Is there any modern books covering the same subject
 

Gray Wolf

A Posse ad Esse. From Possibility to realization.
Mentor
ICMag Donor
Veteran
Define modern. Research has been repressed since the thirties.

You might check out Marijuana Chemistry, by Michael Starks-1977.

GW
 
Hi Gray wolf

Have read that one, very detailed appendix if you got the advanced chemistry set to play with.

Thought he left a few areas very open, but i did learn a lot from it. A different bed time read.

Just with modern medical cannabis thought they would be more books on it (and home experiments of course).

On a diferent subject can i ask what do you know about PLL uvb lights in contained areas, i need opinions on uvb sources.
 
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