Anyone remember this device?

[Madjag]

It's an Isomerizer.

Check out old issues of High Times for the full ads.

 

[gdawg]

freaky

 

[Agaricus]

I always wanted one of those too. They look so cool.

 

[cannarelief]

I wonder if a patent is held for it? It might be interesting with mass production costs these days-maybe The Timasiun people etc. could offer a version (if there is enough demand and they felt it worthwhile)

Probably a fun device to experiment with

 

[Agaricus]

If anyone's interested, here's some info on isomerization from a friend on another forum.

The "tower" part of the Isomerizer is, I believe, the closed-loop reflux apparatus mentioned. I've seen several ghetto-style refluxers that are pretty simple to make.
____________________________________________________________________
Ether, or any solvent, doesn't do the isomerization. Ether is recommended because it is such a selective solvent, so your end result would be a lot cleaner (a translucent honey-like oil instead of oil so dark green it's black). For isomerization of THC and cannabidiol, all you need is the herb dissolved in a suitable solvent and then the pH is lowered for a few hours (alcohol works, even everclear, but ethanol has some water in it so it'll be a dirtier extraction but that's never bothered me). Heating herb to 140 for an hour only takes care of the decarboxylization step, and is redundant if isomerization is done.

It's a simple process; I use lab-grade concentrated sulphuric acid, adding 5 drops per ounce of bud or leaf trimmings to the herb in the solvent. Once the pH is lowered to around 2.0 or so I let it simmer on low heat for about 3 hours (use all appropriate caution with this step, I use a closed-loop reflux apparatus), then neutralize with 1/4 teaspoon of fresh baking soda per 5 drops of acid. So, for 3 ounces of herb I use 15 drops of acid and 3/4 tsp. baking soda. I know one guy who puts his herb in a blender with everclear, and blends it for 2 minutes, isomerizes, neutralizes, evaps the everclear and residual water, then dumps a few packs of dark chocolate chips into the mix, spreads it on a cookie sheet, lets cool. He doesn't even filter out the plant bits, and says by adding some ground coffee and a heaping pile of cinnamon the taste is just fine.

BTW: I mentioned cannabidiol earlier because in the isomerization procedure that oil is transformed into THC, which is why the boost in potency is noticed. The more couch-lock a strain causes, the more potent it will be after isomerization, since cannabidiol is related to that narcotic feeling. After isomerization, all that is gone, and the THC is of a higher-rotating type so the high is MUCH more body-oriented and spacey but your head stays amazingly clear. I've turned some total schwag into primo hash chocolate with a cleaner buzz than any smoked kind bud, just with isomerization. With some of the medical-grade indica strains, you can see a 5X increase in potency. With pure or nearly pure sativas, you get very little increase due to the much lower cannabidiol content, but the high is qualitatively improved for sure.

 

[Snoopster]

For a blast from the past check out this bloke's Website
Toys For The Mind
He collects Head Shop Gear and Smoking Accessories from the 70's and 80's, I remember seeing some of the stuff in early High Times here Down Under

Thanks for that. Great stuff.

 

[lee24]

i owned a isomizer in the early 80's , i used diff grade of weed in it from rag to gold, you had to grind the weed up as fine as a coffee grind smaller the better put a coffee filter in a basket. then the weed in the filter you poured denatured alcohol in the base( denatured=zero water) is 100% alcohol. turn it one the alcohol would evap up into the condenser then drip down into the weed in the basket, leaching out the oils, when done remove the basket and put in the beaker and do the proccess again capture the alcohol. the oils would be pooled in the bottom.yes you would get a buzz, but it would come out with a green tent to it, and a off flavor. it might be why they didnt last to long, i would like to find one again,,, oh yea do it someplace with very good air flow, your house will smell like a still

 

[armedoldhippy]

used to make a black oil from weed using glassware from a lab & pure grain alcohol using a similar process. just keep filtering it through, then slowly evaporate out the grain into another container. the grain sure made for some nasty tasting jungle juice later...

 

[stop the madnes]

Very interesting piece of equipment.

 

[moose eater]

Yep, as a handful of posters have correctly spelled it out, it's an Isomerizer. Followed by the Iso II.

Gimmick in its time.

A much younger poster here years ago, from B.C. Canada, along the coast, showed that Iso oil could be made effectively with 99% lab-grade isopropyl alcohol.. and a better product at that.

NOT 70%, but 99% isopropyl.

That poster used heat around 200 degrees f. or slightly lower to evaporate the 'carrier' or solvent, if I recall correctly.

However, another person further north found that bug screen placed over the finishing tray (13"x9" Pyrex baking dish), but not touching the liquid, left in a well ventilated room, would slowly evaporate properly over the course of time. As it got to the tar-like consistency, the evaporation of trapped solvent (alcohol) slowed notably, requiring longer..

The thing that made this process superior to others who'd used ether and alcohol for years, aside from not using any flame source, was that the maker only left the solvent in agitation with the material for ~30 seconds of vigorous agitation. This got rid of the chlorophyll aspect of a lot of oil that some would make by leaving their material soaking in solvent for a too long a time.

After agitating the material in well cleaned 1-gallon glass jars (he insisted the vegetative material, typically high-end clippings, be left springy dry, not crumbly dry or ground up, another technical issue, and preferably in a relatively cool room), he would pour the initial unfiltered liquid through a screened kitchen strainer, into a clean glass pitcher, then pour that crudely filtered liquid, a little at a time, through drip coffee filters, changing the filters as soon as the flow slowed due to the particulates clogging the pores in the filter..

He would then cover the Pyrex dish with bug screen held in place by linked rubber bands, with the screen mesh tight enough to stop noseeums.

He'd allow the air movement through his porch to do its job on the solvent, often for over a week in early summer or late summer, adding a number of days at the end, once the goo had slowed in the condensing process.

Very little muss or fuss, no flames near alcohol, and incredible quality that tasted a lot like the Nepalese red oil from days gone by.

The down side? It has the capacity to paint a person's lungs like latex paint, so if assaults on your respiratory system is something that creates major issues, then use a safer method for ingestion.

Home jobs like that made such novelties like the Isomerizer a dinosaur that put out a lesser quality product. But it's cool to see one these days, like going to the antique auto museum.

 

[Backwoods_Genetics]

I think it was the Iso2 (?)

If it is, I always wanted one, because one of the claims was you could get woven hemp fiber products (like doormats from India, I guess) isomerize the inactive cannibidiols into active THC and then extract your own pure red honey oil!!

Of course, I was like 13 years old, and also coveted a Phototron too...

Bro I have a fucking phototron I would sell the bitch hell probably donate it.