you didn't hear it from me but...

This method has its basis in a fascinating industrial extraction method
known as Supercritical Fluid Extraction. It uses totally over-the-counter
butane gas (8 oz can, camping supply store) as the extraction solvent, and
requires nothing even remotely suspicious or difficult to purchase.

The only other thing needed is about $2.00 worth of PVC pipe: a section 1.5
(one and a half) feet long and 1 & 3/4" diameter (outer diameter I believe),
and two end caps. Threaded PVC is not necessary.

For reasons not yet clear to those of us investigating these things
unofficially, butane and CO2 (and perhaps other gas/solvents with similar
ultra-low-boiling properties) selectively solvate the desirable fraction(s)
of cannabis oils, pulling out only a beautiful amber honey oil and leaving
the undesirable vegetative oils, waxes, chlorophyll, etc. behind in the
plant matter.

Even unsmokable shade leaves produce a wonderfully clean and potent gold oil
with this method.(So if you grow save those shade leaves!)

I have every reason to suspect that this would work splendidly to extract a
super-strong and tasty oil from gross, unpalatable schwag commercial pot
too, and of course, the better grade of herb you put it in, the better the
resulting oil.



Method:

1) In one of the PVC end caps, drill a single small hole in the center. This
hole should be correctly sized to snugly receive the little outlet nozzle of
your butane can.

2) In the other end cap, drill a group of 5 or 6 small holes clustered in
the center (like a pepper shaker).

3) After putting a piece of paper towel or coffee filter inside it for
filtration, put the end cap with several holes on one end of the pipe. Push
it on there real tight. This is the bottom.

4) Fill the pipe up with plant matter that has been pulverized into a coarse
powder. You want it filled, but not packed down. (Full pipe estimated at 1.5
oz capacity, but this is a guess. I did not weigh it.)

5) Place the top end cap on the pipe. Again, push it on as securely as you
can by hand.

6) Find a location outdoors with a decent breeze. You want these butane
fumes to be quickly carried away. Seriously.

6a) Mount the pipe (single hole-side up) over a vessel that can hold 300mL+.
Beakers are perfect. A lab stand and clamp are ideal for the mounting, but a
regular shop clamp or anything that can hold it sturdily is fine. (Avoid
metal if you can, to reduce the chance of sparks.) Position the bottom end
of the pipe immediately over (1-2") the receiving vessel to eliminate
splatter loss.

7) Turn the butane gas can upside down and dispense the gas into the pipe
via the single top hole. A whole 8-oz can takes about 10-12 seconds to
evacuate. Be brave, swift, and careful. A spark at this moment would spell
disaster since you have basically created an incendiary explosive device
that is leaking.

8) When you've exhausted the can into the pipe, back off to a nice distance
and let it do its thing. The butane moves down the pipe, extracting the
cannabis as it goes. When it gets to the bottom (~30 seconds after
dispensing), it begins to drain into the receiving vessel. Notice the pale,
glowing yellow-green-gold hue of the extract.



Over approximately five to eight minutes, the butane extract will finish
draining from the pipe to the receiving vessel. Maintain caution with the
pipe, however, since there is a lot of residual butane still evaporating
from within the pipe (notice the stream of fumes coming from the top hole).

When it slows down to a drop every few seconds, you can tap on the top hole
with your finger and it will help push the last of the liquid butane out (or
one can gently blow into the top hole to do the same thing). Remember, NO
SMOKING, unless you wish to immolate yourself in grand fashion.

Being very low-boiling and volatile, the collected butane will likely begin
boiling at ambient temperature.

The receiving vessel will gradually frost up as the butane cools it down,
slowing down its rate of evaporation, but you can speed this up again simply
by holding it in your hands. A better way is to set it in a saucepan
containing a little bit of warm water.



Watch the butane start bubbling madly with the increase in temperature and
marvel at its low boiling point. Again, be doing this outdoors with a nice
breeze! It takes about 20 minutes or so to allow the butane to evaporate, or
quicker if you help it along. You are left with a deep amber, almost orange
oil of amazing purity.

The best way to collect and store the oil is probably to let all of the
butane evaporate off and then redissolve the oil in some anhydrous or high-%
alcohol, and then pour this into a vial and let it sit out for a day or two
to allow the alcohol to evaporate.

Trying to transfer the oil into a small container while it is still solvated
by the butane is too risky. I learned the hard way about this, thanks to the
volatile temperament of butane.

I had filled a vial almost all the way to the top and was preparing to drop
those last couple drops in, so that cleverly, I could let the last of the
butane evaporate from the vial and the oil would all be neatly contained.

But when the last drop hit the mother lode in the vial, it changed the
temperature of the solution in the vial upward by a hair and it all super
boiled out of the vial and onto my fingers, which of course startled me and
caused me to drop the vial.

I suggest dissolving it in alcohol as I mentioned above. If you can get pure
or 99% isopropanol (isopropyl), use it, because THC's photosensitivity
reportedly does not occur in isopropanol.



The final product is a deep yellow-amber oil of the highest quality,
incredibly pure and potent. I remember well some of the prime honey oil hash
oils that hit the market in the late 1970s, and this stuff stands up to (if
not exceeds) any of them.

It's amazing how this method extracts only the good fraction and leaves the
junk in the weed. But that's exactly what it does.

Note also that this oil has a somewhat higher melt/vaporization point than
traditional hash oils; the traditional dispensing method (dipping a needle
or paper clip in, getting some goop on the end, and warming it with a flame
to get it to drip off into your bowl) still works with this stuff, but it
seems you have to be more careful with it because it doesn't heat to liquid
state as quickly or in the same manner, and it can more easily be allowed to
burn up on your needle. So be careful.

Those who prefer a tincture-like preparation can of course thin the product
a little with a bit of warm high-percentage alcohol like Everclear or
90-whatever-% isopropyl, then drop it onto buds or let a joint absorb some,
then let the alcohol evaporate.

I also observed that unlike hash oil derived from traditional methods, this
product is not immediately soluble in room-temp alcohol; it needed to be
warmed before it dissolved fully.