Cleaning up street junk? Heroin helper down...

[SpecialGuy69]

robo-is there another solvent that could substitute for ether in the dope-cleaning procedure described on heroin-helper.com? The site is down now, but I know that it has been cut and pasted onto opiophile multiple times. Its basically an acid base extraction with an ether and acetone/toluene/hexane rinses.

[robojunkie]

robo-is there another solvent that could substitute for ether in the dope-cleaning procedure described on heroin-helper.com? The site is down now, but I know that it has been cut and pasted onto opiophile multiple times. Its basically an acid base extraction with an ether and acetone/toluene/hexane rinses.


First, I gotta ask ya AO to post these over in chem, or in a new chem thread, cause they don't fit here. I'll answer and then move your post and mine over into either a new thread or one that is related.

Anyhow, I am assuming the ether is being used to extract out the previously washed heroin HCl water solution after basification. If this is the case and I'm certain it is, one could sub MTBE (methyl tert-butyl ether, common gasoline additive) or starter fluid, which is well over 90 percent ether (evap some first to ensure no redidue). The one thing that goes for any usage of diethyl ether, ALWAYS have a fume hood or DO IT OUTSIDE! Ether boils below body temp (34 C, bt is 37 C) and inside w/o ventilation the vapor accumulates along the floor and any spark, BOOM!!! Pure heroin base is weakly soluble in hexanes (lighter fluid), but the required amount is probably somewhere around 500 ml per gram base, although it may be a bit less, but almost certainly no less than 100 ml per gram, and of course this depends on temp too. If one cannot access an ether and safe locations to put to use, hexanes would be good as one can expect for easy to get stuff. Toluene, or better yet something like 10 to 1 hexannes toluene solution would be better.

If he was talking about washing the initial aqueous solution, the best chem used (and I'm sure he's not in this case) would be methylene chloride or chloroform. These two are excellent at removing the colored impurities from the water solution, but must be used in small amounts as they can pull even the heroin hydrochloride in moderate concentrations.

Basic idea: Street dope into water (about 20 ml/gram), slightly acidify acetic acid, wash with about 2 ml methylene chloride or chloroform and set aside, take aqueous solution and basify with bicarb until cloudy, then add a pinch more, extract times 3 with about 10 ml ether or times 3 with 100 ml hexanes or x 3 with 25 ml 10:1 hexanes/toluene solution, (then if you wanna go balls out, add small amount of acitvated charcoal, heat a minute or two and filter through diatomaceous earth), then either A) bubble HCl gas into solution, precipitating Smack HCl, done by dripping conc. sulfuric onto table salt, or B) Adding conc HCl to ethanol (about 0.3-0.4 ml per 2 ml ethanol) and then take the smack contaiing solution and evaporate, at which point the heroin base left is dissolved in the ethanolic HCl and about 25 ml ether is added slowly to precipitate the heroin HCl. If a small water layer forms at bottom, add another 0.5 to 1.0 ml ethanol (regular, not acidic). A white precipitate should form either way, A or B, this is filtered, and should be greater than 95 percent pure diacetylmorphine by weight, and it should be WHITE.

Note: I don't give out step by steps usually, but this is harm reduction as clean heroin is far better than tar or even stepped on #4. But especially tar, and if tar that first methylene chloride or chloroform wash may need to be repeated. I can't emphasize how important this is for tar type dope.

Now, to be moved...

PS: w/o digging up my reference books, I believe acetone would be ok for a final rinsne of the dry product, to remove any remaining impurities (dry heroin HCl, not base), but it should not be used as a liquid/liquid extracting solvent as it is soluble in water and ether and just about everything.

For all you west coast guys that cop more than half grams at a time, you should really consider the benefits of this on your veins and your high. Its pretty easy and most of the chems can be purchased OTC. Ether = starter fluid, acetone = pure nail polish remover (100% acetone on label), hexanes = lighter fluid, chloroform = film cleaner/head cleaner at photoshops and electronics places that cater to hobbyists. Methylene chloride, good luck. Ethanol, no one better ask me that one!!! Heroin = find your own, no soliciting, haha.

If anyone gets anything from this post, heed the warning to use ether OUTSIDE or in a PROPERLY VENTILATED hood!!! I can't emphasize this enough! Most meth fires and explosions are the result of tweaked out cooks with piles of empty PE packs and red P sitting around with babies crawling to and fro while ether is slowly filling the bottom half of the building, then tweaker B lights up smoke/etc and its DEA microgram story number 496. And an instant major bust if they're lucky enough to be in a crappy trailer that blows apart before they're completely incinerated.

[SpecialGuy69]

awesome, rj! Great post, gonna save some veins today!

Interesting shit! Now for making M from oven cleaner and toenail clippings...

I didnt know cholorform was available otc! Good to know. If only Methylene Chloride was too... that fukker is always a big fat roadblock to non-lab chemists.

this shit is fascinating. RJ I had no idea you moved this one on me- i thought you just didnt notice it! Let me know if there are any other posts you moved into their own threads- i probably missed them- i know about the Etorph one tho.

[chopstix]

A friend of mine has considered taking a shot at cleaning up the shitty tar he buys in ca, we were talking about it a while ago over drinks and he said he had concerns about heavy metal contamination in OTC Hydrochloric/Muriatic acid, I had wondered if using activated charcoal at some point in the process might absorb some of those contaminants and he thought it was an interesting idea; thoughts on this? The AC/diatomaceous earth step is interesting, think that'd pull the HCI contaminants out?

On Ether: I read the suggested alternatives but I'm curious if you have an opinion on this; I've heard starting fluid is a bad solvent to use for purification, even when washed 2-3x in distilled water there's always contaminants. I think (not sure on this) one common contaminant is petroleum based (probably a cylinder lube and/or rubber seal protection from the alcohol) and has a tendency to pull out the dope, I'm guessing it retains water and then the water soaks up the dope but I could be wrong - I forget the name for chemicals that absorb water - hygro/hydro-pholic/liphic? Something like that.. Anyway, he seems to think starting fluid was a pretty poor quality solvent for this process, is MTBE better? Can that stuff be washed with distilled water for a better solvent? I know he's mentioned Chloroform was preferred but seemed to think it was harder to acquire..

Last question, you mention "slightly acidify acetic acid" - what is slightly? 6? 5? 4? and is acetic acid strong enough? I'd always heard HCI and it seems that a good acid bath would be a good start with the nastyass tar... Is it necessary to go very low or are the solvent rinses sufficient??

I know, total n00b questions, but he's a smart guy - just no real chem background but I think he's smart enough to pull this off, as it seems just getting the proper chemicals is the hardest part..


Anyhow, I am assuming the ether is being used to extract out the previously washed heroin HCl water solution after basification. If this is the case and I'm certain it is, one could sub MTBE (methyl tert-butyl ether, common gasoline additive) or starter fluid, which is well over 90 percent ether (evap some first to ensure no redidue). The one thing that goes for any usage of diethyl ether, ALWAYS have a fume hood or DO IT OUTSIDE! Ether boils below body temp (34 C, bt is 37 C) and inside w/o ventilation the vapor accumulates along the floor and any spark, BOOM!!! Pure heroin base is weakly soluble in hexanes (lighter fluid), but the required amount is probably somewhere around 500 ml per gram base, although it may be a bit less, but almost certainly no less than 100 ml per gram, and of course this depends on temp too. If one cannot access an ether and safe locations to put to use, hexanes would be good as one can expect for easy to get stuff. Toluene, or better yet something like 10 to 1 hexannes toluene solution would be better.

If he was talking about washing the initial aqueous solution, the best chem used (and I'm sure he's not in this case) would be methylene chloride or chloroform. These two are excellent at removing the colored impurities from the water solution, but must be used in small amounts as they can pull even the heroin hydrochloride in moderate concentrations.

Basic idea: Street dope into water (about 20 ml/gram), slightly acidify acetic acid, wash with about 2 ml methylene chloride or chloroform and set aside, take aqueous solution and basify with bicarb until cloudy, then add a pinch more, extract times 3 with about 10 ml ether or times 3 with 100 ml hexanes or x 3 with 25 ml 10:1 hexanes/toluene solution, (then if you wanna go balls out, add small amount of acitvated charcoal, heat a minute or two and filter through diatomaceous earth), then either A) bubble HCl gas into solution, precipitating Smack HCl, done by dripping conc. sulfuric onto table salt, or B) Adding conc HCl to ethanol (about 0.3-0.4 ml per 2 ml ethanol) and then take the smack contaiing solution and evaporate, at which point the heroin base left is dissolved in the ethanolic HCl and about 25 ml ether is added slowly to precipitate the heroin HCl. If a small water layer forms at bottom, add another 0.5 to 1.0 ml ethanol (regular, not acidic). A white precipitate should form either way, A or B, this is filtered, and should be greater than 95 percent pure diacetylmorphine by weight, and it should be WHITE.

Note: I don't give out step by steps usually, but this is harm reduction as clean heroin is far better than tar or even stepped on #4. But especially tar, and if tar that first methylene chloride or chloroform wash may need to be repeated. I can't emphasize how important this is for tar type dope.

Now, to be moved...

PS: w/o digging up my reference books, I believe acetone would be ok for a final rinsne of the dry product, to remove any remaining impurities (dry heroin HCl, not base), but it should not be used as a liquid/liquid extracting solvent as it is soluble in water and ether and just about everything.

For all you west coast guys that cop more than half grams at a time, you should really consider the benefits of this on your veins and your high. Its pretty easy and most of the chems can be purchased OTC. Ether = starter fluid, acetone = pure nail polish remover (100% acetone on label), hexanes = lighter fluid, chloroform = film cleaner/head cleaner at photoshops and electronics places that cater to hobbyists. Methylene chloride, good luck. Ethanol, no one better ask me that one!!! Heroin = find your own, no soliciting, haha.

[robojunkie]

A friend of mine has considered taking a shot at cleaning up the shitty tar he buys in ca, we were talking about it a while ago over drinks and he said he had concerns about heavy metal contamination in OTC Hydrochloric/Muriatic acid, I had wondered if using activated charcoal at some point in the process might absorb some of those contaminants and he thought it was an interesting idea; thoughts on this? The AC/diatomaceous earth step is interesting, think that'd pull the HCI contaminants out?

On Ether: I read the suggested alternatives but I'm curious if you have an opinion on this; I've heard starting fluid is a bad solvent to use for purification, even when washed 2-3x in distilled water there's always contaminants. I think (not sure on this) one common contaminant is petroleum based (probably a cylinder lube and/or rubber seal protection from the alcohol) and has a tendency to pull out the dope, I'm guessing it retains water and then the water soaks up the dope but I could be wrong - I forget the name for chemicals that absorb water - hygro/hydro-pholic/liphic? Something like that.. Anyway, he seems to think starting fluid was a pretty poor quality solvent for this process, is MTBE better? Can that stuff be washed with distilled water for a better solvent? I know he's mentioned Chloroform was preferred but seemed to think it was harder to acquire..

Last question, you mention "slightly acidify acetic acid" - what is slightly? 6? 5? 4? and is acetic acid strong enough? I'd always heard HCI and it seems that a good acid bath would be a good start with the nastyass tar... Is it necessary to go very low or are the solvent rinses sufficient??

I know, total n00b questions, but he's a smart guy - just no real chem background but I think he's smart enough to pull this off, as it seems just getting the proper chemicals is the hardest part..

OK, first Q: I don't think activated charcoal would work, because this works on the basis of "pi stacking" (def not important, just think rings on top of rings, with charcoal ie graphite being huge flat "pages" of honeycombed rings) and the DE wouldn't because the HM's would be soluble (assuming they are there). What would almost certainly work, however, would be to sludge them out with some type of weak counterion. What makes it more challenging is the need for one that is not basic, and most are, like hydroxide, carbonate, etc, these being often used to sludge out metals). So the best option if this is true to to distill the nearly concentrated HCl as a simple distillation. Even though distillation means condensing vapors and HCl is a gas, at these ratios both phases behave as though they are one thing, and will condense as conc. HCl.

First chloroform and methylene chloride are not good for pulling the base, actually they are better for washing the acid. In the acid phase, even, these two will pull most colored impurities right the fuck out of the aqueous solution. As for MTBE, which I think is being phased out of gas blends, may be harder to get and purify, though it could be done. I still think that starter fluid is best. Even if there are petroleum contaminants, a good distillation (after the water washes) will give nearly pure ether, plus maybe a little bit of light petroleum cuts, like pentanes and such. This wouldn't matter since the ether to pentanes ration is so high. Any "oily" (heavy, greasy) petroleum cuts would be left behind. As would the heavy metals above. So basically don't use methyene chloride or chloroform as they are much better solvents for pulling lots of stuff, even salts (fentanyl hydrochloride is hundreds of times more soluble in methylene chloride than it is in water!!!). Best used in tiny amounts to wash the colored tar junk out of a pH 4 to 5 (acetic acid) solution of diamorphine acetate (at this point). Tiny amounts, because a lot will also pull out your product salt, believe it or not! Maybe 1 gram tar, say 250 mgs diamorphine, into 10 or 20 mls of pH 4 solution, checking again after dissolved and making around pH 4.5 with acetic acid or sodium acetate as the case may be, can be washed well with only 2 or 3 mls of methylene chloride or chloroform! The suddenly the dark aqueous crap will be yellowy and clear, if not by the first almost def after the second.

On the last one, I meant to write "slightly acidify with acetic acid", meaning this will guarantee that the diamorphine (often in base form in tar, or so I've heard...) is in an appropriate salt form. Also, although HCl would probably be fine, you wouldn't want to go too low as the way esters are usually hydrolized is by mixing (and heating) in strong aqueous acid solution. And, in authentic heroin from morphine production, the initial crude acetic anhydride/heroin/acetate mixture is hydrolized with water giving heroin acetate, acetic acid, water, and (assuming some sodium acetate was used for a buffer) sodium acetate. Since the procedure I know best is this one, I can give the best advice with this. Slightly acidifying is made easier by adding a small amount of sodium acetate, giving you a buffer solution (Look up "buffer solution pH" or similar on google for formula calcs, they're pretty straightforward, you'll also have to find the pKa of acetic acid). I'll answer the other question in an edit as I have forgotten it for the moment.

Oh yeah, the reason I also say "slightly..." is that all that is necessary to ensure heroin salt is that the pH be lower than the pH of a pure "heroin (acetate or whatever)" solution. This pH is probably around 4.5 to 5, so making the solution at least as low as 4.5 ensures it is all salt. If only 7, this means there is a significant portion of the base still, as this is neutral and the acetate or hydrochloride or any salt is weakly acid, requiring the alkaloid base to be present to push equilibrium towards pH 7, ie neutral. There's no real need to acidify beyond this, acetic acid allows for the use of a buffer sol, ie adding sodium acetate, to ensure no over/under acidification, and the increasing rate of hydrolysis with the increasing acidity of the solution. Hope these help for now...

Also, your ether from starter fluid can be tested for quality by evaporating a few mls and noting what's left behind (after the frost that will form has left). If oils, need to distill or redistill, if solids, distill or something went terribly wrong with first distillation. Also, for general purposes, a solution of around 10% grain alcohol (everclear) and 90% hexanes (ie pet ether, ie lighter fluid, ie badly named cause no ether here, only light petroleums) can serve as an ether substitute, but one has to remember that every wash/extraction, that some of that ethanol is going to stay in the aqueous layer.

[SpecialGuy69]

awesome, rj! Great post, gonna save some veins today!

Interesting shit! Now for making M from oven cleaner and toenail clippings...

I didnt know cholorform was available otc! Good to know. If only Methylene Chloride was too... that fukker is always a big fat roadblock to non-lab chemists.

this shit is fascinating. RJ I had no idea you moved this one on me- i thought you just didnt notice it! Let me know if there are any other posts you moved into their own threads- i probably missed them- i know about the Etorph one tho.

Whoops. I meant to say methylamine hydrochloride, not methylene chloride; is the big roadblock for otc chemists. Methylene chloride is relatively easy to procure otc and if you have decent distillation glassware (as any lab should) you should have no problem getting your hands on relatively pure methylene chloride. Results of dreams of methylamine using formaldehyde and hcl have been less than impressive, and the next time the need for methylamine rears its head (hopefully it wont if clean nitroethane could be sourced) swim would probably use a Hoffman rearrangement with Acetamide, calcium hypochlorite, and lye.

I believe methylamine is only necessary (to the street chemist) if you need to go from a ketone (not mdp2p) to a secondary amine- I dont see anything wrong with the primary amine, so fuck methylamine in its ear.

[chopstix]

Also, your ether from starter fluid can be tested for quality by evaporating a few mls and noting what's left behind (after the frost that will form has left). If oils, need to distill or redistill, if solids, distill or something went terribly wrong with first distillation. Also, for general purposes, a solution of around 10% grain alcohol (everclear) and 90% hexanes (ie pet ether, ie lighter fluid, ie badly named cause no ether here, only light petroleums) can serve as an ether substitute, but one has to remember that every wash/extraction, that some of that ethanol is going to stay in the aqueous layer.

If I understand what I'm reading about Isohexane and Ethanol, it seems like they should be really easy to separate. Wikipedia states that they have completely opposite miscibility profiles in water, so a water rinse, just like with starting fluid, should produce two layers - one hexane and one ethanol and water - correcto?

Seems like there's no real use for the ethanol..

[robojunkie]

Yes, this is true of pure water and pure hexanes (not just "isohexane", pet ether is mostly pentanes and a couple of hexanes, hexanes is 85% n-hexane) with ethanol. However usually the material being extracted contains a good amounts of salts of various types, which push the partition coefficient much more in favor of the non-polar. It is also not a simple matter of partition coefficient (which is solubility of A in X over A in Y), as lets say we're concerned about ethanol and learn that its hexanes/water partition coefficient is 0.1 so about 10 times the ethanol is present in water than hexanes with an equal volume. However, if the volume of hexanes is higher, and you extract numerous times with this, you can maintain close to 99% of the ethanol in the hexanes extract. Of course the reverse is true too, (extracting hexanes with water), but its simply the volume and the number of extractions that are performed.

Anyway, the use of the ethanol is to provide a small increase in the polarity of the 90/10 solution as opposed to straight hexanes, the 90/10 being much more like a fake ether solution. Hexanes all by itself is actually a poor solvent and will fail to significantly extract many compounds with a polar, hydrogen bonding component like a nitrogen. It may with a huge excess, and/or many repeats of the extraction, but remember, if the ethanol goes in the water, as you're extracting each time, the ethanol in the water increases, less each time, which makes it present in ever increasing concentrations in the non-polar, until an equilibrium of sorts is reached.

However, much better to just distill the ether present in the starter fluid. Practically anybody can distill ether with some ice, a tube or glass rod of sorts and a pot to put it in. Hell you can boil it with your hand (for real!).

[chopstix]

So swim played chemist today, and much like last time, had pretty shitty results. Seems like maybe a little progress this time but still probably flushed $40 down the drain.

From recollection of the story I heard; here's what happened:

About 30ml distilled water was brought down to approx ph 4 with citric acid (powder) and was added to approx 1g decent quality tar, warmed up and left to dissolve. PH was verified with hydrion ph paper (range is 5-8 but the color can go off the chart either way)

A can of ether based starting fluid was sprayed into a large jar and rinsed twice with distilled water, both times the ether layer separated and held in a separate, covered vessel - end result appeared consistent and "pure."

Once the acid/tar solution had dissolved, the solution was basified and brought up to approx ph 8.5 - 9 with first baking soda, then ammonia until ph was > 8.

After awhile, and it didn't start happening until the ammonia was used, the solution started to get very cloudy/milky with apparent pieces of base material in the solution.

At this point, solution was twice rinsed with the ether product. Both solutions (ether and ph 9+ garbage) were retained.

Two extractions were performed at this point. Swim claims he's read enough about industrial muriatic acid to be concerned about contaminants, so he started with citric. A solution of citric acid and distilled water was made and tested with the ph paper to be under 5. This solution was approx 20ml and was added to the ether prep and suspended repeatedly for over .5 hour. The solution was then extracted and then basified, it took maybe two teaspoons of soda to get a neutral solution that he claims literally tastes like tap water - no bitterness, no saltiness, just water - obviously something wrong. He (again) claims the base product was decent quality. This solution was brought to over ph9 with no sign of precipitation.

Since everything was kept, he performed another extraction. 5ml 31% muriatic acid was mixed with 5ml distilled water and added to the ether mix - this solution measured quite a bit lower on the paper - hard to say but very obviously MUCH more acidic. The acid water was kept suspended for 30+ minutes in the ether and then isolated to where approx 2 tablespoons of baking soda were required (on 10ml solution and MUCH more than the original, citric solution) to get the solution close to neutral and didn't burn the tongue.

At this point SWIM had maybe 20-30ml roughly basic liquid on what was maybe .8/g 40-50% shit. Biggest concern to swim is heavy metal contaminants and is why the citric solution was tried initially.

10% of the solution was IV'd, results weren't conclusive. %50 remaining solution browned and held for 30 minutes. Swim couldn't stand it, hit the can like it was an enema figuring this was a waste and never, ever having to deal with this level of discomfort through this roa which has been used 3-4 times (never much success).

What's left is about %40 of original mix, should be good, eh? Here's a concern:

Swim claims he banged one small hit - seemed ok, hit another one and didn't get it right away, although he did get a register. Within two minutes that register was BROWN and looked liked it was gonna clog on the way out of the rig, dude said FUCK THAT shit in the mainline - no way, squirted it out, but it didn't clog - ???, anyone seen a register go brown and chunky like that? Could it be the salt? WTF? SWIM is really concerned about contamination here.

He wants to add, that since the browning, he feels a bit of a glow. Problem was it had been a couple days since any "regular" movement and after 1/2hr, he simply couldn't wait anymore it was a very expensive enema.

ADVICE - PLEASE... Chloroform, huh? My buddy is bent, but I guess that's life and he don't look sick, but we're both worried about contamination in the HCL (%31 from local HW store).

WTF - anyone see anything wrong? And are the concerns about industrial HCL valid? ANY input mucho appreciated.. He's a hero and trying to turn SHIT into gold here..

[chopstix]

Addendum and some theory: I just heard from him, he evap'd down the solution a bit and did a couple bumps - about 2ml total when the original pull was 5ml (not including the apparent failed pull with the citric). Concerns about metal contamination are still there and he says it's VERY salty - not surprising considering how much soda was used.

In the future, maybe a smaller, more concentrated wash to pull the base? How acidic can a citric acid solution be made? Maybe Vinegar/Acetic would be better? No real glassware or distillation equipment here, this guy asks me questions to research on the internet - that's how "tech" this is, this is mostly just theory experiments to clean up tar when one feels the need and without the BS associated with mexican heroin. One theory that's been discussed is the possibility that there is so much morphine in the dope, that the ph should be confirmed >9 for complete precipitation - assuming the morphine is wanted and knowing this dope, it probably is.

It should be noted that a lot more progress was made in this attempt using ph paper, I think the biggest concern is contamination from the HCL atm.

Again, any feedback appreciated. :)

[robojunkie]

So swim played chemist today, and much like last time, had pretty shitty results. Seems like maybe a little progress this time but still probably flushed $40 down the drain.

From recollection of the story I heard; here's what happened:

About 30ml distilled water was brought down to approx ph 4 with citric acid (powder) and was added to approx 1g decent quality tar, warmed up and left to dissolve. PH was verified with hydrion ph paper (range is 5-8 but the color can go off the chart either way)

A can of ether based starting fluid was sprayed into a large jar and rinsed twice with distilled water, both times the ether layer separated and held in a separate, covered vessel - end result appeared consistent and "pure."

Once the acid/tar solution had dissolved, the solution was basified and brought up to approx ph 8.5 - 9 with first baking soda, then ammonia until ph was > 8.

After awhile, and it didn't start happening until the ammonia was used, the solution started to get very cloudy/milky with apparent pieces of base material in the solution.

At this point, solution was twice rinsed with the ether product. Both solutions (ether and ph 9+ garbage) were retained.

Two extractions were performed at this point. Swim claims he's read enough about industrial muriatic acid to be concerned about contaminants, so he started with citric. A solution of citric acid and distilled water was made and tested with the ph paper to be under 5. This solution was approx 20ml and was added to the ether prep and suspended repeatedly for over .5 hour. The solution was then extracted and then basified, it took maybe two teaspoons of soda to get a neutral solution that he claims literally tastes like tap water - no bitterness, no saltiness, just water - obviously something wrong. He (again) claims the base product was decent quality. This solution was brought to over ph9 with no sign of precipitation.

Since everything was kept, he performed another extraction. 5ml 31% muriatic acid was mixed with 5ml distilled water and added to the ether mix - this solution measured quite a bit lower on the paper - hard to say but very obviously MUCH more acidic. The acid water was kept suspended for 30+ minutes in the ether and then isolated to where approx 2 tablespoons of baking soda were required (on 10ml solution and MUCH more than the original, citric solution) to get the solution close to neutral and didn't burn the tongue.

At this point SWIM had maybe 20-30ml roughly basic liquid on what was maybe .8/g 40-50% shit. Biggest concern to swim is heavy metal contaminants and is why the citric solution was tried initially.

10% of the solution was IV'd, results weren't conclusive. %50 remaining solution browned and held for 30 minutes. Swim couldn't stand it, hit the can like it was an enema figuring this was a waste and never, ever having to deal with this level of discomfort through this roa which has been used 3-4 times (never much success).

What's left is about %40 of original mix, should be good, eh? Here's a concern:

Swim claims he banged one small hit - seemed ok, hit another one and didn't get it right away, although he did get a register. Within two minutes that register was BROWN and looked liked it was gonna clog on the way out of the rig, dude said FUCK THAT shit in the mainline - no way, squirted it out, but it didn't clog - ???, anyone seen a register go brown and chunky like that? Could it be the salt? WTF? SWIM is really concerned about contamination here.

He wants to add, that since the browning, he feels a bit of a glow. Problem was it had been a couple days since any "regular" movement and after 1/2hr, he simply couldn't wait anymore it was a very expensive enema
ADVICE - PLEASE... Chloroform, huh? My buddy is bent, but I guess that's life and he don't look sick, but we're both worried about contamination in the HCL (%31 from local HW store).

WTF - anyone see anything wrong? And are the concerns about industrial HCL valid? ANY input mucho appreciated.. He's a hero and trying to turn SHIT into gold here..

OK, so some possible sources of problems here. One, I noticed the use of citric acid, which as we all know is the preferred fentanyl (1:1, not 1:3, even though it has 3 acidic protons) salt, and the reason for this is better overall water solubility as fentanyl base is a very very oily (non-polar) and even the fent HCl is very very mildly solble in water, although it is incredibly soluble in methylene chloride.

So here's the point, and where I think shit went wrong, which would be at the ether stage, where you had basified the acidic solution with soda then ammonia. I think that in the process of this, and the presence of citric acid in partially basified form (which means you have made a buffer, and it is quite likely as stuff evaporates from the buffer that the pHydrion paper could be inaccurate. Also is the fact that ether will pull some ammonia into the solution. So upon re-acidification it is quite possible that due to the unintended formation of a buffer and doing the re-acidification with half the buffer component, it never really was acidified, as all ammonia would need to be acidifed as well. This could explain the "bland" taste and the fact that the HCl did work. BTW, overly acidic or basic solutions can provoke all kinds of odd color changes with blood, but this in no way in a clear indication of heavy metals, which brings me to the point of why the thought that muriatic acid (hardware store I presume?) is "contaminated" with heavy metals? From what I understand about the processes involved in manufacturing HCl, no toxic metals are involved and there would likely be environmental concerns and heavy fines if they were found at certain levels. I've used "Sunnyside" brand HCl a few times before my chem days to extract the Vick's so-called "levmetamfetamine" ("wrong" enantiomer of meth) using a 1:1 muriatic acid/water solution, and in my impatience, just neutralized with soda, dropped a couple of drops HCL at the end if any cloudiness presented.

On to what does work. Lets say this tar is only mildly acidic, and even if not, or is, is irrelevant because we want to take it to a certain point.

1. The tar is fully dissolved in a strong (up to 25% acetic acid, less will work, like "white" vinegar, 5%, but this is better) acetic acid solution. Once dissolved, or what can be is and what can't won't go in with more acid, we're ready to move on.

2. Optional, since many don't have access, but at this point, an extraction on the approximately 10 ml of the above (if 25% acetic acid) solution is performed with methylene chloride or chloroform, preference in that order. Only the smallest amount is used to clear a deep reddish brown thick liquid at the bottom, leaving a surprisingly light-ish yellow acidic solution which now contains only protonated alkaloids in any real concentration (other than the acid of course). The smallest amount is important, because heroin acetate (or even the hydrochloride) will go into either of these, probably even preferentially, when partitioned, and as such usually no more than 1 ml is of either is typically nee

3. Having removed much of the colored crap you don't want, the material is now basified with soda only, no ammonia, as it will go partially into the non polar, until no more fizzing occurs and you can visibly see soda sitting at the bottom. Now it is extracted with the either (twice, 10 to 20 ml each), rinsed with saturated NaCl/water solution, and dried (like with anhydrous sodium sulfate or mag sulfate, the latter easily made by cooking crushed up epsom salts in the oven (this dehydrates the MgSO4-7H2O) and continuing until they appear as a dry chunk, not a sweaty gunk. This drying (of the basic ether solution with the sulfate) is done with the ether in a flask and solid sulfate. Ether is poured off and evaporated.

4. Assuming a gram is used, and to ensure maximum recovery, we assume it is pure, even though we know it isn't, and enough muriatic acid is calculated to acidify the entire gram. This is added to about 2 mls of ethyl alcohol (use something like everclear, et al) and about 2 mls ether is added to this. The ether/ethanol/HCl is then added to the fairly pure heroin base (which is dissolved in a minimum of ethanol) and shaken vigorously as it is added, and once the addition is complete, it should be either clear or cloudy. Then about 10 to 20 mls of ether are added at a decent rate, the faster the addition the more vigorously it must be shaken, whereupon a nice white (or off colored depending on impurities) precipitate should form. A bit more ether is added, and no more precip should form, if it does, continue with the ether beyond 20 mls until more doesn't precip anything.

5. Filter the precip, wash with ether, dry and enjoy! I have absolutely no question whatsoever, that this particular procedure works and well, even for heroin derived from crude morphine derived from not pure not clean pseudo-opium from pods, ie putty. No doubt at all.*

*This is not meant to imply in any way whatsoever the completion of a prohibited process, only that I know my chem shit.

Good luck dude.

Edit: AO, and anyone else, the above is an adapted general large scale method of processing O to M to H, and although I haven't seen the HH method in a long time, I vaguely recall it being somewhat similar. And, with heroin base, hexanes/pet ether (ie lighter fluid) can be substituted for the ether if not available, or one doesn't want to fuck around with a very flammable solvent w/o ventilation that boils below body temp. Just remember ether evaporates extremely fast, and when it does, it sinks along the floor, you can actually see it do this, so ventilation is required, as well so you don't anesthetize yourself.