stroh
errl enthusiast
okay so as i notice the concentrate section has become more popular and with new users popping up, i think that there needs to be a thread compiling information regarding the safety of concentrates, both in making/preparation, and in consumption. There is a lot of information out there that is regularly regurgitated throughout the interwebs, but sometimes things are lost in translation or not correctly conveyed. Without any formal studies conducted on this subject, none of us can be 100% certain on such matters, but thats not to say that we cannot educate ourselves to the best of our abilities so as to make the safest and best choice for ourselves regarding concentrates.
anyways lets begin our discussions;
to start it off, im going to attempt to debunk the age old mercaptan myth. Yes mercaptans are present in some brands of butane, though i hear many claim that they do not evaporate and are stuck in your oil forever. I have found absolutely 0 evidence supporting this, and trust me i've done a lot of research into this. i used to be extremely wary of making BHO, and only stuck to ISO for a good portion of my concentrate making career. (my avatar is actually a piece of ISO shatter, not BHO!)
This is silly to believe, as there is no evidence rooted in anything more than "purists" on messageboards who refuse to ingest anything not completely ital. Mercaptans begin to boil off (evaporate) at around 95 degrees F. Most everyone i know purges at temperatures above this, so i see no reason why mercaptans, organic compounds which are very similar to alcohols, structurally on a molecular level, would fail to evaporate while the rest of the solvent is able to evaporate just fine.
here is some more reading about mercaptans, which are more formally known as Thiols
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercaptan
Moving on, the main mercaptan of interest, ethyl mercaptan, or ethanethiol, is what is found in some commercial brands of butane, which is what gives nasty brands such as ronson its signature rotten eggs/sulfury smell, which aids in any leak detection. Wikipedia states that at these levels, ethanethiol is not harmful to humans, and please don't try and start an argument that wikipedia is not a reliable source, you may have had a point 5 years ago, but these days wikipedia is pretty darned reputable, with many colleges beginning to accept it as a citable source.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethanethiol
also, here is the MSDS sheet for Vector 5x butane, under hazards (inhalation), it states that it is not toxic, and the largest risk you have of it harming you is due to oxygen displacement/asphyxiation. No mention of ethyl mercaptans listed, and i believe it too as the odor of vector is quite different than many other brands of inferior quality butane.
www.vectorkgm.com/catalog/butane/Vector_Gas_MSDS.pdf
now obviously this all should be taken with a grain of salt, i myself remain open to the possibility that butane may not be completely safe as a solvent, but until i come upon strong evidence and personal experiences that support this, i will continue to produce BHO for myself. I have only experienced negative effects from poorly purged dispensary bought oil, and from that day on i vowed to never again purchase a concentrate that i did not make with my own two hands. That is the only way one can be completely sure what is going in and coming out, and what kind of care is used during the purge procedure. That nasty disepensary budder smelled funky, so i melted it down and sure enough there was plenty of 'tane still trapped in it, and definitely some inferior quality butane used in its production. After vaping it, i experienced painful headaches and nausea, so i tossed that shit and took a little break from making oil. Since then, i have always made my own using vector butane, and i have never had an issue since. However, i also am not a very heavy dabber, i will maybe make a batch of .5-1g of oil, and that will last me a week or longer, so perhaps this is also a reason why i haven't experienced any negatives thus far.
but yeah hope this will put some myths and straight up uneducated claims to rest, and please contribute anything of worth, ideally we should all be as safe and informed as possible regarding concentrate making/ingestion, and i think we can get some good discussions and views from the good people here at FC!
anyways lets begin our discussions;
to start it off, im going to attempt to debunk the age old mercaptan myth. Yes mercaptans are present in some brands of butane, though i hear many claim that they do not evaporate and are stuck in your oil forever. I have found absolutely 0 evidence supporting this, and trust me i've done a lot of research into this. i used to be extremely wary of making BHO, and only stuck to ISO for a good portion of my concentrate making career. (my avatar is actually a piece of ISO shatter, not BHO!)
This is silly to believe, as there is no evidence rooted in anything more than "purists" on messageboards who refuse to ingest anything not completely ital. Mercaptans begin to boil off (evaporate) at around 95 degrees F. Most everyone i know purges at temperatures above this, so i see no reason why mercaptans, organic compounds which are very similar to alcohols, structurally on a molecular level, would fail to evaporate while the rest of the solvent is able to evaporate just fine.
here is some more reading about mercaptans, which are more formally known as Thiols
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercaptan
Moving on, the main mercaptan of interest, ethyl mercaptan, or ethanethiol, is what is found in some commercial brands of butane, which is what gives nasty brands such as ronson its signature rotten eggs/sulfury smell, which aids in any leak detection. Wikipedia states that at these levels, ethanethiol is not harmful to humans, and please don't try and start an argument that wikipedia is not a reliable source, you may have had a point 5 years ago, but these days wikipedia is pretty darned reputable, with many colleges beginning to accept it as a citable source.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethanethiol
also, here is the MSDS sheet for Vector 5x butane, under hazards (inhalation), it states that it is not toxic, and the largest risk you have of it harming you is due to oxygen displacement/asphyxiation. No mention of ethyl mercaptans listed, and i believe it too as the odor of vector is quite different than many other brands of inferior quality butane.
www.vectorkgm.com/catalog/butane/Vector_Gas_MSDS.pdf
now obviously this all should be taken with a grain of salt, i myself remain open to the possibility that butane may not be completely safe as a solvent, but until i come upon strong evidence and personal experiences that support this, i will continue to produce BHO for myself. I have only experienced negative effects from poorly purged dispensary bought oil, and from that day on i vowed to never again purchase a concentrate that i did not make with my own two hands. That is the only way one can be completely sure what is going in and coming out, and what kind of care is used during the purge procedure. That nasty disepensary budder smelled funky, so i melted it down and sure enough there was plenty of 'tane still trapped in it, and definitely some inferior quality butane used in its production. After vaping it, i experienced painful headaches and nausea, so i tossed that shit and took a little break from making oil. Since then, i have always made my own using vector butane, and i have never had an issue since. However, i also am not a very heavy dabber, i will maybe make a batch of .5-1g of oil, and that will last me a week or longer, so perhaps this is also a reason why i haven't experienced any negatives thus far.
but yeah hope this will put some myths and straight up uneducated claims to rest, and please contribute anything of worth, ideally we should all be as safe and informed as possible regarding concentrate making/ingestion, and i think we can get some good discussions and views from the good people here at FC!
)and everything that my ethanol solvent is made of will evaporate!
