alcohol instead of water in bubbler for oil extraction

[itsaGonG!]

Hey everyone, first wanna say thanks for all the info I've gotten off this board, it's been a great resource. I've tried searching this topic but to no avail.

I vape through a bubbler and have noticed the water never looks dingy or gets smelly like bong water, but I figure there has to be a small level of vapor that gets lost in it. I'm wondering if anyone else who uses this method has ever tried using alcohol instead of bong or bubbler water and either evaporated the alcohol off or just drank it like an abv extract after vaping a few bowls through it.

Seems like it should work right? I'm just thinking it might be a little rough huffing liquor while I'm vaping. Thanks for reading.

 

[Havelock Vetenari]

As THC is soluble in alcohol,i'm thinking any hits you get of a bong/bubbler filled with alcohol won't have much(if any)effect.
Sounds like a bad idea IMO.

 

[WatTyler]

I'm not strong on my chemistry, but I believe that the THC has a very low solubility in water- very low, and very little gets retained in the water (~1% saturation?). The aromatic terpenes (flavours) however are more soluble, and this is the desirable component that can get caught by the water, but on their own it's not something that you would necessarily want to reclaim

I think replacing the water with alcohol would firstly make for a horrible, alcohol vapor filled vape hit, and being a strong solvent the solution would actually trap more THC and more of everything else as well. It's certainly not something I will be trying.

However, like I say I'm certainly no expert and these are just musings rather than substantiated knowledge. Happy to be corrected.

 

[Nycdeisel]

My advice: never try this. PLEASE!

 

[Cleanfiend]

oil extraction? I think you may be wrestling with too many new concepts, here.

Oil extraction is (normally) a separate process from vaping. You can choose to do one, or the other, but not both (unless using AVB! to make your oil).

My advice: change your water in your bubbler on a regular basis. use iso to remove any odor or build up. and keep reading....

 

[OhTheAgony]

I use to put vodka in my home made combustion waterbong when I was young and dumb(er). I liked the taste, but I've never been really tempted to try it with vaporbonging. I don't think I'd want to use pure alcohol though, it evaporates really fast and I'm not sure that it's safe to put concentrated alcohol vapors in your lungs structurally.

 

[weedemon]

a couple thoughts.

when you cool your hits in the water you will see residue collecting up on the sides of the glass (not so much really in the water itself, but you could try to evap the water and see what ya get in a dish if you wanted to be sure.) over time, just like it build up on your whip or anything else you vape with.

if you wanna collect your remains then i suggest this:

buy a bottle of isopropyl alcohol (higher % the better. usually found in 70, 91 and 99% concentrations) clean all your glass and metal pieces in the alcohol, (not recommended to use on plastic or rubber) and save this alcohol. keep using it until you are ready to make your oil. i wait 6-12 months usually. then filter(coffee filter works well), and then evaporate it. you will be left with a oil that is high in CBD and CBN. this stuff is couch lock/bedtime material and watch out! for an added kick, do a bunch of that oil first then hit some regular herbs to get some thc into your system. last time i did this i was so stoned i decided to call off driving home and wait it out.

on a random note: because i clean my bong with iso and do exactly this, one time i forgot to rinse out the bong after. i did a dry hit from it and got a lung full of iso fumes. it was not pleasant at all! I think the alcohol will be an irritant you your airways, and wont be good for you. plz don't do it! your lungs are very important and you don't want to hurt them! imo this also goes for using anything other than water in your bongs. just my opinion though.

welcome to the site man I hope you are enjoying it so far!

 

[StickyShisha2]

back in the 70s, i had a friend who kept red wine in his bong and smoked out of it for months without changing it. it tasted gross to me, but i rarely smoked back then.

what about putting cooking oil in a bubbler? Vape through it then bake cookies with it.

 

[weedemon]

back in the 70s, i had a friend who kept red wine in his bong and smoked out of it for months without changing it. it tasted gross to me, but i rarely smoked back then.

what about putting cooking oil in a bubbler? Vape through it then bake cookies with it.

omg that is really nasty haha. (the wine thing)

i would still be worried about getting tiny particles of cooking oil lining my lungs. I know we breathe a lot of crap just from the normal everyday air we breathe, but that doesn't mean i want to take any chances with my lungs for the sake of being efficient. imo the only thing worth using is water, and even then i think cleaning of your glass and chancing of the water is important. (i'm not the most anal, but i do it at least once a week, and when i think about that i feel i should do it more often than that still)

If you want to make edibles then there are better ways to do it than putting it through your lungs while you are at it. i'm sure your familiar with cooking techniques so i wont go into it here

 

[SD_haze]

when you cool your hits in the water you will see residue collecting up on the sides of the glass (not so much really in the water itself,

A lot of that isn't thc and whatnot but mineral stains from tap water, especially more noticeable if you only vape through that piece.

But I still agree that THC has the tiniest solubility in water but its still there.
Just nothing compared to alcohol or fats.

Like dissolves like!
water=polar
fat=nonpolar
alcohol=nonpolar
thc=nonpolar

 

[itsaGonG!]

Haha thanks for all the replies everyone. Tried it with vodka today with a friend and it was too nasty for large hits. My friend wanted it out so bad that he forgot why we were trying it and just dumped the liquor down the drain. Lesson learned, I'll just stick to making coconut oil with my abv.

 

[paytonpenn]

Kind of vaked so I just scrolled through the posts after the first 3 -and here is my opinion of alcohol instead of water. Alcohol to get you drunk sucks, but alcohol for you oral pleasure is good. Mouthwash that has alcohol can, in a way, help you clean your bong and leave you with either minty or refreshing hits or both, I use Scope Outlast. Spearmint.

I wouldn't recommend on non-glass. :/ Could cause breakage eventually. But mouthwash is a good way to go if you are tired of water.