Extraction - Pod Tea & Concise FAQ's

[crawfish79]

SWIM has read many posts describing everybody's "perfect method" of making pod tea. I am therefore creating this thread to provide concise feedback of various members for the most important issues using pods for their maximum efficiency.

a) WATER TEMPERATURE - i.e. boiling, under 85 degrees Celcius or even cold H20

b) ACIDITY - lemon juice, vinegar, etc. & adding to pod powder before or after H20

c) STEEP TIME - 2O -30 minutes?, overnight?, "re-steeping" after tea has cooled down?

d) EATING GROUNDS - eating dry grounds straight?, reusing spent grounds in a second batch of tea?, consuming grounds with tea simultaneouly?

[kant]

Shouldn't it be 80 centigrade at most?

Anyway, SWIM has been wondering how to determine the appropriate water temperature by means other than using a thermometer. Any tips? Such as how long to wait once water has come to boil (in a kettle).

SWIM has heard that water that is being heated on a stove has reached 80 C when small bubbles begin to form and thin vapour can be noticed, but would like to have this confirmed. Knowing how to determine the temperature by look or feel would be useful in case one wants to steep the pods while maintaining a constantly high temperature over a heat source.

[samuraigecko]

Morphine is destroyed @ 82.6 Celsius. What people prefer does not change the fact that Morphine is destroyed at this temperature.

You can put a cat in the oven but that doesn't make it a biscuit . . . . It will always be a cat, even if a rather toasty one.

For this reason a fair number of people prefer to use cold water. SWIM himself prefers to keep the water under 80 Celsius. If the person does not have a thermometer then they should put down the pods and splash out with 50c (outrageous) to buy one from the local dime shop.

Peace

Peace

[darkglobe]

^ Agreed. Short term pain, long term gain. Good philosophy for life, guys.

SWIM thinks 60 degrees is enough, steeps his ground pods for 2 hours, filters, re-steeps, this time leaving at around 40 degress, turns off heat and leaves overnight. SWIM uses some lemon juice both times.

[samuraigecko]

That would seem fine. Perhaps it would not need to be there that long but then again it is thorough. Because of certain properties of heated and unheated water, SWIM believes that from a scientific view the transition of cold to warm and the fact that it is warm will extract Opiates more completely.

Here is his explanation for this . . .

If water is cold it will penetrate porous plant cell walls easier because the water molecules themselves will be small from being cold.

- Therefor soaking in cold water first may be advantageous.

If that same water is then heated while the plant walls have been penetrated then heat expansion and osmosis will promote the exchange of molecules introducing new water into heat expanded pores in the cell wall of the plant material and expelling the old water to be heated.

- Therefor heating from cold can be advantageous.

The water is then brought to somewhere below 80 degrees Celsius and kept there for a period of time. SWIM prefers to keep this safely below 80 degrees usually somewhere between 70 and 75 Celsius.

- This would keep the warm water in circulation, continually exchanging with plant material in a soft of "washing" action. This should remove the Opiates more completely. Since most things, including alkaloids, have a better solubility in warmer water it can more easily reach saturation point.

This is SWIMs own reasoning based on little scientific facts for his Technique.

Hope this has been of help
Peace

[darkglobe]

Thanks, SWIY ^

True, the nature of H20, and cell membranes/walls certainly does concur with the explanations above. The nature of hydrophillic/hydrophobic molecules applies.

[crawfish79]

Thanks for eveybody's input. I have tried almost every method suggested here and on every other thread. The lack of results suggests to me that my pods may be the problem. I have tried mutiple sources on EBay and have always been disappointed. If anyone has any suggestions could they please PM me with how they ended up with beautiful viewing results of their arrangments?

Thanks!!!

crawfish79 added 10 Minutes and 15 Seconds later...

Of course in the above message I am referring to my great-uncle's cousin who is lives in Belgium.

[kant]

SWIM is really but a novice in manipulations with the poppy, but before even attempting any, he did some research in ancient threads of this very forum concerning the various species and their efficiency.

SWIM was going to purchase dried pods of the species Chinese White. He searched for it and found that, in general, experiences had been disappointing. Hens & Chickens seem to be the poppy of choice for many, however, SWIM went for Giganteum.

SWIM had heard that 5g is an approximate beginner's dose, and since the pods were really large, he figured one - exactly 5g according to his calculations - would be quite enough. Although none of the actually desired effects - tranquility, warmth or elevation of spirits - were achieved, he knew for certain that the poppies were right, as he still felt unusually relaxed for the rest of the night and there was slight pressure on the back of his head, often reported with poppy use. SWIM also experienced some itching.

The second time with two pods and an added lemon was much more rewarding, still, SWIM did not quite get what expected. He is going to try three this or the next Sunday with an even more advanced technique and is almost sure it is going to work just fine.

So, in case your dear relative is not quick to scorn a complete beginner's amateurish advice, he might just go for the Giganteums, or simply follow the link and see what others have to say.

[samuraigecko]

One is best not to forget the "direct correlation rule".

This is a rule saying that some traits will directly affect others.
An example of this would be the Morphine/Codeine correlation rule. This rule shows that as Codeine production comes up Morphine production goes down and Visa Verse. The next rule is for size. As genetic pod size increases Morphine production again decreases, This shows that size has absolutely nothing to do with potency.

Hens and chickens are used by the majority because they are quite often the easiest to obtain and they are attractive because they grow multiple pods on a single plant.

China White (Burma White) is harder to find because of its nature. People whom think they have it are often mistaken and actually have a stabilized domestic strain of a white poppy.

Tasmanian Purple again is the industry leader, it has a Morphine to total alkaloid ratio of 30% and occasionally exceeding that. It has both single and multi pod traits on separate plants. Most of the larger plants will always be multi-pod.

One thing that people often forget is that different varieties may induce different effects. An example would be the good ole green MJ. In MJ the active ingredient is THC. The same (apparently) THC is prolific throughout either sativa or indica strains (delta 9 and delta 1 or some such, One is not a MJ expert) and hybrids between the both. However different smokes produce different highs for everyone because of the organic nature and different growing techniques and influences to the plant itself. The same goes for Papaver Somniferum. Different strain will produce different effects for different people. Some people may like a certain kind of opium smoke while someone else totally dissagrees. Hybrids within strains will again give different effects for the connesure. <<<<<< THIS IS THE MAJOR THING THAT MOST PEOPLE FORGET WHEN REFFERING TO OPIUM POPPY. They just ask "which is the best" without really thinking which is exactly like asking "which strain of weed is the best". There is no answer to that. SWIMs own Mauve Madness (search here) exceeds even Tasmanian Purple. It is a crossbreed between 3 main varieties and then stablized.

Anyhoo, for more information on this pls search for "P. Somniferum Botany and Selective Breeding" within these threads.

Peace