Purity - Potency of LSA extraction into an ethanol solution from Morning Glory Seeds

[TheClandestinePsychonaut]

SWIM once before tried an extraction of LSA from 221 Morning Glory Seeds (176 Heavenly Blue, 45 Pearly Gates). He only ground the seeds (after washing with soap and warm water and drying to remove all unneeded and unwanted substances or residues that could be on the surfaces of the seeds) with a mortal & pestle, as a coffee grinder could not be found. In foolish impatience he only soaked the ground (yet still fairly coarse, but the best that could be attained with only a mortar and pestle) seed matter in Ace Hardware brand Naphtha for 1 hour, before placing filtering off, drying, then placing in ~2oz. worth of Vanilla extract (70 proof Bourbon), as nothing else was at hand) for all of 2 hours. Obviously all he ended up with for his foolishness was an upset stomach and a waste of time.

So SWIM decided to attempt to make up for his folly by attempting the experiment to the best of his ability as he should have in the first place. Once again, he planned to follow the guide found in the FAQ on Erowid’s Morning Glory page.

SWIM started with 202 (4 seed packets) washed (soap & hot water) and dried Heavenly Blue Morning Glory seeds. He chose this dose because he only wishes to achieve a comfortable step past threshold, but does not wish to go over board as he has not yet meddled with LSA or LSD. If success and an enjoyable experience occurs, he plans on trying larger doses at that time.

He then placed the seeds in a coffee grinder he dug out of his basement and cleaned out. SWIM noted how much faster and how much more efficient the coffee grinder was in comparison to the mortar & pestle. The powder was significantly finer, with the largest chunks purely being the shells of the seeds.

The powder was then soaked in a glass mason jar with enough Ace Hardware brand Naphtha. Initially SWIM planned on leaving the seed material in the Naphtha for a period of 12 hours or so, instead of the suggested 20 minutes to ensure that the reaction had plenty of time to occur. However, during this time he was browsing online more, when SWIM stumbled across the following comment he had previously missed appearing in the Erowid FAQ in their Morning Glory section (found near the end in the “FAQ Update“).

To those who asked about the availability of petroleum ether, I cannot help unless you have access to a chemical supplier. Products labeled "Naptha" are poor substitutes for what I used to purchase from chemical supply houses as "Petroleum Ether". They do remove the toxic oils from the seed coat but also appear to dissolve some of the lysergic acid as well. These products include Zippo lighter fluid and Coleman fuel. Seeds processed with these solvents produce a very weak brew. If anyone has any _positive_ results from substituting a readily available solvent for petroleum ether in this application, please post your methods and results.

So SWIM instantly had thoughts along the line of “Well, fuck me running”. Leaving the computer, he went to filter the seed material out of the naphtha with a coffee filter. The seed material had been soaking for ~3 hours, being shaken every 30-60 minutes. As he did this, a friend of his was coming up the driveway (always work outside any time such volatile substances are being used) and asked what he was doing. As this friend was very like minded, SWIM had no issue to filling him in with what was going on.

Eventually SWIM’s friend asked him what he planned to do with the now dry seed matter he was storing in the washed and dried mason jar. SWIM told him that he was now waiting until he could get a high proof ethanol (i.e. 151 Rum or Everclear). His friend told him he had some leftover from a fun night, and SWIM went over to his friend’s house and had ~2.5-3 oz. of Bacardi 151 Rum added to the mason jar with the naphtha treated and dried seeds. What then followed was a pretty fun night with the leftovers of the leftovers, or so it’s been told.

That was this last Thursday night. It now being Monday Night, it now being ~96 hours (4 days) later. SWIM has agitated the solution a dozen or so times a day since the ethanol solution was added.

Now SWIM sits and wonders how effective of a dose this would be; in other words, how potent is SWIM’s potion? It is a dose of 202 seeds, which falls into Erowid’s “Common” dosage of 100-250 seeds. However SWIM did use Naphtha, which, in what seems to be only one case, to damage some LSA in the process. But he used a much higher proof than last time (80 proof (40%) <151 proof (75.5%)), let it stew in it’s own juices for a much longer time (2 hours < 96 hours), and the solution was agitated to a much further extent induce further absorption of the LSA and other alkaloids.

SWIM also would like to note that naphtha gets warnings about adulterants, but he found some hope on a Google search and would like to quote “elfdancer” (from a Bluelight Archive on “naptha impurities / risk“ [misspelling syn.]):

I have found that "Ace Hardware VM&P naphtha" dries out pretty clear; you may wish to try this brand if that's not what you've been using. This comes in one of those big awkward rectangular cans with the pouring hole way far from the side. (If you're using lighter fluid naphtha, that stuff is definitely not pure enough. Ronsinol leaves a very visible smear behind.)