MEK extract hash

I took 5 g of fresh bottom bud, extracted with MEK (lots of pressing and mixing around). Poured the MEK off and squeezed out as much as possible. Added water to dissolve some of the MEK and reduce the amount of solvent. Separated the layers by sucking it up in a eye dropper thingy and squeezing out the lower water layer. Dried it and mixed some sifted leached trimming powder with it to make a soft hash. Got 0.25 g. So 5% yield based on wet weight. Don't know what the extract itself weighed alone, probably about 1/3 the weight of the hash.

It's easier to get the extract out of the evaporating dish if I put some powder on it and mix it around. I can scrape it off easier that way because it's more solid, then I mix more in as needed once I have it off the plate. Not a lot of smell to it but it was just a small piece and I heated the extract in the microwave to dry it. Tasted okay, not very harsh. Fine product really. Got toasted enough after smoking half the chunk. It's less of a hashy smell when extracted from fresh material apparently. Smells more like butane oil, kind of painty.

Yeah I know the mirror is scungy.

But why? Better solvents can be used

dabbindylan said:

But why? Better solvents can be used

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My thoughts exactly lol but why?

Because other water immiscible solvents are too toxic. Take butane for example. What plant or animal does that occur naturally in? None, because it's too toxic. MEK is found in plants and has very low toxicity and is quickly cleared from the body. It's all about being healthy and natural. BHO makers frequently don't even bother to wash their extracts with water. Very dirty.

Sounds like a good way to get liver cancer! Who knows what sort of heavy metals are left behind from using an industrial solvent.

Lol

Typical bobcajun thread/post

Smoke that dank black ball!

No, MEK is good for you, and it smells minty fresh. I do recommend distilling it before use rather than using it straight from the can though.

"Methyl ethyl ketone (MEK), also known as 2-butanone, is a clear liquid with the odor of mint. Although most of the MEK in the environment is synthetically produced, some natural sources exist including some foods (raw chicken, milk, some cheeses), certain plants and trees, including those used for food, and tobacco smoke. MEK is used as a solvent in vinyl films, paint removers, lacquers, varnishes, adhesives and cleaning fluids. It is also used in the synthetic rubber industry and in the production of paraffin wax, magnetic tapes and lubricating oil.

...Absorption/Metabolism
MEK is quickly absorbed by ingestion, inhalation and dermal exposure. In an experiment with humans, inhalation absorption was about 50 percent to 55 percent. There is no absorption data for the oral and dermal routes. Information on the metabolism of absorbed MEK indicates that it does not build up in the body and is likely completely eliminated within a few days after exposure."
source

Okay, it's not actually good for you but at least it's not that bad. Interesting thing about MEK is that it's butane with an oxygen on the second carbon. It's the ketone version of butane, so actually just a more convenient form to handle. The alcohol form is too slow evaporating to be useful.

BobCajun said:

Because other water immiscible solvents are too toxic. Take butane for example. What plant or animal does that occur naturally in? None, because it's too toxic. MEK is found in plants and has very low toxicity and is quickly cleared from the body. It's all about being healthy and natural. BHO makers frequently don't even bother to wash their extracts with water. Very dirty.

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Wash it with water? Please explain I've worked for multiple concentrate companies and make hash daily I've heard of a water purge but also have heard of pneumonia from smoking water vapor. How is water gonna wash bho when lmao id really like to hear this

Finshaggy jr

Afgan King said:

Wash it with water? Please explain I've worked for multiple concentrate companies and make hash daily I've heard of a water purge but also have heard of pneumonia from smoking water vapor. How is water gonna wash bho when lmao id really like to hear this

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It was kind of a joke. Nobody washes their BHO with water because it's practically impossible with butane. You could do it if you stirred it very slowly but any rapid mixing would cause a surge of butane gas with possibly nasty results. That's why you use MEK instead of butane. If you don't water wash, you've got lots of water soluble gunk in your extract. Of course, you won't get pneumonia from it because you simply dry it out before using it. Water dries just like any other solvent.

i used to work around a lot of mek in the printing industry, we'd use it as a cut for ink.. very nasty stuff, can't stand the smell of it.. i much prefer the sweet smell of butyl acetate..

MEK's fetotoxic ability is dose-dependent, with the nature and extent of fetal harm increasing as the daily dose and the duration of exposure increases. The animal toxicology studies on MEK are all large, well-designed studies and all demonstrate significant dose-related fetotoxicity, namely intra-uterine growth retardation. As a result, the U.S. EPA set a "reference dose" of .3 PPM for human inhalation exposure to MEK. The dose of MEK absorbed into the bloodstream of a pregnant woman is approximately the dose delivered through the placenta to her fetus. As a result, if a pregnant woman is routinely breathing air containing significantly more than .3 PPM of MEK, her fetus will be receiving a fetotoxic dose of MEK. Daily doses of MEK in common workplace settings, where MEK is used as a solvent without positive ventilation or protective equipment, result in air concentrations several hundred times greater than the so-called "safe harbor" reference dose

I don't recommend that pregnant women use MEK. The butyl acetate would probably be even better, but harder to get.

Spill some MEK on something plastic or rubber

CannaBruh said:

Spill some MEK on something plastic or rubber

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used to love to tell newbies at work to go get a cup of mek, and hand them a styrofoam cup..

BobCajun said:

No, MEK is good for you, and it smells minty fresh. I do recommend distilling it before use rather than using it straight from the can though.

"Methyl ethyl ketone (MEK), also known as 2-butanone, is a clear liquid with the odor of mint. Although most of the MEK in the environment is synthetically produced, some natural sources exist including some foods (raw chicken, milk, some cheeses), certain plants and trees, including those used for food, and tobacco smoke. MEK is used as a solvent in vinyl films, paint removers, lacquers, varnishes, adhesives and cleaning fluids. It is also used in the synthetic rubber industry and in the production of paraffin wax, magnetic tapes and lubricating oil.

...Absorption/Metabolism
MEK is quickly absorbed by ingestion, inhalation and dermal exposure. In an experiment with humans, inhalation absorption was about 50 percent to 55 percent. There is no absorption data for the oral and dermal routes. Information on the metabolism of absorbed MEK indicates that it does not build up in the body and is likely completely eliminated within a few days after exposure."
source

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i work with MEK almost every day and NO it is NOT good for you!!!

brimck325 said:

i work with MEK almost every day and NO it is NOT good for you!!!

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we're allowed to use it in my state in our shop, but right across the river, at a sister shop, they can't use it.. tells me all i need to know about it..

racerboy71 said:

we're allowed to use it in my state in our shop, but right across the river, at a sister shop, they can't use it.. tells me all i need to know about it..

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thats really odd, as we use it all the time....i can walk into a paint store and buy it, hell i think it's sold at home depot. a huge supplier is up round street road, we get it in 55 gal. drums. must be company policy???

brimck325 said:

thats really odd, as we use it all the time....i can walk into a paint store and buy it, hell i think it's sold at home depot. a huge supplier is up round street road, we get it in 55 gal. drums. must be company policy???

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yeah, we got it in big black 55 gallon drums as well.. maybe you're right, i never really looked into it much deeper..