DOSE:	repeated	smoked	Anadenanthera colubrina	(extract)
	repeated	sublingual	Anadenanthera colubrina	(extract)

BODY WEIGHT:

250 lb

When I was in Brazil I became quite familiar with Anadenanthera colubrina and have used it orally, sublingually, and by vaporizing it. After initially playing around with the powdered beans, I realized I needed to find a way to make an extract from these if I was going to experience their full effects. While in Brazil, I started to do many experimental extractions.

I tried many A/B extractions based on DMT, using naphtha, as the non-polar solvent, and it failed completely. I tried it with xylene, then heptane, and still no results! It turns out that bufotenine, the active chemical in the beans, is too polar for a typical A/B extraction to be of much use. Eventually I tried a more polar A/B extraction based on Jonathan Ott’s A/B extraction technique. It was the first one of several I tried that actually worked.

Here’s what worked. I soaked the powdered beans in isopropyl alcohol (made pH 3 with hydrochloric acid) for 1 day in a flask with a mixing bar constantly mixing the beans. I then filtered out the beans and evaporated most of the alcohol. Then I added 2 parts water. I used dichloromethane as a safer alternative to chloroform to de-fat the seeds. It took 10 de-fats! It was horribly inefficient and would form emulsions easily if shaken too much. Then I adjusted the pH to 8.5 using ammonia creating free base bufotenine.

Then I extracted free base bufotenine, and quite a bit of other stuff, into dichloromethane (instead of chloroform). It took 10 extractions to get all the free base bufotenine. Again, very inefficient. After evaporating the dichloromethane, I had an amber waxy oily substance that I could easily vaporize. It smelled like peanut oil. To my disappointment, I found the extract not that strong. It took 25 mg to equal a 10 mg dose of free base bufotenine. I did skip the re-crystallization steps done by Ott, so my extract was not pure free base bufotenine. I hate doing re-crystallization, it is so time consuming.

Not being at all satisfied with Jonathan Ott’s technique I played around with the free base bufotenine extract to find out which solvents it was soluble in, in hopes of finding a better extraction technique. I found free base bufotenine was soluble in water, acetone, isopropyl alcohol, dichloromethane, methyl ethyl ketone, and not soluble in xylene, naphtha and heptane. At pH 8-9 it was less soluble in water and more soluble in dichloromethane, however at a higher or lower pH, it was much more soluble in water! This made a typical A/B extraction inefficient because even at pH 8.5, free base bufotenine was still somewhat soluble in water!

So I played around quite a bit and finally invented my own very extraction technique. Here’s how it’s done. Boil the powdered beans in water made pH 3 with hydrochloric acid for about an hour, and then filter out the beans, and repeat 2 more times with new water, also made pH 3 with hydrochloric acid. Concentrate the combined water extracts down and evaporate to leave some solid brownish gunk. Weigh this gunk and measure out an equal portion of calcium hydroxide (the same pickling lime used to make Yopo and Vilca snuff!).

Dissolve the gunk in a small amount of isopropyl alcohol, just enough to make it a thick syrupy liquid, then add an equal portion of water, then mix in the calcium hydroxide. Mix it very well. You don’t want any clumps. It should be the consistency of thick pea soup. Let it sit for about 6 hours for the calcium hydroxide to react with the bufotenine, creating the basic salt calcium bufotenate. Now evaporate it (you can use an oven at 300 F for this step). Once it’s evaporated completely add a generous portion of acetone. Mix it well. The acetone won’t dissolve any of the calcium hydroxide, or much else, but will easily dissolve the calcium bufotenate. Let it sit an hour or more for the non-soluble particles to sink to the bottom, once the acetone takes on a clear dark amber color, poor your mix through a filter to obtain the acetone.

You can repeat the acetone extraction with new acetone a few more times until its clear. Evaporate the combined acetone to get an extremely potent extract that is nearly 90% pure calcium bufotenine, which is one of the most potent forms of bufotenine. It’s the form found in properly make Yopo and Vilca snuff that has been used for thousands of years in South America. It’s more psychoactive than free-base bufotenine and much more psychoactive than the acidic salt form found in the unprocessed beans.

When I first tested the extract in Brazil I didn’t know it was nearly 90% pure bufotenine. I assumed it was maybe 30% bufotenine. Sitting at my desk, I measured 15 mg of the extract weighed using an accurate digital scale. I placed it in the bottom of a glass test tube. I put a 2-hole rubber stopper into the top of the test tube. I attached a rubber hose to one hole, and then I attached a long glass tube to the other whole. The glass tube extended down into the bottom of test tube to allow fresh air into the test tube near the extract. The rubber tube was placed in my mouth. I lit a candle. I placed the bottom of the test tube directly over the candle flame, but not touching it. This way the candle flame was directly under the glass in the test tube were the extract was sitting.

Within 20 seconds the extract started to boil and began vaporizing. With the rubber tube in my mouth I began to slowly inhale the vapor. The vapor was hot but easy on the lungs. I inhaled all of the vapor with one long slow inhalation. I held the vapor in my lungs for 30 seconds. Before exhaling, the effect began. After exhaling, I put the test tube back on its rack and I blew out the candle. Initially there was a bit of a hot tingling felt in the back of my head, then an uneasy feeling in the stomach was felt. Within 30 seconds intense visual effects were noticed. The visuals were getting stronger by the second. After about 1 minute the uneasy feeling in the stomach was completely gone. The tingling in the back of the head moved to the front part of my head and became much more pleasant.

After about 2 minutes into it I started sweating. I felt a little bit nervous but mentally focused. The visual effects were extremely intense. Everything around me appeared to be swirling. The opened eyed visuals were seen in 3-dimensions, something I’ve never experienced, even from high doses of DMT. They were morphing and twisting all around me. I felt quite sweaty, so I looked at my arm to see if there was much sweat. I could not see any actual sweat. My skin looked normal, but there were swirling patterns all over my arm. The hairs on my arm were bending and twisting like little snakes. Everything in the room was swirling.

After about 5 minutes the sweating stopped, and I felt much more relaxed. The visuals were still extremely intense. I could also hear faint voices and sounds from all around that weren’t actually there. I decided to close my eyes, I suddenly started seeing all sorts of fantastic complex morphing shapes pulsating and changing all at a really intense speed. They were more intense and faster moving that previous experiences with DMT. I could hear unusual hypnotic rhythmic sounds playing in my mind. My body disappeared and I was floating engulfed in the most amazing visual experience I had ever had. Colorful neon lights were zooming past me. Fantastic 3-dimensional shape shifting objects were dancing all around me. I felt like I was traveling through a sea of visual data. Everything was pulsating and moving at an incredible speed. This continued for a good ten minutes.

At this point I became aware of my body again. I could feel the tingling sensation all over my body. It was a little alarming. I wasn’t sure what to make of it. My pulse was fine, my breathing was fine, I felt completely relaxed and mentally very clear, so I decided to ignore the tingling sensation. It was actually quite pleasurable. I got up out of my chair and walked around a bit. It was a little tricky to walk. I felt a little twitchy. My movements were a little bit jerky. Everything looked as if it was made of liquid. I saw patterns all over the walls and furniture. If I gazed at anything for a few moments, 3-dimenional images of faces would appear superimposed on the objects around me. This lasted for about 1 hour and slowly faded until after about 2 hours when the effects were completely gone.

After playing around with the acetone extract, I found vaporizing 10 mg to be a very good visual experience. Vaporizing 2 mg was enough to experience the first level of visuals, which were mostly a shimmering effect. Vaporizing 5 mg was enough to have true visuals seeing 2-dimensional patterns. Vaporizing 10 mg was enough to produce 3-dimensional visuals as well as closed eyed visuals. Vaporizing 15 mg is a little too intense and causes a short-lived speedy feeling that makes me feel a little sweaty for the first few minuets. To date I’ve not intentionally gone past 15 mg. For me 15 mg is enough to have intense out of body experiences more intense than anything I’ve experienced from DMT, LSD, psilocybin, ayahuasca, mescaline, or LSA.

I’ve read other reports of people getting nausea and vomiting from Anadenanthera colubrina beans. This is most likely do to the acid salt forms of bufotenine. The bufotenine in the beans needs to either be converted to free base bufotenine or calcium bufotenate or the effects are not as enjoyable. I experimented with different forms of bufotenine. I found the most unpleasant forms were acid salt forms and the most pleasant form was the calcium based basic salt form of it. For example, bufotenine hydrochloride can be made my dissolving calcium bufotenate (a basic salt form) in dilute hydrochloric acid.

In one test I took 10 mg of calcium bufotenate, a very strong visual dose for this form, and I converted it to bufotenine hydrochloride inside a test tube. After the liquid evaporated, I vaporized it. The effects are dramatically different. 10 mg of this acidic salt form produces very slight visual shimmering, no actual shapes or patterns are seen, I feel pressure in the head and body, and unpleasant nausea is felt for 2 hours straight! However, there is more euphoria felt. The pressure and nausea ruin the experience.

I also tried vaporizing 5 mg of bufotenine hydrochloride along with equal portions of calcium bufotenate. The effects are very synergistic. Producing an LSD like experience, without the unpleasant mental effects of LSD. At this dose of bufotenine hydrochloride there is not much nausea felt, mostly euphoria and a pleasant excited feeling felt in the body with improved sense of touch.

I also played around with free base bufotenine. This is more psychoactive than the acidic salt versions, and almost like calcium bufotenate, but not quite as visual, and produces a little nausea sometimes. I found that calcium bufotenate produces the strongest visuals and the least nausea of them all, if any. However, not as much euphoria is felt.

When calcium bufotenate is vaporized, even at high doses, at most I might feel a little uneasy in the stomach for about 1 minute. That’s it. The remaining 2 hours are purely enjoyable. I’ve never felt actual nausea from vaporizing calcium bufotenate. I’ve also used it sublingually. Sublingually the effect is more like psilocybin or LSD, with a deeper psychedelic experience that is not as visual as when vaporized. Again, I’ve not felt any actual nausea from using it this way.

Bufotenine is rather stable, even samples of snuff several thousand years old still contain quite a bit of bufotenine in them. When I came back to the US, I had left some calcium bufotenate sitting on my desk in the open air back in the humid hot Brazilian summer climate for many months. When I returned to Brazil, the calcium bufotenate had become a sticky goo, but when I tested it I found no noticeable loss of potency.

I’ve had an accidental over dose once from old left over bufotenine melting and then vaporizing along with my newly added bufotenine causing me to experience a trip equivalent to approximately 30 mg of bufotenine. For the first three minutes my stomach felt very uneasy, on the verge of feeling nausea, and I felt very nervous and sweaty, I was pacing back and forth and couldn’t enjoy it much. After about 3 minutes into it these bad effects started to fade, at the peak I had a long out of body experience, after that I had a hard time walking around. I kept forgetting what I was doing, my bodily movements were very clumsy. The effects from such a large dose lasted about least 3 hours. At such a dose, visual effects are longer lasting but not any more intense than a 15 mg dose, however annoying side effects start to really kick in.

All in all, I found calcium bufotinate, extracted from Anandenanthera colubrina, to be one of the best psychedelics. It doesn’t have the unpleasant mental effects of LSD. It doesn’t last as long as LSD, mescaline, psilocybin, or ayahuasca, so it’s easier to integrate into a busy lifestyle. It’s neither a stimulant nor a sedative, so it doesn't make me stay up all night like LSD, mescaline, or psilocybin, and it doesn't make me drowsy or mentally clouded like LSA. If fact I feel completely normal and clear headed. I can easily sleep during the effects if I like. I’ve done this and had amazing dreams from it. Or I can easily do something that takes an alert mind.

The only other psychedelic I know of that has some of the qualities of calcium bufotinate is vaporized DMT. Vaporized DMT is nice, but it doesn’t last long enough. As soon as I start to enjoy it, it’s beginning to fade away. Vaporized calcium bufotinate does have more tingling effects than DMT, the visual effects are a little different, but these are not negatives. The tingling felt in the body is quite pleasant after a few minutes. The onset of the effects is much slower, which allows me more time to get comfortable with the experience. And of course it lasts much longer so I have time to really enjoy it. I find DMT is more dreamy in its visual effects, producing softer smoother looking visual effects, while calcium bufotinate produces sharper more defined patterns that are more rapidly changing. Both produce colorful visions. The visual effects of calcium bufotinate are a little more chaotic. But both DMT and calcium bufotinate can bring me to the same place, with only minor differences. When I combine calcium bufotinate with peganum harmala, the effects are stronger and more DMT-like producing very dreamy, more meaningful visual effects. However, I find this combination a little bit sedating.

Exp Year: 2007	ExpID: 64707
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: Not Given
Published: Aug 23, 2007	Views: 80,766
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