Blue Lotus Vape Liquid - How to make it safely?

[Herba_Rosa707]

I'm a small youtuber creating a series on Blue Lotus and all it's uses. I've had tons of comments asking me to make Blue Lotus vape liquid (like for a fillable tank for a mod/battery), but I've been too afraid to start because I'm concerned I won't be able to produce it safely. I don't want to spread information that could be harmful. I need your help.

VVV

QUESTION - How can I make safe and effective Blue Lotus e-juice (using dry extract powder, vegetable glycerin, and propylene glycol) without leaving sediment in the liquid that could clog the coils and burn, causing respiratory harm?

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For some details, the extract is made by soaking large quantities of Blue Lotus flowers in alcohol (and small quantities of citric acid and pickling lime) for 1-2 weeks. We then slowly simmer the mixture on the stove until it concentrates into a pink gel. The pink gel is then spread on a baking sheet and slowly baked in the oven until it's bone dry and crystalline. That dry crust is then ground down to a fine burgundy powder.

I already use this powder to create a glycerite, which I slowly simmer in a mix of vegetable glycerin and distilled water. HOWEVER, when it comes to creating an inhalable vape liquid, the stakes are much higher.

My friend, who usually creates the powder, is an amateur chemist and is good at making extracts of all sorts. He told me to just cook the powder into the VG and PG like I would for my sublingual glycerite, but I'm concerned he might not fully know what he's talking about. That's why I'm here.

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How should I go about safely extracting the alkaloids from the dry extract into an effective e-liquid that can deliver the desired effect through inhalation without risk of acute lung damage?

Should I filter any particulates out of the finished product after I cook it? If so, what's the best way to do so without removing the active compounds?

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I just want to create something that people can vape without fear of clogging their tank or burning particulates on their coils.

Thank you!

[223-Wunderkinder]

You can order from Amazon or scientific supply houses plastic micron and submicron filtration assemblies. Look and shop. you will probably find a suitable pore size to remove the rank stuff and conserve product quality. They can accept aqueous, hydroalcoholic or alcoholic extracts, no prob. Your results will be limited only by your innovativeness.

[Herba_Rosa707]

Thank you VERY much for your response. You mention it would work for aqueous, alcoholic, and hydroalcoholic extracts, but what about the glycerite? The vape liquid will be made with glycerite and propylene glycol. I need something that will filter out all harmful particulates that could burn or clog the tank/atomizer (the cotton/coil that absorbs and heats the liquid into vapor).

Would this equipment work for that? The extract has already been made. It's a dry powder, made from an alcohol-based tincture which was baked into a dry sheet of crystalline material grounded up into a fine powder. This is what I plan on using in the e-liquid, but e-liquid isn't supposed to have any particular matter. I need something that can extract the active compounds from the powder, while also filtering out organic material.

I am unable to be very innovative, as I have little knowledge of chemistry and no money to hire a lab. This is an experiment. This is why I need your advice.

If your suggested apparatus will work for my situation, do you have a specific one you recommend for small-scale work? I checked amazon and am seeing a bunch of home air/water filters, but only one filtration apparatus.

Would this one work? 

https://www.amazon.com/Azzota-FA1000-Filtration-Apparatus-1000ml/dp/B005HBCDG6/ref=sr_1_15_sspa?crid...

[223-Wunderkinder]

Ahemmmm, If you have no prior chemist training, or training in basic pharmaceutics what business do you have in making a pharmaceutical composition for human consumption ? You are probably not Nicola Tesla or Thomas Edison and this is not the 19th century in one's Mom's flooded basement. Or are you ?

[223-Wunderkinder]

Really, my fine friend, I understand your circumstances (we were all there in some way or another), but I solicit you to show me that you've done due dillegence in your "composition of Matter" invention. Amazon is being incorrectly searched. Brita filters and #rap like that are below the quality requirements. Thinking cap time...

[223-Wunderkinder]

Sorry, I was wrong. You are on the right path with the vacuum/sinterd glass filtration funnel. Do you have a vacuum source  ? Sintered glass is very porus. Study books on solid filtration on the lab-bench scale. Books NOT blogs. Well, it depends on the blog...

[223-Wunderkinder]

"This is an experiment. This is why I need your advice."

Experiment more, experiments fail: "After inventing the light bulb (false), I had discovered 10,000 ways not to make a lightbulb"....Thomas Edison or similar shyte

" The difficult is easily done, the impossible just takes longer"....Aerospace stuff

You want to pyrolize the "alkaloidial components" of Blue Lotus. What confirms that the "A" fraction contains the activity ? Pyrolysis of all compounds causes rearrangement products. Nicotine rearranges upon vaping to an even MORE cancer-causing monster    😐

What homework have you done ? Gone to the local university and scanned the journals/online or perhaps the Merck Index ? Do you know how to ask a computer the "right" question (search parameters?) I fail all the time. Or are you a millennial muffin that believes WebMD/Faceplant/Wokenews ? Valid + relevant questions for one wishing to be a chemical capitalist w/o training ( your admission, pal). You may or may not be, "in over your head".

I know you want an easy answer, we don't have any here or anywhere else. You want to work in our garden and ACS membership is just not enough. But you have $160 to spend on one. Bravo Zulu, wanna Tango ?

RSVP (That means "answer please", in French... bub.) 

You are on a quest for Knowledge and if unlucky, Wisdom

[223-Wunderkinder]

I will reveal this much...10% solutions of Glycerin/water can be filter sterilized by .2 micron nylon or PES membrane filters . Seek and you might find. Or pay for a consultant. I'll set you up, ace.

[Herba_Rosa707]

Thank you for the thorough, well-thought out replies. I really do appreciate it.

As for a "composition of matter invention", I have invented no such thing. You're right that, at this time, I have no business making human-consumption products. However, I am currently doing this as a project which I will be making a youtube video on and testing the resulting product myself. I'll make it clear to everyone watching not to attempt this for themselves without recommended training.

I took Honors chemistry in high school, and have basic herbalist knowledge, but that's where my experience ends. I do remember that, in my class, they had a vacuum chamber that we would use for labs. Is that the kind of vacuum source you are referring to? I would imagine it would be pretty expensive to get my hands on one of those. Do you know if there are places I can go to rent one? I could always try asking my old high school teacher. Or perhaps you are referring to a different type of vacuum chamber.

Any books you recommend?

And no, I don't believe "woke news". It's good to know that you don't either. Makes me trust your opinion more. But what do I have to spend $160 on?

If I do find myself "in over my head", I will simply abandon this project (but still make a video about what I learned).

So you say you can set me up with a consultant? I am certainly interested. I am willing to pay, though I do have a budget here.

[223-Wunderkinder]

"I took Honors chemistry in high school, and have basic herbalist knowledge, but that's where my experience ends. I do remember that, in my class, they had a vacuum chamber that we would use for labs. Is that the kind of vacuum source you are referring to?"

Well, my aspiring technologist, I hope you were an "A" student. Regard the attached papers, both of which are ACS journals, open access.

The Ashwaganda paper is a review of extraction tech for a VERRY popular supplement. If you desire a more specific method re Blue Lotus (of which many must exist) strap on your brain and use your God Given resources.

The other paper is a way of making a water vacuum pump and you will not be able to rent a mechanical vacuum pump unless you know a speed cretin. There are many ways of pulling vacuum but what your HS Lab had was likely a vacuum dessicator (dry chamber).

I didn't have the tools you have when I was your age. We had UC Berkeley Chemistry Library and book volumes of Chemical Abstracts (now replaced by SciFinder). I also walked every day to class from 1000 miles away (very motivated walker). You have Google Scholar, ACS database (50 d/l per year) and online journals like from Wiley Interscience or Elsevier. There is also Medline, free from NIH. There are also US and Foreign Patents at Espacenet for free.

There are many books from ABE books for sale or other online jobbers. Ya need a Merck Index. You may not have mine. Google Books has lotsa stuff scanned in. If I make this easy for you, your Soul will suffer from complacency and entitlement (lets ignore the fun of Discovery). I found those papers in 1 minute so you already owe me $100 service charge in consult. Perhaps a more practical arrangement can be arrived at. Your problem has a simple solution. I will simply not throw the "baby out with the bathwater". The URL b-ok.cc will contain many downloadable books but expect to be overwhelmed. 

I've probably told you too much and will never hear from you again because the 4th Law of Thermodynamics says, " No Good Deed Goes Unpunished" and "Never mess with Mrs. Murphy" (Murphy's Law).

YouTube...God help us

This is Exo ResearchanDevelopment and perhaps "it" can come work for you.