Let's Cure Cancer
Introduction
A few friends and I have taken it upon ourselves, fully flexing our MMJ privileges, attempting to help a friend's mother in need. She has a form of brain cancer that attacks the glia holding the neurons together. It's very aggressive and we were looking for any way to help. We learned about an NP extraction of cannabis material that used only medical grade bud material (no leaves or trim) and the result is an over 90% pure THC liquid concentrate that Rick Simpson claims cures cancer.
This is what we did and how we did it.
Grind Time

56g of premium dank buds were ground finely and tossed into an HDPE bucket lined with an HDPE ice hash bag. The largest micron available in the set. Not sure exactly the size used, but it's the biggest one you can buy.
Non-Polar Washing

A half-pint of Naphtha was added at a time to the cannabis powder in the hash bag until it was saturated to field capacity. Then several cups (via the mason jar) were run through it and washed. ~2000ml were used total or about 8 cups.
Now stop... Strainer Time!

The filter bag is picked up and squeezed clean of all NP. The washes collected in the bucket and the combined washes were then run through a coffee filter wet with fresh NP.
Further Filtering

It's a slow painful process to filter, but with stirring and care it can be expedited. As it filters, you will notice plant material separating from green NP and a black tar now crashing out of the solvent.
This black tar is what we're after. It contains almost all THC in liquid crystal form which is devoid of terpines, tannins, chlorophyll, or other unwanted components of typical hash/concentrates. This is Phoenix Tears. It is extremely potent and medicinal.
The mass of plant material left over in the coffee filter after final squeezing was washed a second time with 200ml of NP to see what was left over from the main 2000ml run. The main 2000ml wash was evaporated slowly in a slow-cooker while the second 200ml wash was quickly evapped with an electric hot-plate.
Next post covers both runs' reducing, cleaning, and processing. :hippie:
Edited by Irishlion, 09 April 2011 - 01:43 PM.