Thujone

[Jubrail]

OK, some news on Thujone.  A few folks have asked about its isolation in the past.  I've been working on extraction and distillation.  I can't get a solid product, but I'm still on it and if I get it, then I will post my report.  So far, I've found it to be highly soluble in ethanol at 50-60 C.  The problem is recrystallizing it.  So I used a water-ethanol mix with a bit of a heavier ethanol fraction than usual (thouroughly wetting the herb ahead of time and then adding water in probably 3-4 times the amount of ethanol.  The problem then is that the product is not thujone alone, but an oil, presumably full of water-ethanol and all sorts of plant matter.  Titurating it (sp?) with a glass stirring rod does not oil it out nor does messing around with adding cold water and, presumably, due to the high solubility ethanol addition would not work either.  If anyone has anything to contribute or feels like testing out their own methods, be my guest.  I may try diethyl ether, but then I'll need to have agood yield of good crystals that can be cleaned to make it worth my while.  However, for absinthe unob' recipe posted elsewhere is pretty good, thought he product tastes like hell.

[Osmium]

Obtain seed samples by chromatography, evaporate the alcohol extract, dissolve it insome hexane, cool it down, add seed crystal.

[Jubrail]

May I ask why Hexane, though?

[Osmium]

Because it's very non-polar and the thujone will hopefully come out of solution and crystallize when you cool it down enough.
Other solvents might work better, I haven't done this myself. Try to find out what solvents were originally used for thujone recrystallizations by those that characterised this compound.

[Communamine]

I have reason to believe that Thujone per-se is not psychoactive. (If, by "thujone" you simply mean wormwood extract, or if you actually want to extract Thujone itself, then i apologize for misunderstanding).

Sage (Saliva Oficianelis [sp?]) Reportedly contains Thujone, especially beta-Thujone. I have performed many Ethanol extractions on Sage and I got a yellowish oily (and sticky) substance at best.

That was smoked in large ammounts (though I had to stop after a while due to reported toxicity) and noPsychoactive effects where noted.

I then Performed identical ethanol extractions on Wormwood (Artemisia Absinthium), and atbest was left with an extremely sticky, dark yellow oil. That was smoked and psychoactivity was noted at much lower levels than the above.

Just something to think about...

[Jubrail]

I am not extracting for anything though but curiosity and as an additive to homebrew anisette.  I have done this with the oil and it definitely results in an absinthe delerium.  Perhaps thujone is synergistic with alcohol (and maybe also with anethole, though this seems unlikely).

[L_jamf]

swim's buddy "extracted" (a.k.a. did a really shitty job) the thujone and plant matter from the wormwood and swim tried smoking it. it was the most disgusting thing swim's ever tasted (worse than salvia) and it didn't make swim "bug-out" at all. it also "flavors" glassware, so take caution what you burn it out of (if attempted).

he also made a liquor out of it, and that was borderline vomit-inducing as well, plus it had no strong effects (modulo stomach upset). gl getting something non-vomit-inducing (swim's got his fingers crossed).

[Communamine]

Wormwood, or at least the one used in Absinthe, has a flowery, extremely bitter, almost metallic flavour to it.

The effects of smoking the extract (or a lot of plant matter) by itself, or even ingesting it as such, are hardly noticeable. It is a good idea to try it first with cannabis then try it alone, since you will know what to look for. Otherwise, it is extremely subtle by itself.

As for thujone, I would say that I think there is probably another chemical in wormwood that causes its effect, but not Thujone. I don't have a lot of info on it, but it could be Absinthin, the chemical responsible for its bitter taste, thatis psychoactive.

[k0dog]

I actually was just watching daily planet (old re-run) and they were talking about Absinthe... and theyt saidf that the craziness assocoiated with stories about absinthe could be because of another reason other than the wormwood extract.

During the time of production they said that the inventor of the liquor (originally labeled as a tonique for age prevention then to talk to dead relatives) used some sorta copper during the production of it.  They believe that an oxide of copper (I believe that is what they said at least I was kinda fucked while watching) caused the psychedlic effects.  I could be wrong about the copper oxide tho.. it might have been copper sulfate.. but pretty sure it was the oxide... meh

Anyways it was super interesting and that is where the murky sorta oxidized copper look of the alcohol comes from (originally).  But now days they use dye to make it look green....

I dunno if they were lying or not but it was a good time waster while I was fucked up on medicine that the doctor gave me after surgery...

[Communamine]

Yes, around the turn of the century, when Absinthe was very popular, Copper Sulphate was used for colouring. It was the Copper Sulphate and other adultrants, the Alcohol, plus the prolonged exposure to Thujone that caused "Absinthism".

However, this happened after long binges and life-long addictions. To agree with Wilde, only three glasses are needed to experience Absinthe

I also think that people expect an Acid trip out of Absinthe - which is not the case. If you thought that Van-Gough's paintings look the way they do because of Absinthe, well, not really - he was mentally ill and abnormally emotional to begin with. Adding a high/drunk combo on top of that only enhanced things. I think absinthe has been largely amplified (and dare I say, overrated) by the media.

[k0dog]