No need to even use non-polar solvent (although you could use toluene,DCM, as well as diethyl ether to separate base from water, since these are essentially non-miscible with water). Why? Cocaine base is non-soluble in alkaline water. Just filter it with cloth filter (don't use paper filter)--handkerchief is fine, squeeze out water and dry lump of white powder on glass plate under heat lamp, remembering that m.p. of cocaine base is WAY less than cocaine hydrochloride, so don't melt it, if you do there will be some degradation of product.
BTW, did the bee who said to dissolve cocaine base in petroleum ether actually try it?--I don't think so, because he or she would have been in for a surprise. People should never post what they absolutely don't know to be a fact--it just confuses the collective.
[Edit--Fuck! I didn't realize it was terbium who wrote that--hey buddy, you know how much I respect you, but are you absolutely sure?--I was once given petroleum ether when I ordered diethyl ether. Base did not dissolve. So is it my memory that is wrong, or your info? I believe I am right.]
Cocaine freebase is not very snortable, rubbing on gums is about only way to get it into your system, unless you smoke it. And brother! You do not want to go down that road!
The world of cocaine is divided into two camps: those who sniff the hydrochloride and those who smoke the sulfate or base. The sniffers are the ones who control the flow of product. The moment any of their peers is caught smoking the product, the smoker is marginalized. A sniffer can conduct business and lead a more or less normal life, a smoker quickly goes to hell. So it should be a warning to anybody thinking of smoking cocaine, that if in the actual commercial world sniffing among capos is tolerated and nobody even thinks twice, the moment a capo or jefe or even one of the trabajadores is seen to smoke, even once, that person is either deep sixed (depending on how much he knows) or completely marginalized from the business. Is this clear? Stay away from smoking it--smoking cocaine will quickly fuck up your life. Sniff hydrochloride, don't smoke base. Words of wisdom.
Regards
Argox