Shorty and Scottydog: Thanks for the replies. The ephedrine freebase came from ephedra extract, 8 percent. The A/B extraction brought back goods, but the gas only made, like I said, some kind of caustic crystals, so SWIM stopped the gas and went with the A/B. Perhaps SWIM can try it again, but SWIM would prefer to try it first in a liquid that will react to the gas in a way similar to ephedrine freebase. SWIM assumes this particular subject has been discussed already somewhere on the Hive. SWIM certainly hasn't found it yet.