Cactus Tea - Crock Pot Prep

[Myc]

I tried this and it works great!
The lazy man's cactus prep.

I started with 700 grams of fresh Trichocereus bridgesii
Slice like a cucumber
Cut slices into smaller pieces or chunks
Load into blender with a little water and puree to even consistency
Pour into Crock Pot and set on "low" setting
Ignore for 6 hours or more
Strain pulp out through a t-shirt
Reduce liquid with low heat and evaporation
Refrigerate, freeze, or consume.

Initial nausea is still an issue when using this method
But it is very effective in extracting the alkaloids -
Very effective!

[Shadowlord]

Yeah, the tea works very well.
I haven't tried the Bridgesii yet but have had tea from San Pedro and From Peruvian Torch.
I didn't really have enough S.P. to do the job but the Tea from the P.Torch gave me the strongest Mescaline trip I have had in my limited experience.
I have also done the ISO extraction which is easier to take than drinking the tea, but you lose a lot of the experience that way.
If I am going to do Catus/Mescaline only, then I would have to say Tea is the way to go. If I have L around then I like to take some ISO tar and they mesh together great.
I have also noticed that encapsulated powder works very well too but it takes a lot of capsules and dehydrates the living daylights out of you.
It all boils down to how much nausea one experiences from the cacti. It doesn't bother me overmuch so Tea works very well for me.
But apparently some people have had a real rough time w/ it.

[Myc]

I think I prefer the tea to all other methods.
I like the full spectrum experience.
Never tried the T. peruvianus but I have some seedlings - maybe next year.

It took me over 24 hours to sober up enough to post responsibly.
What a beautiful and peaceful experience. Far and away better than any Vitamin A I've ever done!

The nausea usually passes in an hour or so and is well worth the results.

[cuts]

Yea two days ago i tried the tea, i wasn't full blown tripping but it was definately nice. What you guys say the best way to dry your cactus would be? I'm thinking of doing the iso extract

[Shadowlord]

I know what you mean about being better than vitamin A Myc!
I've found Mescaline to be much more Visual and it feels very warm and healing. Not to mention long lasting. I just have to eat more next time as I didn't eat throughout my strongest tea experience and it disrupted my appetite for the next couple of days.
I still love the focusing of the mind that Vitamin A brings which is why I tried mixing a dose of it w/ mescaline and the way they mesh together is just great.
But there is no doubt. The Cactus experience is one I truly enjoy.



I have a couple of Pedros, a small P.Torch that doesn't seem to be growing very quickly unlike the Pedros.
I am planning on adding some Bridgesii. I've been on the fence about them but you have decided me, Myc!
I also hope to get some L. Williamsii going in the not too distant future but have too many other irons in the fire right now.

[Myc]

Originally Posted by cuts

Yea two days ago i tried the tea, i wasn't full blown tripping but it was definately nice. What you guys say the best way to dry your cactus would be? I'm thinking of doing the iso extract

I tried drying once for an Everclear extraction.
Big PITA - will never do that again.
My experience with T. pachanoi is much like you describe.
Not full blown - few visual distortions - but overall nice.
I've mixed pachanio and bridgesii with great results also.
Just thought I'd try the crock pot to avoid all the monitoring and stirring required with standard tea extraction.

Had a great time - peaked for a couple of hours
Strong rolling visuals
Was seeing hallucinations which appeared very real.
Snakes in the back yard, everything appeared as shifting, moving geometric patterns, overwhelming sense of warmth, peace, and contentment

[Oblivion]

Thanks for the crock pot idea Myc. Im gonna try that next time I make tea. Its time to pull my san pedros from the garden. Maybe this weekend I'll make some tea.

[golly]

Love the simplicity Myc...What was your ratio of water to cactus..?

[Raziel]

Tried this method and works great, I boil the cactus for 2hours and collect the liquid then chuck the cactus back in the pot, add fresh water then repeat 3-4 times then add all the liquid collected and boil down to a thick goo. It's best to use a old t-shirt and squeeze all the goo out of the cactus and add it to the liquid collected after each 2 hour boil. Quite hard when you have to use your hands and the cactus lumps are as hot as the earths core

[Myc]

Originally Posted by golly

Love the simplicity Myc...What was your ratio of water to cactus..?

The ratio was eyeballed.
I just put it in a blender and added water to 1/3 the volume of the pitcher. Already had the pitcher loaded with cactus chunks to about 3/4 the volume of the blender. Each 12" specimen required two blender runs to have it processed for the tea.

I've seen the idea of double boiling a couple of times today.
I can run an experiment.
Ever the saver of stuff, I have the pulp leftover and frozen from the batches of tea I made.
It was only cooked once for 6 hours.
I can test the efficiency of the first extraction by trying a second extraction. I'm curious to see if anything happens.

[Myc]

So it turns out that the first extraction is quite efficient at extracting all the alkaloids.
I cooked the leftover pulp from 2100g of fresh cacti.
Cooked it down and drank it.

I'm certainly wide awake so there are some slight effects
But no visuals or likewise.
Not worth repeating IMO.
I'll be composting the pulp after the first extraction from now on.

[rocketman]

Very interesting. The long crock pot cook replaces the need to pull 3 times over 3 hours. I would love to try this method only the texture would prevent it as it does with any cactus tea.

Myc, can you add a few pics? and maybe show a step by step of your methods?


archive material when finished.

[Myc]

First and foremost, I need to credit John Allen with this tek.
My only addition is the use of a slow cooker - and subsequent testing of the extracted pulp to determine extraction efficiency.

In making Trichocereus tea, first I've selected a specimen for cutting.
I chose this one due to etiolation which occured over a couple of days during the Winter last year.

Mark your cut to coincide with as many areoles as possible so as to increase your chances for as many offsets as possible.

Execute your cut quickly and decisively.

Trim cut if necessary and treat with a little sulfur to help the cactus fight off any infection. This will also help the cut dry more quickly and callous.

[Myc]

Prep time: 30 min. from harvest to loading in cooker.

First I weigh the material.
I'm staying around the 700g range for my own comparison sake.

Slice and chop the cactus into chunks.

Load:
4 cups of chunks
1 cup of water into blender

Liquefy - don't overload the blender - your puree will expand significantly.

Load puree into crockpot.

Set the Crock Pot for "low" setting.
I don't exceed 180*F ( arbitrary number I pulled out of my ass - but it works).
If you're making tea for one, place the lid on the Crock Pot and ignore this for at least 6 hours. Overnight is fine. I imagine that 24 hours wouldn't hurt anything.
However, two batches of tea will fit in this pot.
As you can see, the puree resembles meringue.

Upon heating, the foamy "head" will dissipate leaving room for your other dose. This process takes awhile so I load the other batch into a ziplock back and the same effect is accomplished.


Next we'll get ready for the tea itself.

[Myc]

After cooking the slurry for 6 hours or more in the slow cooker it's time to take it to the next step.
Line a bowl or pot with an old t-shirt.

Carefully pour the content of the slow cooker into the shirt.

Gather the outside edges of the t-shirt and begin squeezing while twisting the shirt at the same time.
CAUTION: The slurry is very hot - gloves are recommended or wait 'til it cools.

Place the filtered liquid in a large pan or pot on low heat and reduce the liquid further.

This process will take a couple of hours or longer depending on the amount of liquid.
Occasional monitoring is required.
Or, if you've got the guts, you can just drink this and skip the final step. I've done it many times and it works just fine.

The finished product.

[chrisnh]

watching this one closely. let us know how it goes with the dose that was prepared in the pics. and if you have a comparison, how it was compared to similar doses prepared other ways. i'm thinking 700 wet gms of Trich brig would be a pretty high does when prepared as a traditional "snot" tea. that is if my assumptions are right. that 700 wet = ~70 dry and being trich brid it's about equal to 100+ of dry pedro. either way thanks for this thread, been contimplating this method lately.

[Shadowlord]

Originally Posted by chrisnh

watching this one closely. let us know how it goes with the dose that was prepared in the pics. and if you have a comparison, how it was compared to similar doses prepared other ways. i'm thinking 700 wet gms of Trich brig would be a pretty high does when prepared as a traditional "snot" tea. that is if my assumptions are right. that 700 wet = ~70 dry and being trich brid it's about equal to 100+ of dry pedro. either way thanks for this thread, been contimplating this method lately.

70g dry of Torch will give you a nice trip.
As for anyone contemplating this method; It's a sure fire way to go. You'd really have to try to screw up. Just reduce it until it's thick so there isn't so much to drink and have a chaser handy.
I find it helpful to have food in my stomach or I lose my appetite. Just make sure you eat soft sweet stuff if this is your first time. If it is going to make you sick, you want it to be easy to void.
Cactus Tea is how I first experienced mescaline. I recommend it.

[chrisnh]

ya, this def seems the way to go. ahem for the crock pot, i'm thinking you could do aya in there as well.

so then my assumptions were right? that 700g wet ~ 70g dry and 70g dry of T. brig is 100 or more g of pedro? i'm wonder how much if any potency you loose this way Vs eating whole or drinking snot tea. and since i've heard when people do it that way with pedro they start with around 50g dry, i'm wondering how this method would compare and if it would require a little more powder for the same dose.

[Myc]

Originally Posted by chrisnh

... for the crock pot, i'm thinking you could do aya in there as well.

http://forums.mycotopia.net/holding-...pot-jello.html

so then my assumptions were right? that 700g wet ~ 70g dry and 70g dry of T. brig is 100 or more g of pedro? i'm wonder how much if any potency you loose this way Vs eating whole or drinking snot tea. and since i've heard when people do it that way with pedro they start with around 50g dry, i'm wondering how this method would compare and if it would require a little more powder for the same dose.

I'm doing my own taste test comparison.
The tea pictured above is around 550g wet - T. pachanoi
I added some T. bridgesii to bring the batch up to my target weight of 700g.
I'm interested to see how the experience compares with others.
My experiences with T. pachanoi have always been significantly reduced by comparison to recent experiments.
Before I caught the reduction idea in this thread:

http://forums.mycotopia.net/botanica...adventure.html (San Pedro syrup adventure...)
I was drinking the tea which was usually around 1000 ml in volume.
No noticable difference in experiences.
I've eaten the dried powder and experienced nada.
I'm just doing this to assess the potency of the stock that I have readily available since all Trichocereus varieties vary even within the many different strains.

[mushmind]

Originally Posted by Myc

After cooking the slurry for 6 hours or more in the slow cooker it's time to take it to the next step.
Line a bowl or pot with an old t-shirt.
Attachment 102224
Carefully pour the content of the slow cooker into the shirt.
Attachment 102225
Gather the outside edges of the t-shirt and begin squeezing while twisting the shirt at the same time.
CAUTION: The slurry is very hot - gloves are recommended or wait 'til it cools.
Attachment 102226 Attachment 102227 Attachment 102228
Place the filtered liquid in a large pan or pot on low heat and reduce the liquid further.
Attachment 102229
This process will take a couple of hours or longer depending on the amount of liquid.
Occasional monitoring is required.
Or, if you've got the guts, you can just drink this and skip the final step. I've done it many times and it works just fine.

The finished product.
Attachment 102230 Attachment 102231

how many cc's of the liquid would you drink myc?

[mushmind]

1000 ml sorry i didn't see that.

[Myc]

Don't drink 1000 ml of the reduced liquid!!! LOL
The tea will reduce down to syrup-like consistency - usually to a volume of 20-30 ml.

Or you can skip the reduction process and just drink the tea which works equally as well with the same results.

[chrisnh]

i didn't see anything about whether or not the whole cactus was used or just the skin/green part. if using this method is there any advantage to not taking the time to cut out the core/white parts?

[Myc]

I tried to demonstrate through the photographs that the entire cactus was used........spines and all.
Due to the nature of the extraction, I see no added benefit in "skinning" the cactus. Just adds more work.

[golly]

Agree - skinning is not needed..After the tea is filtered ,any remaining waxes from the skin will float and are easily skimmed off as you reduce the liquid..

[Irishlion]

Myc I use that same tek but, with a varation. I have found that blendin it is a unnessary step. So is straining. I cut mine up into 1/2 slices and then quarter each one and then put into pot with double the water it takes to cover them and leave on high for about 5 hours using a potato crusier to mash it every hour or so. Then keeping water level up to what i orginally put in. I then turn to low and allow to steep for about 7 to 8 hours and then you can strain if you like or simply drink. Off this method myself and Ette both had amazing trips off one 12" cuttting of bridgesii. She tripped for 12 or so hours and I tripped for over 16 off 2 cups of it. I swear to god thats the truth. It was very very good cacti tea. Just a lil varation thereof but, we both have same Idea. I honestly believe the trip off tea is BY FAR superior to just straight extracted mescline as you are drinking the entire akaliod profile of the cactus and not just the mescline.

[chrisnh]

Irishlion, how was the nausea? any more or less than other preps? did you get a weight on that cutting? thanks

[Irishlion]

Originally Posted by chrisnh

Irishlion, how was the nausea? any more or less than other preps? did you get a weight on that cutting? thanks

Nausea same ol same ol didn't vomit wieght was 4 pounds wet as i ONLY use fresh cacti in my teas and never trim it I use the whole thing aside from the spines. But the potency is always super good as I asked RM about stove top directions and used same method and that turned out fucking killer as well.

[raveneye]

[quote=Irishlion i ONLY use fresh cacti in my teas ]
Toche'. This is the only way to fly IMO.
Alway an awsome ride.

[Myc]

edited to say: Irishlion points out in another thread that when the tea is strained through any filter - the filter retains some of the alkaloids. That's why he prefers not to use one.

Thanks for the idea Irishlion!
After using a cotton t-shirt - I notice that there is an awful lot of material absorbed by the shirt.
Been trying to think of a good 'tea bag' made of non-absorbent, synthetic material.

This works like a dream.

Would be nice to know the temperature limits of this material.
Immersion in a crockpot during heat extraction? Hmmmmmmm

[Oblivion]

Oh, now that's nice. Does it do a decent job on filtering the pulp?

[Myc]

I don't mind if the tea is be a bit "thick" or pulpy.
The bag traps all the major particles leaving the tea with some sludge which will settle out if left sitting.
I don't bother - reduce it from here and go for it - sludge and all

[rocketman]

archive material

[wendal]

Originally Posted by Myc

After using a cotton t-shirt - I notice that there is an awful lot of material absorbed by the shirt.

It helps if you first saturate the tshirt with water before you attempt to strain anything through it.

If the shirt is already saturated, then none or allot less of the alkaloids will end up in it.

[prism]

Wow.... this seems easy enuff... You guys think its worth the sickness eh? better than x-tals extracted? If so this is def the way to go. Thanks for the great thread MYC!!

[GodofOldGodsWatching]

This has long been one of my favorite ways to trip cactus, and this thread is about as clear as can be in terms of directions/pictures. I've, believe it or not, never had much of a problem with nausea... if I get it at all it is of the most mild variety.

And of course the trip is always amazing.

[bbd2]

dudes here always puke
syrup or crystal
its still very worth it

this method is great for anyone with a limited supply
dudes here dont even puree
just 2 of the 6 hr crockpot boils on the stars gets everything

dude says this is one where rektal admin of purified crystal soln maybe be an effective option for those plagued by serious nausea