Butane Honey Oil (BHO) Method

Originally posted by Wawona


Here's a lil diddy I pieced together, from some well educated concentrators, on making Butane Honey Oil.


This method has its basis in a fascinating industrial extraction method known as Supercritical Fluid Extraction. It uses totally over-the-counter butane gas as the extraction solvent and requires nothing even remotely suspicious or difficult to purchase.

Butane, and perhaps other gas/solvents with similar ultra-low-boiling properties, selectively solvate the desirable fraction(s) of cannabis oils. Pulling out only a beautiful amber "honey oil" and leaving the undesirable vegetative oils, waxes, chlorophyll, etc. behind in the plant matter. Even unsmokable shade leaves produce a wonderfully clean and potent gold oil with this method. There is every reason to suspect that this would work splendidly to extract a super-strong and tasty oil from gross, unpalatable "schwag" too. Of course, the better grade of herb you put it in, the better the resulting oil.

Note that the amount of honey oil resulting is very low. As we all know, cannabis leaf and bud varies in THC content and with a perfect extraction, the yield will be less than a gram of oil from each ounce of LEAFand between 1 and 3 grams of oil from each ounce of HIGH POTENCY BUD.

The primary use for this technique is to render leaf into a form more appropriate for medical use by removing other tars and ash-producing material from the psychoactive principals.

What you'll need:

-A BHO tube: One can be bought here BHO Tube or made using the tips below.
-Herb
-Good butane. quality, triple refined butane is essential. NO RONSON BRAND. King and Colibri work great. 6-8 OZ cans are the best.
-Screens: Either stainless steel (preferred) or coffee filter
-Hose clamp or zip ties to hold screen in place
-Pyrex dish
-Pan to heat water in
-Water
-Gloves
-Goggles
-Outside area to do extraction



THE TUBE

I suggest buying a ready made tube and stand, but if you don't have the means you can easily do it yourself.

Find a plumbing supply service that sells stainless steel pipes and accessories. You'll need a stainless steel pipe that is 3/4" to 1.5" wide and about 18" long, 1 appropriate size stainless steel cap and something to drill through stainless steel. The tube must be made from stainless steel. PVC, copper or the like will tarnish or change chemically. This could leave impurities in your oil that could, very well, be harmful to your health.

In the stainless steel end cap, drill a single small hole in the center. This hole should be correctly sized to snugly receive the little outlet nozzle of your butane can. This is where the butane goes in the tube.

Place the afore mentioned coffee filter/steel screen over the open end of the tube and secure tightly. This is the bottom of the tube. If using coffee filters, trim the excess paper so that goo doesn't get stuck on it. Affix your screen/filter using either a hose clamp or zip ties. Make sure it stays in place by jerking it either direction: Again, you don't want your butane to blow the filter/screen off, that would be just as bad as blowing out of the top.

After the filter/screen is in place, fill the pipe up with plant matter that has been worked into a coarse powder. You want it filled, but not packed down tight. Whole, not broken up, buds can be used for a more clear oil. Then that bud can be ground up and "re-run". Grinding these buds will allow for more trichome exposure. The yield from this 2nd run will be smaller and more than likely darker.

Place the top end cap on the pipe. Again, push it on as securely as you can by hand.


THE EXTRACTION

Find a location outdoors with a decent breeze. You want these butane fumes to be quickly carried away. Seriously.

If you don't wear gloves, goggles, a mask and do it outside, you might as well not even do it. this is not a joke.

Mount the tube (single hole-side up) over a vessel that can hold 300mL+. Pyrex dishes work great. A lab stand and clamp are ideal for the mounting, but a regular shop clamp or anything that can hold it sturdily is fine. (Avoid metal if you can, to reduce the chance of sparks.) Position the bottom end of the pipe immediately above (1-2") the receiving vessel to eliminate splatter loss.

Turn the butane gas can upside down and dispense the gas into the tube via the single top hole. An 8-oz can takes about 10-12 seconds to evacuate. Be brave, swift, and careful. A spark at this moment would spell disaster since you have basically created an incendiary explosive device that is leaking.

Use 12-16 ounces of butane per full tube of plant matter. The tube will hold approximately 1 oz of plant. Take a 15 second break between cans.

When you've exhausted the can into the pipe, back off to a nice distance and let it do its thing.

The butane moves down the pipe, extracting the cannabis as it goes. When it gets to the bottom, ~30 seconds after dispensing, it begins to drain into the receiving vessel. Notice the pale, glowing yellow-green-gold hue of the extract. It is obvious no chlorophyll was pulled out of the herb.

Over approximately five to eight minutes, prolly quicker, the butane extract will finish draining from the pipe to the receiving vessel. Maintain caution with the pipe, however, since there is a lot of residual butane still evaporating from within the pipe. Notice the stream of fumes coming from the top hole. When it slows down to a drop every few seconds, you can tap on the top hole with your finger and it will help push the last of the liquid butane out. Remember, NO SMOKING!!!!!

Being very low-boiling and volatile, the collected butane will likely begin boiling at ambient temperature. The receiving vessel will gradually frost up as the butane cools it down, slowing down its rate of evaporation. One can speed this up again simply by holding it in your hands. A better way is to set it in a saucepan containing a little bit of warm water. NOT BOILING. Cold butane can have a violent reaction if submeged into boiling water. Watch the butane start bubbling madly with the increase in temperature. Again, be doing this outdoors with a nice breeze! It takes about 20 minutes or so to allow the butane to evaporate, or much quicker if you help it along. You are left with a deep amber, almost orange oil of amazing purity.

Place the dish on a heating pad for an hour or so to evap the last of the butane. Remove from the pad and allow to cool. Use a razor to scrape the goo into a "pile".


COLLECTION & STORAGE

You can simply leave it in the pyrex dish or move it to a smaller, non pourus container.

Another way to collect and store the oil is to let all of the butane evaporate off and then redissolve the oil in some anhydrous or high-% alcohol, and then pour this into a vial and let it sit out for a day or two to allow the alcohol to evaporate. Trying to transfer the oil into a small container while it is still solvated by the butane is too risky. This was learned the hard way about this, thanks to the volatile temperament of butane. I had filled a vial almost all the way to the top and was preparing to drop those last couple drops in, so that cleverly, I could let the last of the butane evaporate from the vial and the oil would all be neatly contained. However, when the last drop hit the mother lode in the vial, it changed the temperature of the solution in the vial upward by a hair and it all "superboiled" out of the vial and onto my fingers, which of course startled me and caused me to drop the vial. I suggest dissolving it in alcohol as I mentioned above. If you can get pure or 99% isopropanol (isopropyl), use it, because THC's photosensitivity reportedly does not occur in isopropanol.

The final product is a deep yellow-amber oil of the highest quality, incredibly pure and potent. Note also that this oil has a somewhat higher melt/vaporization point than traditional hash oils; the traditional dispensing method (dipping a needle or paper clip in, getting some goop on the end, and warming it with a flame to get it to drip off into your bowl) still works with this stuff, but it seems you have to be more careful with it because it doesn't heat to liquid state as quickly or in the same manner, and it can more easily be allowed to burn up on your needle. So be careful.

Honey oil is BACK!

DON'T EVER DO THIS

Thanks to the good folks at plantet skunk, Marijuana Passion and Breedbay for chipping in.