From: yshan@bnr.ca (Yogi Shan)
Newsgroups: alt.drugs
Subject: DeKorne's "Psychedelic Shamanism"
Date: 12 Dec 1994 07:02:33 GMT


This book, published by Loompanics, has been mentioned here
a number of times.

I had the opportunity to briefly look it over last weekend.
Naturally, I headed straight for the chem section, a chapter 
entitled, "Extractions", or something.

Well, I must say that I am completely unimpressed with this
bozo Dekorne's abilities.  The information he presents is
riddled with errors and nonsense.  In fact, I have seen much
better stuff here in alt.drugs.  And you don't pay $20 for
alt.drugs.

An example is his declaring lemon juice to be acetic acid.
Bzzzzt! Thank you for playing.  It's citric acid.

My memory is hazy, but there were other more serious errors.
He suggests starting fluid as a source for ether, without
mentioning that the presence of lubricating oil in this stuff
makes it worthless for extractions.

He then fails to mention that if you extract with ether (and
many other solvents), you had better vent your sep funnel 
often due to the pressure buildup from the ether vapour.  
Much grief awaits those who don't.

With idiocies like this, one wonders if he's even done the thing
he claims.

Another recipe extracts the drugs out, calcines the extracted
plant material to ash, and adds the drug back for consumption.
If you think this is a useful procedure, I've got news for you.

His extractions all the standard acid-base extraction.  [...]
posted here (for free) a much better procedure that started
with a methanol extraction, followed by an acid-base extraction.
The initial methanol extraction reduces the volumes needed in
the acid-base extraction.

Loompanics makes its money selling junk like this.  A lot of
their stuff is amateurish garbage put out by crooks, phonies,
and posseurs.  But these are books about doing illegal
things, so who's going to complain, right?

Remember, a fool and their money are soon parted.


Yogi

***************************************************************

           "How much is enough, when your soul is empty,
            How much is enough, in the Land of Plenty,
            When you have everything you want,
            And still feel nothing at all,
            How much is enough?  Is enough?"

                                -- "How much is enough?"
                                    The Fixx

***************************************************************

=============================================================================

From: yshan@bnr.ca (Yogi Shan)
Newsgroups: alt.drugs
Subject: DeKorne's "Psychedelic Shamanism"
Date: 6 Jan 1995 04:58:26 GMT
Message-ID: <3eiili$8qp@bmerha64.bnr.ca>


Since my last review of this crappy, rip-off
Loompanics book, I've collected a few more
points of complaint with regards the
"Chemical Extraction" chapter.

1) His clear as mud use of ratios when
   he's talking about a 3:1 ratio of
   DMT : harmaline.  Very confusing
   for the amateur.

2) use of a PVC tube when collecting ether
   (I'm pretty sure that ether affects PVC,
    contaminating the ether)

3) he tells you to use a 10% volume of ether 
   to extract an aqueous layer using a mason
   jar.  (I've already mentioned that one
   has to vent the jar frequently or you're
   in for a big surprise).  He then suggest
   *siphoning* the ether off with no more
   explanation that that.  Quite a nifty
   trick for such a small volume, for an
   amateur.  Sounds like he's just speculating.

4) DeKorne fails to mention the emulsion layer,
   the bane of many the home extractor.  He
   also hasn't bothered to explain his methods
   with a few good clarifying diagrams.

5) Mentions the use of Draino as a substitute
   for NaOH, without mentioning the little
   pieces of aluminum turnings in Draino.

6) for the example using San Pedro cactus,
   DeKorne says "filtrate" when he means
   "residue".

6) DeKorne says that you need three weeks
   to do an extraction.  Ha!

7) DeKorne suggests multiple freezing and 
   thawings to break down the cell structure.
   Doesn't mention that the active alkaloids
   might not survive this method, or might
   survive at a much lower potency.  Far 
   better to dry and powder, or blenderize,
   in my opinion.  See the alt.d FTP site
   for tried and true quality extraction
   procedures.  They're in the "Australian
   Natural Highs" FAQ and the "Chemical
   Extraction" FAQ.

8) He doesn't stress enough the flammability
   danger of ethyl ether vapours.


In the front of the book it states:

"Neither the author nor the publisher will
be held accountable for the use...of the
information contained in this book."

Kinda about sums it up, wouldn't you say?

Both HT and PI gave this book a good review.
Says a lot about their level of knowledge.