Thread: How do I make a proper Calea Z extract?

I'm trying to make a Calea Z extract using alcohol.
From what I gather, all I have to do to make the extract is put the leaves in a jar with alcohol (the stronger the better) and leave it for a few weeks, shaking it once a day.
But I just can't find a proper tutorial on evaporating the alcohol afterwards, some say to cook it and let it simmer, but others say you just leave it by a window or have a fan blowing on it, so does heat evaporate it, or cool air?
And appearantly once it evaporates, a sticky substance will sink to the bottom, some say that stuff is garbage, but others say THAT is the extract?
Is it different for different herbs?

I was also wondering how to best consume an extract, is it safe to just drink it? Appearantly smoking wastes alot of it, is that true? And how does one smoke a liquid? (Without having to smoke tabacco or weed)

Just say know!

https://www.erowid.org/experiences/exp.php?ID=12224

4.) RESIN RECIPE
Procure a bottle of 190 proof (95%) alcohol such as Everclear. Brand is completely unimportant, so get the cheapest crap you can find. Be REALLY careful, though. This stuff is as flammable as gasoline (petrol, for those of you in the UK.) Place 1 part Calea Z. Leaves in 2 Parts Alcohol in a sealed jar. Leave it for 3 days. Filter out the leaves with cheesecloth, and pour the resulting liquid into baking pan(s.) Allow the stuff to evaporate, and you will be left with a nice disgusting goo. Scrape that stuff into capsules and voila. Uh.. but be careful, and keep in mind that this will be about 5x as potent (maybe more, perhaps a lot more) than just the tea. So remember, the resin resulting from 1.5 grams MAX should be your starting dose. If you MUST, you can fill the algae cap the rest of the way with sugar or whatever else is lying around.

5.) EXTRACT RECIPE
Get the cheapest bottle of Vodka you can find. That suff is about 100 proof, which means it's 50/50 water/alcohol. Use 1 part leaves of calea Z. and 2 parts Vodka. Place in a jar, shake once daily, after one week, strain, pour into a baking pan, allow the alcohol to evaporate, bottle for use. It's less potent than resin, but more potent than tea. I haven't tried this because I don't see the point. It will still taste only slightly better than donkey feces.

https://www.erowid.org/experiences/exp.php?ID=38378

It became clear I needed an extract. I bought two fifths of everclear and soaked nearly a pound of calea in it for 7 days. I strained it and then let it evaporate in a wide open container until the amount was cut in half, which took another 7 days, then I added water to it until it reached its original volume. I wanted a strong effect so I decided to mix the extract with orange juice and started chugging several mixed drinks (several ounces worth of Calea?). This still tastes bad but I was determined. I was instantly buzzed from the everclear ofcourse but within 20 mins I noticed a real change in color and light. I didn't feel at all like I was tripping but the visuals are comparable to a low dose of mushrooms. I was kind of stimulated in a weird way but at the same time I felt I could fall asleep if I tried.

https://www.erowid.org/experiences/exp.php?ID=27327

I'd like to report what appears to be a new way of taking Calea. I've found no references to this method on the web. It's a very efficient method since it requires very little herb to achieve strong effects. Also, it's a lot healthier than smoking. The disadvantage of the method is, of course, the intensely bitter taste of the herb (which for me, is not a big problem).

The use of Salvia Divinorum in tincture form is well known. I was wondering if Calea tincture would be similarly effective.

A report on Erowid mentions an ethanol extract of Calea. Its author claims that the extract is at least five times stronger than tea made from the same amount of herb. He recommends drying the extract and inserting it in capsules.

Per his instructions, I mixed four tablespoons of crushed dried Calea herb with twice its volume of Everclear 195-proof alcohol. The mixture was shaken once a day and allowed to sit for five days. After the fifth day, the ethanol tincture was separated from the herb using a filter. This resulted in about eight teaspoons of Calea tincture.

I then mixed one teaspoon of the tincture with enough water to comfortably hold in my mouth (about 12 teaspoons), and added a drop of peppermint extract and some honey. As in the Salvia tincture method, I held the mixture in my mouth for fifteen minutes, periodically swooshing the liquid around and making sure that it reached underneath my tongue (where the sublingual mucous membranes absorb the psychoactive substances). Given the very strong bitterness, this was no mean task, but listening to some classical music distracted me from the taste.

After fifteen minutes, I began to feel the now-familiar initial effects of a good Calea dose: closed-eye visuals and increased hypnagogic imagery. With some effort, I swallowed the liquid in my mouth. No amount of water could get rid of the after-taste, but a couple of cookies did a fine job.

Let us know how it goes!

Hey HumanDoing, I'm a herbal medicine student so I can try to give you some tips on this despite not having researched Calea z myself. You seem to have the basics of making a tincture (alcohol esxtract) right. Mix the herb with alcohol in a jar and shake daily, keeping it away from sunlight stored safely at room temperature.

Now the stronger the alcohol is not necessarily the best. This would depend on the kind of constituents you want to extract from the plant as some plants have more useful constituents that are more water soluble and some that are more alcohol soluble. I don't know what this is for Calea z as I haven't tried to look it up, but in general it is hard to have access to high concentrations of alcohol other than spirits so use what you have and experiment.

It's very IMPORTANT that you know the ratio of herb(grams):alcohol(mls) and the alcohol strengh used (there are formulas online on how to dilute say a 40% alcohol to a 25%). Because this is what you'll use to determine how much you can safely take (the strength). Herbs can be very powerful so do be careful.

If all you want is the alcohol extraction than you can just strain it after a couple of weeks and the liquid is the EXTRACT. I think what is confusing you is that one thing you can do after this process is to instead of throwing away the leaves, you can make a decoction (extracting with water) of it by putting the leaves in water and then letting it simmer (don't rember how the measuring of water works here so search it up as it should affect the strength also). So then what you can do is strain this and mix both the alcohol extract and the decoction extract which means you will have more constituents from the plant, will be stronger in effect (again be careful).

To consume is usually depending on the herb and strength, etc. But it will be something like spoonfulls a few times a day or a couple of mls or drops. Usually herbs have a maximum suggested amount one should take per week or it may not be advisable to br taken for long periods of time so again read up on it and make sure you know what you're doing.

I don't know about smoking Calea z but I know that just the tea can have effects for lucid dreaminng, although I have also heard that it may taste vile and make you want to vomit. Maybe this will be the case for the tincture but that should be easier to take as it is in much smaller quantities. I think inhalation is the only way to "smoke" a liquid but don't think it would work the same way with alcohol extract.

Wish you all the best and hope you enjoy the process. I have said to be carreful various times because I know not to underestimate these plants and wouldn't want something to happen to someone both for your sake but also of herbalism, lucid dreaming. Please share your results when you have them as I would love to hear about them. Can be over pm if you prefer.

Just thought I would also say that there is no need for an external agent for Lucid Dreaming, but of course it is always interesting and helpful in building up the lucid knowledge. So I hope this was somehow helpful despite how vague I was. Dream on!

I still don't understand, how exactly do I evaporate the alcohol from it?
"after one week, strain, pour into a baking pan, allow the alcohol to evaporate, bottle for use."
wouldn't cooking it in a pan give me that goo, like in the resin recipe?
"Allow the stuff to evaporate, and you will be left with a nice disgusting goo. Scrape that stuff into capsules and voila."

The only difference between the 'Resin' and 'Extract' recipe is that he uses a higher percentage of alcohol, isn't it?
I've never made any kind of extract before, it's all new to me.

this guy says:
"I strained it and then let it evaporate in a wide open container until the amount was cut in half"
but there was still alcohol in the mixture since he said "I was instantly buzzed from the everclear ofcourse"

so the only way to get the alcohol out, would be to cook it, right? and then whatever goo-ey stuff is left, should have no alcohol, and alot of potential?
i might just strain out the leaves and drink it like that, i think drinking it with the alcohol will be better then trying to consume goo.

I can't find much about the chemical composition of Calea Z, but I found this:
"Chemical compounds isolated from this species include flavones such as acacetin and sesquiterpene lactones such as germacranolides. The sesquiterpenes known as caleicines and caleochromenes may be active in its effects on sleep."
and somewhere I read that you want to preserve the alkaloids in calea z while drying the leaves.
Are any of those the constituent of the herb? and do you know if they are best water, or alcohol soluble?

I didn't know about decoction, it sounds interesting though, like you really squeeze the leaves for everything its got, i might try it.


Rodrodrod, thanks for the warnings, I've tried calea z before a couple of times, as a tea, and smoking it, seperate and at the same time, always with very mild results.
I'd drink more tea, but the taste is just too awful to drink more than 1 cup, thats why I'd like to try the extract. Get alot of it in quickly. I will ofcourse start with a little to try it out.
I know its not neccesary for lucid dreaming, all of my LDs so far were without any external agent, but calea z gives me very strange dreams and i like experimenting with it.

Thanks for the replies btw guys

Yeah those seem to be some of the constituents or group of constituents. I had a quick look and it seems these are better extracted in high alcohol which may be hard to get a hold of. But at the end of the day it's not necessarily that those constituents cause the sleep effects as there is a greater dynamic and synergy between all of the constituents of the plant that will interact together producing the overall effect, so don't worry too much about NEEDING certain isolated constituents but play around with it. In my studies we always see the whole plant as having a certain action, but modern studies and orthodox medicine are always looking for compounds in isolation which may in fact take away from the overall effect for the sake of control (or the other way around). Every plant will be different in terms of constituent levels and so every extraction too... Yeah a double extraction by decocting as well will certainly give you more of what it has.

So yeah, glad to know you are being cautious, and looking forward to hearing more of your experiences with it. In what way are the dreams strange? I love experimenting with it too but haven't tried Calea z yet.

Ah, well i live in the netherlands, so getting alcohol with 91% shouldn't be too much of a problem haha
I'll try it out with 35 - 40% for now though

That makes sense, although knowing the effects of individual compounds of a plant on the human conscience/body could be useful too, i suppose.
i guess its going to be mostly trial and error since there doesn't seem to be alot of research on calea z yet.

Well, what I find strange about it, is that most of the time my dreams reflect my current waking life (except for the fact that alot of my dreams include PEOPLE from my past), while my calea dreams seem very random, stuff that i've never even considered/thought about/experienced or stuff from my early childhood for example after one calea dream i woke up with a song stuck in my head that I hadn't heard in over 10 years.

Hehehe that's cool then. Yeah it's definitely better at least knowing something about individual compounds than nothing.

hmm that's very interesting, lately this sort of thing has actually happened to me more and more where I seem to have access to deeper and deeper memories I couldn't even remember, and of course I haven't even taken Calea z. Really cool to hear, hope it all goes well and to hear some more!

Sooo I left it in a jar with captain morgan (35%), just because thats what I happened to have in the house, for about 8 days and shook it daily, I've just strained it.
right now it smells like a very strong cough syrup, and tbh it smells pretty good, but it tastes just as horribly bitter as the tea.

I kind of would like to evaporate the alcohol, im leaving it in an open jar in the window sill for now, though the smell is a bit strong
I might try consuming it like it is now if the smell gets to me, maybe as a shot or something, because sipping this would make anyone throw up i think :p
I actually had my longest lucid dream yet last night, so I don't think I'll take it for a couple of days.

I'll post an update here when I've tried it.
anyone got better ideas for evaporating alcohol?

Do people use Captain morgan for this? It would seem that if you cook off the alcohol you are left with a large amount or impurities (falvoroids) in the drink. I'd evaporate the water to a very small drinkable amount. But then what you have is simply enhanced tea. (albeit a bit tastier. haha)

I believe that the goo residu is called a Resin. And is in fact not an extract.

An extract, tpically is where you use (typically) Iso-Alcohol to extract say 10 grams of leafs. And after extracting evaporate this on 1 gram of leaf. That's when you have a 10x etract. I suppose simply powdering the material or putting it in capsules disregards the foul taste of Calea Z.

You can also make a tincture that you put on ur tongue (supposedly not as foul tasting) by using pure alcohol and evaporating to a small amount.

What you can do is make a really strong shot like you say. And just use that.

they are best water, or alcohol soluble?

Remember that store-bought alcohol contains both water and alcohol.
I suppose that these nasty tasting compounds are water-soluble. And less soluble in alcohol. (hopefully)
One might say that the dreaming proponents aren't soluble in alcohol, which means that all extracts work by placebo

You can know for sure by extracting with alcohol and evaporating upon water. If something sinks to the bottem this means that it's non-soluble in water and soluble in alcohol.

Ohh, you can use water and boil into a strong tea and evaporate (carefully, so as not to burn the residue) into a Resin. So you don't have to buy expensive alcohol. Use it in capsules cus it's naasty

I was just going to say that my tutors at where I study often say to patients who don't want to take the alcohol to just put some warm water over the amount they will consume and leave it for a few minutes as the alcohol will evaporate but the constituents won't be lost.

It's sounding good though, especially since you had a lucid dream from it that was highly vivid.

Dthought,
Thanks for the info

Rodrodrod,
I didnt have the lucid dream from drinking the extract, I had it out of nowhere, what I meant was that I didnt feel like drinking extract because I just had a vivid lucid dream.


I tried the extract last night, I should say that I havent slept (well) for 5 days, since the lucid dream, and havent been remembering any dreams
I only drank 3 little sips from it without mixing it with anything, it was all I could manage without throwing up, this stuff is about 3x as bitter as the tea, even if you've drank the tea it's hard to imagine this amount of bitterness hahah
It worked very nice though, I slept well and really long (about 10-11 hours)
When I was laying in bed before i slept I had some very detailed, vivid imagination visuals, only for seconds at a time though.
I remembered a very long dream, at the end of it I died and woke up instantly, then i could get back to sleep really easily which is usually hard for me. the dream sort of continued but in a different setting and it became a half nightmare.
I was very conscious in my dreams, I remember alot of details.
I didnt become lucid but i'm really happy with this result, i'll probably try it again in a few days, maybe i'll try mixing it with some juice or water or something.

A question about this..

Originally Posted by Rodrodrod

just put some warm water over the amount they will consume and leave it for a few minutes as the alcohol will evaporate but the constituents won't be lost.

Could I just put warm/hot water in the jar that my extract is in (which is filled about 1/4) and just have all the alcohol evaporate, or does it only work on small amounts?

I just tried it out, i put a little bit in a glass and poured some hot (not boiling) water over it, then I waited about 30 mins (i kinda forgot about it), then drank it, and i'm tipsy now.
Can you tell me what I did wrong?

Originally Posted by HumanDoing

I just tried it out, i put a little bit in a glass and poured some hot (not boiling) water over it, then I waited about 30 mins (i kinda forgot about it), then drank it, and i'm tipsy now.
Can you tell me what I did wrong?

howd you like the taste?

It's VERY bitter and strong tasting, I don't like it at all :p
I'd tried it before without mixing it, and tbh mixing it with water and juice doesn't make any difference to the bitterness, it only helps a litle for the burning from the alcohol, but when consuming something so extremely bitter, you won't notice the burning anyway.
I got through it fairly quick by imagining it was a sweet juice and closing my nose aha

I have some more questions,
How long does this extract last? appearantly it varies greatly with different herbs.
And how do I extend this time? would, for example, putting it in the refrigerator make it last longer?

Some people keep them in the refrigerator but I think that as long as it's not in direct sunlight just by being in alcohol above 20% it will already last for a long while (at least an year). If you are storing in a dark glass bottle or container at constant temperatures it should last a while. Just give it a shake before you use if you leave it for too long, and obviously smell, taste and see if it looks okay, but it shouldn't be a big problem.

I see about the lucid dream. Interesting experience though. I found that Mugwort made me sleep longer and be able to get back into dreams easier as well.

alright thanks for that

interesting, I'd like to try mugwort too but haven't gotten around to it yet
have you tried any other 'dream enhancing' substances?

Only mugwort really. But I've had significant results with sleeping with an Amethyst gemstone underneath my pillow, inside my pillowcase. Made my dreams really vivid, had many dreams, felt more sleepy, also felt like I was aware throughout the whole night. Like the whole night was in slow motion and it lasted as long as a day. Hard to describe but definitely worth trying. I've even reached lucidity from it as opposed to Mugwort which only got me lucid once. And it wasn't necessarily because of it since there are many variables.

wow cool man, I didn't know about that one yet.
Defenatly going to buy an amethyst gem now, and see what it does for me :p

Ah sorry man, I have never actually tried it myself so I don't really know. That's just what I heard my tutors explain. Try larger quantities of water maybe or don't wait so long. (I really don't know!)

Oh yeah also about the Mugwort, I tried sleeping with a leaf inside my pillow covers and that brought on the effects and a lucid dream too.

no problem, I just found this
Can you remove alcohol from tinctures by adding to boilign water?
appearantly its just a myth :p

and I also found this
"To remove 95% of the alcohol, simmer each dose for 5-8 minutes in 1/3 cup water. Non-metallic pots (such as glass pyrex) are best to prevent oxidation or adverse chemical reactions. Use very low gas flame. Tinctures prepared in this way remain good for five days if refrigerated, or two days otherwise."
which refers to herbal medicine tinctures in general, I'll probably give that a try next time


That's nice about the mugworth, no need to consume it in any way haha
btw I tried out sleeping with an amethyst under my pillow, but it hasnt had any effect on me what so ever (yet?). I did notice that my zodiac sign wasn't in the list of 'signs that would benefit greatly from amethyst', nor in the 'signs that should avoid amethyst'
maybe thats the problem, I dont know I never really took an interest in astrology :p
what kind of amethyst do you use? is it like a jewerly stone or a cluster or something? I have a small cluster

yea.. it tastes like death.

Originally Posted by Raswalt

yea.. it tastes like death.

That's a good way to describe it :p


Rod,
cool thanks for the tips man I'll try it out in meditation, and I'll also read up some more on gemstones and the effect it has on certain star signs, maybe I'll have good results with a stone that matches my sign (Cancer).
I'm also going to order mugwort soon, i'm very curious about it

I see thats good to know.

Yeah and I got effects from the same leaf for a couple of days as well before I decided to bury the crumpled up leaf ceremonially lol.

The amethyst I use is a reasonably sized cluster. Actually amethyst is the birthstone for my sign - Aquarius which is why I was first using it. But my brother also tried using it and had noticeable effects and he'a a Capricorn. Also another thing you can do that made my dream absolutely crazily vivid and powerful was that I used to sometimes just tie the amethyst around my forehead as I was concentrating to do some work or in meditation and then later at night I would end up having very noticeable differences in my dreams. But also with anything try it out, but also don't exhaust it and give a couple of days break, etc.

Hope you can experience it. I think there's an old thread in here about gemstones which might also be interesting to have a look at.