Hi, I've been busy. I was working on the perfected yew tincture, and after several trials and errors, I managed to figure it out and suceed. By "perfected", I mean to make a concentrated extract at less volume. Far easier to do than I once thought it would be, and unlike I anticipated, ethyl acetate is likely not needed. Pretty much what you'll need are a few of 1-liter mason jars, some filter, dropper bottle, powder (starch, calcium carbonate, flour, etc.), 1/2 - 1litre of pure rubbing alcohol, some drinking alcohol (or vinegar if you can't consume alcohol), non polar petroleum solvent, wide glass container, maybe nitrile gloves for NP solvent, sodium carbonate (washing soda), distilled water.
1: Clean the leaves
2: Dry them in an oven at a temperature of up to 85 Celsius (185,°F) and grind down to a powder both to reduce volume and increase surface area.
3: Place the grounded herb in a mason jar and cover completely with a low-boiling petroleum solvent (100% VM&P Naphtha,Heptane, Hexane, etc.). And cap the jar, perhaps with aluminium foil underneath to prevent leakage. The solvent should be four times the volume of the herb as with all the aforementioned solvents you'll be using.
4: Leave the mixture for a day in a cold, dark place for 24 hours, shaking often at a duration of a few minutes.) Percolate and discard the extract. Liquid only contains mostly oils, waxes, ephedrine (perhaps), and other compounds that’ll impede the taxine and make you sick. The solvent itself is also toxic.
5: Repeat steps 3 and 4 at least once. And take the herb and set it on a flat tray or something.
6: Let it dry.
7: Once dried, put the herb in another mason jar and mix in some washing soda (sodium carbonate) at equal mass.
8: Prepare some boiling water and cover. Immediately, you'll notice rust-colored foam coming out of the liquid. That would be the reaction of tannins turning into salts, which makes them very water-soluble. This also turns alkaloids into freebases, ideally taxine. And since freebase ephedrine is soluble in water, and not taxine, you'll have essentially pure taxine. Let it sit for at least 45 minutes agitating occasionally in a hot water bath.
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