How to Make BHO (Butane Hash Oil) aka Honey Oil

To me, there's nothing better than really good hash oil. It's potent, super concentrated, and VERY little is required to appropriately medicate yourself. Unfortunately, hash oil is expensive, even here in Denver - America's current marijuana HQ. A gram of quality oil can cost anywhere from $30-$50, and I can only imagine it's a lot more in states that are not quite as progressive as Colorado.

So what is hash oil, exactly, and why is it so damn expensive? According to WikiPedia, hash oil, or honey oil, is an evaporated solution of THC and other various active compounds produced by a solvent extraction of cannabis. Basically, it's all the goodness of cannabis extracted, and concentrated to a thick oil. Most commercial grow operations produce this oil with the trimmings and shake from buds being prepared for retail sale. Quality trimmings are plentiful in such a production facility; it's another source of revenue from the plant they already grew and sold. It takes 1 ounce of high-quality shake and trimmings to produce between 4-6g of oil. In other words, a whole lot of plant material is needed to produce a small quantity of oil. That's why it's so expensive.

Sick and tired of paying these obscene prices for this coveted product, I decided to make my own! If you want to follow along, here's a list of the supplies you'll need:

• 1 (one) ounce of 100% DRY high-grade shake or trim.
• 1 (one) 300ML/10oz can Butane (MUST be 5x filtered / near zero impurities). You may be able to find this at a quality tobacco/smoke shop, but Amazon likely has exactly what you need for the lowest cost.
• Honey Bee Extractor
• Pyrex 2qt Baking Dish
• Razor Blades
• Small glass or plastic jar (to store the finished oil).

 

How it should look after grinding.

The first thing you need to do is grind up the dried herb. I use a coffee bean grinder, but you can use a normal cannabis grinder, scissors, or even a Cuisinart. You want it evenly ground but coarse, like you'd use to roll a joint or blunt. 

Extractor tube is packed.

Take the cap off your Honey Bee Extractor and fill it with the ground herb. You want to avoid air pockets, but you don't want it packed too tight either. To achieve this balance, pour a few grams into the extraction tube then lightly pack it down with a magic marker or pencil (eraser end). Add some more weed and repeat this process until the entire ounce of cannabis is packed into the tube.

Don't be fooled - the extractor tube will hold exactly 28g of dried, ground marijuana when packed as directed!

Packed, capped, and ready!

Place a round filter (included with Honey Bee Extractor) into the extractor cap and screw the cap, tightly, onto the end of the tube.

This is not my pic (only 2 hands).

If you've gotten this far and you're still indoors, it's time to move the operation outside. Butane is an extremely flammable gas, and not something you want to inhale. A garage with the door open will be fine, as will a patio or deck. Your goal: Keep away from all flames and sparks, and make sure there's plenty of ventilation. Set your (clean) Pyrex dish on a flat surface or table. With one hand, hold the Honey Bee Extractor, vertically, with the end-cap facing down over the Pyrex dish. With your other hand, insert the tip of the can of butane into the small hole at the top of the extractor tube. Holding the extractor tube approximately 5-6" above the bottom of the dish, firmly press the butane can down, releasing the butane into the extractor tube. After a few seconds, the butane will begin to flow out the bottom of the end-cap into the Pyrex dish. When the can is empty (you'll know), continue holding the can tightly for another 15-20 seconds so the entirety of the butane is pushed out into the dish.

What you've got once the can is empty.

Set aside the extractor tube and empty butane can. Your Pyrex dish should now be filled with a translucent, golden liquid.

Butane evaporates, leaving the honey oil in the dish.

Butane has a very low boiling point, and this bubbling reaction is a result of the butane boiling and evaporating away. As it does, the coveted, pure honey oil is left in the Pyrex dish.

45min later, nearly all the butane has evaporated.

At room temperature, it will take about 24 hours to completely evaporate all the butane. You can speed this process along by placing the Pyrex dish into a larger dish or basin of warm water (<100°F). You'll have to replace the warm water about every 15min, because it cools, but doing so will evaporate all of the butane in just 1 hour, as opposed to 1 day. After an hour has passed, you can use a needle or pin (metal) to pop the remaining small bubbles. This will release any trapped, residual butane.





Now, using a razor blade, scrape the thick, putty-like oil from the dish and place it into your storage container.

The finished product - pure BHO (Butane Hash Oil).

If you decide to make it yourself, understand that the quality and quantity of oil you get depends on the quality of the cannabis you're starting with. Here's a little chart to give you an idea of what you can expect from 1(one) ounce of different grades of cannabis shake & trim:

• High-grade (>15% THC) >> 4-6g oil
• Mid-grade (10-15% THC) >> 3-5g oil
• Low-grade (<10% THC) >> 2-4g oil

My extraction project yielded a total of 6.8g of hash oil from the original 28g of high-grade shake & trim. And as for quality, I can honestly say that what I've produced is as good, if not better, than any commercially-produced hash oil I've ever bought from a medical dispensary. It's fire! 

Using a VPN to browse securely, and protect your privacy

With all the recent attention on Internet privacy and unwanted surveillance, more and more people are asking what they can do to protect themselves and their data. While there is no single solution to the problem of on-line security, there is one easy thing anyone can do to drastically improve their security - use a VPN.

What is a VPN?

A VPN, or Virtual Private Network, is a private, encrypted virtual layer that operates on top of the Internet; It allows you to create a secure connection to another network(VPN host) over the Internet. Once this tunnel connection between your computer(or phone/tablet) and VPN host is made, all of your incoming/outgoing Internet traffic(data) will be sent through the encrypted tunnel, to/from the VPN host. The VPN host then routes your data accordingly. 

Why do you need a VPN?

The Internet is becoming more ubiquitous everyday. For many people, the Internet is where they do their banking, engage in confidential conversations, and spend a good deal of time browsing. More and more personal, private information about us is available to hackers, digital eavesdroppers, advertising & marketing firms, law enforcement, and the Government. 

Consider when you go to the coffee shop, and use their WiFi to connect while you enjoy your latte. Typically, these WiFi networks are public(unencrypted), using store-bought routers with default security settings. This means that, to anyone with a minimal set technical skill (and I do mean 'minimal'), all your traffic(data) can be easily intercepted. It could be a confidential business email, personal communication, or even bank & credit card information. Anyone with a laptop, and one or two freely available software tools can sit in a coffee shop intercepting the unencrypted traffic of all the other customers. This happens everyday.

In the coffee shop scenario, a VPN is the perfect solution. Upon connecting to CoffeeNET (or whatever their network name is), you immediately activate your VPN connection. Now, all your data and traffic is encrypted before it ever leaves your computer, then travels to the VPN host where it gets decrypted and routed. Any incoming data or traffic first goes to the VPN host where it is encrypted before being routed to your computer. In other words, you have full bi-directional encryption. Anyone attempting to snoop, or intercept your traffic will only get blocks of encrypted data; unreadable and unusable.

But, there's more! Most Internet users are aware that their computer(or phone/tablet) has an address assigned to it on the Internet; the IP address. This address is completely unique to your computer, and is used as an identifier in the TPC/IP network stack. Websites use this address to track your usage, determine where you are located, what Internet service you use, and more. For all intents and purposes, this IP address can be used to track all of your activity on the Internet, as well as identify where you are physically located. Once again, our VPN solves the problem. When you connect to the VPN host, your public IP gets changed to the IP of the VPN host. This makes it impossible for would-be snoops to determine where you are physically located, since their efforts would only lead them to the door of the VPN host. It also prevents any browsing activity to be linked back to your computer.

Sounds Great! What Now?

If you're ready to protect your privacy, you need to select a VPN host to provide the VPN service. Google will show you many choices, so here's a few considerations:

• Logging: Does the provider maintain customer usage logs? You're using a VPN to protect your privacy, so using a VPN that keeps usage logs defeats the purpose. NO LOGS!
  
• Exit Points: The exit point is the physical location your traffic is routed to and from. If you are trying to access sites that use geographic blocking (eg. prevent access to users of some countries), you want an exit point in an unrestricted country/area. The exit location is also where your IP address will track back to. For US users seeking the most unrestricted and protected browsing, you want a VPN host that has exit nodes in countries that value on-line privacy; Sweden, Iceland, Netherlands, etc.
  
• Cost: In one way or another, you're already paying for Internet access. Nobody wants another big bill to deal with for basic encryption and routing service. The prices can widely vary from provider to provider. Don't be dazzled by pretty images and costly add-ons. More money will not get you better protection. Depending on the provider, you should expect to pay no more than $5-$8 month. 

PrivacyIO

If you want a fantastic VPN host without having to do all the homework, don't worry! I've already done the research and have found, what I feel, is the best all-around VPN service.

PrivacyIO is an off-shore VPN provider with exit points in Sweden and Amsterdam. They assign random IP addresses, encrypt all Internet traffic/data, and keep no logs. Two different industry-standard VPN protocols are offered - pptp (Point to Point Tunneling Protocol), and OpenVPN - resulting in compatibility with virtually every computer, smartphone, and tablet. There are easy setup guides for Windows, Mac, and Linux on their site. Best of all is the price. 6 months of service is only $35 (about $0.19/day).

Don't wait for something awful to happen to you because your privacy, credit, or identity was compromised. You can be secured and protected in less than 15 minutes. >> Protect my privacy now!

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