Making and Using Cartridges

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Psychedelic meditation sessions require multiple top-ups, and vape cartridges make this easy, so vape cartridges are by far the best method. Commercial vape cartridges contain other designer drugs instead of 5MeO, so don’t buy them. Make your own cartridges from powder. It is easy, fun, more reliable, and less expensive. See below for the instructions. Light destroys psychedelics, so keep your cartridges in the dark.

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For cartridges, there is no way to know how many milligrams a draw will deliver, so pay attention to how the medicine feels. Be conservative by taking several small draws to reach the desired dose. Purchase a high-quality battery unit with a display to select the precise voltage. Cartridge strength is the percent or ratio of 5MeO to carrier. For example, 250mg in 1.0 ml is 25% or 1:3 strength. A higher voltage will deliver a faster stream of vapor.

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To vape, hold down the power button while inhaling. Inhale the vapor into the lungs, not just the mouth. Then, inhale extra air through the mouth to draw the vapor deep into your lungs. Hold the vapor as long as it is comfortable. The longer you hold the vapor, the more you will absorb. The peak experience will last 5-10 minutes and then tail off for another fifteen minutes. Continue topping up every 2-5 minutes to sustain the peak for as long as desired.

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For those who have never smoked or vaped, screw the cartridge into the battery and practice with the battery turned off. Breathe air from the cartridge in the inactive battery into the lungs for a few seconds and then breathe in extra air through the mouth. Identify the breath lock in the throat and close it. It is the same breath lock used when diving underwater to hold our breath. With the throat breath lock engaged, breathing in or out is impossible, so holding your breath is effortless. See how long you can comfortably hold the breath lock before releasing it.

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For the first time, start with a one-second draw at medium voltage, such as 3.0 volts. Everyone has a different felt sense of how long one, two, or three seconds lasts. Use your phone stopwatch function to time your puffs for the first few sessions. Later, there is no need for a stopwatch, and you can time your puffs by feel.

 

Make Your Own Vape Cartridges

 

You can convert freebase powder into a working vape cartridge in an hour. It will be an hour well spent. You will need a few items.

 

• A vape battery unit with a display for precise voltage control. In 2024, the Yocan Kodo Pro is a good example.

• Order 0.5 ml or 1.0 ml glass vape cartridges. In 2024, CCell TH2 cartridges work well.

• E-liquid carrier can be purchased at a vape store or online. The carrier is a mixture of vegetable glycerine (VG) and propylene glycol (PG). A good ratio is 60% VG / 40% PG. 50/50 and 70/30 also work. It should be flavorless and nicotine-free. If pre-mixed carrier is unavailable, order bottles of VG and PG separately and mix your carrier.

• A milligram scale.

• Order 5.0 ml clear glass screw-cap vials with scale markings.

• Order 1.0 ml blunt needle syringes with a medium or large gauge needle.

• A perfume funnel to pour the powder into the vial.

• Stick-on labels or tape and a marker to label the vials and cartridges.

 

Screw a medium or large gauge needle onto a 1.0 ml syringe so that it will not fall off. Use the 1.0 ml syringe to measure the carrier, not the vial. The vial markings are insufficiently precise. Do not shake vials because air bubbles will make measurements inaccurate. Work with powder over a plate so that spilled powder is easy to recover. To measure the powder, fold a square of aluminum foil in half to make a crease for pouring. Open the foil, place it on the scale, and press the tare button to zero the reading. Cut the labels small so that they do not obscure the contents. It can be helpful to drill a hole in a piece of wood to hold the cartridges upright while filling them.

 

If you have a pre-mixed carrier, squirt the carrier into a vial and label it correctly, for example "60VG/40PG".

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If you mix your carrier, fill one vial with VG and label it "VG." Fill another vial with PG and label it "PG." Use the syringe to measure 3.0 ml of VG into an empty vial, measure 2.0 ml of PG into the same vial, and label it "60VG/40PG". Stir with a syringe until it is clear of any density variations. Check for density variations by tilting the vial on its side and holding it up to a bright light while gently rocking it. Density variations will appear as thin hairs or cloudiness.

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1:3 strength cartridges work well for small and large doses depending on the battery voltage and seconds of draw. To make a single 1.0 ml cartridge, pour 250 mg of 5MeO freebase powder through the funnel into a vial. Use the syringe to add 0.75 ml of carrier. Close the top and label it "1:3".

Place the 1:3 vial in a plastic bag to keep it dry. Water is not compatible with the carrier. Pour boiling water into a bowl and immerse the covered vial in the bowl to heat it. Rock the vial back and forth to dissolve the freebase entirely into the carrier.

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After the solids have dissolved, different densities of the carrier will be visible. Check for density variations by tilting the vial on its side and holding it up to a bright light while gently rocking it. Density variations will appear as color differences, thin hairs, or cloudiness. Keep rocking the vial or stirring with a syringe until the carrier has uniform density and no cloudiness.

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Unscrew the mouthpiece from the cartridge. You will see a glass cylinder with a metal tube in the center. Do not put the mixture in the metal vapor tube. Insert the syringe between the metal tube and the glass cylinder and position the end of the syringe at the bottom of the glass cylinder. Fill the glass cylinder slowly and gently to avoid making bubbles until it is no more than 90% full. Screw on the mouthpiece, label it "1:3", and it is ready to go.

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Mix one gram of 5MeO with 3 ml of carrier to make four 1:3 cartridges. Do not reuse cartridges, as they will accumulate residue and leak. If a cartridge seems weaker toward the end due to residue buildup, turn up the battery voltage.