I got ‘em switched over last week. Not that that fixes it but just so you know what to expect.
3 Likes
I saw Chino post that actually ya. Their other guy was telling me about the benzene popping up the other day.
4 Likes
I haven’t seen this chalk issue either just the weird shapes. I could get some of the chalked up ones under a SEM to look for more clues if you got some left over
10 Likes
Have you harvested the odd shapes yet
1 Like
IMO this whole issue is based on hearsay and incomplete/inconsistent information.
I feel you on the frustration about this issue, I have had it too, but you all have seriously jumped the gun by blaming the gas companies for this without having proper evidence.
It doesn’t help that now all the gas companies smell blood in the water and are jockeying to be the golden boy who rises up and gets your business.
To me it’s incredible that you all are getting this hyped up, including talking about suing (LOL) and planning a media event around this issue without a single one of you actually getting your gas tested independently and on it’s own.
Do you not see the huge gap in logic between making hash, then testing hash and then blaming gas suppliers for what’s found in the hash without an independent test of the gas on its own?
I believe butane/propane and benzene are very easy to separate via distillation. This is dead easy for the gas suppliers to do and I generally believe they are not sending out benzene contaminated gas.
The issue with THCgas/Cortland from awhile back with the garlic smell is a completely different issue. I’m sure on occasion other things have happened as well.
I don’t think co distillation is an issue. You guys are giving that too much credit here. The BPs of these compounds are very far apart. I am not finding any evidence of azeotropes forming with butane and benzene either.
Doing your own controlled distillation before adding gas to your system would be very effective at removing any minor residual benzene from butane/propane if there were any.
I agree with Phil’s statements below although I believe the incoming gas will be found to be mostly clean once you guys actually start testing it:
4 Likes
I believe Wolfe is correct here and I think this is the root cause of or at least a major contributor to this issue.
I have also experienced this exact thing before with both benzene and acetone showing up in crazy amounts in cannabis lab tests.
I have also heard Dr. Mark Scialdone (@DrMark) who is a PhD organic chemist mention pretty much this exact same issue on Hashchurch.
Think about it, how does a GCMS work? I am no expert but what I do know is for the machine to analyze a gas, it must vaporize the sample first. Then it tests what compounds are in the vapor.
I believe that when you inject and vaporize a mixture of compounds that contain benzene rings at the temps used in GCMS (I’m not sure but I think it’s 300-500F, or 150-260C in most GCs) you will no doubt see benzene show up in random and varying amounts due to thermal degradation.
You would expect these test results to be somewhat inconsistent based on the different makeups of the various hash batches you send through the machine, just like you guys have been noticing.
Here are some quotes in support of what I’m saying:
I’m not trying to call you guys out, I’m just trying to illustrate the inconsistency of this issue and help us solve it.
Keep in mind, each batch of hash you make is distilling your solvent. If you distilled the solvent before you added it to your system and you STILL had some minor benzene present it would stay with the first batch of hash you make and you would not continue to see it in successive batches unless it was popping due to the thermal breakdown of the aromatic compounds in the hash itself during vaporization in preparation for GC testing.
The fact that you’re seeing a difference in benzene of 4x (2ppm vs. 8ppm) between different consistencies of hash also raises some flags that this might not be due to solvent contamination.
3 Likes
I have been going through the old Hashchurch episodes trying to find one of the clips where you talk about what kind of chemistry can happen at the heated GC injection port but for the life of me I can’t find it. There is just too much content to go through.
I remember you saying that both at the heated GC port and on the hot dabbing nail lots of chemistry can happen. The result being that what you put on the nail can be very different from what’s in the vapor you inhale.
I am not trying to drag you into this issue or asking you to weigh in (unless you want to) but I believe this scrambling of compounds that happens at the hot injection port has something to do with this benzene issue.
Would you mind explaining here when/if you get time?
Also, I believe most people think these analyzers just spit out a list of what’s in the sample but in reality there is actually a lot of interpretation of the results that goes on by the analytical chemist. Is that true? That could also be a major factor at play here.
Would an analyical chemist ever think something like “Well I’m getting set to test cannabis oil samples with my GCMS. I know ahead of time this sample contains light aromatic compounds. Due to the heated port some of these aromatic compounds might break down therefore any benzene results I detect may by erroneous and should be ignored even if there’s a peak.”?
I remember I had a sample test very hot for acetone once. I told the analyst that I didn’t use any acetone. They said something shadowy about plants producing it naturally then did a retest with no acetone shown. LOL.
2 Likes
so you think its just a bunch of labs all of a sudden having issues with benzene popping? New lab techs? But at multiple labs across multiple states? That is the odd part. I still have not seen benzene issues at mine but having gas act very different than it has in my years of extracting.
8 Likes
Definitely the solvent
Switched suppliers and no more benzene 
8 Likes
Right. Common sense says to look at the common denominator. The only common denominator here going across this many state lines would be the hydrocarbon supply chain.
5 Likes
Oh cmon. Surely we can point out some other clear lines in the sand…
1 Like
Before and after 
1 Like
Diamonds still growing strange af but benzene free with THC gas so that is a huge step in the right direction.
4 Likes
^___^ definitely cool seeing so many give insight on consumables coming together. Hope to add to the ongoing conversation soon
Similar to CRC, couldn’t you just run your butane through something like activated carbon to cleanup the gas right before you send to the collection pot during your distillation?
4 Likes
This post was flagged by the community and is temporarily hidden.
1 Like
Let’s talk about this in Vegas for sure!
1 Like
Have your technician try it and share with us how it goes….
There are molecular selecting polymers that do this. I’m saying it wrong, but yes, it’s a filtration method.
2 Likes
What if all these guys just want something and someone to blame for their negligent accounts ? What if they are using any excuse to not pay their bills?
2 Likes