
Graywolf
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The easiest reply is the most honest one which is that I do not know.
I do know that I've been warned against using things like everclear in extractions by people much more qualified to warn someone about such things. I'm simply passing on the concern they had for me at the time. This includes my organic professor, as well as some amateur (if you can call them that) chemists at sciencemadness.
In terms of health safety/pyrolysis products--I didn't meant to postulate that these are concrete possibilities insomuch as they need to be avoided in a specific way. I was only conjecturing that without the full story, the workings of chemistry can be pretty complex. It's really very important to know EXACTLY what you have, and perhaps more importantly what you don't have--especially if you're going to be smoking it which is inherently unhealthy. Fire can break bonds, so my suggestion is that we should know what bonds exists to be broken in something before we smoke it.
If you're really interested, I'd ask you to check the specific gravity of everclear as I suspect this would be very telling. I don't have the required apparatus/don't want to build one. Just going to take my professor at his word for the moment :)
Edit:
It is my understanding that there are additives which control rate of evaporation/vapor pressure. Despite them not being necessary, I wouldn't be surprised to find that preservatives are also added.
The most precise information I can find is that everclear is "relatively low" in congeners--which of course isn't very precise at all. These can include: acetaldehydes, ketones, and higher alcohols.
If you want a bit of a scare, acetone can be pyrolyzed to ketene (although the temperature required is a bit high--it is not outside of the range of a Bic lighter)--and this is some nasty, nasty stuff. If you don't like benzene, you certainly won't like this.
if ketene is present in ethanol, even more side reactions--and side reactions of side reactions--can occur. This is the nature of organic synthesis. Trace amounts or not, it may only take one molecule that doesn't belong to cause cancer--I don't mean to be overly dramatic, as there are likely similar problems with chemical supply all over the world, but this is definitely something to think about.
Relatively low could mean ppb scale, but I'm not sure. I am merely coming from a place of "the right tool for the job". This tool might work, but it's a rusty hand-powered version of the correct one in my opinion.
There is little question that it is a legitimate point at some level and for some processes. My question is whether it applies in this case.
For instance it would be even worse to use an ultrapure 200 proof, that was dried using benzene.
It would also be problematic trying to use food grade 190 proof ethanol in an HPLC, because its signature is unknown.
Given my engineer's propensity to lean toward Occam's razor, I wonder why it would be necessary to control the vapor pressure of drinking ethanol, or why it would need any preservatives.
A compound refluxing still at atmospheric pressure has a predictable temperature curve, with convenient cutoff points to separate the 190 proof azeotropic distillate from the heads and tails containing the preponderance of the cogens.
It is a fine point, and I am open to further consideration, but don't think the professor's admonitions are applicable in this application.
Any thoughts from the rest of ya'll chemical professionals?