1 thing I found is empty stomach doesn't make it go any faster or be stronger. If I eat just a single 5 or 10mg gummy and then eat afterwards, it speeds things up, and may actually feel stronger. Fatty foods seem to work better for that.
As far as buying an iron to try shit out, save your money and do it right. You are having failures with tried and true methods. I'd quit trying to reinvent the wheel and figure out what's wrong.
If your oven is really inconsistent, look into the silicone boxes with thermometer that goes in the oven. It should be able to help regulate the temp much easier since it's a smaller space. Magical Butter has one for instance.
I wondered about that. When I drink kava it ALWAYS has to be on an empty stomach at first, but sometimes, if I drink kava and am not feeling it, if I eat food afterwards it hits me pretty HARD, and it is always stronger at that time than when I remain fasted.
A gas oven, at high altitude, in an arid climate is not doing it for me. I am not getting a RANGE of failures, I am getting COMPLETE failures. That is, if I wait two hours and don't feel anything, and then do it again, I am STILL feeling nothing. It isn't "weak" it just might as well be parsley.
I used an oven thermometer, everything I did was in spec and I checked many times during the heating, to see if the temperature fluctuated. And this is not working at all.
An iron is electric, it is designed specifically to transfer heat directly from one surface to another at a very precise temperature. I have said of myself several times "I wish I had some hands on trainng so I didn't have to re-invent the wheel." This is simply removing any variable that might have interfered with the process. I frankly can not think of a single device costing less than hundreds of dollars for lab equipment, that can so accurately and directly apply heat to the desired surface. Plus I remembered that some people iron kief to make hash, so this isn't exactly a brand new idea.
The problem is I'm doing everything according to instructions, controlling for all variables, and still failing. Visual cues, smell cues, and real time dialog are the things I am missing because I can't find anyone to actually come over and make a batch in my kitchen.
Asking questions on forums, is
VERY helpful, but I am still having to do this by trial and error.
I am a pretty self taught guy, I experiment a lot. DIY has been my answer to everything unaffordable in life. I became a naturalist because when I left mom and dad at the age of 18 I realized I didn't live in Denmark and would have to pay out the ass every time I needed to see a doctor. I'm not new to kitchen chemistry, in fact 20 years ago I used to make strong cannabis tinctures. I've performed extractions, separations, oxidations, reductions, and simple kitchen synths of dozens of substances over the course of 30 years-- THC is the BIGGEST frustration I have ever experienced. I can normally crack tough stuff on my own, without asking any question in 3 test batches of whatever I'm cooking up or less. I have never in my life experienced anything like this. decarboxilization is hands down the most simple of all chemical reactions to conduct. I should have at the very least cooked up something that demonstrated a GRADE of failure rather than completely and utterly failing at every single batch.
The WIDE VARIATION of times and temperatures recommended tells me that if I fail, I should NOT fail 100%. I should have gotten at least one batch by now that gave me a teensy buzz after eating a few GRAMS worth of weed!!!!!
Truly this is mind blowing, how badly I have been failing. My next appointment with my sinus doctor is in October and when she asks me if I had switched to edibles, I'm going to tell her all of this.
OR
Who knows. Maybe in a couple of hours P5P tech will work. Maybe there's a mold culture in my closet that ferments THC into a form as strong as LSD... wouldn't that be wild? stranger things have happened. LOTS of discoveries were made by apes who didn't know what they were doing tinkering with failed formulas over and over again.
In any case, I don't intend to stop experimenting.
There's a person who decarboxilates C5H6N2O4----------> C4H6N2O2 using YOGURT.
That's worth 1/2 a gram of weed and a few days to a week to find out if it works!
Not relying on it, understand, just an experiment. I can use hydrogen peroxide to oxidize C10H15NO ---------->C9H11NO
but if I applied the same method to safrole I would absolutely NOT get C10H10O2 -----------> C11H15NO2
I use the formulas because not too sure on this forum's rules regarding mentioning things other than cannabis.
Anyway I just filled three gelcaps with Weed + P5P that's been stewing away for a week and downed them. If it works I'll be really happy and won't have to slog on so much with trial and error.
The main feedback I am looking for is an explanation why I am failing. So keep those comments coming, if you can guess why. I utterly and absolutely cannot. I am mystified. Saying maybe I'm under a curse or in a parallel universe is just the natural way anyone would respond seeing themselves fail at something most people can do right away without any outside instruction. I don't want to put my weed in a god damned gas oven in the Chihuahuan Desert ever again!!!!!
or 
