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I did not belive for a second that was the actual title of where this came from but it fucking is and i can not stop laughing. Its really is just called "Gordon Ramsay on Cocaine".
E: for those that don't believe
https://m.imdb.com/title/tt7440620/
Despite his stage persona, Gordon Ramsey is, by his coworkers and friends, considered a really good dude with a wicked sense of humor. He knew what he was doing.
Iv worked with him a couple of times. And I can confirm that. He's a very friendly dude, so much I got cock blocked by him. I was talking to a chick on set and sure enough he comes over and get in our conversation. Ha he's nothing like on TV and he's a great father. His kids would be on set sometimes as he worked. Or his first kid this was a number of years ago.
Re-commenting without links since my other one got deleted.
I think the other commenter is incorrect on it being a series. The cocaine clip looks to be from a 2-part documentary literally called *Gordon Ramsay on Cocaine*.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Ramsay_on_Cocaine
The shark fin thing also looks like a special, this one called *Gordon Ramsay: Shark Bait*.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3121886/
I found Shark Bait on Youtube, and the cocaine doc is on Amazon Prime(needs Discovery Plus, but you can do the 7 day free trial and then drop it).
They actually do tours in Medellin. I thought it would be super sketchy, and oh boy was it. The people were really nice but you’re in the middle of a fucking jungle. I would definitely do it again though.
It’s a field trip into the jungle surrounding Medellin. Again, it was sketchy and I’m pretty sure they were ex FARC. Yes you get to sample the product.
The interactive 'snitches get stitches' exhibit was great for the kids but you gotta get a poncho; especially once they start teaching the kids how to use the various tools of the trade.
I didn’t do it. I have an addictive personality. I drank beers with the workers (two guys), it was a small operation. My friends tried it. One loved it and the other fucking hated it, said it was too strong. The one who didn’t like it got super fucking sweaty and he said his heart was racing.
The funny thing is that the coca plant is fantastically useful. Coca tea tastes great. It's a popular candy flavor in Peru. It's a pleasant, long lasting stimulant similar to strong black tea. It's great for an upset stomach, traveler sickness, or altitude sickness, which is why a lot of travel advice to places like Peru will say "as soon as you get there, drink the coca tea, but remember to not take any home or you'll go to prison forever." Love that stuff. I also wish I had some of those plants, but so I could make regular tea.
you can absolutely take the candies and tea home to the US. Customs didn't give a crap about the 10 little candies I had. Because honestly, what are you going to do with 10 coca candies and a pack of tea?
The tea and candies also didnt do much for me at altitude, but I also had a weird reaction to les oxygen. Lower BPM by like 20-30 (hanging around 40 resting and 50 while heavily walking), but no feeling faint or out of it or tired at all.
Also fun fact, Cusco is higher elevation than Machu Picchu, so if you get to Cusco and feel fine, you should be alright for anything else (unless you do the trips in cusco into the mountains. Our native peruvian friend started losing it on one of those. Had to suck some air out of a can - which they sell btw. Maybe worth it)
edit: completely unrelated, but if you go to peru, see if you can visit huamangia which is in the mountains and they dont see many tourists like ever... like in their entire history. Real dose of perspective and they think all Americans can sing. We unfortunately had to disappoint.
Cusco is higher, but Machu Picchu is a bunch of stairs. You might feel fine standing around at high altitude, but if you start walking up and down staircases, you can quickly find yourself short of breath like you've been doing hard labor.
And thanks, no, I'm well aware that I could probably sneak some coca seeds or some coca candy home without anyone knowing, but it ain't worth the risk, man. It's just nice tea. There're lots of nice teas that don't come with a small risk of big legal trouble.
I am not sure if you checked laws (I did not). Please don't encourage people to bring potentially illegal substances across international borders if your only data point is that once customs did not care.
I have a brother in law that’s a marine and he visited his dad who’s an expat in Peru. They went out to eat and the dad urged him to have the tea but he was concerned about coming up on a drug test when he got back to base. The dad said it won’t come up and it’s not like that. He tested positive when he got back to base. (He was able to sort it out with the military somehow)
Yep, and you have to process so much of it for a tiny amount. It's not worth it unless you are able to grow lots and profit lots, few of many reasons why it's almost (if not all) shipped in
I was literally telling my husband as I was watching the video, damn I didn’t know that’s how cocaine is made. I’ve never done it. He has. As I’m listing the ingredients off, he’s like I don’t think that’s how it’s made. And then I’m like and now Gordon Ramsey has appeared. And he’s explaining what’s happening and how raw it as. At this point, it just probably seems like a weird mushroom trip to him.
"Concrete powder" also known as lime/quicklime.
"Gasoline" or literally just any non-polar organic solvent will do. Gasoline is cheap and virtually unregulated, and in South American countries doesn't have all of the horrifying anti-knocking additives like "[Techron](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Techron)," metallocenes, etc. you find in American and European fuel to meet regulations and condition engines.
"Battery acid" is just hydrochloric acid (or sometimes but rarely now known as muriatic acid). It's one of the most commonly used acids, along with sulfuric acid (another common battery acid). It's everywhere.
The general state of chemistry education is... kinda sad, it seems.
None of those things are in the final product (if done corrrctly,) it's just chemistry. Most medicines/drugs/chemicals you consume is going to have gone through a similar process, including many benign things.
I feel like I'd be much more comfortable taking drugs made using a lab-grade solvent in a chemical hood than something made with gasoline in the back of a truck in a jungle. Like, what is the quality control for that?
This process isn’t something that was invented specifically for cocaine. These types of extractions have existed for a very long time. Essentially, the polar SO4^2- salt is formed when the cocaine in the plant comes into contact with sulfuric acid (HCl is used in pharmaceutical cocaine but sulfuric battery acid is more available for jungle labs). After using gasoline to extract and discard nonpolar contaminants, the alkaline is added and turns the cocaine basic and nonpolar, therefore precipitating it out of water (a polar solvent).
It didn’t require someone to “invent” the process, rather someone with okay knowledge in chemistry to tell someone else what needs to happen.
Dumb question, but does this process get all of the added chemicals out of the final product, or neutralize them somehow? Or are you also snorting little bits of battery acid?
Depends on the solvents used in the extraction protocol as the other comments have stated, but you'll always likely have some impurities, possibly down to the picogram.
That was because it was a TV show and the premise was only _he_ could do something that any chem major could easily do.
The non asshole answer is yes, but again anyone with the knowledge and resources could make a product that's 99.999_ pure.
Well his problem wasn't only extraction, but also the reagents used in the chemical process. You can use two different reagents to react with a specific chemical and get totally different yields of the same product. That was the whole point of the methylamine episode, although the blue color and higher potency was a surprise to him, pointing to the fact that he knew the reaction mechanisms but not the favorability or exact outcome of all yields.
You pretty much got the answer just wanted to add that almost every drug you ever had is not 100% pure even if you don't count the delivery device (things like gelatin capsules). Though because of how chemists measure things, it can be reported as 103% pure. And even if you had a 100% pure drug, it's going to degrade ever so slightly before it gets to you. Every drug released on the US market has to have part of the batch put on a study where they test it 1month, 3months etc till 2-6 years later so the company needs to save enough for all those tests. If they make it 20x then it has to have 20 studies. Which is very slightly what adds to the cost of pharma drugs.
The battery acid doesn't dissolve in the gasoline. And the stuff that does isn't soluble in water once the final acid is added. This process is essentially two acid base reactions, three if you count the original plant acids. The plant material is softened with an acid, basified, dissolved in gas, acidified, dissolved in water and precipitated with a base before Finally being acidified again with HCl, which is evaporated off.
The beauty of alkaloids, is that when extracted using an acid base extraction, you get a reasonably pure result. This is because they all have a negative nitrogen end, and a slightly positive end to them. They will take and give acids up quite freely at the appropriate pkh's.
It’s still baffling, like who would’ve thought to say let’s put cement powder here and ~~dowse~~ douse in gasoline there. For safety measures, let’s inject battery acid. bingo bango and bobs your uncle
I work in dialysis now and i often think ‘who were the tweakers that came up with this shit’. I feel like science is … just walking a VERY fine line of madness.
Reminds me of the experiment where the scientist kept a dog’s head alive, attached a second monkey head to another monkey’s body. Were they unethical, maybe. But it laid the ground work for spinal surgeons
It probably started with more pure chemicals and chemistry calculations. Then they figured out the main ingredients in these common household items are pretty close to the expensive and harder to get professional chemicals so they switched to cement powder, and gasoline
It’s this exactly. I believe it’s the lime(calcium hydroxide) that is found in cement that interacts with coca leaves. The synthesis was discovered long ago and then the cartel’s chemist told them what household items could be used for the extraction. This would be a cake walk to make in a lab.
Yeah, indigenous civilisations in South America figured out that mixing crushed up shells (ie a natural source of lime) with coca leaves made for a great way to help them keep going for hours and hours without a break. Chemistry then allowed cartels to make the process more efficient and scalable.
It’s just using acid, a base, and a solvent to extract something. The process would have been well known and used for plenty of other chemical applications well before being used for cocaine.
Basically the process isn’t cocaine specific, it’s used tons of other ways.
It’s like how hydroponics can be used to grow weed but the concept of hydroponics existed prior to its application to growing weed.
This is a bushleague way to make coke based on what's lying around. This is a big scale jimmy rigging of what would be a laboratory extraction process otherwise. Bases, acids, solvents, solutions, precipitates, etc.
I think you're over estimating how most cocaine is manufactured. That being said, cartels hire engineering majors straight out of college and their submarine technology has advanced significantly over the last couple of decades.
It's big business and it's one of if not *the* most lucrative industry in the world, but the bulk of it is not being produced in hightech labs. Most will have a tarp for a roof like this. It's processed near to where it's grown, and like with weed in Humboldt, growers have been pushed to the periphery of regulated areas.
It's cheaper and more efficient to ship a base product than to ship the bulk of the plant matter, so while after leaving this site there will be further refinement, and ultimately adulteration of the end product, this video is demonstrative of the settings that cocaine is produced in.
As an aside, cocaine is industrially extracted on a large scale to make cocoa leaves legal to import for various reasons, including extracts for Coca Cola.
I'm sure the highly refined byproduct of that process absolutely does not find its way into the black market. At all. No way Jose.
I wasn't implying that this was uncommon. I meant that this isn't how it was discovered or isolated and that this is a very crude way of processing it. Neimann wasn't likely using gasoline and a weed wacker when he first extracted cocaine.
In this world, egineers and chemists tell us how to do stuff, and we do what they say how they say it. A bunch of farmers didn't suddenly come up with the idea to mix a potion with portland cement and battery acid to make blow.
I'm not the person you responded to, but you're right. The extraction process was discovered in a lab, and then drug scientists must have figured out the cheapest way to make it in the field using easily available reactants and solvents. This shit was legally produced and could be purchased without a prescription in the US before 1914. The process was known after it was first isolated by a German chemist in 1855.
Chemist here. They’re essentially just doing an organic extraction with the gasoline, making the sulfate salt with battery acid, then neutralizing with sodium bicarbonate, which crashes the organic acid out of the water. It’s all very standard chemical purification methods utilizing very cheap materials.
Edit: changed HCl salt to sulfate salt because I forgot what battery acid was made of.
yeah he did lol. although he won’t get high but you certainly can smoke it with tobacco or cannabis, in latin america there is trend for smoking paste. the next phase is crystallization to make pure cocaine. then you can sniff all you want.
he's been pretty vocal about not doing cocaine
he supposedly tests the bathrooms at all of his restaurants to see if the staff are enjoying the nose clams
his brother had a really difficult time with drugs
Interesting observation and I had the same thought (though as someone who has never done any drugs and only seen it in movies - from which I know of the gum rubbing). He apparently gets very pissed off when people assume he does coke because his brother was an addict. In that same series he swabbed the toilets in one of his restaurants and pulled up the management when coke was found in staff toilets. But a fellow celebrity chef said Ramsey should fuck off and that his high pressure / long hours style contributed to the problem of coke use in the hospitality industry https://www.ladbible.com/entertainment/gordon-ramsay-cocaine-restaurant-employees-792817-20230507
I do remember him being very against drugs in his shows and in interviews, but I've also seen cocaine addict behavior. Him wanting to taste the coke water, while knowing to put it on his gums raises an eyebrow. Then the spread to get it in more of your mouth is a classic coke head move. He does have a look of displeasure for a moment, but cocaine is incredibly bitter so I can only imagine what liquid cocaine tastes like.
Then, pretty much as soon as it's ready to touch, he grabs a nice shardy, broken up handful, and takes a big ol sniff. What, is he hoping to become a drug sniffing chef so he can detect cocaine in his restaurants or something? Is he trying to see if he could use it in a dish? Is his next signature dish going to be a Beef Montana? A beef Wellington infused with coca leaves and sprinkled with cocaine?
Yeah same thoughts here, unless he was briefed by the documentary makers on how to behave, it looks like actions of someone with more than a theoretical knowledge of coke. Personally, the reason I’ve never done any drugs is that I’m absolutely terrified of addiction. I’d have done that scene wearing a respirator!
Also - lol at Beef Montana!
Was going to say. Anyone working in a decent kitchen you are likely going to work with people intimate with coke. I mean meth is probably a bit more common depending on where you are talking about. But fine dining Michelin star. Coke is absolutely on someone’s menu. Just not served to customers.
I mean if it was done in lab and it would say "the leaves are treated with calcium oxides to break down cell walls, after which they are soaked in organic solvent composed mainly of butane, pentane, isopentane and the BTEX compounds, and the extract is then separated from the organic matter and product is dissolved in low concentration H2SO4. Organic solvent is then separated and remaining acid is neutralised by NaHCO3, which results in the formation of sodium sulfate, water and CO2. The water is evaporated and the product is left to crystallize. The result should be cocaine hydrochloride with few other pollutants from the starting organic mass." It's not about what you say, but how you say it.
Yes. And there’s zero gasoline, battery acid, or cement. It’s not just “oh, they use the refined parts of those”, it’s “there’s a lab-grade chemical that does the same thing as those but doesn’t add dangerous impurities to the final product”. There’s zero chance they’re getting all the hazardous impurities out of that garbage, and they don’t care because they know it will get cut with much worse shit than whatever residue is left in it
Over here remembering the people who would only use hemp rope to light their bongs so they wouldn’t inhale lighter fumes but also had a raging good time picking up an 8 ball for the evening.
I got into squabbles on social media with people who refused “the” vaccine but had no problem snorting back whatever it was they offered me on a key at various festivals we went to 😆
I’ve had a coworker tell me how bad vaccines are for you while he was on his 5th cigarette of the day. It was only 11am, I don’t smoke but sometimes I’ll go out with the group because those conversations around the smoking table can get very entertaining.
It's called an acid base extraction, and it's fairly safe if done correctly. The first part is quick lime made of calcium oxide. It has a high PH, and makes the solution very basic and alkaline. The gasoline acts as a solvent for stripping the cocaine alkaloids out of the plant. Then the battery acid and the base react with each other to separate the cocaine into a separate layer which can then be siphoned off and dried. It's similar to how the first asprin was made from willow bark.
I believe that is because some of the smaller operations smuggle it in the gas tank. Mexican weed would sometimes smell of gasoline too for the same reason.
Ideally not but there is probably a very small amount. Gasoline is a non polar solvent meaning it doesn't mix with water but there could be small amounts suspended in the final aqueous layer.
To be fair. That "cement powder" is most likely just lime. Like the mineral, lime. Which is pretty fucking safe.
This is like using "blasting medium" to refer to just sand.
A lot of these other ingredients are similar types of wordage. They're essentially sensationalizing a chemical process because cocaine = bad. Vilify cocaine all you want, but these dudes are doing a sophisticated chemical process in the fucking jungle. Im impressed.
Chemistry shouldnt be vilified because chemistry is a fundamental science regardless what it's used for. And part of it is the knowledge that you sometimes use seemingly dangerous ingredients on their own but together synthesize something with totally different properties.
Why do you think plastic smoke fumes are toxic but eating off that same plastic is okay? Chemical change.
Someone in another comment had the whole science spiel of the process, but what it boils down to is these guys are doing the process with improv substitutes that are readily available
as for the process, I wouldn't imagine it being too hard to sweep chemists off the streets and have them volunteer time to refine it
most likely won't be as high quality as if one was using proper chemicals that aren't laced with other chemicals, but if it works and gets the job done
Personal passion project for him. His brother has been gripped by addiction, so he has spent a lot of time trying to better understand and help people.
It's a mini series called "Gordon Ramsey on Cocaine"
The basic premise of the mini series is that he gets curious if his employees are doing coke in the employee bathrooms. Tests the various surfaces and finds that they all have traces of coke. He then goes to where they make it, learns the process and makes it a documentary of sorts. Then goes back, talks to his restaurant managers and his employees about the dangers, offers help to those who may be addicted and stuff.
It's rather interesting.
Shouldn't Ramsey now tell the guy how "This fucking shit is the worst fucking cocaine I've ever fucking tasted", before showing him how it's really done?
[For anyone questioning this.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oXabRYcXhc&ab_channel=ITV)
And yes, cement, sulfuric acid, gasoline, battery acid, and then the end result is cocaine.
Gordon Ramsay actually leaves out two somewhat critical steps in the process, and I suspect this was intentional because he doesn't want to just tell people how to make cocaine.
He did it because he has a strong anti-drug stance, but it is quite prevalent in the food service industry, especially at the higher levels.
The really good stuff used to be made with dimethyl ether instead. Cocaine producing countries were literally consuming most of the US's production capacity for it in the 70's and 80's, before it was restricted and they switched to gasoline.
I get the process I understand that they only have access to a few things so they have to make it this way. I just can’t help imagine what 2023 lab grade cocaine would be like in comparison.
It is legal for medical use in some cases. Hospitals have medical grade cocaine. After watching this, it makes me wonder how the prescription grade stuff is made in a professional manner without stuff like gas and concrete in it.
Edit: I also used to work in a clinical research facility where we would do some studies on cocaine. For the one I saw, we would give the patients IV cocaine into the blood stream and then administer questionnaires every 15 minutes. It made one guy swear off the stuff for good. He said it was extremely unpleasant vs snorting.
There's no cement in cocaine, this is a simple acid base extraction, and is similar to how many alkaloids are extracted from plants for pharmaceutical purposes. Unless it's synthesized, this is how we get pharmaceutical opiates, caffeine, nicotine, and numerous other chemicals. To be fair pharmaceutical companies are doing it under stricter regulations, and in much more sanitary and safe environments than a makeshift laboratory hidden in the jungle, but the general process is the same.
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"Huh, I wonder who let them film how cocaine is ma- IS THAT GORDON FUCKING RAMSEY?!"
He does a whole series on shit like this. Has a shark fin one that was super dangerous
whats the series?!!?
“Gordon Ramsay on Cocaine” Idk why he’s gatekeeping this info lol
I did not belive for a second that was the actual title of where this came from but it fucking is and i can not stop laughing. Its really is just called "Gordon Ramsay on Cocaine". E: for those that don't believe https://m.imdb.com/title/tt7440620/
Despite his stage persona, Gordon Ramsey is, by his coworkers and friends, considered a really good dude with a wicked sense of humor. He knew what he was doing.
Iirc he did it because he lost a friend or family member to cocaine and wanted to shed some light.
His brother.
Iv worked with him a couple of times. And I can confirm that. He's a very friendly dude, so much I got cock blocked by him. I was talking to a chick on set and sure enough he comes over and get in our conversation. Ha he's nothing like on TV and he's a great father. His kids would be on set sometimes as he worked. Or his first kid this was a number of years ago.
Are yall playing? If I go look this up it’ll be there? Feel like you’re both in on it 😂 Edit: it’s real lol
no bro.. i just looked it up. i’m laughing so much bcuz wtf. i mean.. seriously 😂
Apparently he discovered that the staff at his restaurant chain have a problem with cocaine consumption, that what got him to go a film how it's made
wtfff lmao
Is that the name of the show or a description of it?
Both
\*snooooooooort* Haaaaa... **FUCKING RAAAAAAAW**
YOU FOOKIN DONKEY!
Re-commenting without links since my other one got deleted. I think the other commenter is incorrect on it being a series. The cocaine clip looks to be from a 2-part documentary literally called *Gordon Ramsay on Cocaine*. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Ramsay_on_Cocaine The shark fin thing also looks like a special, this one called *Gordon Ramsay: Shark Bait*. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3121886/ I found Shark Bait on Youtube, and the cocaine doc is on Amazon Prime(needs Discovery Plus, but you can do the 7 day free trial and then drop it).
**"You call this grade-A blow? I could be getting more buzz off a fucking eclair!"**
They actually do tours in Medellin. I thought it would be super sketchy, and oh boy was it. The people were really nice but you’re in the middle of a fucking jungle. I would definitely do it again though.
Did they have a gift shop for you to buy some cocaine or was it like a field trip go and make some and if you wanna keep it you buy it
It’s a field trip into the jungle surrounding Medellin. Again, it was sketchy and I’m pretty sure they were ex FARC. Yes you get to sample the product.
Family friendly? Thinking of spring break trip with the little ones.
The interactive 'snitches get stitches' exhibit was great for the kids but you gotta get a poncho; especially once they start teaching the kids how to use the various tools of the trade.
Oh that's fantastic, the 6 year old is going through the "tattle tale" phase and nothing seems to be getting through to him.
How was it?
I didn’t do it. I have an addictive personality. I drank beers with the workers (two guys), it was a small operation. My friends tried it. One loved it and the other fucking hated it, said it was too strong. The one who didn’t like it got super fucking sweaty and he said his heart was racing.
u/OldInterview6006 hey. How was it
I basically came here to say this, they really just taught us all how to make cocaine, now all I got to do is find some plants.
The funny thing is that the coca plant is fantastically useful. Coca tea tastes great. It's a popular candy flavor in Peru. It's a pleasant, long lasting stimulant similar to strong black tea. It's great for an upset stomach, traveler sickness, or altitude sickness, which is why a lot of travel advice to places like Peru will say "as soon as you get there, drink the coca tea, but remember to not take any home or you'll go to prison forever." Love that stuff. I also wish I had some of those plants, but so I could make regular tea.
you can absolutely take the candies and tea home to the US. Customs didn't give a crap about the 10 little candies I had. Because honestly, what are you going to do with 10 coca candies and a pack of tea? The tea and candies also didnt do much for me at altitude, but I also had a weird reaction to les oxygen. Lower BPM by like 20-30 (hanging around 40 resting and 50 while heavily walking), but no feeling faint or out of it or tired at all. Also fun fact, Cusco is higher elevation than Machu Picchu, so if you get to Cusco and feel fine, you should be alright for anything else (unless you do the trips in cusco into the mountains. Our native peruvian friend started losing it on one of those. Had to suck some air out of a can - which they sell btw. Maybe worth it) edit: completely unrelated, but if you go to peru, see if you can visit huamangia which is in the mountains and they dont see many tourists like ever... like in their entire history. Real dose of perspective and they think all Americans can sing. We unfortunately had to disappoint.
Oh, right. The candies. The candies from Cusco, the candies chosen especially in Cusco, Cusco's candies. That candy?
The best response to this. 
Cusco is higher, but Machu Picchu is a bunch of stairs. You might feel fine standing around at high altitude, but if you start walking up and down staircases, you can quickly find yourself short of breath like you've been doing hard labor. And thanks, no, I'm well aware that I could probably sneak some coca seeds or some coca candy home without anyone knowing, but it ain't worth the risk, man. It's just nice tea. There're lots of nice teas that don't come with a small risk of big legal trouble.
>Customs didn't give a crap about the 10 little candies I had. Did you declare them to customs?
I am not sure if you checked laws (I did not). Please don't encourage people to bring potentially illegal substances across international borders if your only data point is that once customs did not care.
You CAN NOT bring coca tea or candy into the United States. I googled when visiting Ecuador. Definitely not worth the risk.
I have a brother in law that’s a marine and he visited his dad who’s an expat in Peru. They went out to eat and the dad urged him to have the tea but he was concerned about coming up on a drug test when he got back to base. The dad said it won’t come up and it’s not like that. He tested positive when he got back to base. (He was able to sort it out with the military somehow)
It’s always been a pretty basic and simple process. That’s part of why it’s so profitable- just set up a basic shelter where the leaves grow
And steal some gasoline from local gas pipe. You just cut cost of production by a lot
I prefer to steal it from a stopped train and put it in some underground barrels out in the desert.
Would you shoot a kid after you done?
It's cannon to the event so you don't have a choice. If you get the DLC the kid has a scorpion instead of a tarantula though.
Coca plant only grows in tropical climates.
Yep, and you have to process so much of it for a tiny amount. It's not worth it unless you are able to grow lots and profit lots, few of many reasons why it's almost (if not all) shipped in
YES! YOU DONKEY!!! This cocaine is BLAND!!!!
ITS RAW YOU MUPPET! It’s still growing leaves!!!!!!
I was literally telling my husband as I was watching the video, damn I didn’t know that’s how cocaine is made. I’ve never done it. He has. As I’m listing the ingredients off, he’s like I don’t think that’s how it’s made. And then I’m like and now Gordon Ramsey has appeared. And he’s explaining what’s happening and how raw it as. At this point, it just probably seems like a weird mushroom trip to him.
All drugs are made this way. Some form of base, an acid, etc. Even in pharmaceutical labs. The chemicals may be more pure but it is the same.
I mean most things are made with bases and acids.
But concrete powder?! Gasoline? Battery acid? Wtf!
Yeah it's basically a vinaigrette.
Sodium hydroxide, a non polar solvent, sulfuric acid. All common chemicals with many applications
"Concrete powder" also known as lime/quicklime. "Gasoline" or literally just any non-polar organic solvent will do. Gasoline is cheap and virtually unregulated, and in South American countries doesn't have all of the horrifying anti-knocking additives like "[Techron](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Techron)," metallocenes, etc. you find in American and European fuel to meet regulations and condition engines. "Battery acid" is just hydrochloric acid (or sometimes but rarely now known as muriatic acid). It's one of the most commonly used acids, along with sulfuric acid (another common battery acid). It's everywhere. The general state of chemistry education is... kinda sad, it seems.
None of those things are in the final product (if done corrrctly,) it's just chemistry. Most medicines/drugs/chemicals you consume is going to have gone through a similar process, including many benign things.
I feel like I'd be much more comfortable taking drugs made using a lab-grade solvent in a chemical hood than something made with gasoline in the back of a truck in a jungle. Like, what is the quality control for that?
It makes you wonder how someone discovers how to make this stuff. Also, it’s hilarious to see Gordon Ramsey learn how to make coke.
I assume some expert chemist devised the process.
someone who took two semesters of organic chemistry can do extractions like this
Yeah but if you wanna make MY product you have to do it MY way.
Can we add paprika??
That's why they call me Cap'n Cumin
We will produce a chemically pure and stable product that performs as advertised. No paprika. No cumin. No chili powder.
This is art yo
Using a process is different from inventing it.
This process isn’t something that was invented specifically for cocaine. These types of extractions have existed for a very long time. Essentially, the polar SO4^2- salt is formed when the cocaine in the plant comes into contact with sulfuric acid (HCl is used in pharmaceutical cocaine but sulfuric battery acid is more available for jungle labs). After using gasoline to extract and discard nonpolar contaminants, the alkaline is added and turns the cocaine basic and nonpolar, therefore precipitating it out of water (a polar solvent). It didn’t require someone to “invent” the process, rather someone with okay knowledge in chemistry to tell someone else what needs to happen.
Dumb question, but does this process get all of the added chemicals out of the final product, or neutralize them somehow? Or are you also snorting little bits of battery acid?
Depends on the solvents used in the extraction protocol as the other comments have stated, but you'll always likely have some impurities, possibly down to the picogram.
Is that why 98% or whatever purity in Walter White's meth was basically the best he could do even with the best resources available?
That was because it was a TV show and the premise was only _he_ could do something that any chem major could easily do. The non asshole answer is yes, but again anyone with the knowledge and resources could make a product that's 99.999_ pure.
Well his problem wasn't only extraction, but also the reagents used in the chemical process. You can use two different reagents to react with a specific chemical and get totally different yields of the same product. That was the whole point of the methylamine episode, although the blue color and higher potency was a surprise to him, pointing to the fact that he knew the reaction mechanisms but not the favorability or exact outcome of all yields.
You pretty much got the answer just wanted to add that almost every drug you ever had is not 100% pure even if you don't count the delivery device (things like gelatin capsules). Though because of how chemists measure things, it can be reported as 103% pure. And even if you had a 100% pure drug, it's going to degrade ever so slightly before it gets to you. Every drug released on the US market has to have part of the batch put on a study where they test it 1month, 3months etc till 2-6 years later so the company needs to save enough for all those tests. If they make it 20x then it has to have 20 studies. Which is very slightly what adds to the cost of pharma drugs.
The battery acid doesn't dissolve in the gasoline. And the stuff that does isn't soluble in water once the final acid is added. This process is essentially two acid base reactions, three if you count the original plant acids. The plant material is softened with an acid, basified, dissolved in gas, acidified, dissolved in water and precipitated with a base before Finally being acidified again with HCl, which is evaporated off. The beauty of alkaloids, is that when extracted using an acid base extraction, you get a reasonably pure result. This is because they all have a negative nitrogen end, and a slightly positive end to them. They will take and give acids up quite freely at the appropriate pkh's.
Some impurities are co-extracted and will remain in the final product
this guy chemistrys.
He chemisucceeds
It’s still baffling, like who would’ve thought to say let’s put cement powder here and ~~dowse~~ douse in gasoline there. For safety measures, let’s inject battery acid. bingo bango and bobs your uncle
I work in dialysis now and i often think ‘who were the tweakers that came up with this shit’. I feel like science is … just walking a VERY fine line of madness.
Reminds me of the experiment where the scientist kept a dog’s head alive, attached a second monkey head to another monkey’s body. Were they unethical, maybe. But it laid the ground work for spinal surgeons
It probably started with more pure chemicals and chemistry calculations. Then they figured out the main ingredients in these common household items are pretty close to the expensive and harder to get professional chemicals so they switched to cement powder, and gasoline
It’s this exactly. I believe it’s the lime(calcium hydroxide) that is found in cement that interacts with coca leaves. The synthesis was discovered long ago and then the cartel’s chemist told them what household items could be used for the extraction. This would be a cake walk to make in a lab.
Yeah, indigenous civilisations in South America figured out that mixing crushed up shells (ie a natural source of lime) with coca leaves made for a great way to help them keep going for hours and hours without a break. Chemistry then allowed cartels to make the process more efficient and scalable.
It’s just using acid, a base, and a solvent to extract something. The process would have been well known and used for plenty of other chemical applications well before being used for cocaine. Basically the process isn’t cocaine specific, it’s used tons of other ways. It’s like how hydroponics can be used to grow weed but the concept of hydroponics existed prior to its application to growing weed.
It's actually basic chemistry [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acid%E2%80%93base\_extraction](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acid%E2%80%93base_extraction)
This is a bushleague way to make coke based on what's lying around. This is a big scale jimmy rigging of what would be a laboratory extraction process otherwise. Bases, acids, solvents, solutions, precipitates, etc.
I think you're over estimating how most cocaine is manufactured. That being said, cartels hire engineering majors straight out of college and their submarine technology has advanced significantly over the last couple of decades. It's big business and it's one of if not *the* most lucrative industry in the world, but the bulk of it is not being produced in hightech labs. Most will have a tarp for a roof like this. It's processed near to where it's grown, and like with weed in Humboldt, growers have been pushed to the periphery of regulated areas. It's cheaper and more efficient to ship a base product than to ship the bulk of the plant matter, so while after leaving this site there will be further refinement, and ultimately adulteration of the end product, this video is demonstrative of the settings that cocaine is produced in.
As an aside, cocaine is industrially extracted on a large scale to make cocoa leaves legal to import for various reasons, including extracts for Coca Cola. I'm sure the highly refined byproduct of that process absolutely does not find its way into the black market. At all. No way Jose.
I wasn't implying that this was uncommon. I meant that this isn't how it was discovered or isolated and that this is a very crude way of processing it. Neimann wasn't likely using gasoline and a weed wacker when he first extracted cocaine. In this world, egineers and chemists tell us how to do stuff, and we do what they say how they say it. A bunch of farmers didn't suddenly come up with the idea to mix a potion with portland cement and battery acid to make blow.
I'm not the person you responded to, but you're right. The extraction process was discovered in a lab, and then drug scientists must have figured out the cheapest way to make it in the field using easily available reactants and solvents. This shit was legally produced and could be purchased without a prescription in the US before 1914. The process was known after it was first isolated by a German chemist in 1855.
Same with things like soy sauce. Knowing how it's made now makes me wonder who tf first figured it out.
Chemist here. They’re essentially just doing an organic extraction with the gasoline, making the sulfate salt with battery acid, then neutralizing with sodium bicarbonate, which crashes the organic acid out of the water. It’s all very standard chemical purification methods utilizing very cheap materials. Edit: changed HCl salt to sulfate salt because I forgot what battery acid was made of.
The CIA does seminars in the villages.
The Central Intelligence Agency takes weight faithfully
Definitely the most interesting thing I've seen made on a Gordon Ramsay show
I want to see him be like “You’re adding too much battery acid you fucking donkey!!”
I HAVE SEEN LESS FUCKING BATTERY ACID IN THE ENERGIZER FUCKING BUNNY!
*puts cocain cakes on head WHAT ARE YOU? *A stupid cokehead*
I wanted him to sample it and tell us how good / bad it is.
Works in restaurants? He knows good vs cut with baby laxative.
Chefs require either a drug problem or a womanizing streak, ideally both, to be successful. It's in the job description I swear.
I think those are the line cooks, and a prerequisite for that is to be at the very least an alcoholic.
He tasted the water before the bicarbonate of soda was added. He said it was raw. 
ITS FUCKING #[RAW](https://i.imgur.com/x7PX1e8.gif)
Bro "sniffed" it
yeah he did lol. although he won’t get high but you certainly can smoke it with tobacco or cannabis, in latin america there is trend for smoking paste. the next phase is crystallization to make pure cocaine. then you can sniff all you want.
It’s freebase right now, you need to turn it into cocaine hydrochloride, not just recrystallised.
Why do they call it freebasing? It's not free when it costs you your fucking house. -Robin Williams
Finally, some good fucking food.
Who needs food?
I'LLFUCKINRUNANDGETTHEFOOODNOPROBLEMJUSTGIVEMEWHATYOUNEED TOOSLOW!HURRYUP! I'LLSTARTRUNNINGJUSTCATCHUPTOMEWHENYOUAREREADYBYE!
The recipe seems simple enough
I have most of the ingredients just right outside in my car. How convenient.
Disco breakfast.
Looks like gordy loves the smell.
He certainly looked at it lovingly once it was all bagged up and ready to go.
That’s a good idea, Gordon. Get that handful of coke right up in your face for a good sniff. Lick your fingers when you’re done.
Hes a chef, doubt it was his first time holding cocaine.
he's been pretty vocal about not doing cocaine he supposedly tests the bathrooms at all of his restaurants to see if the staff are enjoying the nose clams his brother had a really difficult time with drugs
Lol never heard booger sugar called nose clams before
Nose beers is my preferred nomenclature
It's Bolivian marching powder for me
Peruvian sinus sauce
You see how he rubbed the coke water on his gums then used his tongue to spread it more? He definitely does coke or used to at least lol.
Interesting observation and I had the same thought (though as someone who has never done any drugs and only seen it in movies - from which I know of the gum rubbing). He apparently gets very pissed off when people assume he does coke because his brother was an addict. In that same series he swabbed the toilets in one of his restaurants and pulled up the management when coke was found in staff toilets. But a fellow celebrity chef said Ramsey should fuck off and that his high pressure / long hours style contributed to the problem of coke use in the hospitality industry https://www.ladbible.com/entertainment/gordon-ramsay-cocaine-restaurant-employees-792817-20230507
I do remember him being very against drugs in his shows and in interviews, but I've also seen cocaine addict behavior. Him wanting to taste the coke water, while knowing to put it on his gums raises an eyebrow. Then the spread to get it in more of your mouth is a classic coke head move. He does have a look of displeasure for a moment, but cocaine is incredibly bitter so I can only imagine what liquid cocaine tastes like. Then, pretty much as soon as it's ready to touch, he grabs a nice shardy, broken up handful, and takes a big ol sniff. What, is he hoping to become a drug sniffing chef so he can detect cocaine in his restaurants or something? Is he trying to see if he could use it in a dish? Is his next signature dish going to be a Beef Montana? A beef Wellington infused with coca leaves and sprinkled with cocaine?
Yeah same thoughts here, unless he was briefed by the documentary makers on how to behave, it looks like actions of someone with more than a theoretical knowledge of coke. Personally, the reason I’ve never done any drugs is that I’m absolutely terrified of addiction. I’d have done that scene wearing a respirator! Also - lol at Beef Montana!
he knows the *numbness*
"LINES ON LINE!" "YES, CHEF!"
Was going to say. Anyone working in a decent kitchen you are likely going to work with people intimate with coke. I mean meth is probably a bit more common depending on where you are talking about. But fine dining Michelin star. Coke is absolutely on someone’s menu. Just not served to customers.
Cement, gasoline, and battery acid. Holy shit.
I mean if it was done in lab and it would say "the leaves are treated with calcium oxides to break down cell walls, after which they are soaked in organic solvent composed mainly of butane, pentane, isopentane and the BTEX compounds, and the extract is then separated from the organic matter and product is dissolved in low concentration H2SO4. Organic solvent is then separated and remaining acid is neutralised by NaHCO3, which results in the formation of sodium sulfate, water and CO2. The water is evaporated and the product is left to crystallize. The result should be cocaine hydrochloride with few other pollutants from the starting organic mass." It's not about what you say, but how you say it.
How high did Gordon just get licking that pinky though
Probably about as high as when he grabbed a handful of crystals mashed in his hands and sniffed em.
he doesn't do blow he just like the smell of it
Organic, Vegan and Gluten Free coke.
Glad to see other people here adding some context thank you.
This guy cocaines
> if it was done in lab They'd probably use a lot cleaner chemicals. lol
Breaking Bad? meet Hell’s Cocaine Kitchen
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Hell they might even measure some of it
Yes. And there’s zero gasoline, battery acid, or cement. It’s not just “oh, they use the refined parts of those”, it’s “there’s a lab-grade chemical that does the same thing as those but doesn’t add dangerous impurities to the final product”. There’s zero chance they’re getting all the hazardous impurities out of that garbage, and they don’t care because they know it will get cut with much worse shit than whatever residue is left in it
Who knew cocaine was unhealthy?
Over here remembering the people who would only use hemp rope to light their bongs so they wouldn’t inhale lighter fumes but also had a raging good time picking up an 8 ball for the evening.
I got into squabbles on social media with people who refused “the” vaccine but had no problem snorting back whatever it was they offered me on a key at various festivals we went to 😆
I’ve had a coworker tell me how bad vaccines are for you while he was on his 5th cigarette of the day. It was only 11am, I don’t smoke but sometimes I’ll go out with the group because those conversations around the smoking table can get very entertaining.
It's called an acid base extraction, and it's fairly safe if done correctly. The first part is quick lime made of calcium oxide. It has a high PH, and makes the solution very basic and alkaline. The gasoline acts as a solvent for stripping the cocaine alkaloids out of the plant. Then the battery acid and the base react with each other to separate the cocaine into a separate layer which can then be siphoned off and dried. It's similar to how the first asprin was made from willow bark.
So is there any remnants of the battery acid or gasoline left once it’s separated and skimmed?
No, there shouldn't be
Though sometimes the final product still smells like gasoline
I believe that is because some of the smaller operations smuggle it in the gas tank. Mexican weed would sometimes smell of gasoline too for the same reason.
Ideally not but there is probably a very small amount. Gasoline is a non polar solvent meaning it doesn't mix with water but there could be small amounts suspended in the final aqueous layer.
Lime, organic solvent, sulfuric acid. Nothing left over in the final product if done correctly
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To be fair. That "cement powder" is most likely just lime. Like the mineral, lime. Which is pretty fucking safe. This is like using "blasting medium" to refer to just sand. A lot of these other ingredients are similar types of wordage. They're essentially sensationalizing a chemical process because cocaine = bad. Vilify cocaine all you want, but these dudes are doing a sophisticated chemical process in the fucking jungle. Im impressed. Chemistry shouldnt be vilified because chemistry is a fundamental science regardless what it's used for. And part of it is the knowledge that you sometimes use seemingly dangerous ingredients on their own but together synthesize something with totally different properties. Why do you think plastic smoke fumes are toxic but eating off that same plastic is okay? Chemical change.
They are mostly used to separate the cocaine from the rest of the leaf. Sure they are dissolved in the process.
1) who the fuck figured this out? 2) GORDON!?!?
Someone in another comment had the whole science spiel of the process, but what it boils down to is these guys are doing the process with improv substitutes that are readily available as for the process, I wouldn't imagine it being too hard to sweep chemists off the streets and have them volunteer time to refine it most likely won't be as high quality as if one was using proper chemicals that aren't laced with other chemicals, but if it works and gets the job done
Interesting…but wtf is Gordon doing there? Crowning the cocaine kitchen chef?
High end cuisine is notorious for cocaine use. They do insane hours at an insane pace, some people resort to it to hold.
All cuisine is notorious for cocaine use.
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It’s absolutely is. Anthony Bourdain knew as much.
Maybe but high end cuisine has a huge added pressure. Some chefs committed suicide over a Michelin star.
Personal passion project for him. His brother has been gripped by addiction, so he has spent a lot of time trying to better understand and help people.
R E L E V A N T https://preview.redd.it/jdyntgnmyb9c1.jpeg?width=750&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b67f4f6b89cfbd950acea511b98f4e1106f17603
I heard that "fuck me"
For how ridiculously degenerate and stupid 4Chan is 99% of the time, some of these greentexts are genuinely so accurate and well done
That's the shame really lol there is some of the funniest shit on the internet there but also some of the worst
if you want the really high highs, you gotta accept the really low lows
Gordon's gonna have that place running at 1000% in no time and get them a Michelin 🌟
Why the fuck is Gordon Ramsey in this video lol what is this show?
It's a mini series called "Gordon Ramsey on Cocaine" The basic premise of the mini series is that he gets curious if his employees are doing coke in the employee bathrooms. Tests the various surfaces and finds that they all have traces of coke. He then goes to where they make it, learns the process and makes it a documentary of sorts. Then goes back, talks to his restaurant managers and his employees about the dangers, offers help to those who may be addicted and stuff. It's rather interesting.
That sounds like a great afternoon
Cement powder, they mean lime.
I wonder where they get it? Who puts the lime in the cocaine hut?
That reduces my concern by 0%
*"Finally, someone who knows how to fucking cook!"* - Gordon Ramsey
Shouldn't Ramsey now tell the guy how "This fucking shit is the worst fucking cocaine I've ever fucking tasted", before showing him how it's really done?
[For anyone questioning this.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oXabRYcXhc&ab_channel=ITV) And yes, cement, sulfuric acid, gasoline, battery acid, and then the end result is cocaine. Gordon Ramsay actually leaves out two somewhat critical steps in the process, and I suspect this was intentional because he doesn't want to just tell people how to make cocaine. He did it because he has a strong anti-drug stance, but it is quite prevalent in the food service industry, especially at the higher levels.
Gasoline? That's probably why it's so expensive.
The really good stuff used to be made with dimethyl ether instead. Cocaine producing countries were literally consuming most of the US's production capacity for it in the 70's and 80's, before it was restricted and they switched to gasoline.
Gordon Ramsey tasted that blow like it was spaghetti sauce.
Drug Rescue “You call that straining?”
Gordon won’t be eating tonight
I get the process I understand that they only have access to a few things so they have to make it this way. I just can’t help imagine what 2023 lab grade cocaine would be like in comparison.
Omfg, that would be amazing. Needs to be legalized so we can have fair trade, organic, pure coke.
It is legal for medical use in some cases. Hospitals have medical grade cocaine. After watching this, it makes me wonder how the prescription grade stuff is made in a professional manner without stuff like gas and concrete in it. Edit: I also used to work in a clinical research facility where we would do some studies on cocaine. For the one I saw, we would give the patients IV cocaine into the blood stream and then administer questionnaires every 15 minutes. It made one guy swear off the stuff for good. He said it was extremely unpleasant vs snorting.
The fact that Gordon Ramsay is there makes this 10 times better
"finally some fucking good cocaine" Gordon Ramsay
Cement in cocaine..!! Drugs are very bad for your health, and here's all the concrete evidence you need..
There's no cement in cocaine, this is a simple acid base extraction, and is similar to how many alkaloids are extracted from plants for pharmaceutical purposes. Unless it's synthesized, this is how we get pharmaceutical opiates, caffeine, nicotine, and numerous other chemicals. To be fair pharmaceutical companies are doing it under stricter regulations, and in much more sanitary and safe environments than a makeshift laboratory hidden in the jungle, but the general process is the same.
Legalize all drugs. Regulate shit. I'd rather pay for a better regulatory regime than a police state "war on drugs" any day.
You know Gordon went ham for the rest of the trip after filming this
It's Fucking RAW!!
Wait is this real?…