The name comes from the crackling sound the rock makes when it’s being heated.
The end is crystal rocks that can be smoked in a pipe. It’s made by using sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) to remove hydrochloride from cocaine. This process isn’t really a thing anymore because taking a lighter or blowtorch to ether, a highly flammable liquid, is a recipe for an explosive disaster.Īfter who knows how many freebasing accidents, crack cocaine entered the scene as an equally potent substance that’s safer to produce. A heat source, like a lighter or torch, was then used to heat the freebase so you could inhale the vapors. In the 1970s, ether was used to “free” the base - hence the name - from any additives and impurities that were in traditional coke. Cocaine is made from hydrochloride and alkaloid, which is also known as “base.”
