Here is some fresh pods about to be tapped, let the stink begin.

Law Dog I’ve only seen one guy extract essence and that was the veteran from Indiana. He used the needle while the pods were still attached to Pepe . I know your going to use the pods later but are their any advantages to extracting the pods before the essence ?

You will get a much more thorough essence draw once removed as shown. You can also massage each side you are drawing from to ensure maximum extraction.

What Bob said and less of a chance of getting the stink on the hide if it’s marketable. It’s definitely worth the time to pod them out the pods have a value and the extra essence/quill adds up by milking the pods my buyer welcomes the mustard so it’s a win, win to do it.

I have 3 sets of pods frozen like that I need to extract. I remove them when i am skinning so i can strip the tail bone without worrying. I agree that nothing contains the stuff forever. I honestly don't mind the smell, it insures i get alone time too!

So any new ideas on getting maximum life out of your syringes?

You have to keep the rubber compression end of the plunger insulated from the essence as much as possible. If not, It will melt and stick to the syringe barrel in no time.

I keep a water / glycol mix handy in a 8 oz. bottle. I use this as a rinse agent and then draw a few CC's of the mix and hold it in the syringe until the next use. I keep extra needles I get from the farm store handy and change them out when they get like a basketball air needle.

The syringes that are yellow or orange (at least at the farm stores around here) with the oring on the plunger seem to have a much longer life for me. Mister Mick taught me that one.

I use vegetable oil after each use after flushing with plan water. And keep a few cc's in the syringe when not in use. Eventually you will have to replace they syringe.

After extraction, do you clean these pods up any, or leave them as is?

I read in the archives about essence needing an acid to "neutralize" wondering if vinegar would aide in the longevity? Any thoughts appreciated, I'm trying to broaden my horizons with these critters, despite my wife's noncompliance! Lol

An oil coating of a somewhat neutral material is the best solution I have found to help protect the syringe barrel and rubber push stop from the residual essence.

I have used a glycol / water mix for years to load into the syringe after each use and keep that flushing material loaded in the syringe until the next use. I do flush the syringe with a water/rinse draw several times before I load the syringe with the solution for storage.

Keep your needle protector cap on the needle at all times for safety..

Essence is extremely corrosive to plastic, rubber and ferrous metals. It is flammable as well.

They’re cheap.

I don’t clean them or anything but have found if it’s going to be a few days before I use it again, if I pull the plunger back so there’s some air in the syringe the rubber lasts a little longer.

I'll flush with peroxide then again with water. Skunk quill will cause the rubber to swell if left in contact for too long. I found a larger syringe used for injecting cattle that uses a synthetic O-ring can be used indefinitely when properly cleaned with peroxide.

I've done 1 set of pods with a 16 ga needle. After penetrating the sacs while putting in my jar, there was foreign material (which I assume to be sac membrane) in the bottom of the jar, could this be the mustard? Btw, jelly jars seem to be terrible for housing essence! I have Boston rounds on the way, but my juice may be gone before then. Gonna do the tool grip dip too, if I get a full bottle...despite my better half's refusal to conform, I actually am enjoying trying to figure these guys out!

Skunk Essence is a truly fascinating material if you spend any time working with it. The components of it and how it is developed within the pods is quite interesting. Just think if you could harvest and feed the working scent pods you could extract what you need at will.

The DNA and function of a scent pod holds the key as to how it converts the physical bodies nutrients into the necessary components to develop the essence and mustard.

I blended my pods with skunk fat and it is great now and I keep it in a glass mason jar.