Although crack may have been used during the same timeframe, it did not gain notoriety until the early 1980s. Freebase cocaine is manufactured by dissolving powder cocaine in water and a strong alkaloid solution, such as ammonia, to remove the hydrochloric acid. When ether or another organic solvent is added, the solid substance that crystallizes is purified cocaine. The rock of cocaine is placed in a pipe, which often is glass and fitted with one or more mesh screens upon which the chunk of cocaine rests. Crack cocaine is created through a process that is substantially similar to that used to create freebase, except without the use of volatile chemicals.
Powder cocaine is dissolved in a solution of sodium bicarbonate and water.
The solution is boiled and a solid substance separates from the boiling mixture. When heated, cocaine base, which has a melting point of 89 to 92 degrees Celsius, will sublimate or, put differently, will convert from a solid state to a vapor without becoming a liquid. This allows it to be inhaled. Cocaine hydrochloride, with a melting point of 190 to 195 degrees Celsius, will simply burn at lower temperatures, losing almost all of its psychoactive properties before it ever becomes a vapor.