Psychedelic Bump XXIII

writer, could you briefly contrast kava and kratom?

i get them confused easily. how does one and how did you personally take kava?

 

What was your dose dude? Was it powder or 40% Kavalactones Extract?

 

Thanks Raga Mala!

Yes, I went to Golden Gate Park. I was primarily setting out to find Psilocybe Cyanscens as they have a fairly distinguished look to them and since I am new to Shroom hunting, I thought it would be easier to positive ID. However I also posted an article towards the end of the previous Psychedelic Bump about a strain that's been found in Golden Gate Park called Psilocybe alleni...

I spent nearly 2 hours looking for shrooms without any luck, I was getting all primal about it, trying to listen to the animals in the park, trying to feel out the makeup of the foresty areas of the park. The sun was starting to go down and I walked pretty far into the park, so I decided to head back. As I was heading back I decided that any shrooms that I came across I would pick whether I figured them to be psychedelic or not just to sort of get me in that mindset in case I were to return later in the year.

About halfway through heading back, I came across these really colorful looking mossy things, I went in there to take a closer look at them and sure enough behind them I found a bunch of shrooms. I picked some up and to my surprise they started blueing, the general sign of psilocybin mushrooms. So I picked a bunch of them around that area. After I left the park, I spent some time pulling them apart from the dirt and wood chips that they were attached to, there was a few clumps which I pulled from and so all the shrooms which had no notable coloring or the ones which were blackish I discarded, as I had less certainty with those.

These look the same as the pics of Psilocybe Alleni that I've seen, so I'm hoping I got it right. I plan on drying them out, so I'm going to research some more on them and get second opinions in the mean time...

 

Nice dude, hope they're good

I need to brush up on my shrooming skills... liberty caps were easy enough in the UK, but I've actually gotta put some effort in now to avoid ER
I could just grow some.. but I enjoy the picking, even though it is a massive pain in the ass.

 

Kratom is a tree of which the leaves are eaten or drank in a tea to produce mild stimulation at low doses, and at high doses, sedation and a narcotic opiate effect. Active compounds work through mu-opioid receptors (pain receptors. Oddly MXE also affects these).

Kava Kava is an anxiolytic, sedative, and somewhat anaesthetic plant in the Pepper family of which only the roots are consumed (the rest is toxic). It is thought to be active through GABA receptors.

Both have a long history of human use in Asia and Pacifica respectively. Both are definitely worth exploring.

55% Kavalactones extract; dose is 150-200mg.

The kratom dose of 4g was a big success. Felt just shy of 10mg Oxycodone, which is quite strong for me (no regular opioid use).

 

thanks, brother.

kava sounds a bit more interesting to me. and it sounds like you might like it more than kratom?

 

I know you're asking Writer but here's where I weigh in. With kratom I can't find a dose that doesn't hurt my stomach while giving me the effects I desire, and with kava the traditional preparation is a pain in the ass. making them about the same to me. Effects-wise I prefer kava since it doesn't give me that nauseous feeling and skin flushes kratom does. It's just a little harder to 'get there' than kratom. Don't quote me but I believe kava has more than just kavalactone as its active components and it's more cost-effective to get the root powder and make the drink. it's just difficult to make proper and drink proper. I haven't tried straight kavalactones so I don't know what difference in effects the drink has vs. pure.

 

I've never tried Kava but I fucking love kratom. I can eat like 20g of that stuff straight with water and have no problems (but over an oz and I usually vomit -- albeit painlessly and without serious nausea). I've been doing it once every month or two for like 5 years now and it's helped keep me from becoming an opiates/heroin junky. Kratom probably saved my life and those of some junkies I've recommended it to.

I've never tried Kava though. Should I check it out? I think they have it at my local headshop, but I've just never thought about buying it... It's not an opioid like kratom, though, right, just a downer?

 

From my research it seems that kavalactones are the only really active compounds. The pure lactone extracts seem to hit harder, but last shorter, than full spectrum or traditionally prepared stuff, which is ok for me. If you can link me to posts or research saying full spectrum is better i'd be glad to read it. I do plan on exploring kava more in depth over time, also trying more traditional preparations.

Pork if I had to pick just one yes i'd choose the kava, but only because of how much easier it is to take. Perhaps if I found a source for good cheap mytraginine pills (and they worked as well as plant matter teas) I'd reconsider. Or maybe not, I always like to keep distance between myself and opiates .

 

if you throw powdered kratom into your mouth, take a sip of water, puff out your cheeks and shake your face around, it's easy to swallow kratom.

Works a lot better than yogurt or trying to dissolve it in shit

 

On the contrary I find kratom in yogurt to be tasteless and rather effortless while a few times the toss-and-drop method lead me to almost vomit due to how dry kratom powder feels in the mouth. Though that's usually how I go about things as I'm not a fan of yogurt.

Kratom is rather simple to get down compared to slamming a coconut bowl of kava though. The islanders make it look too simple. I've noticed if you don't even use water, just milk, the effects are stronger at least two-fold and the taste considerably more bearable. The more muscle you put into beating the shit out of the roots into powder, and the more kneading you do before you strain, the more potent it seems to be. That is more islander lore than academic but I've found it to be true. Same with what I said earlier about roots vs. extracts. But the cost effectiveness isn't islander lore. That I have done the math on and depending on where your getting your kava there's a lot more doses per unit.

Most people just can't make kava right because they're impatient, that's why they bitch about it. I've gotten to points on kava I wouldn't want to drive a car and being in public might be rather awkward. The more often you drink it the more effects too. Reverse tolerance. actually come to think of it I love kava, it's just been too long

 

Bump for ~175mg Molly. Not sure the purity but definitely gonna be better than tabs. I have only rolled from tabs 2 years ago.

 

that part in bold is a valid point. the compounds in kava are very hydrophobic (water-fearing), so they would be more soluble in fat. better use whole milk

and beating the shit out of the root will allow one to extract more of the ingredients. take it from me, an academic. now it's both

 

Hell Yah! I got 2 people knowledeable about mycology, 1 being perhaps the leading expert in my area positively IDing the Shrooms I picked. :hippy:

 

Did you try the Shroomery too? There are some knowledgable folk there who know everything there is to know about those mushrooms. they look like cyans from what I know about them but that isn't a lot. one day I'll go out west and learn more.

traditional islander teks are usually 50/50 coconut milk and water, often westerners add soy lecithin for fat as well. there's fewer lipids in their tek vs. mine. I used 2% milk cause that's what my family gets, whole milk would be even better. I just don't even use water at all as it makes the taste and effects better. of course the higher fat content can hurt the stomach easier, I think this is why others don't go this route, the water smooths it on the stomach.

another secret way to prepare kava I have found works if you have a lot of time, powder the root then take a large bottle of some sort (large enough to have at least a few cups), put the powder in first then pour the water over top of it. stick it back in the fridge for 24-48 hours. this will extract a lot of the kavalactones similar to a cold water extraction. when your ready to drink it, take it out the fridge and shake it for 15-30 mins, strain, then there you go. that takes a little bit of effort out while adding time. I guess theoretically you could just take a gallon of milk and add 4-5 tablespoons of kava then stick it in the fridge for a few days, shake it, strain, and drink. that could give you enough for you and a friend maybe two. or a few nights of kava drinking. realistically I doubt very many of your friends are gonna want to slam kava with you but I've had a few who have and were impressed.

 

No I don't have an account on there but I believe both people who ID'd it are on there. I can't say for absolute certainity the strain myself because I don't know the maturation process of Shrooms but from my understanding cyans have the cap bend up or kind of wavy. I didn't see a single one of these with that type of cap so that's what leads me to believe they are Alleni and confirmed by an outside ID. After reading a ton of mushroom stuff the past couple days (feel like I've been studying for a mycology midterm) I'll mention that I believe up until the 90's, allenis were considered Cyans and they have similar psychoactive potencies.

 

You could be right about that. Have they stained any yet? If they bruise blue then you're good to go, there is no non-psychoactive lookalikes that would do such a thing. I'm not really a member of the site either (just a lurker) but I think if you made an account on Shroomery they'd be able to confirm it as well in ten minutes. Just saying.

 

Yah I mentioned they bruised blue on the last page, the lighting is not the best in that pic but pretty much all the darkened spots are blueing. There are a few shrooms which after losing the water weight, I'd say bruising is an understatement. I signed up for an ID specific mushroom site already, I'm fairly satisfied with that at the moment, rather than being a 1 thread wonder poster on Shroomery.

I also took a spore print as well which suggested a psilocybe strain.

 

I did not see that, I tend to skim through important parts sometimes. Congrats that's awesome for a first hunt. I've heard the Bay Area is littered with cyans / allennii / cinctuculus, and (I believe) azures. the legends must be true. I don't care too much for the cincts but the others would definitely be worth making a trip to the PNW for.

 

that's fuckin awesome, GB. congratulations on a nice haul! i wish i knew more about mushrooms, but alas! the fungus i have expertise in is Saccharomyces cerevisiae. that's what i'm working on all weekend.

pre-bump for one week and one hour from now. i'll be seeing BUILT TO SPILL and taking a 2nd, slightly larger taste of the newest batch of L i got.