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The Big & Dandy Phenethylamines vs Tryptamines Thread

Which class of psychedelic chemicals do you prefer?

  • Phenethylamines (Such as 2C-X, DOX and NBOMe's)

    Votes: 11 28.2%

  • Tryptamines

    Votes: 28 71.8%
  • Total voters
    39
Well I only have limited experience with each due to availability issues, but from what I have tried I would say that tryptamines win every time for me. Mescaline is great but as for all of the other ones I have had like MDMA or some of the 2C's I would say they are great for a rave or house party but have no real standing when put up against the greats like good old DMT or Psilocybin. Of course this is just my personal opinion and personally when I take something I want it to be an educational journey through conciousness rather than an artificial good time designed for my ego. But like I said this is just my personal opinion, and you guys also seem to have more experience with lost more of the chemicals on both sides of this discussion than I do so I suppose I should be listening to you. Although I might add that if it exists in nature we are probably meant to do it.
 
there are a lot of substances in each category so answers will vary quite a bit. personally i like tryptamines more because mushrooms are still my first and greatest love.

but each have pros and cons, as well as situational pros and cons (like duration, aftereffects - sometimes you want a short intense trip, so thats a no go for a phen like 2ce)
 
IME:

The dose of PEAs does not change the qualitative aspects of the trip very much - it changes the intensity, of course, but 5mg of 2C-I will give me an idea of what to expect from a higher dose. This is not the case for tryptamines. 12mg of 4-HO-MiPT was a dissappointment, and I was about to write the compound off entirely, but gave it another try at 18mg, and it was an almost entirely different experience. I've had similar experiences with 4-AcO-DMT. And of course, everyone talks about the need to "break through" with DMT.

PEAs in are shallower, easier to control, more suited for a party/dance/rave setting. (with the exception of E and P, which are both pretty deep). PEAs are more clearheaded, as well.

Tryptamines come up much faster than PEAs, too. PEAs taken orally can take over an hour to really hit, while tryptamines hit much much faster.
 
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I've done shrooms a handful of times, and I've also done 2C-E and 2C-I a handful of times each. I've also had MDA a few times.

I find the trypt visuals kind of a melting, wobbling, almost under-water kind of look on things. Things seem to groove with the flow of your heart rate and blood.

On the phens I find the visuals to be more 'energized', radiant, like there's a driving force behind them, powering them. They seem like no matter what your heart rate, the visuals will be intense and driven.



For example, clouds. On shrooms, I can stare at the clouds, and they start to just sort of swirl around, wobble, distort. On 2C-E, the clouds were swirling around, making patterns in the sky, dancing, as if the clouds were foam atop a pot of water, and someone was stirring the pot...and it looks extremely realistic too. Mushrooms have never given me visuals that intense, although shrooms do give intense visuals of their own. I also remember on 2C-x lights giving off a certain vibrant radiance, where the light on walls would appear the same way light reflects off water, all vibrantly moving around, sparkling, magical, beautiful, unearthly...

I say the phens are more 'fun' while trypts are more 'deep'. I also think most phens are a lot more toxic when compared to nearly-harmless trypts like shrooms. I read that psilocybin is 1.5 times more toxic than caffeine. So by having two cups of coffee, I might as well have eaten some mushrooms??? :D

New morning routine anyone? :p

I obviously kid.
 
On phenethylamines I rarely have conceptual distortions and hallucinations but much more literal, sensory ones. On tryptamines on the other hand it is common to see things more or less the same but interpret them in a very alien way, feel that the proportionate size or shape is fucked up and wrong and similar things.

Because of that same difference morphing is IME more of a tryptamine trait, but texture augmentation more of a phenethylamine trait.
 
On phenethylamines I rarely have conceptual distortions and hallucinations but much more literal, sensory ones. On tryptamines on the other hand it is common to see things more or less the same but interpret them in a very alien way, feel that the proportionate size or shape is fucked up and wrong and similar things.

Because of that same difference morphing is IME more of a tryptamine trait, but texture augmentation more of a phenethylamine trait.
 
Well I had a very detailed response to this thread, but got an error message and now its been lost.

Here is a massively simplified version of what I was going to write...

I find as a rule Tryptamines are dark and organic, and tend to lead to deep, immersive experiences, whereas Phenethylamines tend to be more light, almost comedic. Both classes of drugs are nice, just depends on what your looking for I guess.
 
Both have given me personaly equaly powerful and insightful experiences, I have only this year tried tryptamines (AMt) and have reignited my intrest in psychedelics and am hoping to sample some Dmt soon, For me a time of awakening in the late 80's early 90's as Ecstasy was new (to me and many others) and for me to be part of that shift in conciousness was and allways will be life changing, so it is hard to compare the actual experience of the drug without the whole lifestyle that came along with it.. as now I dont realy feel part of a movement, more a solo psychonaught but still enjoying life just not as a collective mass (I geuss Im trying to say Ive got old and dont go out much anymore) but I think it is hard to say I prefere one over the other,,
Ill sit on the fence with a big bag of both
 
The only two phens I have experimented with are 2C-I and 2C-E. I disliked both. Phenetylamines have stimulant effects I dislike quite strongly. While e.g. LSD is very stimulating, it is mentally stimulating, not that physically stimulating. Of course the mental stimulation stimulates me physically too, but phens are different. They feel almost like psychedelic speed to me (I know there are very stimulating tryptamines too, e.g. 5-MeO-AMT)

Tryptamines, my beloved tryptamines. Besides LSD tryptamines are the ones I really have enjoyed and had great trips on. They are more introspective and feel more natural than phenetylamines. I have never gained any insightfulness with 2C-I and 2C-E. I just get a bad bodyload on them and feel too "speedy", and I also dislike their extremely long effects. LSD is the limit for me when it comes to duration, 8-10 hours are manageable but after that I get tired and just want the trip to end. Tryptamines have never, ever given me a bad comedown, while I've had horrible comedowns with especially 2C-I. Tryptamines leave me with a fresh feeling, the day after and often the whole week after a trip feels absolutely wonderful.

Visually speaking, tryptamines are also winners for me. Tryptamines have never been any party substances though, while 2C-I was something I used quite often at parties back in the days. But since I don't really party anymore and like to trip in a peaceful setting, often alone, tryptamines just suits me perfectly.

Edit: Oooooops. I totally forgot MDMA. Well that's another story than the 2C-whatever drugs. Pure MDMA is blissful, maybe the most euphoric drug I have ever used. Still, not even MDMA beats the best tryptamines. It sure beats some poor tryptamines, but is nowhere near the tryptamines I love most.
 
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Phenethylamines are a lot more interesting visually, you can stare and watch interesting things unfold over a few minutes. Much rainbow'y and beyond too visual theme too.
Tryptamines however, have really flat visuals. Once you've looked at something for 5 minutes on tryptamines you've seen it all but your tripping balls, so it's more manageable but gets boring fast. More about an extra level of field in OEV that covers everything.
 
I find tryptamines to be much more "heady" and propel one into psychedelic hyperspace much faster and much more deeply than phenethylamines. Thats not to say phens can't do that, it's just that I find tryptamines to be much more in-your-face cosmically psychedelic, whereas phenethylamine psychedelics are more down-to-earth. Generally phens take longer to kick in, stay in your system longer, and have more peripheral side effects. I find the effects of phenethyalmines to be much more "exotic" feeling than tryptamin-tripping, with many more bells and whistles to contend with on top of the mind expansion.

And it just occured to me as I was thinking about my past experiences, than many of my intensely euphoric psychedelic moments happened during trypamine trips. Tryptamines feel a little bit more "natural" and easy on the body than do phenethyamines.

The most euphoric tryptamine I have tried: 4-aco-DMT
the most euphoric phenethyalmine I have tried: 2C-T-7

4-aco-dmt was WAAAAAAAAAY more euphoric than 2C-T-7, and the 4-aco-DMT euphoria felt totally clean and natural, whereas 2C-T-7 euhphoria felt a little bit more chemically, akin to MDMA euphoria.
 
specialK, i would say that tryptamines really excel in closed eye visuals, where phens can definitely put them to shame in the open eye department. tryptamines also win for auditory hallucinations for me.

also, IME phens have a more "fuzzy" and "warm" euphoric body sensation, while trypts have a tendency to feel "squishy" and "wet" alien body feeling.
 
all depends on the person. some ppl react more positivley to one drug than others, and also theres set and settng to think about. i usually love tryptamines of any kind. phens do often give me good visuals and euphoria, but the mind trip definatly isnt there as much and i tend to get alot of uncomforable feelings on phenthylamines (body load).
 
Phens - "I'm fucked up, weeeee!"
Tryps - "The universe is beautiful, weeee!"

I have to rate them both the same in terms of enjoyability. I dabble in fun-time-psychedelics and I dabble in peaceful-psychedelics.
 
Phens definitely produce more bodyload for me, specifically nausea. However, tryptamines can sometimes produce a more bizarre and "foreign" body load that my friends and I dubbed "the tryptamine pressure" - a very uncomfortable sense that something is pressing you in from all directions. I'd take the pressure over the nausea any day, though.

greenmeanies said:
specialK, i would say that tryptamines really excel in closed eye visuals, where phens can definitely put them to shame in the open eye department. tryptamines also win for auditory hallucinations for me.
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I disagree here, but YMMV of course. I think in general phens are more visual than trypts, both OEV and CEV, but for me, especially concerning CEVs. 2c-e and DOC have given me some absolutely insanely intricate OEVs... they're always much less "organic" feeling than tryptamines (although 2c-e is a VERY awesome mix of the two - organic patterns and images like eyeballs that are digital looking) - very digital and futuristic looking in design.

As far as audio distortion goes, phens win again for me in general (except for psilocin... I really love music on psilocin), the distortion feels more warped, the sound waves look (literally! :p) curved to me. Whereas, tryptamine sound distortion feels whackier and glitcher to me, skipping, doubling of sounds overlaying each other, etc... and while this can be cool, it generally makes the music less coherent, not more coherent. Psilocin is an example of this that I enjoy, however, and moxy is an exception to this tryptamine sound rule.

Typrtamines without a doubt give a much more valuable headspace than phens do, though. Even 2c-e, while it relentlessly shoves my issues in my face (something about which I am pretty ambivalent, really), is sooo easy on my mind - I honestly feel like I could take one of my college exams on a phen and be just fine. Whereas, tryptamines give you strange thought patterns, fractured ego, and creative insights. Sometimes, they end up only clouding your mind, but the potential for great learning and insight is much higher with tryptamines in general, I think... even mescaline is relatively easy on the mind.
 
Tryptamines & Phenethylamines

What would you all say is the difference between the two in terms of experience?

One self described psychedelic warrior said that tryps are "deeper". I'm guessing he was mentioning the fact that the experience on tryps are harder to "bring back" to words and sobriety whiles phens have their insights more easily remember like those of mescaline and MDMA.

Thoughts?
 
^ haha... Good point. Umm, I'm reading PIHKAL, but everything outside of the biographical portion is a little easy to be distracted from ;). Still I intend to finish it, even if I the final page is surreptitiously borrowed by a vagrant while I slumber and it is used as a toilet paper alternative. That last page will still be mine, undernourished feces and all. Next, TIHKAL.
 
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