opiatekrzy
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does quality and richer effects of certain mushrooms exist? is it comparable to marijuana, where certain strains provide richer effects. is it like this for shrooms as well
what's the best psilocybin strain?
- Thread starter ongos
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There is some debate over this. It is undeniable that in plant psychedelics, the effects ARE different for some plants because of the mixture of a range of compounds with one primary active. A good example is mescaline cactus, the cactus contains various other compounds that are varying degrees of active on their own... if I recall there is a little MAO inhibition going on there too (someone correct me if I'm wrong please). Iboga has other fully active compounds and the full mixture of them provides a significantly different experience. Obviously the same is true of marijuana (which by the way a lot less people used to accept).
With mushrooms, there are other substances present although psilocin/psilocybin are obviously the main components. There are also baeocystin and nor-baeocystin present. The argument people make against there being differences between strains other than potency is that both of these additional alkaloids have been tested by themselves in humans and little to no effect has been reported. I'm of the opinion though that it's at least entirely possible that the mix of alkaloids brings out effects that would not have been as pronounced or even happen at all with either alone. There is some precedent for this, I think. In PIHKAL, MDPR was reported to be a potent "activator" of LSD, making the trip much fuller and more powerful, while on its own they tried it at increasing dosages with little to no effect. It seems possible to me, but as to backing that with experience, I've mostly eaten cubensis, except I suspect my first trip was with one of the more potent species (but I'm not sure). That trip was subjectively different than any other I've had, quite a bit, but it was also my first trip and it was a special, +4 transformative experience. So who knows. I just think it's possible, and even likely that different ratios of alkaloids in mushrooms produce a variance of the bell curve of effects experienced. Even the ratio of psilocin to psilocybin could produce differences, I mean it's clear, as I understand, that psilocybin is unable to cross the BBB directly unlike perhaps some of the other esters such as the acetoxies, and is converted to psilocin first, but even the fact that it has to be converted first might change some of the absorption dynamics which can lead to differences in subjective experience as well.
With mushrooms, there are other substances present although psilocin/psilocybin are obviously the main components. There are also baeocystin and nor-baeocystin present. The argument people make against there being differences between strains other than potency is that both of these additional alkaloids have been tested by themselves in humans and little to no effect has been reported. I'm of the opinion though that it's at least entirely possible that the mix of alkaloids brings out effects that would not have been as pronounced or even happen at all with either alone. There is some precedent for this, I think. In PIHKAL, MDPR was reported to be a potent "activator" of LSD, making the trip much fuller and more powerful, while on its own they tried it at increasing dosages with little to no effect. It seems possible to me, but as to backing that with experience, I've mostly eaten cubensis, except I suspect my first trip was with one of the more potent species (but I'm not sure). That trip was subjectively different than any other I've had, quite a bit, but it was also my first trip and it was a special, +4 transformative experience. So who knows. I just think it's possible, and even likely that different ratios of alkaloids in mushrooms produce a variance of the bell curve of effects experienced. Even the ratio of psilocin to psilocybin could produce differences, I mean it's clear, as I understand, that psilocybin is unable to cross the BBB directly unlike perhaps some of the other esters such as the acetoxies, and is converted to psilocin first, but even the fact that it has to be converted first might change some of the absorption dynamics which can lead to differences in subjective experience as well.