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Misc Getting use out of Ma Huang (Ephedra)

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Seattle_Stranger

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Mar 5, 2009
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Hello all!! Let me clarify right off the bat that I'm not looking to tweak on ephedra. If I catch a buzz or a little euphoria from it, whoopdeedoo but that's not particularly what I'm after.

For those who don't already know, Ma Huang is the natural source of ephedrine, (arguably) nature's amphetamine. I finally found a local source of real Ma Huang in harvested plant form, not pills or stacks or extracts, the real deal. Being a natural-psychoactive-psycho, I purchased myself 3oz of ma huang, basically a paper bag full of little green twigs.

The first time I made a cup of ephedra tea, I ground up a handful of the twigs in my coffee grinder, boiled water, and made tea in a french press. A friend came over about an hour later and suggested we eat mushrooms, so I did (not much) and we went for a walk. I felt a rather pleasurable energy kick on our walk, but I creditted all of this to the shrooms seeing as a small psilocybin dose before a walk always has this effect. A couple days later I tried another similar cup, and this produced no conceivable effect. Today, instead of my routine morning cup of coffee, I downed a cup of ma huang tea. Result: Short lived stomach ache and no noticeable 'wakefulness' or stimulation. After waiting about an hour and a half for effects, I gave up and made a cup of coffee, which seemed to produce nearly immediate stimulation when I began drinking it. Now I'm 3/4 through that cup of java and I'm awake.

Having said that, does anyone else use ma huang? I'm not talking about ephedrine HCL, or a stack, or any kind of synthetic version or extract or anything like that. I'm talking about actual ma huang twigs. Does anyone get good use from this stuff? Everywhere I read, people are going on about how great ephedra is, how addictive it can be, how when people drink it they feel like they've taken adderall, etc.. I want these effects!! :)

Anyone have experience? Dosage reccomendations? Perhaps a better preparation? Description of the effects they get? Again, I'm not hoping to get a straight-amphetamine effect from this, I know that is unreasonable to expect. However, if this is something that can at least produce a cleaner stimulation than caffeine, I'm all ears.

Thanks in advance!
 
Try acidifying your tea with lemon juice or something.

Ephedrine, ephedra etc are lousy stimulants. They're better as decongestants. (or feedstock for making meth but that's neither here nor there)
 
It was really frustrating when I started drinking it and couldn't find any recipe or dosage anywhere online, so I'll share the recipe I worked out for it—hopefully it works for you, and please reply with any improvements you figure out!

"Mormon Tea," the American variety of ephedra grows wild on my property & I recently started drinking tea made from it. I can assure you, you WON'T tweak on it, but made right, you will wake up. I had to quit coffee about 1.5 yr ago due to an allergy I developed to caffeine, and it's nice to finally have something that sort of does the same thing again. I say "sort of" because it's not exactly like caffeine. The first couple times I didn't think anything happened, because I was waiting for that sudden rush of energy that I used to get from coffee. It doesn't work like that though (at least for me). What happens is more subtle: I'm just not sleepy anymore a few min after drinking it. While the onset isn't as clearly defined as coffee, the boost is much more stable, with a more sustained level of focus and clarity that lasts for about 8 hr. I find this strange, since I thought amphetamines were meant to wear off after about 4 hr. I suspect it might be a more long-lasting, sustained effect, because small particles remain the way I prepare it and they get digested over time (just my theory). Unfortunately there is definitely a come-down with it including muscle aches—a perfect time for an afternoon nap. However, if you're a heavy coffee drinker like I used to be, all of the effects might be masked by the peaks and troughs you get throughout the day with each cup of coffee; my now-pristine, caffein-free body reacts quite strongly to it though :)

So here's how I make it


First thing: you'll need to use more of the twigs than you probably are imagining. I use enough dried green twigs to cover my open palm (about 10-15 grams according to my very un-precise mechanical kitchen scale).


Put the twigs in a Vitamix blender and add water (I add about 20 oz, but it probably doesn't matter how much you use as long as it's enough that the water doesn't get saturated with the alkaloids and you drink it all). Blend it on the smoothy cycle. If you don't have a Vitamix with pre-programmed cycles, Google what the smoothy cycle is equivalent to. My guess is gradual on followed by about two minutes on high, but I'm not sure. If you don't have a Vitamix, just blend the hell out of it—like 5 min or more—be careful that you don't burn out your blender on the fibrous twigs (it might be better to try to do it in a spice/coffee grinder and then add it to the water). Once you have a consistent solution, pour it into a pot and add a squirt of lemon juice (1/2 tsp or so). Then bring it to a boil and stir it a few times. Remove from heat and pour it through a very fine strainer of some sort (I line a metal strainer with a folded-over nut-milk strainer bag that I got awhile back for this sort of thing). Then pour it through the filter to remove the stringy fibers (or leave them in if you want to be more regular), and enjoy. I like it over ice.
 
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