Jabberwocky
Frumious Bandersnatch
Edit: so turns out I now have heavy metal poisoning from this shit kratom. Lead, nickel and arsenic. I always knew this was a possibility, but didn't make the connection until it was too late. I am having a dozen shitty symptoms now including severe ones like difficulty breathing, irregular heart rate, chest pains, persistent headache and strong mental fog.
I am never buying headshop kratom ever again, you should avoid it at all cost. It used to be decent, but the kratom market expanded so rapidly they've begun sourcing it from the worst of the worst farmers who do not test their soil for these contaminants.
South East Asian soil is notorious for being contaminated with lead, as well as nickel, cadmium and arsenic.
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I've had a pretty good pulse on the kratom quality over the last 10 years and recently I have noticed a very sharp increase in the amount of horribly bad kratom going around, potentially dangerous stuff.
Note I am not talking about stuff from small businesses, but the commercial stuff you find in headshops and the bigger brands, although this could effect all of it.
I believe several large distributors have switched suppliers to a highly inferior product.
It's not just low quality stuff I'm griping about, but stuff that doesn't have any effect at all other than horrible side effects.
This bad stuff:
-No detectable opioid effects at ANY dose (even with zero tolerance), only a very mild and crappy stimulant effect-- and not a good stim either. Overall there is almost no effect at all, other than it makes you feel like shit for 8 hours.
- persistent headache that doesn't respond to acetaminophen or NSAIDs
- persistent stomach ache & nausea
- awful, extremely bitter taste (relative to good kratom)
Visually this stuff looks normal, but it smells very bad. Good kratom has a deep earthy smell, and a sweet tinge to it which I assume are the sugars in the leaf.
This bad stuff smells bitter, old, dry almost rancid and has a distinct bitter chemical smell. It does not have that earthy sweet smell at all. It leaves a very bad bitter taste in your mouth, I actually love the taste of good kratom, but this tastes toxic.
I suspect this stuff is potentially dangerous because the headache and stomach ache feel very unnatural, and not due to alkaloids but something toxic in it.
This isn't exactly sketchy gas station brands either. I have noticed at least 2 brands that I buy from trusted headshops that seemed to switch to this new supplier. I have used these brands for years and they used to be good, something changed.
I actually rated these brands 4/5 on BL a couple years ago. Within the last year I now rate them 0/5. Same brand, same packaging, same strain, same price, but now infinitely worse.
Anyone else notice a decline in the US kratom market quality?
I am never buying headshop kratom ever again, you should avoid it at all cost. It used to be decent, but the kratom market expanded so rapidly they've begun sourcing it from the worst of the worst farmers who do not test their soil for these contaminants.
South East Asian soil is notorious for being contaminated with lead, as well as nickel, cadmium and arsenic.
----------
I've had a pretty good pulse on the kratom quality over the last 10 years and recently I have noticed a very sharp increase in the amount of horribly bad kratom going around, potentially dangerous stuff.
Note I am not talking about stuff from small businesses, but the commercial stuff you find in headshops and the bigger brands, although this could effect all of it.
I believe several large distributors have switched suppliers to a highly inferior product.
It's not just low quality stuff I'm griping about, but stuff that doesn't have any effect at all other than horrible side effects.
This bad stuff:
-No detectable opioid effects at ANY dose (even with zero tolerance), only a very mild and crappy stimulant effect-- and not a good stim either. Overall there is almost no effect at all, other than it makes you feel like shit for 8 hours.
- persistent headache that doesn't respond to acetaminophen or NSAIDs
- persistent stomach ache & nausea
- awful, extremely bitter taste (relative to good kratom)
Visually this stuff looks normal, but it smells very bad. Good kratom has a deep earthy smell, and a sweet tinge to it which I assume are the sugars in the leaf.
This bad stuff smells bitter, old, dry almost rancid and has a distinct bitter chemical smell. It does not have that earthy sweet smell at all. It leaves a very bad bitter taste in your mouth, I actually love the taste of good kratom, but this tastes toxic.
I suspect this stuff is potentially dangerous because the headache and stomach ache feel very unnatural, and not due to alkaloids but something toxic in it.
This isn't exactly sketchy gas station brands either. I have noticed at least 2 brands that I buy from trusted headshops that seemed to switch to this new supplier. I have used these brands for years and they used to be good, something changed.
I actually rated these brands 4/5 on BL a couple years ago. Within the last year I now rate them 0/5. Same brand, same packaging, same strain, same price, but now infinitely worse.
Anyone else notice a decline in the US kratom market quality?
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