For reasons that aren't fully understood, the actual plant brew from good Hawaiian psychotria can be many times more powerful, all encompassing & longer lasting than anything that can be purified out & added back in. This is poorly understood, it could be the superior salt form of the actives in the leaf, or other components along with the leaf + the dynamics of digestion of the leaf form. Traditional Ayahuasca can be quite powerful & long lasting with good plants and considered to be caapi + psychotria by the Shuar Indian, UDV, and Santo Daime. It is safe and traditional. Benny Shanon in his book "Antipodes of the Mind" also mentions he used caapi + psychotria for all of his 130+ sessions. Recommendations would be caapi vine or caapi extract. Recommendations for good leaf would be Hawaiian psychotria, or no leaf at all, just Caapi by itself.
Clearlight experiments that involved several people back in the day (over a dozen trials) found the leaf brew form superior to extracted actives, they found the leaf brews very strong and powerful & clairavoyant (+5 Shulgin scale), while they mentioned that the extracted actives were mild (+3 Shulgin scale) at best, even up to 100mg. Again, this is poorly understood.
Even Jonathan Ott found that in his 20 experiments posted in his book "Ayahuasca Analogues", that none of his later experiments with extracted actives quite matched the power of his 1st actual Ayahuasca brewed with caapi and good real leaf (experiment #1), he had no explanation for this. He did however find 70mg to be close to it, but still not the same.
In dreams, a brew of blended up psychotria leaf can be boiled in 1 and 1/4 bottle of spring water (21oz) for 1/2 hour, then filtered thru a wire mesh strainer to get out the course leaf fragments, then filtered thru a cotton ball in a funnel to get out the fine leaf sediment, changing out the cotton ball when/if it clogs. Having two large funnels, each sitting in a separate glass with a cotton ball stuffed into each funnel's tube, and transferring the liquid back and forth between the two funnels when the cotton would clog up, allowed the filtering to go fast and would only take up a few minutes at most. Then put the filtered liquid back on the stove and reduce it down to 2oz, and add your caapi. Phenomenal dream with good plants. The cotton ball gets out any fine muddy leaf sediment which is irritating to the intestines, for a nausea free to the stomach/intestines brew, this of course does not reduce "brain nausea" which can result from using too much leaf.
Taking a small sip of the leaf brew (before adding the caapi to it) can be done to determine the approximate "strength" of the leaf beforehand...depending on how bitter a sip of it is, you will be able to help gauge whether the admixture part (light) of the dream will be weak, medium, or strong ornamentally. If it's too crazy bitter, back off on the leaf amount used as this may signal a "too strong" leaf brew. The leaf brew and caapi (power) are taken mixed together (marriage) at the exact same time (just as the Shamans do) for best & strongest effects ornamentally.
The 1st 60 minutes from when the caapi takes effect is when some weak nausea or slight dizziness might be noticed during the dream, whereas after the 1st hour, there is usually little to zero nausea or dizziness as the harmine in the caapi has mostly worn off by then, as the half-life of harmine is around 1.5 hour. Then all that is left working is the more desirable tetrahydroharmine in the caapi and any leaf actives for the duration of the rest of the dream.
Why traditional caapi over rue?
Bancopuma once wrote, "the more caapi the better." Caapi contains tetrahydroharmine as it's second largest alkaloid, and contributes greatly to the experience in many postitive ways, besides it's visionary, brightening and coloring abilities, it goes way beyond that....it seems to partially inactivate barriers or filters in the brain so that "mind at large" as coined by Aldous Huxley can be let loose a bit.
Mind at Large - Wikipedia
Tetrahydroharmine on it's own will also yield the same type visions as harmaline, it just takes more of it. For example, around 300mg of THH will yield the same visions as about 100mg harmaline...even if the THH dose or caapi dose is split in two over several hours, the visions will still be apparent some time after the 2nd dose takes effect, the doses are additive.
THH in the caapi also seems to strongly activate the right hand hemisphere of the brain-- the side that performs tasks that have do with creativity and the arts, feelings, visualizations, imagination, holistic thinking & intuition, empathy, spirituality & connectedness. In the first book mentioned below, researchers found that the right side of the brain lit up in brain scans of people who took LSD, mescaline, or mushrooms. The world is largely moving in the direction of the Left Brain: technology and science. What the world needs is to move in the direction of Right Brain development.
Quote from TIHKAL by Dr. Shulgin "More studies on tetrahydroharmine are absolutely imperative."
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Norman once said:
"I’m no purist by any means but I can’t recommend extracted DMT for ayahuasca. Weird jangly incomplete trip."
Norman is absolutely right, this dreamer has dreamed Ayahuasca with caapi and hawaiian psychotria over 65 times over the years, and it kicks the living %%!@%$ out of any kind of extracted xtals....here's why, this person agrees with me, he is Julian Palmer, perhaps you remember him, he used to be active for over 10 years, then he started writing books...this is what he said, and I completely agree with him. Take true Ayahuasca with actual hawaiian psychotria leaf brew mixed with caapi (the caapi can be an extract or brew from vine) and it will have you crying for your mommy for 90 minutes it is so powerful...but extracted xtals even at amounts 2x to 3x (120 to 180mg) what a natural dose is found in 30g of the leaf (natural 60mg) will not even compare quality or strength wise:
From "Articulations, On the Utilisation and Meanings of Psychedelics" (2015) by Julian Palmer:
"Modern day researchers, spearheaded by people such as myself, have realized that Jonathan Ott's calculations fall short of what most explorers need for a truly visionary experience. Even with a strong harmine/Banisteriopsis caapi dosage, 30-60mg of dmt is not sufficient to produce significant visionary effects in most people. So if fact, a dosage of 30-40mg of dmt is where tryptamine-like effects just begin to occur for most people, and 10-25mg dmt is not really noticeable above the gentle psychoactive effects of the harmine.
Each person is different and for some rare individuals, 30-40mg may be about as much dmt as they wish to take--but most people need at least 60-80mg for sufficient psychoactive effects and even at this dosage, you generally cannot expect a full-blown visionary experience, even when using a strong dose of 4 grams of syrian rue or 100 grams of strong caapi vine. Also, it should be pointed out that going beyond 4 grams of syrian rue (around 200-280mg of harmaline) or 100 grams of strong caapi vine (150--250mg of harmine) can increase the negative effects of these beta-carbolines--which include a feeling of heaviness, pressure in the head, inability to walk properly, more purging and perhaps more of an emphasis on bodily processes.
An oral dosage of 100mg of dmt is where the visionary qualities really begin to occur, for most people say when they are taking 3 grams of syrian rue or 80 grams of strong vine, and in context, 40-60 grams of strong vine is enough to fully mao inhibit most people.
I would say to neophyte explorers to tread carefully, and to slowly increase your dmt dosage in increments: perhaps starting at 60mg, going to 100mg, then 150mg. Some people are going to find 100mg of dmt to be exceedingly strong, and it will perhaps give them an experience they did not feel ready for.
It came to my attention after an embarrassing number of years, that taking freebase crystal DMT orally was not as potent, colourful, or clear as taking the equivalent amount of DMT in a tea that was brewed from the plant. For many years, I couldn't see how there could be a difference, but after doing some comparisons, it was obvious that the tea was much better, and the experiences resulting from the crystalline extract were inferior.
You could take twice or even three times as much DMT crystal as the equivalent in brew, and the experience from the crystal would never be as bright or full as that from the tea. Why could this be?
With extracted dmt, with chemicals used it would appear that some dimensions and qualities of the tryptamine molecules are compromised. Also, there is the factor of isolating the alkaloids from the rest of the plant. For example, there are very few people who say that extracted pure mescaline from the cactus is as potent of full bodied compared to when they take the tea made from the cactus flesh.
When making a tea from the whole plant, you are extracting the essence of the plant intelligence from its very flesh, not just isolating the alkaloids. In the alchemic method "Spagyrics" developed by Paracelsus, often considered the father of modern medicine, the ashes of the plant are commonly burnt and then blended back into an alcohol-extracted tincture. Friends who have experimented with this procedure report that a Spagyric tincture of Ayahuasca is much more potent than a normal tea prepared from the same amount of Ayahuasca vine."
Here is what dream leaf brew looks like (see 1/2 pint jar below) after you boil 30 to 35 grams of hawaiian psychotria leaf for 25 minutes, then filter it thru a strainer, then filter it thru a cotton ball in a funnel (gets out all the irritating particles that cause nausea in the stomach and intestines). then boil it down to 2oz....incredibly strong..just like in the Jungle. I've had dream experiences where I could not move an inch after dream consuming...cause the visuals and visions were so dense with eyes open or closed for 90 minutes straight...I had to sit put in one place The Aya was so strong...quality wise it is incomparable to any kind of extraction. Totally blows it away. Use it the way the Shamans use it.
Stop Just back away from the chemicals...(1) cacti, (2) Aya, (3) morning glory....they all kick ass without the use of chemical extractions...make a (1) tea, (2) make a brew, (3) make an acidic cold water extract (LSH in the morning glory seeds only survives in acidic water)...YES, it may cost a little bit more to buy some hawaiian psychotria leaf...but it will be an experience you will never forget...it will be just like Jungle made Ayahuasca...you will be immersed from all directions in colors and visions...tracers that go onto infinity...none of this happens with xtal extracts...use the pure leaf brew...it will blow you away...and once you brew the leaf and filter it, boil it down to a few oz, then let it sit in freezer till frozen, then move to fridge, and any leftover mud will move to the very bottom, just decant off the top orange active layer, re-heat it and consume that at the exact same time as you Caapi---mix the two together--consume TOGETHER just as shamans do...this way it is the most active. Don't stray from the way the Shamans use it.
Details of cotton ball stuffed in a funnel filtering:
You should love the cotton ball filtering, it works for filtering out the debris from Ayahuasca, Cactus, or Morning glory seeds, when and if the cotton clogs, you simply replace it with another and continue filtering, may take 2, 3 or more cotton ball chang-ings, but your entheogenic brew will come out super clean and active, your stomach and intestines will thank you--no nausea! Yes, coffee filters are useless. Have dreamed this method of filtering for decades--get's all the nauseating particles out but leaves the water soluble actives in solution. Beats the heck out of useless coffee filters which will not allow anything to flow.
To use: just put one cotton ball in a large clean funnel to make it sediment free which reduces or eliminates nausea to the intestines...have two of these funnels with a cotton ball stuffed in them sitting in a large tall jar sitting side by side so that you can pour off liquid from funnel #1 into adjacent "funnel in a jar #2" to continue filtering once the 1st jar's cotton clogs up or slows down the flow too much, continue pouring off the funnel's contents back and forth changing out the cotton when or if it clogs.
When you are done with your cotton ball in a funnel filtering, take all your spent cotton and combine it in your hand into a single wad, make a fist and wring out any leftover liquid into a final funnel in a jar with cotton ball stuffed in it, to get every last bit of particle free liquid. You will want to use the larger size black funnels that you can find in your nearest automotive store, buy several of them.
