Blending 018/073 Experiment
I'm chiming in now, because I think some people might be able to benefit from my observations.
The JWH compounds are so new, and we understand so little about them, that I think approaching JWH's without due caution is foolish. I have been reading about people staying high on JWH for days on end and ending up with terrible headaches that won't go away. Some people will vaporize a huge quantity of JWH at once and have a terrifying trip. I'm not even going to try vaporizing JWH's because it is too easy to ingest way too much and be sorry for it. I've decided to try making some of my own smoking blends to find a dosage and combination that is fun to do, unlocks my creativity, and doesn't leave me hammered the next day.
A little about me, I used to smoke quite a bit of weed many years ago. I even judged a water pipe design contest my junior year in college, where I did 24 ultra-powerful hits of weed in succession. I've done LSD, shrooms, peyote (all which I liked), speed (for two weeks, I got addicted and had to stop), coke (which I didn't really like), and many forms of cannabis. One time I mixed acid with hash oil dipped blunts with nitrous oxide and had a very scary out of body of experience. After that, any amount of cannabis would trigger intense visuals, no matter how small. Since then, I've tried to be careful not to overdose on anything, not even alcohol.
I tried a prepackaged herbal incense (Bayou Blaster) that I like quite a bit. It takes about 3-4 hits from a pipe to get a nice even buzz, makes for relaxing sleep, and a refreshed feeling in the morning. This positive experience prompted me to experiment with making my own blends. I've worked in chemical laboratories for over 10 years, and I'm very careful about measurements, documentation and safety.
Batch #1 (2% JWH-018 and 4% JWH-073)
- Pan balance is accurate to 0.01 g.
- Placed 0.10 g of JWH-018 and 0.20 g JWH-073 in a 50 ml beaker
- Dissolved in a minimum amount of reagent grade (99.99% ) acetone, about 4 ml
- Brought the volume up to 20 ml with Everclear (95% alcohol)
- Poured the solution into a polyethylene spray bottle
- Spread 5.00 g of cleaned damiana leaf on a glass plate
- Sprayed the damiana uniformly with the JWH solution
- Rinsed beaker with another 10 ml of Everclear, and sprayed remaining traces of JWH onto damiana
(Aside: it's a good idea to clean out your spray bottle with alcohol because the acetone will soften the plastic over time and make your bottle unusable.)
- Covered plate of sprayed leaves with a paper towel, allowed to air-dry for 18 hrs, until no acetone or ethanol scent was detectable, and leaves were dry and fluffy.
- Placed impregnated damiana in a sealed glass container
- Added about 3-4 ml of bourbon whiskey for body and flavor, resealed and shook the contents, allowed to sit for an hour
Safety precautions: Acetone and Everclear (95% ethanol) are both highly flammable liquids and should not come in contact with flames or high heat. I use reagent grade acetone because it doesn't leave a residue, unlike less pure grades sold as polish removers, that do leave residues.
Flight Test #1a (Male 230 lbs):
- Inhaled one hit from a pipe. Very little effect after 5 minutes.
- Took a second hit, and this was enough to get across the threshold.
I noticed this blend did not cause intense visuals, and I was not disoriented. I felt a strong creative energy, and decide to play guitar for about 30 mins, experimenting with some improvisational melodies, chord progressions and lyrics. My S.O. thought it sounded wonderful, and commented that she had never heard me play that well before. Feeling quite energetic, I decided to change the flat tire on her car, which I did successfully. On the way to the auto mechanic (she drove), the high began to dissipate, leaving a mellow relaxed feeling in its absence. I didn't experience any cottonmouth or munchies.
Flight Test #1b (Male 230 lbs, Female 200? lbs -she won't tell me
-):
- Smoked 3 good-sized hits from a pipe in succession, with my S.O. I was across the threshold quickly (1 minute) this time. We had had 2-3 drinks each before smoking.
- No alarming visuals ensued, which was good. I felt a very nice body high, with mind mellowness. I started to explain the importance of three dimensional geometry in molecules and how it give rises to the visible spectrum to my S.O. but I was kind of losing her, but she liked listening to the science-y words I was using. We decided to hang out on the porch and do some improvizational comedy skits, which made us laugh like crazy. There was a lot of synergistic creative energy, the S.O. even started dancing to music, something she is usually too inhibited to do. Music and video appreciation was noticeably heightened. I did play some guitar this time as well, but I got interrupted, so it didn't seem to gel this time. We both did get some light munchies, cured by some frozen yogurt, mmmmm!
Later on, S.O. said that she liked this high better than that prepackaged blend (probably just JWH-018 ) because she didn't feel as disoriented with Batch #1, while the other blend seemed to interfere with her sense of balance. I found Batch #1 enhanced human contact; there was a lot more making out and massaging and cuddling and joking around, not as sexual in nature as sensual.
Going to sleep, my muscles felt very relaxed, and we both woke up early the next morning feeling very refreshed and well-rested, no hangover, just a mellow glow.
Conclusions:
Batch #1 is a very gentle yet effective blend. I can see sharing an entire blunt of this without getting so wasted that I feel the need for an ambulance. While JWH-018 mainly targets the CB-1 receptor, and adds trippiness to the experience, the JWH-073 targets the CB-2 receptor more, and adds the body high that is characteristic of weed. Marijuana contains a complex mixture of CB-1 and CB-2 agonists AND antagonists, which results in a longer-lasting effect. The experience of these flight tests was very similar to a marijuana high, except that the onset is faster and the duration is shorter (about 1.5 hrs). The balance between JWH-018 and JWH-073 seemed to be the reason for the pleasantness of these flight tests. I thought this batch was a tad weak, but my S.O. said she prefered this concentration. I guess I will have to take a hit or two more than her next time.
The reason I'm going to all the trouble of blending myself is that I can control the components of the blend, as well as the dosage. People who are disregarding the potential for danger and abuse of JWH's are making it harder for us to justify keeping these drugs legal, IMHO. I enjoy my whiskey, one shot a time, spread out over the evening, but I'm not going to sit down and drink the whole bottle. But inhaling outrageous amounts of JWH off aluminum foil is analogous to drinking the whole bottle. I'm sure there are some JWH users who can vaporize off the foil and do quite well, but there are too many who are getting fucked by it. That's why encourage blending instead of straight vaping, it's just more responsible and pleasant.
My two cents, as usual.
