San Pedro Dose Question

[piku_playground]

I recently bought a cutting of San Pedro. I had it frozen for a couple of weeks, then recently I moved out and had to pull it out of the freezer and let it defrost. It was out for about 3.5 days before I finally was able to brew it.

The cactus is about 15" by 3.5" dia. This cutting was much larger then the first time I tried mescaline. The cutting was heavy (did not get to weigh it) and a dark green. From the little I tasted it was very bitter, more so then the last cactus that I got. I realize it is extremely difficult to understand this cactus' potency, but from what I have read it seems like this one may be pretty strong.

I cut out the core but left the skin on, then chopped the cactus up into small segments and added equal amounts of water (40oz), then blended it all. I boiled the gooey goop for about 2 hours and extracted the liquid into a cloth. Came out with about 24oz of liquid. I am supposing that the large quantity of liquid I was left with was due to me only boiling it down for two hours instead of the traditional longer times I have seen people do.

So I'm curious as to if this amount of cactus would be too much for me to drink. I am not very experienced in psychedelic drugs. I have tried San P once before with a 12"by3" cutting and had a moderate trip (although I have no other SP experiences to compare it with). It was a very spiritual experience and I felt it was quite similar to how people describe the experience in 300mg dose of mescaline. I was able to handle myself quite well and did not find the experience overwhelming at all.

I now feel that I would like to take a moderate-high dose of mescaline. This time I will be by myself and in a comfortable setting. I do not want to take such a high dose that I would not be able to handle. I only weigh 125 pounds and am 19 years old, so I suppose it will not take nearly as much mescaline to get me there as say someone that weighs 170 pounds.

My main concern is that if I do have a potent cactus, and it is about 35% heavier then my last cutting (broad estimation) then I could be consuming somewhere of 500-600mg of mescaline (broad estimation #2). I would like to take somewhere around 450mg of mescaline ideally.

So should I try drinking 75% of what I have? Should I wait a couple hours and see how I feel then take the other 25%? I don't really want to have a small portion of leftover liquid. Last thing I would want to do is waste this precious plant.

Sorry for so many questions. I am trying to plan this trip to make it a very insightful experience. A part of me wants to just drink it all and see what happens, complete ego dissolution might not be a bad thing (something I've never experienced.) But considering I have only had around 4-5 real psychedelic experiences, I think caution should be of importance.

Opinions?

Here is a picture of the cactus. Taken on my phone so quality is low, but you can get an idea on the size.

 

[daysonatrain]

drink it all, the leftover 25% would not leave enough for a second dose. mescaline is much more forgiving than other psychs if you take a bit more than intended. also, your picture doesnt make it look like too much, but being only 125 pounds could alter things. im around 160 and have taken 18 inches of a cactus similar to that one and been fine.

however, the decision is really up to you, there is no real way to know how hard you are going to trip, since mescaline takes a few hours to really hit you and several more to "peak"

 

[NW-baltiland]

Just eat it all as the previous poster said. Also, like he said, mescaline is much more forgiving and so you can take that little extra and not have to worry about losing your shit. I really can't see 15" being too much, just have a good time and be safe. Good luck.

 

[dryandcola]

I've only tred mescaline once before from a cutting much like yours, I would say it was of equal or similar size. I'm a seasoned tripped and would say that unless your very unexperienced (which, if your buying cuttings of cactus I'd assume your not ) you've got nothing to worry about ! (except of course, for the foul taste.. depending on your extraction tek)

 

[piku_playground]

Yeah I will probably take the entire dose. I think there is more to gain from larger doses then small ones.

 

[rhinogrey]

You could take five times that amount and still be good to go easily.

 

[PepperSocks]

As an experienced cactus enthusiast I agree with everyone; take it all.

That dose you have there might fall into the medium area if you're lucky. I've had a piece of cactus about that size that was only threshold and I've had some a bit smaller that blew me away. Mescaline content in cacti varies wildly. Looking at that piece; I'd take it all.

 

[slimvictor]

There is a good discussion of San Pedro dosage here:
http://www.erowid.org/plants/cacti/cacti_dose1.shtml

I have taken San Pedro around 20 times, and have never had a trip that was too strong. In fact, I have almost never had a trip that was strong enough. I have consumed 24 inches (X about 3 inches) at times, and half that other times. However, cactus can vary enormously in strength.

Re-dosing after a few hours probably won't do you any good. It will only lengthen the trip, I think, and not increase the strength.

I would suggest caution. Maybe you can drink about 20 percent of it one day, to get a feel for it, and then the rest later if the first trip was not surprisingly strong (at least 4 or 5 days later, to avoid tolerance).

As uniter noted above, some smaller pieces can be strong, and if you have a large cutting with that strength, and you are not used to psychedelics, things could become too strong for you. You can always get more san pedro, if you are not impressed with the strength of the first 20 percent, and want to trip harder than the remaining 80 percent can do for you.

I have noticed a common pattern when reading through the "train wreck" trip reports in Erowid. They typically involve people taking too much. I also took too much several times when I was young (mostly LSD), and learned the lesson: caution.

Since you are relatively new to psychedelics, caution is wise. If you have an experience that is too strong, you will be kicking yourself during and after it, since you knew that it was possible and threw caution to the wind.