So what you ppl are saying is try opium instead?
Definitely not saying that. I expressed my fondness of it, but also said I would never suggest anybody try it to replace something else.
Additionally, real opium is not easy to come across. By 'real', I mean raw latex ONLY which has been collected from the pods of a poppy plant and then filtered and thoroughly dehydrated to remove excess vegetable materials and moisture. The result is a very light weight, brown (sometimes very dark, sometimes more amber-like) substance which is stupidly powerful by weight.
Poppy pod "putty" does not count as "real" opium as I am describing it. It's still good and plenty strong, but far less potent by weight and tends to carry more side-effects due to the presence of alkaloids and vegetable fats which are reduced/removed during proper filtering of the real stuff.
A few years back, I was lucky to get hold of some top notch stuff. I was curious as to its subjective strength, so I put it on a milligram scale - then swallowed it.
It clocked in at under 200mg, and was probably a tad smaller than a pea - and I got so high that I couldn't believe it was possible for what could be called a herbal extract to be that potent. The material was made entirely from home grown Tasmanian poppies. Those things are incredibly potent. After swallowing the little speck of opium I went about my business keeping an eye on the clock. After 40 minutes I was feeling something pretty good, but was a tiny bit disappointed because I was hoping for something really special. Boy, did I jump the gun on that one!!
At 90 minutes I was about as stoned from opiates as I've ever been in my life, and to my amazement the effects continued to increase in intensity until the three hour mark after ingestion. I then enjoyed a peak which was really a plateau - it reached this incredible state of wellbeing and what I would call true euphoria, and just sat at that level of intensity for around five hours before slowly, slowly winding down into a peaceful sleepiness that lasted another eight hours, had an amazing sleep, and then was very lethargic but in a good mood for the entire next day.
I love pod tea as well, but it doesn't touch pure opium. That stuff's in another league. Trying to reach that kind of zen level with pod tea, I get nauseous and have uncomfortable physical side-effects, well before I can get up to the clouds. Pod tea just has a lot of plant material in it which doesn't agree with the stomach, and unless you've got a MEGA tolerance specifically to pod tea, then you can get very sick and spoil any enjoyment by drinking too much.
Again, I can't help but reminisce and rave about opium, and I feel ambivalent about writing this way. On the one hand, I honestly think that the natural product is an incredible gift to humanity which has been repressed. However, I do NOT advocate that everyone goes out and tries to find opium, because you're opening yourself up to getting ripped off if you try to buy it from a dealer, and you're taking a substantial risk if you try growing enough to make the kind of gear I was describing above. And, of course, it has an unrivalled depth of addiction, IMO.
Years ago I was a weekend user of codeine. I tried poppy seed tea and didn't like it - made me feel sick. I was happy enough with codine to be honest. After the blessing/curse of getting that opium on a number of occasions back to back, I went from having a light recreational habit to having a full blown opiate addiction which is still with me to this day.
Opium is one of those things were people are tempted and say "I'll just try it once, so I know what it's like". Heroin, also. You won't get addicted to either of those if you use them ONCE. But the thing is, if you enjoy it... really, really enjoy it. Do you think you'd be also to say "well, never gonna do that again. I've had my fun. Now I'll just settle down to the rest of my life".
