Visuals From Different Mushroom Strains

[boiledfruit]

Hi I have only had 2 different types of mushrooms in my life. 1 of course, is the ever so popular North American Gold Caps (Cubensis) and the other kind I tried was Psilocybe Cyanescens which provided me with an immensely different trip and visuals to accompany it. The visuals from cyanescens were strange and different from what I am used to. Walls did not breathe as much but instead doorframes, windows, and literally any
object that was had a square shape was covered in what seemed like a glossy coating which was breathing. Normally on mushrooms I would have no problem walking around or wanting to go outside, but during this trip I was stuck on the couch for basically the entire time. I felt incredibly sluggish and just watched Curb Your Enthusiasm for a few hours with some friends.

I know about different alkaloid content and all that jazz but my question was this: Does anyone have experience with more than 1 strain of mushroom, and are there many differences in visuals, mindset, and overall trip?

Thanks

 

[Ismene]

It's all psilocybin. Psilocybin by itself can have vastly different effects depending on your state of mind, your surroundings, the weather etc.

Any change in the "strain" is almost certainly placebo.

 

[DwayneHoover]

OMG stuck watching a lame sitcom on the tube on a strong shoom trip, especially one that whiny. My condolences, it must have been the essence of Hell! Seriously! :D

 

[boiledfruit]

^hahaha yeah no doubt. I remember getting really pissed off during that trip because Larry David was soooo annoying in the early episodes. It's been toned down now and I do admit I've been watching the newer seasons a lot haha.

Has anyone tripped with the Cyanescens mushrooms? Was my trip actually different or am I just crazy? I'm familiar with zooms and have NEVER had a trip like that before.

 

[porkstock]

the different strains could have diff AMOUNTS of psilocybin, etc. the ones that couch-locked u were probably just stronger

i've had "penis envy" shrooms and a single gram gave me a decent trip. i've had an eighth of "mexicans" that didn't do much. and p. cubensis (i assume) covering a spectrum of potency

 

[Swedish Penguin]

whoa whoa whoa, shit talking curb your enthusiasm- no accounting for taste i suppose.

it makes perfect sense to me that different strains of mushrooms could have different alkaloid percentages and possibly even some slightly different chemicals (in much smaller percentages than psilocin/psilocybin) depending on type. im sure these would affect many qualities of the trip.

different types of cactus have different alkaloids, concentrations, etc. some are even more sedating than others. obviously these are very different types of entheogens but its the same thing with different varieties of weed.

 

[DwayneHoover]

No, no, not dissing CYE, good show yea but the idea of feeling stuck engrossed in anything of that sort while on a strong trip, verbal character psychodrama etc, when nature or music of silent blackness would be using the shrooms to so much better effect is what I was trying to get across.

 

[DwayneHoover]

Any change in the "strain" is almost certainly placebo.

There is nothing to back this up. Might be true. Might not be. Setting forth a scientific proclamation with no evidence or research is SPECULATION not "almost certain."

We know that some strains have only 2/3 psyocybin&psilocin with the other 1/3 being Baeocystin. Who knows how universally consistent the small-sample research that sampled levels of those 2 alkaloids in several strains really is. Who knows what other related synergistic alkaloids that could while not affecting the roster of main effects, might possibly color or have more subtle effects on the psilocybin. There are 190 strains of Psilocybe mushrooms. May well be other alkaloids in small quantities with synergistic interactions. There are many many reports of different strains producing reliably distinct and different quality of effects from people with lots of experience. Look at differences in effects different strains of marijuana clearly produce, unique to strain. I suppose all those differences are placebo too? The brain is VERY sensitive. Tiny unexpected things can have disproportionately large influences. Ismene believes EVERYTHING reported by people is due solely to placebo effect, it seems.

 

[Ismene]

^^

But you do accept that psilocybin ALL BY ITSELF can cause wildly different effects? Have you ever tripped off one batch of mushrooms one week and then got a completely different trip off them the next week? I have - countless times. Particularly when they're capsuled and you don't know what you are taking so placebo can't colour the results.

Who knows what other related synergistic alkaloids that could while not affecting the roster of main effects

Oh spare us Dwayne, not you and your "unknown drugs" again. This is like your crackpot claim that the the reason LSD trips can vary from week to week isn't simply it's because that's what LSD does, it's down to "unknown, mysterious impurities". Give it a rest.

There are many many reports of different strains producing reliably distinct and different quality of effects from people with lots of experience

There arn't "many many" (don't exaggerate Dwayne!) reports of double blind tests at all. When you know you're taking a certain type of mushroom you colour the experience yourself by your atitude to it.

What you need is people who have been handed capsuled mushrooms by someone else and then asked "Right, at the end of the trip tell me what strain that was". I'm certain the results would be no better than guesswork.


Look at differences in effects different strains of marijuana clearly produce

That's marijuana. We're talking mushrooms.

 

[TheAppleCore]

An intense debate between DwayneHoover and Ismene -- quite possibly one of the most entertaining things that you could ever hope to see on Bluelight. :D

 

[Psychotrope]

There are at least two other compounds besides psilocin and psilocybin that have been isolated from psilocybin mushrooms. They are baeocystin and norbaeocystin. Apparently a 10mg dose of baeocystin appeared to have about the same level of psychoactivity as psilocybin. (Quoting wikipedia here, so...you know.) Its a given that we can't really know the exact levels of any chemicals in our mushrooms, short of using full on laboratory analysis. So I really don't think that its a huge jump of logic to speculate that different varieties and batches could have different ratios and this slightly altered effects profiles. Of course state of mind, dose, and even diet can effect the subjective effects. I say try as many kinds as you can, and if you happen to consistently find that one type works best for you, go ahead and pursue those. Why not?

 

[Tunnelfission]

Strains certainly differ in types of experience AND there also is the great chance of the same strain producing different effects than it had previously, every trip is.. "different"

 

[DwayneHoover]

An intense debate between DwayneHoover and Ismene -- quite possibly one of the most entertaining things that you could ever hope to see on Bluelight. :D

Debate? Hardly. Maybe a little like some version of the Punch and Judy show. I may have even gotten to like it, I'm afraid. Oh, the horror...

 

[Ismene]

An intense debate between DwayneHoover and Ismene -- quite possibly one of the most entertaining things that you could ever hope to see on Bluelight. :D

It would be nice if it could be a little more friendly tho apple - all we're disagreeing about is obscure points about psychedelics but Dwayne look at it like a duel to the death.

Maybe a little like some version of the Punch and Judy show. I may have even gotten to like it, I'm afraid

Can we be bezzy mates Dwayne? :D ...

 

[Ismene]

Strains certainly differ in types of experience AND there also is the great chance of the same strain producing different effects than it had previously, every trip is.. "different"

Psilocybin causes different types of experience regardless of the strain.

Psilocybin puts you in a highly suggestible state. If I tell you "This strain is azurecens, the most powerful and visual "strain" you'd have a "visual" trip. There's no magic about it - it's just placebo.

The only strain I worry about is the strain it takes me to shit.

 

[Qnick]

Those two types of mushrooms listed initially aren't separate strains, they're separate species. P. cubensis and P. cyanescens are distinct species in the same genus.

There is a big difference in alkaloid content between different species of psychedelic mushrooms, though there is very little genetic difference between different 'strains' of P.cubensis.

A more proper term than 'strain' would be 'race'. P. cubensis variants aren't species hybrids like marijuana strains (C. sativa x indica), they're selectively bred variants of one species, much in the same way we have variants in species of dogs.

 

[DwayneHoover]

It would be nice if it could be a little more friendly tho apple - all we're disagreeing about is obscure points about psychedelics but Dwayne look at it like a duel to the death.

Maybe a little like some version of the Punch and Judy show. I may have even gotten to like it, I'm afraid

Can we be bezzy mates Dwayne? :D ...

Haha, had to look up "Bezzy." I take SEVERE umbrage! Seriously tho... sure we can be mates... I can come across as pissed off when I am really just being faux upset for my own entertainment. I am just as disagreeably egotistical as you Ismene )) so I think we make a fine pair... I am sure in person we would get along famously, jibing and ribbing each other like an old married couple. We are after all both here to try and help by offering our opinions and experiences, and that means we have far more in common than difference. There should be an emoticon for a brotherly fist-bump!

 

[space_monkey]

All active Psilocybe mushrooms contain the same main substances which are psilocybin, psilocin and to a lesser degree baeocystin and norbaeocystin. The amounts and proportions of those 4 key components varies among different species and strains. Alongside with those 4 main components there are many other substances, which by them self don't have a described psychoactive effect, but might very well have a slight modifying effect on the psychoactive properties of the key components.

Another likely cause for the different effect of different mushrooms is the influence of the effect of stomach contents and set and setting on the psychedelic experience.
The use of any hallucinogen involves "set," i.e. mind-set, mood, emotional state and "setting," the environment and/or people with whom one is tripping at the time. The combination of set and setting in conjunction with the effects of the drug produce the kind of trip one has, good or bad. People do experience psychotic breaks from reality in a bad trip and this can be extremely traumatic with long-term and lingering after effects. A good trip can be very euphoric and transcendent in comparison. Which you’ll get is again, dependent on set, setting, the drug and certain amount of luck and randomness.

source

 

[Solipsis]

What about different concentrations in different strains producing different pharmacokinetics? Don't underestimate kinetics.

I guess you'd have to compare the tea brewed from different strains and see if there is any subjective difference. Double blind of course :D

My subjective experience was that Cyanescens seemed more clinical/pure with vivid saw-tooth distortions as opposed to the blurry dreamy organic visuals from Cubensis. Cyanescens actually reminded me more of acid in retrospect, before I ever tried acid back then.

I think placebo is a part of it, but not the entire story. I feel like it's a combination. I also think that psilocybin/psilocin proportions matter if I think about lemon/citrus juice teks. Yeah ok I now stopped believing that the acidity matters for absorption but I do believe that they can aid in direct conversion to psilocin without having to be converted in your body. Which ALSO is a matter of pharmacokinetics. If more psilocin arrives in your brain in a shorter time there is less chance for your body to have an acute protective tolerance reaction so you can expect to get a mind-warping much more visual comeup with a very short onset. And yes that slow onset is also something I have first-hand experience with, hard to explain that by placebo.

 

[limonov]

IME there are differences between different types of mushrooms, but I think that ingesting different combinations and ratios of Psilocybin-Psilocin, as well as other 'minor' or 'mediating' alkaloids found within the mushroom (like the alkaloids that don't really 'do' anything, but make taking cacti-juice subjectively different to extracted mescaline) are responisble for all variations- an above poster is right when he talks about pharmokinetics. Each mushroom is like a unique pill- all the pills are 'the same', but they have an individual 'character' due to their unique makeup. The huge variation and rapid mutation of mushrooms probably exacerbates this.

My experience with mushrooms has been quite different to most of you lot- I have tripped on golden tops (Psilocybe subaeruginosa?) & liberty caps (Psilocybe semilanceata), but most of my mushroom experience has been with 'Wellington Blue Meanies' (Weraroa Novae-Zelandiae/Psilocybe Weraroa) which are a type of mushroom that only grows in the lower half of the North Island of New Zealand. They are certainly distinctive, much stronger than any other mushroom I've eaten (you simply have to find & eat fewer to get proper effects, and many people have had extremely strong trips from as little as 12-20 mushrooms) and remarkably unvisual, but with far more profound mental effects. You might not see that many cool patterns, but you will be in a psychedelic stupor completely unable to roll cigarettes...

Weraroa Nova-Zelandiae is generally regarded by local consuumers as being subjectively and qualitatively different to 'normal' mushrooms, some people won't take them because of their reputation. Most, however, understand that we are blessed with unique indigenous mushrooms (when you cut them in half it looks like a cross-section of an alien skull) and find ourselves enamoured by its potency and unique 'flavour'.