I will definitely be using cellulose capsules from now on. If I had thought of it as a variable previously, I would have already addressed it. Just never occurred to me that capsule type may be a factor in absorption rate.
I also knew people who swore by dissolving the MDMA in orange juice and drinking it. I never tried that either.
Some drugs absorb better if dissolved/crushed, but others work better if they survive the acidity of the stomach and dissolve beyond the stomach. So, I was never sure what would be preferable for MDMA.
Hilopsilo, when did you use pills? What year? The pills I used always hit very fast, within 15-30 minutes. I wonder if the pills you tried had a coating.
A long time ago, I was in 15 in mid 2010 when I first tried MDMA, it was in the form of pressed pills only for these to completely disappear by 2011. After that, everything anyone I knew had access to was fake piperazine pressed pills or worse. I was unable to find proper MDMA until I became aware of a certain resource at the end of 2012 and it was just like I remembered it. Then, moved away to college and all of a sudden the stuff was flowing like water again (locally) except its ALWAYS powder/crystal MDMA. I haven't even seen a pressed pill since 2011.
I think I began rolling right at the end of the availability of MDMA in the U.S. since the stuff disappeared so quickly thereafter. I didn't have test kits back then or anything, but just remembering how it made me feel it was definitely MDMA. Hell, those pills were the only time I have ever gotten eye wiggles from MDMA. I likely took higher doses than I thought, I remember taking two of these "purple aliens" and I basically got too high (pretty reckless thing for 15 y/o me to do lol).
Most of the time we actually chewed the pills up lol, figured it would make it kick in faster. I imagine when the pill is all packed together it takes a bit to dissolve in your stomach especially if its sitting on top of a shitload of starchy food. But other than that time, I think the stuff kicked in about as fast as it does now. For me, 20-30min after taking it I start to notice the come-up, then by 45min the come-up is in full motion, then by an hour i'm fully rolling. I get weird time distortions during the come-up, so its difficult to tell definitively and it varies, but generally speaking, say if I want to be completely done coming up, high as hell and ready to party by 10pm, I'll take my MDMA at 9pm sharp.
While this stuff is interesting, I don't think theres any useful conclusions to draw from it since these times seem to be very individual and vary. My best friend is always 20-30min behind schedule even if we dose at the same time. My girlfriend and I always dose at the same time, sometimes she comes up first, sometimes I do. Kind of a toss-up.
The MagicDMA I had this past summer did take longer to hit me than usual and caught me off guard, but it hit my girlfriend at the normal time (she came up first that time, but I came up first on the MehDMA the first night so...). Sometimes if I'm really high on LSD, its difficult to tell if the come-up is starting or if I'm just feeling sensations of anticipation combined with the effects of LSD.