to add to @indigoaura 's thoughts..... I will add that ive personally witnessed new rollers who have never rolled before take some of the "best" pills and mdma on the planet. With the same effect. Everything but the love. Somethings up. Brand new rollers, never touched the stuff before, they werent showing the over the top "HOLY CRAP THIS IS AMAZING" type response. No massive eye dilation either. Tried tested and true pure mdma. No cuts.
My immediate thoughts on this I relate to the phenomenon of cannabis use which on the very first occasion in an individual's life- the experience can actually go completely over the head of the user.
My mum was an old school hippie back in the day and I grew up in a pot home of hippies who shared many tales and adages from the the hippie scene.
One of the first things I remember her telling me about drugs was how the first time you get stoned you don't actually get stoned. My mum described having this experience herself the first time she used cannabis which was completely different the second time and I think she observed it as a pretty common thing.
The first time I used cannabis myself I think this happenned to me actually I was age 17 having already been taking ecstasy and LSD for roughly one year.
I chewed up about 1.5 g of clean hash and the experience went completely over my head I wasn't consciously aware of what I was feeling but I was clearly stoned from my friends perspective and looking back afterwards because all I did was eat two boxes of apple pies and fall asleep lol!
My friend he was with me at the time commented that I was acting weird although I was just kind of sedated mainly.
When I saw my older peers who had given me a bit of hash who were longtime experienced cannabis users and they asked me "how did you get on with the blow?"
And I replied "it didn't do anything all I did was eat 2 boxes of apple pies and fall asleep".
My exact words, to which Paul replied exactly "Sounds to me like you got wrecked". Followed by chuckles around the room.
So I definitely experienced this phenomena where I experienced the drug fully but not consciously observing or appreciating or accurately appraising the extent or nature of the effects.
I know with MDMA there is this widespread misconception and belief that your first time will be the best and you will never experience that again my first time certainly wasn't my best but it was only half of a weak pill, maybe 40-50 mg MDMA tops in a half.
But I do think it is possible with any substance to kind of miss the experience the first time for various psychological reasons to do with perception and maybe expectations and just catching up with our mind and making sense of things retrospectively which is unnecessary the next time when everything is automatically more familiar to be instantly engaged with.