ochho a dit:
could you elaborate abit more on Set-Setting vs. Potency. How does that work? Can you get same intensity trips with a lower dose depending on set/setting? I would think logically that the dose determines intensity more than anything
We first have to determine what you mean with intensity. There is intensity of effects on the nervous system (degree of synesthesia, presence of visions or closed-eye visuals, distortions of the external environment etc.) and intensity on the psychological level (feeling intensely happy, or sad, confused, overwhelmed etc.).
The intensity of the sensory effects is generally not going to determine whether you're going to have a good or bad trip. But the intensity of the latter is crucial in this regard.
If the external environment is not encroaching too much on the inner experience, you can direct all your attention on your inner sensations. By doing so, there will be less confusion. If however your attention is drawn outward, there will be more confusion, as incoming data from outside and inside mix. That mixing can be fun ("dude! I'm so fucked-up right now!"), but it's not conducive to having a meaningful or life changing experience. Even nature is best appreciated at the end of the trip, not during its onset or peak.
If you're at an amusement park or concert, even a low dose of a psychedelic can be confusing and end in a bad trip. But if you're in a comfortable place that is quiet, warm and dark, and you're listening to appropriate background music, even a heroic dose will be experienced as a coherent sequence of meaningful symbolic imagery.
That's why I've said elsewhere that it's not a good idea to watch movies while you're tripping, or listen to music that's too chaotic (including otherwise great psychedelic music), or engage in sexual activities. If however you want to do these things, keep the dosage low. If you want to take a high dosage, schedule such external activities (including sex) for the latter part or end of your session. The peak of a high dose session should always be a journey within. The role of sitters is to help you go inward, and later assist you in going outward again.
Also, I asked my friend about the ones we took on my first trip, and he told me they were some very good quality ones... around 250~300mcgs.
If it's really true that there are blotters out there that contain more than 150mcgs, then my friend is right and I ingested something like 750-900mcgs, 12 hours after ingesting Datura tea, when I was 18. I don't believe there are such strong blotters out there, and so I always tell the story as having ingested something like 400mcgs. The blotters we took had dragons on them, and supposedly they were the strongest available (1992 in the Netherlands). It was definitely a very strong trip, to say the least...
