first-time shroom tips?

[Cosmik_Debris]

Well, here goes, my first post on Psychonaut.

I've browsed the forums here from time to time, but (obviously) I never decided to register untill just now. I've come seeking some advice. Here's the situation: a close friend and I have wanted to try psychadelic mushrooms. Just a few days ago, he bought some from a friend who has tripped on shrooms numerous times - and, coincidentally, on ones from the same batch my friend bought from just the night before. The FOAF says they're pretty potent (but he either doesn't know or didn't mention the strain :/), he reccomended a dose of 2g (they're dry, of course). I understand 1/8 Oz is an average middle-dosage for average-potency mushrooms, which I also understand is 3.5 g. So I suppose 2g would be a good adjustment for the potency, but what do you guys think? I want a full trip, but needless to say I certainly don't want to overdo it. Consider we won't be able to have a sitter available to physically be there with us, just each other, and it will probably be later at night.

The only other question is about duration. I've always heard 6 hours as the typical shroom trip duration, but the FOAF said 8. How much does trip duration vary from strain to strain?

Thanks in advance for the help.

And for those of you that don't know what my username is about, check here.

 

[IJesusChrist]

plenty of advice will follow.

The 2grams is good to start out. You will experience everything you want - you won't miss anything. Don't underestimate 8hours. You will not be able to sleep if you are tripping. You will not be able to stop the trip if you get tired, or get irritated with the trip, you are committed to 8 hours!

I don't have any more advice now, I'm not very motivated to write anything

 

[Cosmik_Debris]

Well, tomorrow's the day. Ay other advice, anyone?

The only major thing I haven't decided is whether I should eat them whole or in a tea. Any thoughts on which method I should use, or the main differences between the two?

 

[Teonanacapilli]

2g is the wiser way, I think. It's better to take it easy and get to know the mushroom first. As a method, I like to chew them for a while before swallowing.

 

[Cosmik_Debris]

Ok, that's what I was thinking. I was just unsure because the FOAF said they were pretty strong.

 

[Quark13]

How did it go?

 

[Spencer]

First time I tripped was an eighth of a gram. It was stupendously fun. Enjoy yourself, make sure you trip in a setting that is friendly.

 

[Cosmik_Debris]

Hey guys, I'm back. I've been busy with some stuff altely and I haven't been around the internet much lately.

Here's a copy of a bit I typed up, and recently posted on another forum.

Well, here's how it went. Around 8:00 my friend got to my house. In a bit, we stepped out onto my back deck for some bud . After we came back in, he got his scale, which was a pocket-size balance. It wasn't designed for high accuracy, and only had a mark every 5 grams, but he says he's weighed so much pot with itthat he can measure half a gram with pinpoint accuracy. We weighed out our doses, I dosed conservatively at 1.5 grams, he opted for 2.5 g. After a bit, we each put our dose in a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. He started his around 10:20, and ate it over about 30 minutes, although the majority of his dose was grouped near the middle of the sandwich. In an effort to avoid an akward phone call (to make a long story short), I couldn't start mine till about 10:50, but I ate it quickly. We went up to my second floor to relax sand wait for it to hit us. It came on very gradually at first, and havig smoked pot to avoid serious nausea, we didn't notice the initial edge of the effects. I seemed to notice it sooner than my friend did, for a while he was wonderig if it was "working" (untill he got some wierd closed-eye visual, some kind of 'bug-train' he described it as at the time). The conversation started gettig a little wierd, and a few times we just looked at each other and started cracking up. After a bit I put some music on, the only music I actually remember listening to are a live version of Hey You and Are You Experienced by Hendrix. I was really into the music, it seemed more...alive. I got up and started dancing at one point. After a bit, we headed back downstairs. After this pout, I can't remember the sequence of events too well. We went out onto my back deck for a bit, which was nice, but after a minute my friend got a little creeped because he thought he smelled a cigarette being smoked nearby. Looking at my red maple tree and the sky behind, which was lit with a dim red glow fromthe city in the distance. If I held still and looked at one spot, it looked like the sky was the foreground, and I was looking at some sort of two color fractal-like image.
pretty wild...We came back in and...did some other stuff that I don't remember too well . After a bit, I guess the pot wore off, cause I started feeling nauseous and puked a little. I felt much better as soon as I did (I remember thinking that it felt like I was purged of something). Afterward my friend and I sit on my couch and talked for a while. By 2:00 I felt I was definately off the peak. The whole time, those sort of deep thoughts you get occasionaly on pot were hitting me every time I gave serious thought to something. From about 2:30 on we sat on my couch with comedy central on in the background talking about stuff. Around...hell, probably 5:00, I wandered into my bed and fell asleep, my friend was already sleeping on the couch. In retrospect, we probably should have done stuff during that time, it was just too damn late. If I were to do it again, I'd probably have more than 1 other person present (probably only 1 other), and definately would start a lot earlier, it's unfortunate that I had to wait untill so late this time. I noticed some interesting visual distortions. The rows of wood grain on my bathroom wall sort of rippled, almost like a field of grain in wind, and a sort of colorful ghost image, sort of "leaked" out from between the grains. This same "ghost image" accompanied everything for a short while.

...and, that's all I've got to say, 'bout the war in Vietnam.

Definately should have done it a lot earlier, I'll keep that in mind. Also would have liked more music, but every time we tried to get up and do something, we got sidetracked and lost in conversation. Next time I trip I'll be sure to get outside, a daytime trip in the woods sounds like a lot of fun.

 

[Nicole53]

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[Jiellen29]

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Have a great day to all!!!

 

[ophiuchus]

something you said strikes me: "I want a full trip, but needless to say I certainly don't want to overdo it."

if you want a "full" trip, then it's impossible to over-do it... thing is there's no such thing as a "full" trip, just a trip full of things.

 

[DaZeD]

I dunno Allusion, when you have a full trip you might just have over done it all the same.

I guess he ment he wants a deep experience but he dosn't wan't to experience ego death, but there's no way to tell how you (Cosmic Debris) will react on a certain dose, if you just build up slowely you can stop when you like to, start out with a few stems and after they started to work you an eat some more untill you think you've reached what you where looking for.

But since a trip is always diferent and things will depend on different factors like if you ate them on an empty stomach and how energetic your mood is.

If you just begin with this i would go for a mild trip to begin with, it's not like smoking a joint, it's possible you'll meet your inner demons and your view of the world will be forever changed, this can be a good thing or a bad thing, it all depends on how your character is ofcourse, so i'd say a mild trip is perfect.

Duration is between 6 to 8 hours, sometimes more, sometimes less, depends on how much you ate them and how much time you left between doses.

 

[ophiuchus]

I dunno Allusion, when you have a full trip you might just have over done it all the same.

"overdone it" is one opinion. one mans enough is another mans too little and yet anothers too much. whatever dose is chosen is clearly the "right" dose, anything after that is subjectivity. i could say that doses in my past were too high, but then i'd put the experience on a pedestal, i could say they were too low, and then i'd belittle the experience. (the experience of which) i would never try to take back... it's like, you can't really say if you'd (go back, would you) do it another way, because, well, could you? ... no.

i live with no regrets

 

[DaZeD]

That's the spirit!
Although, if i could do it all again, i'd do some things differently, no doubt.

The only time you can overdo it is when you do it under the wrong circumstances, like with a complete disrespect for set and setting, it's definatly not good to "overdo" it then.

But when you are able to let go when you're going really deep and stay calm in the right setting and with the right mindset aswell, then it's not bad at all to go very deep, but i wouldn't say you overdid it then, ego-loss can seem dramatic at the time, -and is when it's the first time- and you can think you'd have overdone it then, but when you processed it all your'e glad you did it, and you would just call it a profound experience instead, but when you go very deep in a wrong setting then panick can strike you down and a bad trip will be inevitable if you can't control it (through meditation is a good way to overcome a bad trip) and stay calm.

Staying calm is the most important thing when you go bad imo, it's so damn difficult when deep experiences, paranoia or confusing truth's or realisations are shown, (life is an illusion) but when you do manage to stay calm chances are you'll get out of it.

So yea, overdoing it is a subjective term, indeed.

 

[ophiuchus]

i agree with you, although not in it's entirety

 

[DaZeD]

Please, eleborate a little on which points you disagree.

 

[ophiuchus]

That's the spirit!
The only time you can overdo it is when you do it under the wrong circumstances, like with a complete disrespect for set and setting, it's definatly not good to "overdo" it then.

But when you are able to let go when you're going really deep and stay calm in the right setting and with the right mindset aswell, then it's not bad at all to go very deep, but i wouldn't say you overdid it then, ego-loss can seem dramatic at the time, -and is when it's the first time- and you can think you'd have overdone it then, but when you processed it all your'e glad you did it, and you would just call it a profound experience instead, but when you go very deep in a wrong setting then panick can strike you down and a bad trip will be inevitable if you can't control it (through meditation is a good way to overcome a bad trip) and stay calm.

i think you give sound advice, but i prefer to see an easy lesson, and a hard lesson. "overdoing" it has it's reasons, benefits, even if they weren't intentional, and instead unconscious reasons. they can very well take longer to grasp, but that is not to say that i think that people should not have them.

this is also not to say that i think that people should learn the hard lessons all the time either, i believe both to be of value.

 

[DaZeD]

As i understand it you think everything happens for a reason, and i'm still confused about whether this is true or not, sometimes i tend to believe it is, but at others i can't see why some things happen.

I once went totally bad on only 2 blotters, the first was one i still had and i knew it was of good quality, then i went to the party and was already mildly tripping, it was fun and everything went smooth untill i thought i wasn't tripping hard enough, so i asked around for acid and a guy i knew had some, but i heard some people went bad on them, yet i thought "what the hell", it can't be that bad, right, so i took it, and yea, sure enough i went bad, i had the worst bad trip of my life then (i think i never knew what a real bad trip was, maybe bad experiences, this was totally new to me).

I've never felt such extreme paranoia before, the hostile nature of this trip and the endless loop i was in was absurd, i experienced all those things before, but not on this level, i think i won't ever feel something like that again, but i learned one thing though, if i'd stayed calm then i would've probably made it back to a more enjoyable state, but i freaked out and it took me over a year to process the experience, another thing i learned is to never direspect or underestimate the power of hallucinogens again, sounds cliché, but i learned the lesson, even when you think you didn't take that much you can still go totally bad to a extreme level if you are'nt prepared.

Did i overdo it, or was i just stupid, probably both.
But i did learn some valuable lessons altogether, so i guess you're right.

 

[ophiuchus]

personally, i wouldn't put it as "everything happens for a reason", because to me, it makes it seem too much like there is a single, outside, objective logic being applied. i just believe that something can definitely be made from "nothing"(or what appears to be). a closer statement (still not entirely accurate) would be something like, i believe that all the answers are within reach. that is to say, one is never shown something that is entirely over their head, even if these things aren't at first evident. but not in a sense like " X wishes for you to learn this specific thing from this point in time" or anything along those lines.. to me, that also would imply some sort of hidden code. i believe that nothing more than what we all already have is required to learn all of "life's lessons".

for me it's all about realizing/learning about the power of these unconscious forces that affect us, however, everyone's path is not the same