Flux_Capacitor
Esteemed member
I’ve gained a new appreciation for prepping cactus. The worst part is peeling the waxy skin. My fingernails still hurt from all the peeling
I ended up with 4400 grams of fresh prepped cactus. I used everything but the core which I still kept and dried and may do an extraction for curiosity sake.
So rough estimate is 220 grams if dried at a 5% dry weight.
I brewed in a large pot for 6 hours with distilled water with the lid on periodically adding a little water cause it still evaporates some even with the lid. Strained and squeezed all the material through cheesecloth. This may have been going overboard but I also did a 40 minute insta-pot run, strained, then another 20 minute. Reduced it all down to 64oz in total and did one last strain through cheesecloth into mason jars. I froze it all except 1 cup total which I took with me. I plan to share this medicine so I wanted to gauge potency on my own before serving to others who have no experience.
At 1% mescaline content on the lower side that would be about 137mg mescaline for a 1/2 cup, which should be just enough for threshold dose
At bridges common amount of 2.5% that would put half a cup around 340 grams of mescaline. A moderate dose.
I figured 1/2 cup is a good starting dose which is what I drank. Let me tell you based off my experience I wouldn’t be surprised if some of these cuttings were in the 3%+ range. That or the fresh weight to dry conversion was way off.
Only 4oz of the 64 I brewed sent me on a challenging ride. I have 6 journeys with the medicine under my belt all done in Peru. They only use Pachanoi there though. This was by far the most intense experience I’ve had.
It was the longest come up I’ve experienced. At the 2-3 hour mark I was contemplating taking a redose of another 1/2 cup I brought. Thank god I didn’t. I decided to just give it time. At first it was lovely and gentle, but by hour 4-5 the peak was starting and it was relentless the rest of the day. I drank at 9am and was still feeling it at 12am. Couldn’t even fall asleep until 3am.
The visuals were wild and intense. Everything in my visual field was morphing and blending into fractal geometric patterns. The ground was lifting and rising beneath my feet. Closed eye visuals were infinite changing kaleidoscope patterns of light and geometry.
Auditory hallucinations and an extreme heightened sense of hearing were abundant. Jets would fly over and I swear I could hear them coming super far away and it would take a business day for them to finally pass over due to then time dilation.
Those things I could handle though. It was the body sensations and energy moving through me that made this experience overall pretty uncomfortable. Extremely energetic, electric, and stimulating. I just couldn’t get comfortable.
I know there is debate on the effects of Bridges vs Pachanoi and some saying Bridge is more stimulating and edgy. At the moment I would have to agree. But I do plan to cut the dose in half next time and see what a more gentle experience is like.
Overall it was still a beautiful experience and I’m grateful for having gone through it regardless of the challenges. The medicine never gives you anything you can’t handle and I’m amazed at how clear headed you can be even in the thick of it. Not once did I feel any anxiety or fear. It was just fucking intense and I knew I just had to roll with it the best I could.
So 64oz from 8ft or 4400g fresh essentially gave me 32 moderate doses or 16 heavy. I am curious to see what just 1oz would do so I think I may try that next.
