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Advice for first mescaline experience
- Thread starter Sakkadelic
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aztecabeverages
Rising Star
Hey there 
It’s beautiful that you’re approaching this experience with care and respect, especially given the circumstances. Bridging your final opportunity with Bridgesii feels poetic in itself.
1. Outer Skin & Core Removal:
The outer green layer (just under the skin) contains the most mescaline, so peel carefully, keeping that layer intact while discarding the waxy skin and woody core.
2. Long Simmer (Tea):
Simmer chopped pieces (not boil) in slightly acidic water (add lemon or vinegar) for a few hours in 2-3 pulls, combining all the liquid.
3. Reduce:
Strain and simmer down the combined tea until you’re left with a thick, drinkable syrup or even a gel-like tar (if you want to go that far). This crude extract is more palatable and has less plant material, which often causes nausea.
Nausea Tips:
And drink lots of water the day before and after — MOD: REMOVED LINK
If you’re camping:
Wishing you a deeply enriching journey. The cactus has a way of showing us what’s truly rooted within. If it feels right, leave a small offering to the land after.
Much love and safe travels
It’s beautiful that you’re approaching this experience with care and respect, especially given the circumstances. Bridging your final opportunity with Bridgesii feels poetic in itself.
Crude Extract & Reducing Nausea
Yes, there’s a middle ground between full extraction and just drinking the raw cactus tea. Here’s a simplified approach that may help reduce nausea:1. Outer Skin & Core Removal:
The outer green layer (just under the skin) contains the most mescaline, so peel carefully, keeping that layer intact while discarding the waxy skin and woody core.
2. Long Simmer (Tea):
Simmer chopped pieces (not boil) in slightly acidic water (add lemon or vinegar) for a few hours in 2-3 pulls, combining all the liquid.
3. Reduce:
Strain and simmer down the combined tea until you’re left with a thick, drinkable syrup or even a gel-like tar (if you want to go that far). This crude extract is more palatable and has less plant material, which often causes nausea.
Nausea Tips:
- Pre-dose with ginger tea (real root, not just the tea bag) or lemon essential oil drops under the tongue.
- Antacids (like Tums) 30 min before can help.
- Some people use Benadryl (diphenhydramine) or Dramamine, but that can alter the trip’s feel — proceed cautiously.
- Empty stomach is key, but don’t be starving — light broth 2–3 hours before helps.
And drink lots of water the day before and after — MOD: REMOVED LINK
Dosage & Duration
With Bridgesii, which is typically potent:- Moderate Dose:
30–45cm (12–18 inches) of cactus is often a good middle ground. You could aim for around 300–400mg mescaline equivalent, though alkaloid content varies. - Duration:
Come-up takes 1–2 hours. Peak lasts 3–5 hours, with a total duration of 10–14 hours. It’s long but gentle — less ego death, more heart-centered and spacious.
Solo Tripping with Mescaline
Since you’ve done ayahuasca alone, you’re probably well-equipped. Mescaline is often clear-headed, warm, and connected, with less internal chaos than other psychedelics — but it’s still a powerful teacher.If you’re camping:
- Choose a safe, known spot with low chance of outside interference.
- Keep water, layers, a light source, and grounding snacks nearby.
- Let nature be your co-guide — Bridgesii can feel very alive.
Wishing you a deeply enriching journey. The cactus has a way of showing us what’s truly rooted within. If it feels right, leave a small offering to the land after.
Much love and safe travels
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@aztecabeverages thank you for the lovely reply and all the valuable info
I will follow your tips for cactus prep and cooking, and then try doubledog's alcohol degunk, worst case I can evap the alcohol and not lose anything.
The antacid seems like something I'll need because I can easily get a heartburn.
I will follow your tips for cactus prep and cooking, and then try doubledog's alcohol degunk, worst case I can evap the alcohol and not lose anything.
The antacid seems like something I'll need because I can easily get a heartburn.
I'll keep an eye for these drinks they look supergood maybe they have it in the shops here. Opuntia is not native to my origin country but it's commonly grown on the edges of property, it is my favorite summer fruit I love it!
It is these kind of feelings that I am hoping for, I feel very disconnected from what is within, I sat all alone in the dark on top of a hill and I couldn't feel anything within, I miss what I once felt and loved (myself) and at the same time I hate it, it feels overused, exhausted and worn out, whatever I was feels long gone but nothing replaced it yet, it is very disheartening. and yes I am now at a bridge in life and I don't know what is waiting for me on the other side, I am going home and I still didn't figure out where to go next, I hope the cactus will help me see clearly and set me on a good direction.
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update: so far I de-spined the cactus, removed the eyes, removed the outer hard layer (what a pain!), chopped it up and discarded the inner core. I then did 2 freeze/thaw cycles and did the first simmer. I strained and pressed the liquid out of the cooked chunks and returned them to the freezer. I am doing things slowly whenever I have free time. I plan to do 2 or 3 more boils before moving on to the next step.
@doubledog
so this alcohol mucilage separation seems to be a well known technique, here's the AI overview from googling "cactus mucilage separation with alcohol":
and here's a paper where they describe the method
it seems reduction is useful to minimize the amount of alcohol needed but I'm thinking for our case it may be better to precipitate the mucilage before, or at least only partially reducing it first. I am wondering if cooking and reducing the mucilage might cause it to brake down and imparting more unwanted material into the water. additionally, if any goods are trapped/lost I imagine the loss will be higher if the tea is more concentrated. what do you think?
the way I would do it is whisking the tea while slowly adding alcohol like one would do eggdrop soup
@doubledog
so this alcohol mucilage separation seems to be a well known technique, here's the AI overview from googling "cactus mucilage separation with alcohol":
and here's a paper where they describe the method
it seems reduction is useful to minimize the amount of alcohol needed but I'm thinking for our case it may be better to precipitate the mucilage before, or at least only partially reducing it first. I am wondering if cooking and reducing the mucilage might cause it to brake down and imparting more unwanted material into the water. additionally, if any goods are trapped/lost I imagine the loss will be higher if the tea is more concentrated. what do you think?
the way I would do it is whisking the tea while slowly adding alcohol like one would do eggdrop soup
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Boiling the mucilage definitely does break it down, it thins out from snot to water consistency.
doubledog
Guide
@Sakkadelic
Yes, it's commonly used for separation of cactus mucilage.
Various plants extractions can utilize alcohol precipitation, it's not something specific for cactus.
Cactus mucilage is hydrolyzed by boiling, so it losses partially its geling properties. But it's still there.
What I did when I experimented with this approach was that I reduced cactus brew to low volume and added alcohol. No need to be very exact.
Btw. this was already discussed in old nexus in few extraction threads around 2010. One example: Link
Yes, it's commonly used for separation of cactus mucilage.
Various plants extractions can utilize alcohol precipitation, it's not something specific for cactus.
Cactus mucilage is hydrolyzed by boiling, so it losses partially its geling properties. But it's still there.
What I did when I experimented with this approach was that I reduced cactus brew to low volume and added alcohol. No need to be very exact.
Btw. this was already discussed in old nexus in few extraction threads around 2010. One example: Link
now that I realized that the key word is "mucilage" I can see that you have posted about this frequently, and there's a lot about it on the nexus so i'll be reading more. Thanks!
It's done! Well almost done.
I did 4 long simmers in total with squeezing the liquid in between, rehydrating and freezing. I then reduced it down to around 400 ml and mixed it with 800 ml 91% isopropyl alcohol and a lot of white stuff crashed out. After settling for a day in the fridge, the liquid could be easily poured off, reduced first with a fan until the alcohol is gone and then on the stove to about 100 ml. Mixed with honey, maple syrup, lemon juice, ginger powder and citiric acid to a total of 200 ml. 6 g of agar was added and everything dissolved on low heat with constant stirring. The jelly was poured into a silicone mold and allowed to cool until it sets and then in the fridge for 8 hours.
This is the resume if everything went perfectly but of course it didn't! I messed up a lot along the way but the process was forgiving and I believe I managed to get good results.
First, my thought about doing the iso step before reducing is really impractical, and I mistakenly thought the reaction with iso is like a typical substitution reaction but it's actually more like a manske or plays on solubility. So it is essential for the tea and alcohol to be in ratio of 1:1 or greater, 1:3 is best according to the paper I linked earlier.
Initially I had 5 L of tea and I reduced it to about 1.2 L and mixed it with about 200 ml iso, and I could see the the mucilage crashing out but it redisolved immediately. So I had to evap the alcohol and then further reduce the tea and try again with a bigger alcohol ratio wich worked.
Another thing during reduction, I had like a "waste jar" where I put the sticky stuff I skimmed from the top and cleaning the utensils. I washed that waste with water to recover any mescaline in it and I wanted to test the alcohol step so I added alcohol to it but nothing much happened. I then added the alcohol/water mix to the pot where the tea is reducing and it turned couldy, a lot of powder precipitated and started sticking and cooking on the bottom. I had to stop a couple of times and filter the tea collecting a lot of that powder wich was tastless when washed, so I believe it was muscilage and that could be a way of removing it, but it's dangerous to cook the alcohol on the stove, I only did it because the amount was little compared to the water. Anw doing it as doubledog suggested is much more effective and much simpler as no filtering is needed.
Another mistake is that right after the gummies cooled and I unmolded them, I tried to coat them with a sugar/citric mix and they immediately started oozing water and things got messy. I learned that I need to let the gummies cure and dry for 48 hours before I can coat them. Fortunately the agar gummies can be redisolved with gentle heat and poured again and that's what I did, and now I placed then on makeshift drying rack and I just need to keep myslef from touching it for the next 48 hours, so hard!
For the gummies recipe there's just 1 critical factor, the agar agar ratio should be determined based on the final volume after mixing all ingredients. A ratio of 3g/100ml seems good. With some small taste tests I don't think anything can cover the bitter cactus taste so all the other ingredients are probably unnecessary. The benefit of the gummies or jelly as pointed out by Phlux is that it makes it easier to consume without having the mouth coated with the stuff and with the sugar/citric coating that should minimize any bitter taste, as long as you're not chewing on it. I plant to try 1/3 of a dose soon to gauge the potency and If it is a success I will post more details about the process. Basically If I get threshold effects then 1 dose should be a moderate level experience according to erowid dosage.
Pictures:
- 60 cm bridgesii
- Crazy how it all can be squeezed into 1 hand then rehydrate to full size!
- powder resulting from cooked tea with alcohol
- muscilage precipitation with alcohol
- muscilage left behind after decanting
- resulting super clear tea without filtration
- reduced to 100 ml
- gummieeeeees
- makeshift drying rack
I did 4 long simmers in total with squeezing the liquid in between, rehydrating and freezing. I then reduced it down to around 400 ml and mixed it with 800 ml 91% isopropyl alcohol and a lot of white stuff crashed out. After settling for a day in the fridge, the liquid could be easily poured off, reduced first with a fan until the alcohol is gone and then on the stove to about 100 ml. Mixed with honey, maple syrup, lemon juice, ginger powder and citiric acid to a total of 200 ml. 6 g of agar was added and everything dissolved on low heat with constant stirring. The jelly was poured into a silicone mold and allowed to cool until it sets and then in the fridge for 8 hours.
This is the resume if everything went perfectly but of course it didn't! I messed up a lot along the way but the process was forgiving and I believe I managed to get good results.
First, my thought about doing the iso step before reducing is really impractical, and I mistakenly thought the reaction with iso is like a typical substitution reaction but it's actually more like a manske or plays on solubility. So it is essential for the tea and alcohol to be in ratio of 1:1 or greater, 1:3 is best according to the paper I linked earlier.
Initially I had 5 L of tea and I reduced it to about 1.2 L and mixed it with about 200 ml iso, and I could see the the mucilage crashing out but it redisolved immediately. So I had to evap the alcohol and then further reduce the tea and try again with a bigger alcohol ratio wich worked.
Another thing during reduction, I had like a "waste jar" where I put the sticky stuff I skimmed from the top and cleaning the utensils. I washed that waste with water to recover any mescaline in it and I wanted to test the alcohol step so I added alcohol to it but nothing much happened. I then added the alcohol/water mix to the pot where the tea is reducing and it turned couldy, a lot of powder precipitated and started sticking and cooking on the bottom. I had to stop a couple of times and filter the tea collecting a lot of that powder wich was tastless when washed, so I believe it was muscilage and that could be a way of removing it, but it's dangerous to cook the alcohol on the stove, I only did it because the amount was little compared to the water. Anw doing it as doubledog suggested is much more effective and much simpler as no filtering is needed.
Another mistake is that right after the gummies cooled and I unmolded them, I tried to coat them with a sugar/citric mix and they immediately started oozing water and things got messy. I learned that I need to let the gummies cure and dry for 48 hours before I can coat them. Fortunately the agar gummies can be redisolved with gentle heat and poured again and that's what I did, and now I placed then on makeshift drying rack and I just need to keep myslef from touching it for the next 48 hours, so hard!
For the gummies recipe there's just 1 critical factor, the agar agar ratio should be determined based on the final volume after mixing all ingredients. A ratio of 3g/100ml seems good. With some small taste tests I don't think anything can cover the bitter cactus taste so all the other ingredients are probably unnecessary. The benefit of the gummies or jelly as pointed out by Phlux is that it makes it easier to consume without having the mouth coated with the stuff and with the sugar/citric coating that should minimize any bitter taste, as long as you're not chewing on it. I plant to try 1/3 of a dose soon to gauge the potency and If it is a success I will post more details about the process. Basically If I get threshold effects then 1 dose should be a moderate level experience according to erowid dosage.
Pictures:
- 60 cm bridgesii
- Crazy how it all can be squeezed into 1 hand then rehydrate to full size!
- powder resulting from cooked tea with alcohol
- muscilage precipitation with alcohol
- muscilage left behind after decanting
- resulting super clear tea without filtration
- reduced to 100 ml
- gummieeeeees
- makeshift drying rack
Attachments
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Coating the gummies was tricky. Even after many day the gummies did not dry fully and remained tacky, it didn't seem more time drying would improve things since the cactus reduction and the honey and syrup are all sticky. Adding lemon and citiric acid also may not have been a good idea as it interferes with the drying.
For coating, I first tried putting a small amount of sugar and citiric acid on a little spot and quickly it started wicking water from the gummy which is obvious since both are hygroscopic and the gummies are not fully dry. Then our lord and savior GPT suggested erythritol sold as monkfruit natural sweetener easily found in the supermarket, and it's not hygroscopic. That worked much better as you see in the picture. Eventually it does get a bit damp but not different from how sugar coated gummies feel usually, and certainly not pooling with water like what happened with regular sugar and citric.
I think I should have completely dropped the thought of making it taste better and just made gummies with cactus reduction and agar. The pure agar test gummy I made dried quite nicely. And it doesn't seem any amount of additives would mask the taste, and anyway the idea is not to chew them and enjoy them like a regular gummy.
For potency gauging and a little fun I took 2 out the 11 cubes, that should be equivalent to a 0.36 dose if the cacti I had were average potency. I cut it it to small pieces and channeled my seagull spirit and swallowed it. It's been 1h30m and i'm feeling a something something. Once i'm past the peak at least time wise I plan to smoalk some harmala freebase.
For coating, I first tried putting a small amount of sugar and citiric acid on a little spot and quickly it started wicking water from the gummy which is obvious since both are hygroscopic and the gummies are not fully dry. Then our lord and savior GPT suggested erythritol sold as monkfruit natural sweetener easily found in the supermarket, and it's not hygroscopic. That worked much better as you see in the picture. Eventually it does get a bit damp but not different from how sugar coated gummies feel usually, and certainly not pooling with water like what happened with regular sugar and citric.
I think I should have completely dropped the thought of making it taste better and just made gummies with cactus reduction and agar. The pure agar test gummy I made dried quite nicely. And it doesn't seem any amount of additives would mask the taste, and anyway the idea is not to chew them and enjoy them like a regular gummy.
For potency gauging and a little fun I took 2 out the 11 cubes, that should be equivalent to a 0.36 dose if the cacti I had were average potency. I cut it it to small pieces and channeled my seagull spirit and swallowed it. It's been 1h30m and i'm feeling a something something. Once i'm past the peak at least time wise I plan to smoalk some harmala freebase.
Attachments
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doubledog
Guide
Quite a bit of work for making gummies, but thanks for your effort, it seems interesting.
When I did this type of extraction, I've reduced it until it was like thick honey and put into capsules. It was still hygroscopic, so after a few days, I noticed that it started to dissolve the capsules. I had to store it in the freezer, so it was not very convenient.
When I did this type of extraction, I've reduced it until it was like thick honey and put into capsules. It was still hygroscopic, so after a few days, I noticed that it started to dissolve the capsules. I had to store it in the freezer, so it was not very convenient.
Pleased to see you went for brewing, although you also could have saved the core and brewed it separately, since it almost certainly contains some alkaloids of interest.
Glad the gummies appear to have worked out for you, especially if you perhaps think they were worth the effort.
How viscous was the brew after reduction? IME, if it's not too gloopy, good enough results can be had by slowly sipping the brew, and thert should come a point where you know you've had sufficient. Prior training with drinking bitter teas and salads probably helps a lot too… bitter, salty, slimy cactus brew is almost unimaginably horrid to drink, although it's not so bad if you manage to slurp it up your nose instead. It also makes for a great body lotion as well
Glad the gummies appear to have worked out for you, especially if you perhaps think they were worth the effort.
How viscous was the brew after reduction? IME, if it's not too gloopy, good enough results can be had by slowly sipping the brew, and thert should come a point where you know you've had sufficient. Prior training with drinking bitter teas and salads probably helps a lot too… bitter, salty, slimy cactus brew is almost unimaginably horrid to drink, although it's not so bad if you manage to slurp it up your nose instead. It also makes for a great body lotion as well
At the end after putting the gummies in a closed container for a couple of days they seem to have wept a bit, some moisture visible at the bottom where the gummies are against the container so i put it in the fridge. maybe sticky gummies are fine and i should've skipped the coating but i thought it would help with preservation and handling, they can be coated right before consuming to improve taste but honestly when swallowed without chewing there's only a little hint of bitterness.
I think I made it much more of a hassle than it should've been, if I ever do this again I will probably go for gummies again, not just because i'm stubborn :b but also I think it worked well and it was easy to consume. but if I do it again or anyone else decides to try it here's what I suggest.
- reduce to 200-300 ml
- do the mucilage separation with 2x the volume of 90% alcohol
- reduce again to 100 ml
- add 3g agar agar on low heat and cook for 5 mins after agar is fully dissolved (no other additives)
- pour into mold and don't touch until fully cooled and set, let set for few more hours in the fridge
- demold and place on a drying rack in a cool and dry spot for a couple of days, a little fan running probably helps
i'm still not sure about the final part of storing it, but if one is planning to consume it soon it believe it should be fine in the fridge.
at 100 ml warm, it was still quite runny but thickened as it cooled and it would coat anything that touches it.
I wonder how you came to these findings :b
regarding the first test, it went quite well, I don't have prior experience but i would say it was a light dose, so above threshold. comparable to 25 mg 1p-lsd, I don't have much experience with acid either but i've had that exact dose before.
when i took it i just continued my day normally, the world was and still is going mad and i was following the news so i wasn't in a tripping mode. I didn't have nausea but i had the feeling/load building up in the back of my throat, not as in throwing up but some king of pressure that i knew would build to uncomfortable levels at higher doses. the main effect is that it opened up my creative thinking/writing channels which rarely happens, i spent it on a long ass essay to my girlfriend which i pushed away about 8 months ago. not the most creative topic but words were flowing and i thought it was funny and creative, though I don't think she would find it humorous. in terms of visuals, i would say there was more contrast in colors and the typical swirling, breathing and bulging of walls, floor and carpet. at 8h+ i smoked a little bit of harmala freebase, it didn't make much difference but made the visual effects more noticeable.
for the full trip, a friend will be joining me on the camping trip so we'll split the remaining 9 cubes, that would be equivalent to 0.82 dose each, my guess it would be equivalent to 250 mg.
Thanks everyone especially @doubledog for the support
Colour enhancement plus breathing walls sounds like a bit more than just threshold, ime. The 9 gummies may prove to be a bit stronger than just 0.82 of a dose, so it would be wise to take that possibility into account.
Thanks for the rest of your answers. It sounds like an averagely slimy tea - somethind which I've found to be more palatable when drunk hot as though it were a soup. One batch was going down quite easily while warm enough for me to convince myself it was chicken soup, but when it cooled down it was a different story.
The nasal administration was something I've read about in some accounts of traditional huachuma practice, and it's certainly no worse than having to drink the brew. The snot-like consistency makes it seem rather at home in the nasal passages - and there's likely to be a bit of absorption of active substances through the mucus membranes as well.
The skin lotion idea comes from noticing how soft the hands get after handling cactus brews. I've used them as a king of shower gel before.
Have a great camping trip! (But remember to figure in you might be taking up to 375mg if the first two were, say, 50% stronger than your estimate. Maybe even more, so take it easy…)
Thanks for the rest of your answers. It sounds like an averagely slimy tea - somethind which I've found to be more palatable when drunk hot as though it were a soup. One batch was going down quite easily while warm enough for me to convince myself it was chicken soup, but when it cooled down it was a different story.
The nasal administration was something I've read about in some accounts of traditional huachuma practice, and it's certainly no worse than having to drink the brew. The snot-like consistency makes it seem rather at home in the nasal passages - and there's likely to be a bit of absorption of active substances through the mucus membranes as well.
The skin lotion idea comes from noticing how soft the hands get after handling cactus brews. I've used them as a king of shower gel before.
Have a great camping trip! (But remember to figure in you might be taking up to 375mg if the first two were, say, 50% stronger than your estimate. Maybe even more, so take it easy…)