Sure, there's no topic I like to talk more than this one
I'm happy people seem to be interested in caapi lately; I've been "preaching" for some time that the approach some people have where "caapi is just for inhibiting MAO, nothing else" is very, very, misguided. I've found people that affirmed there was no difference between having caapi or mocroblemide, and my personal experience always told a very different story.
Anyway, to discuss this subject I like to use a metaphor to food or drink, in order to gain a better perspective. I have the habit with my wife of cooking a recipe of flounder with creamed vegetables and white wine that is delicious. One day, we couldn't found flounder being sold, so we bought a similar fish. The texture was different, and the consistency was different, but we went ahead anyways "with all the spices and marinating, it will be just the same". Long story short, the taste was very different, and the recipe didn't work at all. If we look it from the outside we we're having fish, white fish fillet, with a fixed set of spices and side dishes, everything else was the same, the fish was almost the same, and nothing really tasted good.
Ok, back to the subject.
Just like a particular fish has taste signatures and very particular taste and texture characteritics, I find that the contents of a ayahuasca brew do have these too. Once you start noticing this particularities, the ayahuasca universe expands incredibily with the number of variables; was that caapi native or planted? Forest or drier ambient? Less than 7 years old or more? Were the thin branches or roots used? Was it scrubed to remove the lichens on its peel? Was it fresh, juicy or drier?
These are some variables only inside one variety of caapi; we have multiple varieties, then multiples varieties of chacruna, then multiple varieties of preparations (and even addictives in some cases). Using some combinatory math, the number of variables mixed result in a very, very large array of final characteristics to the brew.
Then some people argue:
it's just a MAOI and DMT. This is all crap, nothing of this matters... It's true - in the end, the basic effect is that. But remember the food metaphor - just one ingredient tweak and the difference from a nice romantic dinner to a frustrating one was evident.
So, based on my personal experience, I have the belief that even small things count - and the caapi variety is not even a small thing, but a big one.
Both in Brazil and Peru/Colombia/Bolivia, there's one kind of caapi that is the most common - Tucunaca, or Ourinhos. In Peru there's a subdivision of Tucunaca in two kinds - but I could never find anyone that could explain to me where the differences are - one is the plain yellow, the other is the sky one, "cielo". I can't confirm this Peru part of the story, since I never got deep into it. Anyway, these both are one in Brazil, Tucunaca.
When people omit the kind of caapi they're using, I just assume it's this one.
How can you recognize it?
First of all, using other brews as a standard, Tucunaca is the smooth one. It goes easy on the body. It is considered, in association to be a "forgiver", or to "let you get away to pay for your sin later when you are stronger" in a Christian view. Objectively, it won't make you shake your body or lose your breath - it goes easy on the body.
For me, the best brews are with seasoned, old, native Tucunaca - because it is at the same time strong and smooth; the effect is very centered, very guided, very clear. This is a signature of a high quality tucunaca.
The second most common in Brazil is Caupuri, or the one with the big nodes. Some traditions prefer to use this one - it's stronger, very harsh, in a Christian view "You own, you pay now" - it's a "karma burner". An average caupuri brew will take your breath away (like if you're about to give birth to sextuplets), and you will shake your body worse than any parkinson disease sufferer. It takes you to far away places, shows you a lot, but it has its price.
On some traditions they say that God made Caupuri because Tucunaca was too soft with mankind... so go figure.
In the Brazilian traditions the caapi always represent the male, the guiding force, where the chacruna is the female, the shining light.
My experience, though, falls short on other strains - they are way more unusual than people think. I've emailed a friend who lives near Pucallpa, in the Brazil/Peru border, and the shamans there never heard of these other caapi species that are being discussed around (muricata, alicia anisopetala...) even Chaliponga is very rare, people heard of it but nobody uses it for real other than selling it on the internet.
What is common: a great array of snuffs (99% are not dmt based), Sananga (the eyedrops), Kambo, Ayahuasca with Tucunaca and Caupuri, and the Cabocla variety of Chacruna (there are others, but not used a lot as well). There are some main medicinal plants that are also used, and in combination with ayahuasca the most common in Brazil is Joao Brandinho (a Piper sp. plant). Very few shamans use Toe in Brazil, it's very rare, and a con artist is known for selling Toe laced ayahuasca to make people think "his ayahuasca is stronger".
