It's never been harsh for me, though I'm also a daily hash smoker.

I think the "Orange mothball DMT" described by McKenna must have been quite impure, he describes it as an amorphous orange "wax", and states that it requires several inhalations, and that it is fairly "harsh".

For me, DMT has never been harsh, even when smoked with cannabis, and, it only requires a single inhalation, though I will admit that I dose high.

This all leads me to question the purity of the DMT being described in some if these events...

-eg