Ok, there's been a lot of mushroom talk around here lately, and I thought it might be a fun chore to round up and organize some info (from authoritative-sounding sources) regarding the physical properties of psilocybin. Don't expect any conclusive deductions from this post (well, maybe one or two), as it's really more of a collection and brief look at several arguments pulled from the rumor cloud that engulfs this topic.
First, from Erowid:
I'd say the question of Psilocybin + Heat is no longer a controversy, its a misunderstanding coupled with incomplete data. I think the open question is whether all dried mushrooms can be boiled without significant loss or whether some types react better or worse to this treatment.
Sub-boiling or lightly boiling water does not noticably reduce the activity of dried Psilocybe cubensis. Many people ingest their mushrooms as tea without needing to increase the quantity used. We know of people who regularly boil their mushrooms for up to 30 mins before drinking the resulting liquid. All fully active. The hotter the water, the better. The water should be at least slightly acidic, but psilocybin is highly water soluable.
So, the experience of many people says it works. Smoking mushrooms can work, but most mushrooms aren't terribly potent so you need to smoke a lot of mushrooms to get a strong effect (imagine smoking 2 grams of mushrooms ! yuck!). But many reliable sources report a mild effect at smoking a bowl or two and this is potentiated by other entheogens (LSD specifically).
However, this is not to say that psilocin, another active chemical, won't break down quickly in boiling water (it probably will). Different types of mushrooms contain differing ratios of psilocybin to psilocin, so it seems quite possible that different strains would fare differently with boiling or hot water extractions. There is evidence to suggest that some degree of potency loss occurs if Psilocybe cyanescens are heated by a method such as boiling.
link (
Erowid Psilocybin Mushroom Vault : Info on Psilocybin and Heat)
Thor_Shroom, webmaster of the Shroomery, has said the following:Heating mushrooms is a BAD idea, if you feel destroying a lot of the mushrooms potency is a good idea thats really quite sad...The point is HEAT destroys psilocybin, so SMOKING and BOILING destroys psilocybin. This isn't opinion, its scientific fact.
link (
http://www.bluelight.ru/vb/showthread.php?postid=603935#post603935)
Does Thor_Shroom's statement contradict that of the Erowid passage? Well, I guess it depends on how one would interpret it. Personally, I see it as a blanket statement which implies that heating "the mushroom" will always significantly reduce potency, while Erowid is a bit more specific and claims that with relatively psilocybin-rich Psilocybe cubensis, "the hotter the water, the better," but with some relatively psilocin-rich strains, such as Psilocybe cyanescens, boiling water will quickly reduce the potency due to rapid degradation of their more abundant (and fragile) psilocin content. To clarify, psilocin is a psychoactive compound that is formed as psilocybin is dephosphorylated during digestion (link - see p. 85 (
http://www.hoboes.com/html/Politics/Prohibition/Notes/Hallucinogens.html#Heading5)). This would explain varying degrees of heat sensitivity between Psilocybe strains-- each obviously contains a unique ratio of psilocybin to psilocin.
Erowid's summary of the chemical properties of psilocybin (from the Merck Index):
MELTING POINT 220-228° C (Crystals from boiling water)
MELTING POINT 185-195° C (Crystals from methanol)
link (
Erowid Psilocybin Mushroom Vault : Chemistry) Just in case anyone's been poking around the Erowid chemistry vaults wondering why there are two listed melting points for psilocybin, I believe they're basically indicating the varying physical properties of two different crystal packing structures, (e.g. graphite and diamond are two different structures of carbon that have very different properties). There is probably a variety of reasons that would explain the differences between each of these structures; it might be that the higher temperature with water allows the substance to reorganize into a lower energy crystal lattice, that methanol is less likely to H-bond around the amine so it packs a certain way... people usually explain the structure they get after they know what they have, but since we don't have any crystal structures to look at, it seems kind of pointless to dwell. [/tangent]
And DrShaman, don't worry, I'm not going to barge into your thread like this without at least addressing your initial question:
I am considering to dry the shrooms at a very low temperature (50 degrees). Could this damage the [psilocybin/psilocin]?
As far as I know, the answer to this question is simply "no." Cold temperatures will reduce vibrations, but there shouldn't be any decomposition. Technically, if you got it cold enough, you could get all of the atoms to stop moving at zero K, but if you're able to accomplish that, you're probably due a Nobel Prize, as 4K is pretty much the limit right now... and even at that point, you have to specially stimulate a molecule with lasers to get it to release heat and not reabsorb it so that it gets depleted of energy. Not really the kind of thing you can achieve in a fucking Maytag.
Maybe I'll add some more shit to this tomorrow, but right now I'm going to bed. If anyone wants to add anything... arguments, analyses, corrections, whatever... I'd enjoy reading them.
