Love this thread topic. Eager to add my twenty-five cents.
I will preface by saying LSD has been my entheogen of choice for about twelve years. I use LSD both in party settings and ceremonial settings - always intentionally. I have lost count of the number of doses I have taken - maybe 400-500? This is in no way a brag or ego stroke, only to give an idea of my relationship with this particular medicine.
There are a few things I have inferred through frequent use over a long period of time, acquiring from different sources, using both blotter and liquid. None of what I am about to relay is based on a measured, controlled study or lab grade analysis of substances.
Firstly, LSD is difficult to synthesize. This is not an amateur-hour attempt. The folks earnestly producing LSD are skilled chemists. Like any skill, practice over time refines capabilities. I think it goes without saying that there are "less or more perfect" LSD batches in the sense of the level of delicacy and skill that was present during that particular synthesis. Just as when one extracts DMT, if a little lye is carried over, it can be seen in the resulting product, so any minor error or lack of precision in the synthesis process would likely produce a similar, observable change in the resulting substance, no matter how great or small.
Second, I know through experience that LSD is an energetic medicine. There is a real reason all of the hippies of the sixties and seventies were always on about the "vibes". LSD enhances our ability to perceive subtle vibrations (heh) such as
feelings (which express themselves as electromagnetic vibrations emitted from the brain and heart),
intentions, and even the thoughts of others. To add to this line of thought; around 1999, a Japanese business man named Masaru Emoto photographed the effect of thoughts and words (both spoken and written) on water.
Emoto claimed that water was a "blueprint for our reality" and that emotional "energies" and "vibrations" could change its physical structure. His water crystal experiments consisted of exposing water in glasses to various words, pictures, or music, then freezing it and examining the ice crystals' aesthetic properties with microscopic photography. He claimed that water exposed to positive speech and thoughts created visually "pleasing" ice crystals, and that negative intentions yielded "ugly" ice formations
The photos from the experiments are published in several books, and also available online on several websites,
including this one.
To conclude this thought and second point in a sensible way: I strongly believe
the chemist - him/herself, and their current state of being, thoughts, emotions, etc, while synthesizing the LSD, have an impact on the effects experienced by the consumer.
Third - To your point here:
For sure, set, setting and dosage can make a whole difference
In my experience, of all of the entheogens/psys/phenethylamines I have taken, set and setting influence LSD the most. I sometimes experience some of the side-effects you described, especially the muscle tightness. My appetite usually gets suppressed pretty intensely too, at least for the first six hours. I have found that taking magnesium the week leading up to your trip, if you don't take it regularly, can make a big difference in muscle tension, especially in the face and jaw. I frequently feed my friends magnesium supplements when we are at festivals and many of them report (anecdotally) less jaw clenching while rolling on MDMA or tripping on L.
LSD also seems to be a slight vasoconstrictor, again, IME. I have found, through self experimentation, that 75-150mg of CBD [oral tincture] an hour before (or even at the time of dose) can make a big difference in my overall bodily experience, especially in the way of minimizing "acid shivers" and muscular tension. Some friends (again, anecdotally) report feeling more comfortable in their flesh-suit after eating citrus while tripping on LSD. I am not sure of the connection here.
Fourth - Carrier alcohol and blotter dyes. LSD is a crystal, dissolved into an alcohol, usually ethanol. If the chemist who made your LSD used a different alcohol, this could effect the taste. I understand clearly that your metallic taste is an effect during the trip and not the taste of the substance, to clarify - just covering all the bases here.
I rarely experience nausea on LSD, but when I do, I
know it is due to the dye on the blotter tab (again, through self experimentation over time). So much to the point that when using blotter, I will typically suck on the tab until it feels like a soggy spitball (~30 minutes?) and then relieve myself of it's burden by spitting it out. The metallic taste you are experiencing could be a reaction to a dye on your blotter. Just an educated guess.
Fifth -
What makes an LSD batch good?
Firstly, the obvious; no errors and clean reagents during synthesis. I would personally add a pure heart and calm state of mind of the working chemist.
Let's talk about varying effects batch-to-batch, though. I have had batches of blotter that were intensely inebriating; big, wavy peaks with very pronounced visuals, difficulty keeping eyes open, lack of interest in material reality. I have had vials of liquid that produced a seemingly opposite effect: a gentle, long (almost 4 hours) peak, increased desire to engage socially and with material existence, sensory experience, etc. Both were obviously LSD experiences and had far more similarities than differences, but there are definitely noticeable and semi-measurable differences in the nuanced effects of different batches of LSD.
In my experience, I would say the particular effects that seem to vary most are:
- energy level (desire to move/engage vs laydown in a trance)
- the relative intensity of sensory distortions (esp visuals) in relation to the intensity of the head/heart space. Some LSD I have taken has me feeling intensely cosmic and expanded and unified while producing visuals that are gentle, non-invasive, and relatively "tame". Others, when yielding the same degree of expansion, seem to be coupled with an intense sensory experience, astounding visuals that are impossible to ignore, etc.
- duration of peak - I have in the last month taken one batch of LSD that has a very pronounced peak that lasts about 2 hours, and another that has a very gradual, gentle peak, which seems to last longer, closer to 4 hours.
I am very curious to know if these effects also seem to modulate between batches for others, or if others experience variation in difference effects than I. Please let me know!!!!!
Lastly, a question or two: Do you take lithium or iron supplements or anything else like that? How is your oral hygiene? These things can make your mouth taste metallic - it may be that the LSD is simply making you more aware of the metallic taste that was already there
I really enjoy this thread topic - thank you for starting us off
@donfoolio
Save travels
Sv
