Opinions - Preferred Form of kava-kava: Liquigel, Paste or Powdered Root

[Archimedes]

Greetings all, I apologize for starting a thread moments after registering, but I have been reading through the forum for quite some time and haven't found a real consensus on what people feel is the best way to take Kava.

It seems like there are three primary forms that get the most positive feedback:

the 84% Liquigels,
the 70% paste, and
the powdered roots.

What do people feel the pros and cons of each form are? I am interesting in trying Kava for the first time, and would greatly appreciate guidance on which path to take.

Additionally, if someone would like to be very helpful, would you care to expound on different types of roots (ie, how their origins affect their quality... Hawaii > PNG, etc) and recommended quantities (1/2 meager, go with at least 1 lb).

Any advice is appreciated, thanks for your time!

[Female]

Well, from what SWIM has gathered the Kava capsules SWIY can get at the health store suck. The dried root seems to be useless in receiving a recreational dose, so if SWIY can find the paste or liquid form, that'd be best.
There's a good recipe for kava brew posted by SWIAlfa on the kava kava section of the forum.

[Bajeda]

Swim has been wondering the same thing, and reading through all the threads in this forum hasn't helped as there seems to be conflicting views.

If a mod could set up a poll here it would be very helpful.

[Archimedes]

Because Kava is legal to buy and consume (where I am at least), do we still need to limit our comments to ones regarding SWIM? If so, I apologize for my first post...

Either way, SWIM just ordered some 70% paste. SWIM's gonna tell me what they think of it, so I'll try and relay that information to ya'll once I hear it.

Thanks for the post, Female. SWIM has told me the health store capsules are predominately 30%kava, 200mg /capsule (I think - unsure on the mg), whereas the online ones claim to be 84%kava, in 350mg capsules (again, don't remeber exact mg of capsule... just that the online ones are bigger). So online ones allegedly have about 5 or 6x kava/capusle as health store ones. Because I have personally never had any experience with either, I have no idea if this means anything.


I'd love to hear what anyone else has heard about this matter. Would love to see your opinion on all the different forms. Take 'er easy.

[Archimedes]

As promised, here's a report of swim's experience.

First, swim ordered the paste. Took about 4 peas worth, and ate it off of the knife. Swished it around the mouth with tongue for a bit, and then started to chew. It felt like it was going to get stuck to teeth and, while the taste isn't horrific, swim swallowed the clump so that he wouldn't have to deal with it for any longer than he had to. There was some numbness in the mouth, not nearly as intense as one would feel with coke. If there were any effects, they were subtle.

All in all, swim might try and swish the stuff around in his mouth longer to get more of the numbness, and eat more next time to get some effects.

This past weekend, swim also had some root. Same source as paste, supposedly from Hawaii. Drank it with a friend, first in hot water from the sink. Didn't sift out the crap or anything. The taste wasn't horrible, just the texture. Two cups with two generous tablespoons achieved a nice buzz akin to a small drink and some drowsiness.

The next day, the two had smoked some salvia, and the friend had a headache from that and was feeling negatively in general due to disappointments with sally. They had gone to the store and bought grapefruit juice, and this time they mixed two generous scoops of kava with the grapejuice and actually sifted out the crap (with an old undershirt). Swim didn't take this as he they were about to go on a long drive, but his friend did and her mood improved greatly and she had a nice, relaxing drive.

In sum, I would say don't waste money on the paste, go with the root. Besides getting a lot more bang for your buck, it's just as easy to consume (chugging water if you're too lazy to sift vs eating paste), and in some instances (prepared with some thought) a nice drink. Kava as a drug isn't something you'd want to do to get F'ed up, but it is something that would be great when you're stressed, before you go to bed, or if you just want to relax a bit.

Hope this account helps. If you have any questions regarding anything I wrote, I'd be happy to call up swim and have him answer them for you.

[Bajeda]

Swim has experimented a bit, and thinks that he prefers the gelcaps to the paste. It may have been the circumstances under which he ingested the substances though.

He will try it a few more times and decide.

[JapanHorrorUncut]

SWIM ordered a bottle of Liquid gels, the bottle said not to take more then 2. The bottle says there 98% pure Kava. SWIM took 5 and didn't feel anything. SWIM will stick with the powded root for now on, it may cost more but it works 100 times better SWIM thinks.

[Bajeda]

Another thing to keep in mind that swim hadn't considered before is that even with powdered root there are different varieties with different effects. Powdered root can come as either fresh dehydrated root juice - has sort of a damp consistency and doesn't mix with liquids as well, it clumps at the top - or dried root powder, which is more powdery and well... dry. The fresh dehydrated root powder seems to be more powerful than the dry stuff, though swim hasn't gotten the chance to test the two side by side and do a more specific comparison. He did notice the fresh dehydrated root juice numbing his mouth more than the dry stuff though.

Any thoughts?