Loss of potency with Kratom Powder?

[dreeamer]

SWIM regularly consumes powdered Premium Bali or Thai kratom leaf. SWIM normally needs at least 10g + to get a good effect. Recently, SWIM bought 6g of crushed leaf from a local shop because he had run out of the powdered variety he normally buys over the internet. Swim grinded the crushed leaf into powder in a coffee grinder before consuming it, and to his suprise, he found that 6g of this powder was as strong as 12g of the powdered variety he usually buys. SWIMs supplier is well known for supplying excellent quality Kratom and he did vaguely recall reading somewhere that powdered Kratom does lose its potency. Does anyone know if it is usual for crushed leaf to be so much more potent than the powder or did SWIM simply come across a particularly strong crushed leaf Kratom?

[tayo]

Welcome to the forums.

I've always speculated that this could be the case, I think that this is because in the powder form it degrades faster because of more surface area to oxidize. Also, powders could be sold when they're really quite old and no one would be able to tell. But with crushed leaf, if it is brown that would be indicitave of some age, but there should be some green in it. Johnny Zongo has seen a powder that was completely brown, that was the last time powder was ordered.

[enquirewithin]

Originally Posted by dreeamer

SWIM regularly consumes powdered Premium Bali or Thai kratom leaf. SWIM normally needs at least 10g + to get a good effect. Recently, SWIM bought 6g of crushed leaf from a local shop because he had run out of the powdered variety he normally buys over the internet. Swim grinded the crushed leaf into powder in a coffee grinder before consuming it, and to his suprise, he found that 6g of this powder was as strong as 12g of the powdered variety he usually buys. SWIMs supplier is well known for supplying excellent quality Kratom and he did vaguely recall reading somewhere that powdered Kratom does lose its potency. Does anyone know if it is usual for crushed leaf to be so much more potent than the powder or did SWIM simply come across a particularly strong crushed leaf Kratom?

Freshness may well be the main factor. With any plant, the alkaloid content will vary, so it would be hard to generalize. Also, SWIY's own tolerance would be a factor.

[dreeamer]

Thanks for the replies guys. Swim plans to order some crushed leaf off the net and compare it with the powdered variety to see if this was just a one off or whether the crushed herb ground into powder at home is more potent. I will keep you updated with how he gets on with it.

[MzEnthusiastic]

Let us know the outcome, I always use powdered - am I shorting myself???

[dreeamer]

Originally Posted by MzEnthusiastic

Let us know the outcome, I always use powdered - am I shorting myself???

Unfortunately, the experiement may have be put on hold as swim has mananged to obtain a large quantity of the super Indo enhanced Kratom at a fraction of the average retail price so he will be sticking to that for the foreseeable future. He did however have a similar expereince the first time he tried Kratom. He bought some crushed leaf, powdered it in a coffee grinder and consumed it and it was extrememly potent at 3g. Admittidely this was his first time so there was no tolerance, but the next time he tried it was with the powdered variety 2 weeks later, so there should have been little in the way of tolerance build up, and he needed nearly 8g to get a simliar effect. If you do have a coffee grinder or something similar to powder the herb, I would recommend that you get some crushed leaf and see if there is a difference. As the crushed leaf is generally cheaper than the powdered variety, you would have nothing to loose in trying it.