Opinions - Completely inexperienced with ethnobotanicals - suggestions?

[KalmarUnion]

SWIM is interested in trying out some mild ethnobotanicals.

A regular alcohol consumption as well as massive caffeine intake (including a couple of caffeine ODs) is the only experience SWIM has with stimulants.

SWIM lives a stressful life with many expectations (academic) from people around him. However, SWIM is a very stable person mentally, and has had a brilliant childhood etc. etc.

Which substances should SWIM start out with, given that he is not interested in acquiring dependency of any strong and/or illegal drug?

Having researched it quite thoroughly, SWIM is ready to try mushrooms and maybe LSD later on, but definitely not now.

Please ask for more information if necessary.

[KalmarUnion]

anyone?

[robin_himself]

The dream herb Calea Zacatechichi is great to experiment with. Its a relaxing herb which enhances dream recall and is said to help induce lucid dreaming.

Kava-kava is also something to look into. You can find alot of good information on both these herbs.

[KalmarUnion]

Originally Posted by robin_himself

The dream herb Calea Zacatechichi is great to experiment with. Its a relaxing herb which enhances dream recall and is said to help induce lucid dreaming.

Kava-kava is also something to look into. You can find alot of good information on both these herbs.

The first one is perfect, then, as swim just started practising dream recall as a prerequisite for lucid dreaming Thanks a lot.

[Potter]

Tobacco. Easy to get, wide range of paraphernalia/techniques, long history of entheogenic use, an excellent practice in self-control, and it has a wide range of effects and uses.

Nobody's been a regular smoker for over a decade, between 6-30 packs a year, regularly going months with out smoking. They keep a reasonably strict set of rules, places, triggers, reasons, to smoke or not to smoke. If they binge, a few packs in a few weeks, or even a pack in a single weekend, they make sure they take a good break.

They only buy Drajarum Black Krateks, they'll smoke other cloves if offered, willing to try some of the fancier non krateks, but doesn't touch the common brands. Don't like the taste for one, but they are to availible, to easy to get all the time. By staying exclusive to a pricier, harder to get style, nobody has to make an effort to get them, keeps impulse down. Anyways you want the good stuff.

Dale Pendell has an amazing chapter in Pharmako/poeia, shit, if you're starting down this path, you need to read that book anyways. Not kidding, go buy it and read it before you do anything else. It is exactly what you need at this point, not only descriptive of plants, but a manual on the subject, poetic, well documented, the best series on the entirety of the subject out there.