Recently I placed an order with a vendor (whom I believe to be a sponsor on this site, but I won't use names in case) for some Kratom. The package was delivered in a timely manner with some free goodies included. A small sample of leonotis nepetifolia, according to the label. Not at all familiar with this plant I immediately scour the web for information, and don't find very much. Most results are for either ethnobotanical websites or a few experience reports. What I gathered is that it provides a mild sedating effect and is in the same family with another plant that is nicknamed 'marijuanilla' which gives an idea of what you may expect to experience in consuming. So I'm not shy in experimenting with new found substances; I grind some of the dried leaves and flowers up and roll them with some papers.
It smokes fairly well, though it doesn't keep a light particularly well if not constantly hit. I'm not a smoker and haven't smoked weed in a while so I'm not into sucking on a joint like it's paying my bills, so I'm having to relight it here and there. After several minutes I smoked it all down. Some people report the smoke being harsh or foul tasting, I don't share that opinion. I take conservative hits so as not to roast my throat or lungs, but it didn't kill me to smoke and I was able to down an entire 'joint' without much trouble. Taste wise it wasn't very notable, the paper had more presence than the plant itself. I never liked smoking joints as I don't care for the taste of burning paper, so I would definitely like to try this out in a pipe to pick up some of it's actual taste.
The effects were true to what I had read, a nice sedative effect was noticeable after just a couple hits. It didn't increase in intensity with more smoking, maybe just duration but I can't really comment on that. Yawning is present. The 'peak' of effects are short lasting, roughly half an hour after smoking the strongest portion of the sedative feeling started to fade, then fading slowly over the course of an hour into baseline. By itself it's pleasant and I can see it being a nice way to unwind in the evening if weed isn't around. It doesn't cause paranoia either, the way weed does, so it's a nice relaxing sedation. Where it gets more interesting is that I decided to break out some nitrous to see if the two had any interplay.
I've said it before, but I love me some nitrous. So much so that I stay away from it except on special occasions (ie. tripping) so as not to form any nasty habits. Nitrous and psychedelics go together like peanut butter and jelly and I always like to incorporate a little N2O into every tripping session. It helps to bring on the effects of the trip that may be lingering in the background during come up and it blasts the visual effects of the trip up several magnitudes, really depending on how far you want to take it. It can become rather uncomfortable honestly if you keep huffing on the balloon, there doesn't seem to be an upper limit to hyperspace.
So I grab a few cartridges and expel them into a balloon. Coming up on the nitrous (not expecting much) I start to feel the very familiar psychedelic sensation start creeping up quickly but faintly. Intrigued I go a little deeper and find that there's a distinct psychedelic feeling to the nitrous headspace that is absolutely not present by itself. But not very much, just a hint. This is toward the end of the effects from the l.nepetifolia and not long before I was going to sleep for the night so I didn't really have the chance to explore much deeper than that. This also came with some very intense and uncharacteristic sweating which repeated each time I tried the nitrous.
The next day however I had some time to experiment. I rolled and smoked two joints of l.nepetifolia back to back. The sedating effect was there again, though not quite as strong this time. Surprising as I had doubled my dosage from the night before and was not feeling quite as strong an effect. Does this speak to tolerance or some other mechanism? That's something to explore later on. Ready with a box of cartridges I get busy. On the first balloon or two it was again a subtle but undeniably psychedelic effect. Then the third one and I shot straight into psychedelic space. Full on, just as strong a trip as I'd ever experienced on mushrooms or 4-Aco-DMT (with the addition of nitrous of course, not by themselves). This is absolutely incredible. It fades as the nitrous fades out and leaves me with just the sedative effect of the l.nepetifolia. Each balloon rockets me back into that space. I am able to modulate the strength of the effects with the amount of nitrous administered, just skirting the edge or blasting full force as far as I'd like to go.
An interesting thing that happens with mushrooms and nitrous is that there seems to be this presence that accompanies me into my nitrous journey through tryptamine space. It's more felt or understood than seen or heard most of the time, but there's undeniably some kind of... "thing" for lack of a better term that's along for the ride with me. This thing is only present with the combination of mushrooms and nitrous, not one or the other by themselves can manifest this. Sometimes this thing does take a tangible form as a sort of gelatin overlay to my vision. This overlay can take on shapes of it's own and is separate from the rest of the effects taking place beyond it, though it generally demands a lot of attention. Occasionally it manifests as a gelatinous, almost geometrical "entity" if you will that stands in one absolute place, not an overlay but a being sharing space with me. This seems to be, so far, the most intense manifestation of it as it seems to impart some sort of feeling or information toward me and I am generally very submissive to it. It's neither malevolent nor benevolent, it just is but it's "is-ness" is very intense to the point of intimidating.
Anyway, I said all that to say that this presence was present in all levels and capacities during my l.nepetifolia/nitrous affair, which brought to mind the mushroom experience very vividly. And unlike 4-Aco-DMT which had radically different effects each and every time I would rocket into nitrous space (ranging from funny to scary to "all is one"), mushrooms are generally predictable and there's a level of sameness to the nitrous journey. L.nepetifolia shares this in common with mushrooms as well.
After about an hour and a half the effects start to subside. If I attempted nitrous during this time it was more of a general nitrous effect but it brought on very intense sweating and an almost glimpse at the psychedelic effects from before.
I tried a third experiment with a half 'joint' of l.nepetifolia and some nitrous administered immediately/15 minutes/30 minutes afterward on another day. Again, some very discernible effect, but faint and never quite tipping into full blown psychedelia.
So the conclusion that I'm left with is uncertain. I feel that it's irresponsible for me to say that l.nepetifolia in and of itself has any psychedelic effect to it. What I feel is that it is possibly unlocking a certain portion of psychedelic space that's still left inside of me. Some may consider that HPPD. My testing has been less than extensive and would require a lot of time and differing circumstances in order to fully flesh out what is exactly happening, but it leaves me wondering in the mean time.
Thanks for reading.
Edited by galindoi (11/30/13 12:37 PM)
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