SWIM was reading a couple threads and web pages noting that turmeric contains an maoi call curcumin which like harmalas is a selective MAOI-A inhibitor.

SWIM also saw that curcumin which is the reason for the intense yellowness of turmeric has terrible solubility in water. (.6µg per ml)

SWIM is aware that terrible water solubility does not effect the sublingual absorption as he has experienced with freebase DMT.


SWIM then looked up some properties and decided to make a tincture

he performed a very simple warm naptha extraction, no measurements, just enough to cover the powder 40-60g of powder.

The naptha was evaporated over a hot water bath thoroughly. Then the mix was dissolved in warm canola oil.


The tincture was ~35ml and SWIM took 5-6ml sublingually. it did not burn like many sublinguals and tasted like turmeric.

after 15 minutes SWIM spat it out and after 20 he felt "something"

At present he is at t=+1:20 and he is very effected. No question this is beyond placebo.

The effect is much like syrian rue (the only harmala he has experienced) except it seems to be stimulating as opposed to sedating.

SWIM started to sit down to watch TV and is pretty on edge. This dose is very strong in fact.
Despite no tracers or visuals (SWIM never got those with rue either) colors and lights are very bright/brilliant.

It took SWIM a ridiculous amount of time to write this down, his mind is very effect and he is beaming.
SWIM plans on testing the combination with DMT and SWIM's roomie will test it with weed (SWIM hates weed) and we'll update later.

Cheers

Well.... hot damn! This is exciting. Good work brother. I look forward to hearing more and trying it myself.

Wow! This is really, really interesting. Seeing how turmeric is so easy available, this is exactly the kind of information we need in these times. I wonder how a Pharmahuasca preparation with turmeric will be like?

Great job, my brother!

But... Are we really sure curcumin is the MAOI? I mean, it is not an alkaloid. I have never heard about non-alkaloid substances having the possibility to inhibit MAO... Turmeric should contain some alkaloids according to one source, although they are not identified. The curcumin content is from the same source said to be 3-5 %.

So can't you just put the turmeric in capsules and use it that way? Will that not work?

Indian wrestlers wrestle in turmeric and must swallow loads doing it, but I haven't heard of them getting high. I put quite teaspoons upon teaspoons in my cooking when I make a Vietnames turmeric dish, but have no headchange. I'm guessing you'd need A LOT if you ate it raw. It's good for you though, it's one of the longevity spices.

Dunno, SWIM generally likes sublingual administration because his gut kills spice like it's going out of style (250+mg oral for strong experience with intense nausea, 80-120mg sublingual for very strong with NO NAUSEA)

Curcumin is not an alkaloid so unlike freebase DMT which converts to water soluble DMT in the stomach, as far as SWIM knows turmeric does not.

Regardless SWIM will try it oral.

Since turmeric is legal and cheap so unlike the harmalas the efficiency is not a huge issue, though there is a chance nausea might be.

Alas SWIM has mescaline (torch) w/ 5 daturas planned tomorrow and work on thursday and friday. It'll have to wait.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curcumin
"Curcumin has also been demonstrated to be a selective monoamine oxidase inhibitor (MAOI) of type MAO-A."



the water solubility is so low that 1g would need 1666 litres of water (135L if it's boiling) to dissolve it, that might be why.

UPDATE:

SWIM's roomie and friend tried it with similar results. They then smoked some weed a full 2 hours after initial dosing and are now saying "We should not be THIS STONED" and they are too stoned to describe the effects accurately


SWIM found that for HIM the peak lasted 1:15-1:45 once felt. Though the lingering effect are hard to tell and may be still active.

Yeah, well, there is no source specified for this at Wikipedia. I know turmeric has been shown to be a MAO-A inhibitor, but I have never heard that curcumin is sure to be the one responsible. I find it amusing if it really is, as it is not an alkaloid, and I feel the molecule is way too big.

well just currey eaten all day long itself potentiated the hell out of bufo for me 2 nights ago...and this was NO placebo..nota chance in hello..but there was harmalas from caapi smoked with the bufo after drinking cocoa..i always do it that way..

NEVER EVER had visions like that from DMT...or bufo...full on alien being walking out the of the blanket hanging on the wall..extreme mind warp...most intense cev i ever had...

Question/Update

SWIM's friends who did the tincture and smoked weed are really amazed and so much so that they are worried that it could be bad for them.

Is using maoi's to potentiate THC on a regular basis "bad for you" at least relative to their almost daily THC dose.

They are ecstatic a saying "it's like being stoned for the first time again"
On another note, one of them said the same thing when using syrian rue to potentiate THC. (though he forgot he did, potheads, gotta love em)

PS: fractal, that was really the thread that made SWIM extract and test the curcumin. Also he started an extraction of bufotenine he's never tried it.

wow, veryyyyy interesting.

So no one has tried using curry (contains turmeric) orally as an MAOI with DMT yet?

Why would you use the spice mixture curry, why don't use pure turmeric, or even better - an extract? Are you thinking about eating a curry meal and at the same take take DMT?

So is it really curcumin that is responsible for the MAO-A inhibiting? In other words, does >90% curcumin have the effects we are looking for? I find that really interesting, if true, as that is the first time I have heard about a non-alkaloid substance inhibiting MAO. I really hope the psychoactivity of turmeric is comparable with the harmala-alkaloids, because for a good pharmahuasca preparation, we need a substance that does not only inhibit MAO, but also is psychoactive in a specific way. Does anyone have any interesting papers on the pharmacology of turmeric? Perhaps it binds to some interesting receptors?

Thank you again q21q21 for this excellent thread! I will for sure buy some turmeric soon and try myself, I will post my results here.

I have now read two reports on this forum, from two different people who say that they had an unusually intense experience with a psychedelic, after they had eaten curcuma or kunjit, as it's also called.

One of them was fractal enchantment and the other was pandora.

Two cases can still be a coincidence. But if we start hearing more of these stories, and i intend to experiment with it as well, than at some moment it just becomes empirical data, showing there is at least some sort of amplifying effect from orally taken curcumin.

SWIM's roomate were truely ecstatic for the entirety of the night with the different, stronger effect when combined with the THC.

SWIM has in the past shared bioessaying experiences with his roommate numerous times and this is a hard man to please.

He poo-pooed 7 HIGH QUALITY hbwr seeds touting - and hour or two of being pretty high
He tried 12g of achuma, then 28g of pedro and was extremely vague on the description until taking 50g of torch and told SWIM all the things he hated about the first 2 compared to that one.
He pharma'd 3g of rue with 135mg pure freebase and identified it as intense as 1.5 to 2g cubensis. A similiar tolerance to SWIM's in fact.

There is no doubt in SWIM's mind this is beyond placebo, 3 cases of effects on very reliable sources.

if SWIM wasn't so very high on mescaline (oops) he would love to pursue this further and he is quite confident this will turn out to be a great combination for MANY drugs.

It is a stimulating MAOI, kinda like THH and SWIM hasn't stop hearing about the wonders of THH.

(Sorry for the ramble, SWIM is pretty glorious right now, thx 69ron, the daturas do add a nice flavor.)

Because a lot of people eat curry dishes. It’s pretty common. If a strong curry dish can make DMT active orally, why bother with extraction?

Just saw this thread. Well done q21q21! Can't wait to see how this develops. Perhaps SWIM will have something to offer.

Edit:
Just a link I found right off the bat: http://biopsychiatry.com/curcumin.htm
Perhaps of some consequence.

there are many types of curry-red, yellow, green, madras, muchi, etc. and each contain several spices to many spices. im sure there would be varying amounts of turmeric in each blend.

Flaming excrement from either end...I love, love, love curry, even in dishes so spicy that cooking them is like stepping into a street fight or gas chamber (see:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CS_gas), like the way they make it in Thailand, but if it has to be made that strong or stronger, hopefully it doesn't trigger any unwanted bodily functions. But hey, it may work out great!

Well, the great thing about curcuma, turmeric, kunjit, or whatever it's called, is that as an ingredient in curry it sort of counterbalances the hot flavors from peppers and such. It has a very mild 'cool' flavor on it's own.

If you have many peppers, you can use much of the stuff and you will still have a balanced taste so eating it is not a hard task like ingesting for instance mimosa brews can be.