So far I haven't had a womper dose or even what anyone else would consider a fully active dose.

But every time I try to do a trial run, take a 1/10th-1/5th dose to see how my different cacti will affect me, I seem to get tons of gastric upset and my nerves feel tuned in a really wrong direction. It's like I'm being stimulated in this unnatural way which leads me to feel 'poisoned', unable to focus (I feel almost crosseyed), and I end up feeling much more tired for 5 hours or so before it trails off into a lighter, but not euphoric, psychedelic mindset..

I have tried a few different bridgesii, some cleaner feeling than others, and the PC pachanoi. I have a ton of baby cacti, this winter I started a bunch of pachanoi crosses as I heard they are more 'lovey' and less harsh.. Looking forward to those Ecuadorian x Huanucoensis & Torres x Scopulicola...

I hear nothing but good things about Trichocereus of all sorts. Does anyone else here not get a pleasant effect from them?

In contrast, mushrooms are uncomfortable for the first hour but then make me feel like buddha for 6+ hours and give an incredible afterglow. Harmala+Acacia can be an even more minimal body load, some nausea, and a seamless transition into psychedelic states. Even woodrose has been good to me in the past, although unforgivably depressant and 'poisoning' with certain samples.

Can you tell me how you prepare your cactus for use?

That's my first thought on the stomach issue-- and there are ways to mitigate that quite a bit. I just had a powerful experience over the weekend-- it's posted HERE.

One thing I would offer (before learning of how you prep your cactus for use) is that mini-doses don't really offer the substance that a full experience does-- like taking a gram of cubes might give you an awkward come-up, but none of the psychedelic "meat" that sets the experience into full swing and benefit.

Let us know how you take it, and maybe we can aim you to a more gently way to take it in without so much discomfort.

My wife has done cactus twice. The first time, and it was her first drug other than alcohol, she chugged about 800 ml of a mix of Peruvianus and Bridgesii Tea like a champ. Then she purged at about 45 minutes and became almost immobilized. She lay on the couch for 5 or 6 hours badly nauseated and almost unable to keep her eyes open. She was miserable and the nausea didn't let up for about that same 5 or 6 hours. She also said she wasn't seeing much CEV's. None of this is similar at all to my cactus tea experiences.

The next time she took 760 mgs extracted mescaline acetate. Same thing. Purged 45 minutes in and then was almost incapacitated and nauseated for hours. When she would open her eyes she said she could see solid tracers, but again not much of a show going on behind her eyelids.

So.....no more mescaline for her.

I've done larger doses of those exact things she did, purged on the tea like I always do at about T+1.5, only transient nausea when I took the acetate and then went on to have a great time on each.

Also, my brother did about 750 or so mgs of the acetate and it gave him some pretty severe vasoconstriction. Again, I was having a great time on an even higher dose of it.

Seems like one other Nexian mentioned someone having a similar bad experience on cactus.

Based on my own reaction to cactus I was not expecting either of them to have a hard time, but now I know I can't assume things about how someone else might react, even to what I consider a relatively gentle psychedelic.

It sounds like you are very sensitive to the bodyload effects of San Pedro. Stomach upset, increased energy and stimulation, a dazed headspace... these are bodyload effects from the cactus. Bridgesii is known for this. But at tiny doses the effects should not be very noticeable. You must be unusually sensitive to them.

My girl had a difficult first experience with cactus. However it seemed mostly psychological. I would advise you to try one large dose prepared well and see how it goes. Good luck!

My friend had extreme stomache ache after consuming a lot of cactus and pure mescaline.. I blew some Mapacho on his stomache and it was gone.. he was as surprised as me.. Don't underestimate Mapacho!!

I've only used simple prep methods, making a tea and drinking a portion of it at a time. I get slow at consuming psychedelics these days, so in some cases I have made a resin or added a lot of vinegar as a preservative. The vinegar makes it harder to drink but if I have other obligations I'll test the waters slowly to make sure I can still get the chores I need done.

I might be consuming cactus in the wrong way though, very seldom is my method to drink a bunch at one and wait for fireworks. In the past, when I take a lot of a psychedelic I haven't acclimated to I run the possibility of having absolutely hellish experiences, especially if I'm alone and not distracted.

For example, in some early LSD trials with friends who seemed very confident, they led me through the tougher beginning parts into a peak which had me feeling powerful, full of hilaritas, and yet very grounded and able to move freely. Other times when I attempted the go alone, I was overcome with intense symptoms of my chronic Lyme disease, and sensations of pain so powerful I felt ejected from my brain and body (which after being freed from the constraints, was very pleasant). I guess this may be entirely based around my 'distrust' of LSD, or simple lack of familiarity and thus lack of confidence.

I'm more reluctant to head into deep water with the substances I'm not familiar with. Cactus being one...


Anyway... two days ago I rolled a 100mg sample of resin made from a PC clone (boy do those things grow fast), and got almost nothing but those terrible body effects.
Likewise small doses of the Bouncing Bear Bridgesii clone, while definitely more psychedelic, had a similar nerve racking vibration.

BUT I just remembered I had sampled one of my seed-grown bridgesii-peruvianus clones this winter and found it distinctly more psychedelic and less body-oriented. Much warmer and friendlier (despite its incredibly formidable spines). Still a bit of that nervousness but generally operable.

I do tend to be extremely sensitive to psychoactives, and maybe I'm getting a lot off of the other Phens whereas its sliding off other peoples' backs.

I'm going to have to try some purified mesc sometime to test this theory someday

Mushroom microdoses will extend the range of my thought noticeably and without a lot of side-effects. Truffles are especially clean in my opinion. (mmm, mexicanae)
But I don't like the illegality in my country and finding a more above-board psychedelic plant is a bit of a goal in my search for the philosopher's stone (heheh)...

It is very interesting that some people simply have bad reactions to certain psychedelics. It seems our makeup calls for a special someone to give us what we need. Not so simple as agonism at the 5-HT2A/2C receptor.

I will take the advice of Tony and Coastal as well, and go for the gold with one of my seed-grown babies since I hear it can be unique and pleasurable. I think I might give/sell the cacti that have given me bad times, as their profile just ain't right for me. I have purchased a couple Bridgesii clones which are the ones I have largely sampled and may be giving me a bad impression.

I'm kind of surprised now as Bridgesii is what people usually suggest for beginners to not be disappointed.. For the more sensitive among us I think a true Pach or Peruvian might be the best way to go!

BTW Eaglepath, if I weren't a tobacco lover I might question that proposal, but it is amazing how nice tobacco can be soothing to the stomach, once you're accustomed

Thank you all for your input! Hopefully another cactus questioner will look at this if they are in doubt.
I'm going to keep playing around with these green babes. As Dale Pendell has mentioned, you wouldn't just grab the first mate you could find and begin serious relations with them. Well, would you