As I type this, I'm currently still under the effects of around 35mg, not that either you, or I would know.
The effects we're talking about here are what I call a body-drunk and a head-high, not what you'd expect at the dosage.

Unfortunately, the one and only experience where I DID trip, was while on an eye-balled dose.
I managed to waste the rest of that batch.

While it's possible that the one 'effective' experience was a result of MORE than 35mg, it seems just as likely that subsequent extractions haven't been up to the standard of the first one, or that I'm being blocked by myself (PTSD through first trip), or by some other force.

I plan on trying 40mg next, which is the breakthrough dose for my body-weight.

Any thoughts?

There's a million ways in which we can resist these experiences, I know it took my quite a while to figure out how it is that I hold on and stop myself from accessing the experience when I first began experimenting with DMT, an example of one is I was second by second comparing what I was experiencing to the experiences of others that I'd read online.

Maybe practising something like meditation for a little bit prior to dosing will help you clear your mind and help you be more aware of what it is that's ultimately blocking you from being able to access the experience as well as you could?

What was your first trip like if you're concerned it caused a PTSD of sorts?

What's your method for vaping? this was an continues to be a factor that causes a lot of failed journeys for me.. sometimes my technique works and others I just cannot understand why nothing's happening. usually when a trip is a big one, I almost get a dejavu of sorts related to me figuring out the technique once more which I annoyingly seem to forget for the next time

Going in by force by increasing the dose can result in unpleasant experience or even hyperslap when you are shut out of hyperspace for a longer period of time.

I recommend dosing harmalas prior to vaping. Harmalas make dmt stay in your system longer so you get time to adjust to the altered headspace and it may help to relax and ready your mind for a deeper experience.

I thought for sure that all the work I have been doing lately would open me up wide for a journey. I tried twice with my e-mesh not too long ago and got nothing but the body load and heady feeling. I am the type that can easily shut myself out for any number of reasons. I have found that the only way I can fly consistently without issue is with changa. I prefer changa anyway, but sometimes I appreciate the rocket blast to infinity and seem to really struggle to let go with pure spice. I have only had one ego death breakthrough with freebase. I have had a few breakthroughs with changa. The point though is that there so many things that can cause it, and I believe we do it to ourselves.

I almost always meditate beforehand, or at the very least offering affirmations.
The Spice has aided in my spirituality and I treat it with respect.

The technique is a simple pipe, a jet lighter, and a small piece of bluetac (for the loading hole).
It's warmed to smoke, then inhaled and held for 30 seconds, which is laughable since my first experience hit me within about 4 or 5 seconds of inhaling!
Because I'd initially had a handful of failed attempts to get anywhere (I was using a normal lighter), the sudden and unexpected feeling of strong body-separation shocked me, and I tensed up with anxiety for about a minute, before breathing bedroom curtains, snaking paisley patterns, and banks of neon blue LED lights distracted me and chilled me out.
The afterglow, spiritual growth, and newly founded appreciation for life itself, were worth the experience alone.

Most of the time between then and now, I'd been micro-dosing for increased plasticity in my ADHD brain, but I was apprehensive even when taking 10mg and less, for fear that I'd not be able to relax into the experience.
I'm mostly over it now, and I'm interested in seeing beyond this veil, but it seems beyond me at present.

I was under the assumption that the experience didn't require your participation, in order to work.

This is a possibility that's at the back of my mind as well. If these realms are governed, for want of a better word, then I can only hope that my intentions are coming across well.

Oh, thanks for the message you sent me, and your encouragement. You're very helpful.

The e-mesh is what I'm going to try, to rule out any poor technique on my part, but I fear you might be right about out inner walls.
That's a much harder fix.

One issue at a time.

Changa sounds interesting. If the e-mesh fails me, I'll be back to hear more about these MAOIs.

In my experience, generally, every journey is different. There are some where my body barely feels anything, but my visual and auditory functions are on fire. There are other times where it's mainly a body load with a cognitive component.

No one knows the reason(s) lockout happens, but one commonly mentioned remedy is taking a break from the molecule for a bit.

Power of suggestion has many unconscious effects. Your experiences are your own. Try to forget what you've read in others' experiences and be receptive to anything that comes. You may come across things others have and you may not.

Safe travels.

One love

If you truly feel like you have PTSD and are not just being hyperbolic, why would you want to?

I admit to not grokking your post. I have never experienced this "lock-out" phenomenon, but I got the feeling that you aren't partaking too much, and that seems to be the case when that happens.

What are you trying to find out/do? Discover a effective ROA? Want smoking tips? If you extracted DMT, you extracted DMT. One batch may look different than the other, but unless it's full of something that shouldn't be there from fudging up the process, you should have...DMT.

I got a ton of thoughts, my Teacher says I have too many of 'em really, which ones do you want?

As I mentioned before, the only reason the first 'effective' trip freaked me out was due to the fact that I'd had several unsuccessful attempts prior to that while using a regular lighter, so it was more SHOCK than anything else.
Plus, very few people in the hundreds of trip reports I'd read, mentioned this mind/body separation as a PHYSIOLOGICAL sensation. It hit me like a truck, and within 5 seconds of holding in the smoke, so it was quite an unexpected shock.
Since that point I've been paranoid that the experience would be too intense for me (I'm a bit of a control freak), although I've relaxed a lot lately, and I've got quite a few usages under my belt.

The micro-dosing I've been doing for the past three or so months have been almost as influential in my life as meditation.
Usually, with a week of a small dose, I have emotional realisations that become overwhelming outpourings, after which I feel new-born.
My brain's plasticity has increased radically too, reshaping my outlook on culture, politics, and the like. The degree of permanence is also very impressive.

These benefits are more than enough, by way of 'reward', yet I can't shake that nostalgic feeling I had during my first trip, nor the feeling of peace and serentity afterwards.
I'm a seeker by nature, and I guess that I just want to understand reality a little better, as I've never really trusted it (simulation theory, multiverse, quantum world, etc)

So as I write this, and await my breakfast, the last linger effects of a 43mg dose are wearing off, and while I felt incredibly high, mentally, and incredibly drunk, physically, I saw no hallucinations, nor had any strong sense of euphoria.
I did a half hour meditation beforehand, along with an affirmation, so I was suitably relaxed and open-minded.

I have an e-mesh arriving this week so this will be a true indicator of my medicine's quality.

The mystery continues.

Some people, whether due to their physiological or psychological make up, maybe both or some other reason, are simply more resistant to the effects of DMT and/or other hallucinogens. This can change, as can your adeptness in the self-administration of the medicine. If your set, setting and substance are optimal, this last one is the one to look at as you appear to have already intuited.

I'm sure you're right.
There's a good chance that my technique isn't on-point - I might be holding the flame too close to the pipe, as I recall it taking much longer to generate smoke on the first/successful experience.

Future experiments will hopefully reveal why Dimitri isn't talking to me.