Hello everyone,

my friends cousins brother has never tried any hallucinogens, he has only tried alcohol and tobacco. He has come by some cubes and is curious about whether it's safe to have his first psychedelic experience with mushrooms. From what he has read, many people suggest cannabis or LSA for first timers, but A) the former does not really intrigue him and B) he cannot come by the latter.

The second thing he is thinking about is dosage. He is a male in his early twenties, 200 pounds. He knows the recommended dose for beginners is around .75g-1.5g of cubensis. He has read from several posts on dosage, that many people consider too low doses more unpleasant (say, level 1) than a e.g level 3 experience. He obviously wants to be safe, and does definitely not want to go in over his head as this is his first experience, but wants to build a good relationship with the mushroom. He knows tolerance is also very case dependant, but would still appreciate thoughts on whether to start at the upper or lower end of that dose spectrum. He is inclined towards a dose around 1g, but would love to hear the opinion of experienced users. The shroomery dose calculator estimated 1.3g for a level 2 trip. Level 2:
"Bright colors, and visuals (i.e. things start to move and breathe), some 2 dimensional patterns become apparent upon shutting eyes. Confused or reminiscent thoughts. Change of short term memory leads to continual distractive thought patterns. Vast increase in creativity becomes apparent as the natural brain filter is bypassed."

The last thing he is curious about is different ingestion methods. He is especially curious about tea, and the lemon Tek, since the dephosphorylation converts most of the psilocybin into psilocin, giving a shorter but more clean and visual experience with less of a body load. This would also mean going with a lower dosage, since the lemon Tek according to experience reports makes for a more potent (reportedly 2-3x) trip. So the last question would be, would you as a first timer rather have the experience by traditionally just consuming the mushrooms, thus having a little longer trip with a longer onset or jump right to the tea or even the lemon Tek, and if you chose to go with the lemon Tek, what dosage would you think is okay for a first timer (around 0,5g?). Any thoughts surrounding this would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance.

In my experience, extracting/converting the mushrooms doesn't give a significantly more potent experience. Psilocybin is a prodrug of psilocin, meaning that it is converted to psilocin in the body by alkaline phosphatase. So while the dephosphorylated mushroom extract will result in a lower body load, i personally don't feel it results in a much higher potency. My recommendation would be to make a tea of about the 1g dose, purely for the fact that it's easier to consume IMO. That being said, don't skull (chug, whatever you say where you are) it just because the taste is unpleasant as it often nauseates me, and skulling only makes it worse. To that point, fasting is also recommended beforehand to help with any nausea that may occur.

More important than anything however, is make sure the trip occurs in a calm and peaceful environment. As this is your friends first experience, set and setting are of extreme importance given he doesn't have the experience to inwardly control the trip.

Good luck and happy trippin

That you for your answer and for clearing up the lemon Tek issue for me, it is greatly appreciated.

I will make sure to tell this to my friends cousins brother, the tea indeed sounds like the way to go.
And yes, he knows how important set and setting are, and has already begun meditating and eating a cleaner diet in preparation .

I would say that if you are interested you should just go for it. There is no right or wrong way - just dont over-do the dose and you should be fine. No need for extracting or tek or finding a different substance - mushrooms are great.

I would start with 1-2 grams, and if you want you can eat another gram or two an hour or so into the experience.... As long as you do this in a good environment you will probably have a great time, and if for whatever reason it gets dark - embrace it because those are usually the experiences where you learn the most. It only gets dark when you have darkness within to heal - and that is what will happen, you will heal and grow and learn.

Sometimes larger doses are great, but for a first timer, I think it is good to build up to that personally.... If they have someone more experienced with them and they want to go deep they can start with 3-4 grams and still be fine though. Most importat detail I think is the setting they choose to partake in.

I recommend either eating them in nature where you have enough privacy to feel comfortable, or eat them at a safe house with some good music on. If you are indoors you can try going in the dark with eyes closed and silence for a deeper experience, but sometimes music can be fun and relaxing for a first time.

Thank you for the great advice travsha, it is much appreciated .

He is probably going to go with 1g at first and follow your advice about taking more if he is not feeling the effects and going to do it in his own house in silent darkness but will probably end up experimenting with different things since it indeed is his first time ever using any kind of psychedelics. His brother is going to be his sitter, he has no experience with these things but has been given instructions so everything should be A okay.

When coming down he is thinking about trying to write down what he has seen and felt during the experience and possibly also draw something if he feels inspired to do so. I will write a report on his trip afterwards.

I think 1g for a 200 person is too little, but do however much he's comfortable with. I did 1.6g cubes on my first time (im 140 pounds) and it was a great first psychedelic trip. Go somewhere with nature, bring plenty of water and if it starts getting uncomfortable all he has to do is remind himself he's tripping. It shouldn't be too hard to control yourself on 1-2g. Good luck

Thanks for the input Godzy, this will definitely be taken into consideration.

I have been browsing Erowids experience reports but haven't found many first time reports for 200 pounds, most of them seem to be in the 135-160 pound range, but those I did find had all had positive experiences with doses ranging from 2-3.5g, so he might end up going with something closer to 1.5g

I highly suggest mushrooms for a first-timer!

All the other suggestions on this thread are great & I have nothing else to add.

Safe journeys!

That's nice to hear Doc and thanks

jim, cubensis is the only variety in terms of psilocybin mushrooms that was available trough some friends. I'm not yet in a place right now in my life where I could grow mushrooms myself.

As for amanita muscaria, isn't that a completely different experience altogether?
I have heard so much good about psilocybin mushrooms, but I must admit my knowledge of other mushrooms is not very extensive. I have read a few amanita experience reports, and the experience as described by others does not appeal to me but obviously it is entirely different experiencing something yourself.

I would say the answer for choosing cubensis (or psilocybin mushrooms in general) is just because I've never had an experience with any kind of psycho-active substance, and thus I think it is to some extent natural to go with the more popular and "mainstream" ( ) psychedelics first .

This made me curious of what the first psycho-active substance you tried was?

Yes. Aminita muscaria is much more of a deliriant, not a "true psychedelic" like Psilocybin mushroom species.

Hi Illuminated!
You seem to be well read for your first journey. I think it is important to choose a place that you find comfortable, relaxing, and ideally aesthetically pleasing. Outside in a private area is good if you are pretty used to being outside in nature, just make sure the bugs aren't too bad! Its never too fun getting eating up by insects and having no place to retreat! If thats not available inside will work too! 1.5 grams seems like a good first time dose to me!
Good luck!

Mushrooms are a great place to start in the psychedelic world. They are quite a wonderful teacher! Start low and get a feel for them. Take it easy while showing it respect and you will be fine.

There is no amount of reading that can truly prepare you for a mind bending journey but it is always a good idea to:

Know/research your substance!
Know/trust and have a sitter ( optional but recommended especially for a first timer)
Be safe!
Be smart!
Have a lot of fun and learn something!

Best of luck to you, friend!

Indeed, this obviously doesn't mean it's bad, but it is also said to be a depressant, sedative-hypnotic and dissociative. It has been widely used by indigenous people in Siberia, so I don't doubt that it could give you a spiritual experience, but for now Psilocybin seems like a good alternative.

Hi mondo, out in the nature definitely sounds like a good way to do it, I do love nature, especially the flora, I don't really feel the love from the mosquitoes and wasps . Unfortunately at the time being, there is no place where this could happen undisturbed ( by other humans ), so inside it is.

The Grateful One, thank you for the tips. You're right, nothing can really prepare one for an experience such as this, even if we are talking mushrooms and not DMT. A part of me wishes I hadn't read so many experience reports, because whether it's true or not, it feels like there is a chance that the experience will be affected by those preconceptions. Of course there is no way to tell now, and maybe I'm just overthinking this .

Thank you all for the support and advice!

Amanita muscari is more akin to pcp than psilocybin ime. Still cool, but not nearly as immersive and spiritually profound as psilocybin IMO.

And I believe you're right illuminated. Preconceptions about the experience will very likely alter how you view the experience, they might even markedly change the experience because, after all, it's an experience created within our own minds. Just remember to be accepting of all aspects of the experience and you should have a good time. (I feel like I'm saying experience a lot... Experience, experience, experience... )

Remember, you don't have to be experienced to experience the experience. How else do we gain experience? Lmao!

Have good time.

Thanks BongWizard, will try to keep an as open mind as possible and just go with the experience