I’m a proponent of the responsible use of salvia extracts, but I don’t have very much experience with quidding or oral consumption of salvia. The few times I’ve quidded, I’ve had only very minor effects. I’ve always used very small doses – 1 or 2 fresh leaves – so the lack of effects was never surprising.

With oral consumption in mind, I harvested a few salvia plants early this weekend and, realizing I already have way more dried salvia than I will ever use, I set aside 13 large leaves (31g with stems removed). I put them in the refrigerator for later use.

Early this afternoon, the time seemed right so I put on some quiet music, darkened my room, and began eating the leaves. The first few bites of salvia always remind me of iceberg lettuce – pleasant and mildly flavored. But then the bitterness hits, and a distinctly unpleasant flavor begins to develop. Before I had even finished the first leaf, the taste was becoming quite disagreeable.

Rather than quid, I decided I’d actually eat the leaves: I chewed the leaves, one at a time, making sure to get lots of buccal contact as I went. After thorough chewing, I swallowed each leaf. I wasn’t timing this process, but I’d say it took about 1-2 minutes to eat each leaf.

By the third leaf, with eyes closed, I began to sense the familiar early signs of salvia taking effect – the warping and twisting and rolling of space had begun, but the sensations disappeared as soon as I would open my eyes. I continued eating leaves – 4, 5, 6 – and after leaf 7 I felt I had to lie down. I never made it to leaf #8.

Upon lying down, I was quickly yet gently transported into the salvia realm. What followed was a fairly deep salvia experience, not unlike a vaporized experience, but instead of lasting 7-10 minutes, it went on for almost 2 hours. There was no ego loss, and I was aware I had taken salvia. As a result, I think I had more “control” of the experience (or at least my reactions to it).

For much of the experience, the visuals were heavily influenced by the music – the experience became the music (much like my one and only high-dose LSD experience). It was all quite stunning, and I was surprised at the depth and clarity and complexity of what I was seeing. Although it was all very awe-inspiring, there was no sense of awe – typical when using salvia, my emotions were muted.

After about 2 hours, I was able to get up and move around. The effects were fading. It’s now about 6 hours later, and I’m left with a deep serenity – quite a nice after-effect.

To sum up my impressions:

Awful taste!
Surprisingly fast onset.
A strong experience with only 7 leaves.
Long lasting – about 2 hours.
Very similar in content to smoked experience.
Very nice and long-lasting afterglow.

You must have eaten them on an empty stomach?

Yes!..music does effect salvia experience...

I find Dosage control.. makes it more easy to navigate ..and easier to remember..

nice..

No - I had breakfast a few hours earlier. Salvia does not cause any nausea whatsoever - at least not for me.

Mystical Awareness without the Rapture, bless the Sage.

I've never been able to swallow the quid; that taste is far too bitter and when it gets near the back of my throat...

I really like your approach gibran. Eating one at a time and swallowing. I'll give that a try when I harvest my plants

After having a couple lysergic experiences recently I noticed the similarities with Salvia. No, they're not very much alike but there are elements that are incredibly similar, like the connection with music. I also get the exact same feeling when I come up on LSD and when I take a hit of plain leaf. It's a sort of body awareness/high that is unmistakable.

Thanks for sharing your experience!

I always chew the leaves slowly and swallow it all at the end. I do find that swallowing the leaf is important for both extending the effect to it's full capacity as well as maximizing potency. It never does not work for me and with this method, and compared to vaporizing, the experience is always deeply personal and relevant to my own life and issues I am struggling with. It is one of the most intimate and matter of fact revealing experiences for me.

Thanks a lot for sharing! When I am once again in a position to work with my own organic homegrown Salvia, I shall be taking this approach.

In my personal experiences w/ Salvia (in all forms) it is completely void of auditory manipulations from external sources.


it does seem to open up the inner auditory channel, clairaudience, in ways ive never seen with other plants.... and it (at least in my methods) that this is one of the major phenomena in the deep salvia spaces that is experienced by most.

Thanks for the report, gibran2. I look forward to growing my own plant and trying this myself.

I would definitely agree with this. Without fail this always happens whether I quid or smoke.

I went through a period of a sort of puritanical approach to Salvia where I would only do it in silent darkness, in a certain room, at a certain time of day, all these certain criteria had to be met. It took a lot of the enjoyment out of it so I started to experiment with different light levels, open eyes, and many different genres of music. That's when I really started to appreciate the enhancement Salvia can have on all sorts of musical variations.

I do really understand that many people will dissociative completely and whatever sounds or surroundings absolutely disappear and they're irresistibly drawn deep into Salviaspace. It's with moderate doses of plain leaf that I find it can enhance many senses, including auditory.

I once connected quite deeply with this song while under the influence of salvia. The song became a landscape I could walk though and the beauty of it was immeasurable. Go figure.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SOrmtqTVHc

hehe..

Kinda ironic..I can see now listening to some of the lyrics how they really fit to describe some of the revelations I have had with sage in my life lately. That experience was almost a decade ago though now.

Yeah Im p sure thats whats going on for me, Im def the type of person who falls closer to being untrustful of my experience to the external sensory world, i am not a weedsmoker or drinker or recreational drug taker (minus coffee), so i gravitate more to the hermetic processes. My resonance with s.div is because this bandwith of just the sensory manipulation seems to be very narrow.

For me once it starts happenin any external information that enters into the consciousness breaks down into a symbolic code that transmits deeper essences and patterns. The skin doesnt exist.

Super thread, gibran2, et al! Interestingly, we're discussing the traditional Mazatec ritual method of communion with, Ska Maria Pastora. Slow oral mastication and deliberate deglutition of sequential leaves(fresh or dried/wetted) is a traditional and effective SD ROA.

This method of ingestion allows the participant to enter "salvia space" in a manner more controllable than smoalked extracts. IMO, when introducing the uninitiated, it seems to help if one familiarizes with "salvia space" using a modest strength smoalked extract. Subsequent visits via chewed/swallowed leaves are then easier to achieve.

It seems, most people who establish a long term relationship with SD move away from smoalked extracts to oral ROA. There is much to recommend this method.

Peace

Awesome discovery!

The reported oral experiences leaves me ever-more anticipated to oral dosing salvia leaves. Thanks for sharing, it was well worth the read.

I've noticed a couple times with chewing, at some point, my awareness pulls back just a bit, and something else is aware of "the chewing". It gently takes over and says,"Here, let me show you how to chew Salvia properly..." It's as if the body's intelligence really activates and i become hyper aware of its internal processes (nervous, circulatory and proprioception systems) One of the tips shown is to allow the saliva to reach underneath the tongue and along the sides in the back where it meets the throat (the area where you would scratch your tonsils with your tongue and where it tastes especially bitter and tangy) I realized this is a highly absorbent area that spreads the juices quickly throughout the body by sucking and barely swallowing tiny amounts of juice into that area. I could almost control where to send the juices throughout my body. Later at some point i read somewhere that that area is very permeable. Anyway, A very helpful technique for me.

I absolutely cannot stand any type of outside stimuli. I've built a couple sensory deprivation box prototypes for this reason. Pitch blackness, strong walls with thick padding, and absolute silence using soundproofing are essential for me to explore.

I dont mind the taste - I think it tastes kinda good actually. Like a mix between kale, basil and mint or something....

I find the experience is much deeper without music. Dark, silence and sitting real still provides a much more insightful experience for me - I actually find Salvia to be the easiest plant for me to communicate with if I get rid of all the distractions.

After working with oral salvia I will never smoke it again - I find the oral route to be superior in every way. I dont like the extracts at all anymore - straight leaf is perfect the way it is

Thank you for this topic, Gibran! I have been looking forward to trying this method since reading your post, but didn't have any leaves until just recently.

A few days ago I obtained a bag of about 30 fresh leaves, and tested your method of chewing/swallowing by eating a single smallish leaf. Although minor, standard Salvia effects were noticeable

The next night I tested a single larger leaf and the effect was proportionate. I plan on doing a full ceremony in the next day or two before drying the rest of the leaves.

I really like this method vs. trying to stuff my mouth full of a huge quid and dribbling it everywhere... (I have only quidded once - I had crushed/dried leaves so I filled several teabags with 1/2 gram of leaf each and chewed one bag at a time for several minutes each. It was quite a mess!)


Starway6 - were you asking about the speed of onset? I think with proper preparation and chewing (brushing gums, chewing near back of tongue/throat, etc.), the active ingredients can begin working rather quickly regardless of the amount of food in one's stomach. I had eaten a sandwich about an hour prior for both of my tests, and the effects were noticeable within 10 minutes.


You can add me to that list! (Although I will probably smoke low doses when leaves are not readily available or until my new plants can be harvested.)




Heh - I thought of your comment last night as the 'chewing machine' subtly took over :-)

Not sure if this is a stupid question but, while quidding is there a significant choking risk? it surprises me that it doesn't seem to be based on trip reports, is the gentler come up the reason that affords time to be done quidding before choking etc?

Great thread btw, I love salvia discussions and trip reports, once I build up the nerve and my own supply of leaves and 96% rectified spirit I am hoping to make as strong a tincture as possible and mix with honey to reduce the burning sensation of the tincture then try to find a dosage that works.

Gibran and Salvia Droid are inspirational when it comes to salvia use, great contributors to the nexus.

Great question, Arcane. I would say yes, the come up is slow enough that one has time to deliberately stop chewing and swallow or spit it out before their mouth/throat becomes too dissociated to be able to properly swallow. I always keep a plastic water bottle nearby as a precaution (plastic so I don't accidentally chip a tooth...)

Above, I mentioned putting highly crushed leaves in teabags and chewing the bags. That was my first experience with quidding. As the experience came on, I eventually stopped as I was afraid I'd half-swallow one of the bags and choke. Although it worked well, I wouldn't use teabags again, and certainly wouldn't recommend it for someone new to quidding.