Well, the Landotter is a little disappointed in himself. Planned my virgin launch for 5pm November 2. Thanks to all who gave advice on the setup and priming of my Machine... sadly, my own personal hardware (wetware?) was not up to the actual task, at least not initially.

Had no problem melting the spice onto/into the copper wire plug of the Machine: don't know what I was so worried about, really. It was very simple and obvious, I used quite a lot of spice, enough to cover a dime and it all just melted into the plug perfectly, although a small amount of it adhered to the glass.

It was my own nervousness and anticipation that prevented a breakthrough, really. The torch lighter produced lots of vapour, so much so that I got a little over-excited and drew in the smoke too fast, too hard. That's not entirely true, I did take a few gentle hits to start, just to get a taste, but when I didn't really feel anything from that I drew harder and thanks to my non-smoker, utterly virgin lungs I found it incredibly harsh and foreign and I coughed mightily. I've never been a good smoker. There was no holding the breath unless I took gentle sips off the vapour.

I got very nervous. As I held the small gulps, the vapour would disappear from the bottle and I would stress over getting it back. Then when I did get it back after a few seconds with the torch lighter again, I would breathe in too hard and start the coughing again. Turned into a vicious circle.

After maybe three or four hits, two of which were utterly wasted by coughing, I experienced the chrysanthemum effect. The speed with which this came on actually shocked me. I've never experienced anything that came on so fast! It was like "whoa whoa whoa whoa here it comes jaysus christ..." but then, because I had not gotten enough of it into my system it just faded away. It was like I'd walked right up to the door but did not open it.

I'm a little disappointed in myself.

So, I knew that I had to wait a while for the next try. At 7 I tried again but didn't get any further than the first time; in fact it felt as if I'd done better the first time.

I have some questions...

1) Timing the spice intake. I know I rushed the smoking, due to apprehension and general noobie-ness. I thought "shit! There's the vapour! I have to get as much of this into me in the shortest time possible!" but now I'm wondering how true that is. How much time can you allow between intakes of vapour? If you haven't broken through by the 3-minute mark, or the 5-minute mark, or the whenever-minute mark, can you break through at all or is it a wasted effort to continue?

2) Getting huge hits. Really my problems started with the anxiously large draws of breath that brought a lot of smoke into contact with the back of my throat. But when I was taking small breaths and then following them with short inhales through the nose to push the vapour deeper into my lungs (as was suggested by someone here) I could feel it begin to work, could feel it building. Instead of taking 2 to 3 huge hits to acheive breakthrough, is it possible to just work away at it with several small hits? I mean, the whole point is to load the system with DMT and get as much of it past the blood-brain barrier, right?

3) Inhale through the nose or mouth? Honestly, inhaling through the mouth bugs me. I have a tendency to engage my swallow reflex, sometimes I feel like I'm taking the stuff into my stomach and not my lungs. And then there's the whole coughing thing. I mean, it's gotta get into your bloodstream fast and I know the lungs are the best way (at least when smoking) but do you think it would work as well or better if I rigged up a breather mask (like those first aid oxygen masks) with a tube to inhale the vapour from the Machine through my nose?

4) Someone to prime the Machine? Part of my difficulties I felt was the lag time between inhaling a load of vapour and the production of the next load of vapour... would it be wise to have someone there who can manage the lighter duties and keep the chamber of the Machine filled with vapour? It dissipates so quickly. My g/f was there for me, because I thought that I would break through and drop the equipment in my astonishment, but she was not clear on how to heat the Machine (I was only just learning myself, after all!) and besides which she told me afterwards that the Machine produced so much smoke that she actually became frightened of second-hand smoke effects! haha And considering how instantly high she saw me get in such a short period of time, I can't blame her really. But maybe this question pertains to the timing question.

One last odd thing: even though the Landotter has never smoked DMT before, in the initial moments of lighting the Machine and taking the first tentative hits, I got the deepest feeling of deja vu I have ever experienced. It was like "oh right this again" and "of course! remember?"... a very weird and distinct feeling of fuzziness in my temporal perception. Pity I wasn't able to parlay that feeling into a successful breakthrough.

Well, I'm hoping to try again this weekend; there's still spice in the plug and I have the other half of my supply in reserve. Any advice or thoughts on the above questions will be greatly appreciated and gratefully received!

Namaste y'all!


the Landotter, wishing he could somehow take his DMT intravenously

No big deal not breaking through the first time, you'll get there if you really want to!

Coughing is disastrous. The first cough, as with MJ or any harsh smoke, will trigger a coughing fit because the high-speed exhaled air is irritating the throat even more than the initially inhaled air. If you manage to hold your breath long enough to absorb all the irritants in the lungs, the exhaled air is much softer on the throat, so avoid even a small cough and hold your breath as long as possible. Just lock that throat

Inhale through the mouth, don't dilute the spice smoke..

It's no use to keep puffing small amounts slowly for minutes, the MAOIs in the body break down the spice fast... you really have to overwhelm the system, inhale and hold it until your lungs burst, and inhale more as needed immediately after exhaling, don't wait.
Rue or Caapi tea might help here, you can build up the spice level in your blood more gradually and make it last much longer!

Even if you do 'break through' or whatever it's called, it's only a glimpse, it just the first episode. There's more depth to it than you could ever imagine even after the first breakthough, it's a long-term interactive process, a whole new storyline evolving.

Some other things that spring to mind:
- how pure is your spice? Maybe an extra wash or recrystallization will make it less harsh?
- bubbling it through water may make it softer, use any regular water bong but with a Machine-attachment
- being nervous before launch is perfectly normal, but breath is important here. Inhale quitely but strongly and avoid coughing at all cost.


Good luck, don't worry about it, if smoking really doesn't work out you can always take it orally with a MAOI!

Oh, I really want to! Seems mah bod has other ideas.



What about a gravity bong? The only time I've taken huge amounts of smoke previously was several years ago with MJ in a gravity bong... it just forced huge amounts into the lungs.



So the breathing mask is out, then? Damn. I had some hope for that.



I do not know. I did not do the extraction... not yet at that point of self-production. It is palest yellow/orange. I'm fairly sure it's the right stuff, as the lead-up to the chrysanthemum effect was powerful and the CEV were truly awesome... it actually scared me a little, the swiftness of it.



If I set the Machine below a gravity bong (like a 2 litre plastic pop bottle with the bottom cut off in a bucket of water) and heated it until the vapour filled the pop bottle and then plunged it into the bucket, would that do it? Does contact with the water make it smoother?



I actually had the thought of just clamping my hand over my mouth hard after intake. Maybe that's naive but whaddaya think? Would that work?



I guess so. Well, we'll see after this weekend. Thanks for your help...

But keep it coming! I'd like to hear from other thinkers as well on this!

Dont stress!

It took me at least 15 trips over many weeks to get a breakthrough, smoking is a tricky process to master, but each time you get better and refine your technique. I still cough but usually only on the 1st breathe so i usually take a small one 1st, cough a little then take the big 2 or 3 hits after that and ive been getting furthur and furthur every time.

The experience is different everytime, the crysanthenum effect is the doorway, you will pass straight through into a myriad of realms and dimensions and inifinite dimensions and from there its you own personal thing, keep going and youll get machine elves !!

Try a water bong. Your smoke with be smooth.

You've got about 2 minutes to get in as much as you can, it really is more time than you think, no need to take massive, massive hits unless you are familiar and comfortable with the spice smoke. Don't baby it either, nice slow, full hits...ones you can hold for 20-30seconds.

It does take some practice, or iron lungs.

Being nervous is normal, just try and relax once you start smoking. I have found that I am almost shaking until I actually light the lighter, and at that point, even before I inhale anything my mind is half way to hyperspace(Pavlov's dog anyone?).

Try again and don't get discouraged or frustrated too much those feelings will haunt you on later hyperspace voyages if you do at least they sometimes do with me.

here are some techniques that will help

first after taking the biggest hit you can...breathe in a bit more air to clear your throat area..and then SWALLOW...what this does is lock in the hit in your lungs...it closes that little flap that keeps food and water from getting into your lungs..but it also makes it MUCH easier to hold the hit in

NEXT as soon as you swallow..you want to SMILE...it REALLLY works..it completely heightens the experience at least 2 fold...not sure how..but it does...something about the muscle movement just does wonders for the experience

Thanks, Jorkest, I'll try this and report back

Interesting, SWIM's found himself doing that out of reflex on occasion but has never bothered to analyze it. It seems to make sense.

I'll have to try the smiling thing next time.

I feel it's more like 1 minute...it gets at least very difficult after the first minute and it'S wise to have someone to keep you from setting yourself on fire.

I think the first hit is the most important. Everytime i've broken through i've always taken a massive first hit.