Kava FAQ How strong Kava can make you feel?

[butterflylata]

Hi, me and my husband are new to Kava, although I did lots of reading and learned about the reverse tolerance, but still not sure how strong/enjoyable Kave can make us feel.
The first brand we got was Kalm with kava and we bought the sample kit which has Borogu, Borongoru and Pouni Ono. After kept trying for almost 2 weeks, I could feel being light and floating especially after drinking Pouni Ono, but the effects didn't last very long and not very intense either, it was even worse for my husband that he felt the drunk feeling but only for 2 mins at most...
Then we ordered Mo'i from GHK, after trying for 4 nights, the effects definitely last longer but not as strong as Pouni Ono or Borogu, we can feel slightly relaxed and some heady feelings but very mild almost negligible...
So, the first brand has stronger effects for mins, the second one lasts longer but works too mildly.
I heard that lots of ppl use Kava as the replacement of alcohol, but the feeling so far is too weak to be a substitute. I know it is probably still because of the reverse tolerance and each strain has its unique kavalactone that it takes time to build up the sensitivity...
Could anybody tell us how strong the heady kind Kava (like Mo'i) can make you feel after you experienced the full effects? We really need some reason/encouragement to keep trying...
Btw our dose is 6 table spoons per person with 4 cups of warm water, blended with lecithin and vegetable oil for 5 mins. Tried to drink it with empty stomach and flavored it with Mio.
Thanks!

 

[Ligermeat]

5-10 mins in:
You may feel a slight "lifted" feeling, almost a floating float kind of feel that's...floaty.

20-30 mins in:
Music sounds AWSOME. Waves of joy drift through your open mind, possessing and caressing you, as the beauty and splendor of the world touches your soul. At high doses, some closed eye visuals may appear. You way want to go back for some more shells now.

45-1:00 inn:
The sheer bliss has peeked, and may start mellowing out. The music enhancement thing is still in effect and may stay that way for awhile now though.

1:30 +:
Your probably feeling pretty mellow. Not quite as euphoric, but defiantly mellow, and maybe a little sluggish.

After about 3 hours, you'll probably hit the comedown, which is about an hour's worth of tiredness and some mental fog thrown in. Don't worry though. Get some fluids and electro lights into your system and you'll feel ok.

4-5 hours in and you'll probable be back to normal. Hope this helps!

 

[TheKavaSociety]

I am fairly strongly affected by a mix of mystery Tongan and mo'i. I am getting a bit of double vision, deep relaxation, ringing in my ears and a wave of pleasant euphoria mixed with total calmness. The most I have ever been affected by kava was in Vanuatu where I got the above plus a muscle relaxation so strong that I couldn't stand up for 30 minutes

 

[Ligermeat]

Keep in mind though that this is all based on the assumption that your through RT, your stomach is empty, and you properly space out your servings.

 

[EQ]

You BOTH have been drinking everyday for 2 and a half weeks? And both of you have practically no effect.


People use Kava as a alcohol replacement because it works.
If you are doubting Kava then you haven't experienced Kava.

"Btw our dose is 6 table spoons per person with 4 cups of warm water" -- This is unclear.
So is this 6 tablespoons per person with 2 cups warm water per person ---- This will be my assumption.
or 4 cups per person.
You use 12 tablespoons for 4 cups or 8 cups?

To me tablespoons are an unreliable tool as Volume doesn't account for density.

"I could feel being light and floating especially after drinking Pouni Ono"
Pouni Ono is more dense than Borogu and I believe Borongoru
6 tablespoons Pouni Ono is a lot more Kava than 6 tablespoons Borogu and that is why you had the most effect. Simply amount not RT. I don't believe my assumption is correct. Here is why:

I did a test for you. I have a 27.30 gram container up top. I just count it as 1 oz.
1 Tbls Borogu = 32.11 - 27.30 = 4.81 grams. 1 Tblp Borogu is approx. 5 grams.
1Tbls Pouni ono = 36.25 - 27.30 = 8.95 grams. 1 Tbls Pouni Ono is approx. 9 grams
Keep this in mind.

My assumption has been bunked.
The sample pack comes with 4 oz of each.
12 tablespoons would have been the whole bag.
Did you use the whole Pouni ono bag in one session?
If you didn't: 6 Tablespoons per person is a misprint.

I truely think you are consuming Kava poorly and need to give more information.

I have not failed yet on getting somebody feeling Kava there first try. Preparation is very important.
I don't doubt the existence of RT but I do after over 2 weeks.

 

[butterflylata]

I am fairly strongly affected by a mix of mystery Tongan and mo'i. I am getting a bit of double vision, deep relaxation, ringing in my ears and a wave of pleasant euphoria mixed with total calmness. The most I have ever been affected by kava was in Vanuatu where I got the above plus a muscle relaxation so strong that I couldn't stand up for 30 minutes

Thank you for your reply! how long did it take for you to experience the full effects after the RT?

 

[butterflylata]

5-10 mins in:
You may feel a slight "lifted" feeling, almost a floating float kind of feel that's...floaty.

20-30 mins in:
Music sounds AWSOME. Waves of joy drift through your open mind, possessing and caressing you, as the beauty and splendor of the world touches your soul. At high doses, some closed eye visuals may appear. You way want to go back for some more shells now.

45-1:00 inn:
The sheer bliss has peeked, and may start mellowing out. The music enhancement thing is still in effect and may stay that way for awhile now though.

1:30 +:
Your probably feeling pretty mellow. Not quite as euphoric, but defiantly mellow, and maybe a little sluggish.

After about 3 hours, you'll probably hit the comedown, which is about an hour's worth of tiredness and some mental fog thrown in. Don't worry though. Get some fluids and electro lights into your system and you'll feel ok.

4-5 hours in and you'll probable be back to normal. Hope this helps!

Very helpful! hopefully we can feel this way soon

 

[TheKavaSociety]

Thank you for your reply! how long did it take for you to experience the full effects after the RT?

While over the years I have perhaps become more sensitive to kava (and more aware of the subtle and not so subtle differences between various kavas) I didn't really experience RT and I personally think it's largely a myth. I know many people would disagree about it here, but the concept of RT seems virtually unknown to Pacific Islanders and in my experience the vast majority of people can feel kava's effects the first time they try it provided the beverage is prepared correctly, they do not drink it on a full stomach and the plant material is of sufficient quality.

I introduce new people to kava all the time and nearly all of them feel its effects straight away. Both @Kalm with Kava and @Gourmet Hawaiian Kava products are excellent, so I would suggest that in all likelihood your prep method needs to be improved. If you are not sure how to make strong kava, order Aluball from @Kavafied , use two balls per shaker.

 

[Mr. Kava]

1cup of fiji waka in 5-5 1/2 cups of water with traditional prep.

If I drink all of this over 90 minutes on an empty stomach I feel a heavy multilayered kava buzz bordering on excess.

So with a high quantity of quality lateral root, you can get a pretty intense stoney buzz in my opinion.

Granted, That much Kava over 90minutes is a bit much for me personally. I tend to do half that amount for a pleasant experience.

 

[ElDudarino]

you may not be preparing it correctly. i think to start, to learn what you are aiming for, try the micro or instant from GHK. I recommend buying a sampler of micro. Then on an empty stomach (2-3 hours), put 2 tblspoons of micro in a large cup of (_____). I use coffee myself, or decaf, i think the heat adds to the potency, but totally not necessary. Then you chug that hole 2 tblspoon shell and you start feeling it within 5 minutes.

then you can figure out how to make Kava yourself. with micro, the whole "did i prepare it right?" variable is taken out of the equation. And there's already enough variables with Kava (set, setting, reverse tolerance, etc). The way I described is guaranteed (for me) to have a euphoric experience every time.

What i'm sort of stuck on myself is making the experience last longer. I'll try to have another 1lbspoon half hour later or an hour later, and the experience becomes stronger yes- but not in a pleasant way. So if anyone has some advice for me, i'd appreciate hearing it as wel.

 

[TheKavaSociety]

Seriously, just get two aluballs. Load them with good kava, put them in a shaker with 450ml of water, shake vigorously for 1 minute and pour two shells (make sure you rattle the balls in an empty shaker to get all the liquid out). Do not sip the shells, just skull them and wait for a sec. You should feel the kavain rush within 5 minutes. The other lactones take much longer to peak.

There is one big guy that comes to my kava sessions. Very resistant to kava effects. So I prepared 35g of kava in two aluballs for him and poured him one massive shell. He downed the whole thing in 2-3 gulps and suddenly understood why we love kava so much.

 

[butterflylata]

You BOTH have been drinking everyday for 2 and a half weeks? And both of you have practically no effect.


People use Kava as a alcohol replacement because it works.
If you are doubting Kava then you haven't experienced Kava.

"Btw our dose is 6 table spoons per person with 4 cups of warm water" -- This is unclear.
So is this 6 tablespoons per person with 2 cups warm water per person ---- This will be my assumption.
or 4 cups per person.
You use 12 tablespoons for 4 cups or 8 cups?

To me tablespoons are an unreliable tool as Volume doesn't account for density.

"I could feel being light and floating especially after drinking Pouni Ono"
Pouni Ono is more dense than Borogu and I believe Borongoru
6 tablespoons Pouni Ono is a lot more Kava than 6 tablespoons Borogu and that is why you had the most effect. Simply amount not RT. I don't believe my assumption is correct. Here is why:

I did a test for you. I have a 27.30 gram container up top. I just count it as 1 oz.
1 Tbls Borogu = 32.11 - 27.30 = 4.81 grams. 1 Tblp Borogu is approx. 5 grams.
1Tbls Pouni ono = 36.25 - 27.30 = 8.95 grams. 1 Tbls Pouni Ono is approx. 9 grams
Keep this in mind.

My assumption has been bunked.
The sample pack comes with 4 oz of each.
12 tablespoons would have been the whole bag.
Did you use the whole Pouni ono bag in one session?
If you didn't: 6 Tablespoons per person is a misprint.

I truely think you are consuming Kava poorly and need to give more information.

I have not failed yet on getting somebody feeling Kava there first try. Preparation is very important.
I don't doubt the existence of RT but I do after over 2 weeks.


View attachment 5136 View attachment 5137

Looks like you are the expert of Kava,
Ok let's take it this way, since I don't have the scale, I just opened a new bag of Mahakea today and used my table spoon to measure it. It took me around 46 to 48 table spoon to empty up half pound bag, so one table spoon is equal to 4.73 gram. 6 Tbls is 28.38 g/1 oz. So 1 oz Kava root mixed with 4 cups of water. I think you can calculate doses of other kinds of kava from the density of Mahakea. This is the dose for my husband, and he drank this volume every night for almost 2 weeks and finished up that sample kit. Then tried Mo'i for 4 nights with the same volume. As I said, at the time we about to finish the sample kit, he could feel the strong drunk feeling for 2 mins from Borogu. When it came to Mo'i, it could give him the heady feeling at the first time and lasts for about one hour, but very very slight, almost like nothing.
I am relatively sensitive to any kind of chemical, so after my third try I could feel floating feeling from Pouni ono after only 2 cups which lasted for 2 hours. Then yesterday I tried Mo'i for 2 cups (still 6 Tbls for 4 cups, 1.5 Tbls per cup)that was my first try of Mo's and I could feel very mild heady feeling lasted no longer than 30 mins.

So, any suggestion for our situation??

 

[wanderingwoodsmith]

Personally I use 2 heaping tbsp per 8oz water. That almost always gets me where I want to be. I wait at least 3.5 hours after my last meal before I even think about having any kava.

 

[BillB]

5-10 mins in:
You may feel a slight "lifted" feeling, almost a floating float kind of feel that's...floaty.

20-30 mins in:
Music sounds AWSOME. Waves of joy drift through your open mind, possessing and caressing you, as the beauty and splendor of the world touches your soul. At high doses, some closed eye visuals may appear. You way want to go back for some more shells now.

45-1:00 inn:
The sheer bliss has peeked, and may start mellowing out. The music enhancement thing is still in effect and may stay that way for awhile now though.

1:30 +:
Your probably feeling pretty mellow. Not quite as euphoric, but defiantly mellow, and maybe a little sluggish.

After about 3 hours, you'll probably hit the comedown, which is about an hour's worth of tiredness and some mental fog thrown in. Don't worry though. Get some fluids and electro lights into your system and you'll feel ok.

4-5 hours in and you'll probable be back to normal. Hope this helps!

Like, how high of a dose would you have to have to have closed eye visuals? Also, any specific strains or specific types of Kava(ex:heady, heavy) that would promote this?

 

[Ligermeat]

Typically heady stuff, high in yangonin and kavain. Moi and solomons in particular might bring on cevs.I haven't noticed them so much with Tongan (Fuu) kava so much, and vanuatan stuff doesent really cause much in the way of visuals either.

And dosage wise: it doesn't really matter. You could krunk until your eyes lose focus and not see a single cev. Other times, you can just do a pretty moderate dose and see something resembling "Jupiter and beyond the infinite" (though not that vivid, and defiantly not to the same degree as serious psychadelics)

 

[Ligermeat]

Speaking of which, dreamachine might be pretty awesome on kava...

 

[Chaucer]

I find that I have my best sessions in the morning (after not eating for 8 hours or so) and just before dinner (not eating for 5-6 hours). My evening kava (usually 2 heaping tbs in 8 ounces of water) feels much weaker. I think it is because my stomach is not as empty in the evening. Also, I would say that it's not quite a drunk kind of experience that I get from kava - more of a euphoric/content feeling. I agree that it works as a replacement for alcohol because I don't feel the urge to drink on my kava days but the two experiences are not the same. Best to get some micro as others have suggested.

 

[Ligermeat]

Please allow me to illustrate the kava experience through emoticons:

 

[kavadude]

 

[Chaucer]

After not eating for over 12 hours, I just had two heaping tbs in about 5 ounces of water, then had a second wash with another 5 ounces. This was done with the Alluball. I repeated the whole process about 15 min later and I feel really good - maybe even a little too good. If this doesn't work for you, you must still be in reverse tolerance.