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Rare Kava Varieties

fait

Position 5 Hard Support
I was reading about the Hawaiian 'awa called Opihikao and while I'm curious about this specific variety, in general, I have to wonder what other kava varieties across the Pacific are also hard to come by and what their status is cultivation- and consumption-wise. I also saw another thread about Palarasul (if I spelled that correctly), a Vanuatu variety that is sadly not widely available outside of Santo.

Pretty open-ended conversation here. Any thoughts or news on rare kava varieties?
 

Krunkie McKrunkface

Kava Connoisseur
I was reading about the Hawaiian 'awa called Opihikao and while I'm curious about this specific variety, in general, I have to wonder what other kava varieties across the Pacific are also hard to come by and what their status is cultivation- and consumption-wise. I also saw another thread about Palarasul (if I spelled that correctly), a Vanuatu variety that is sadly not widely available outside of Santo.

Pretty open-ended conversation here. Any thoughts or news on rare kava varieties?
Almost all of them are hard to come by, and we're lucky we have any at all. The vendors do us a very real service.
 

sɥɐʞɐs

Avg. Dosage: 8 Tbsp. (58g)
Review Maestro
The majority of them are rare to find on the international market and even in regions where they have numerous cultivars, they still choose a few favorites to be the majority of what will be grown for regular consumption.

'Opihikao used to be available and surely GHK will release some again at some point. It's one of my favorite Hawaiian varieties, judging from the few times I've had it. Some truly rare varieties could be the fabled Hawaiian "Mokihana" kava and any cultivar from pacific islands that don't have any kava exports and/or traditional native consumption has greatly diminished like Tahiti and Marquesas...

http://kavaforums.com/forum/threads/vanuatu-cultivars-popularity-by-region-1980s.13706/
you might like this thread if you wanna see some info from an old kava survey/census in vanuatu.
 

Palmetto

Thank God!
I think, in most cases, you can find another cultivar that is available that will fairly well mimick the effects of the rare ones you desire. Not always, but if you are patient, some unusual varieties appear.

So many of the Vanuatu cultivars are similar: 423xxx, 425xxx, 245xxx. I've really grown to prefer Hawaiian, Samoan, Fijian cultivars much more than Vanuatu cultivars. That being said, I often keep some Vanu kava on hand for when I want to feel dopey and forget things.
 

fait

Position 5 Hard Support
The majority of them are rare to find on the international market and even in regions where they have numerous cultivars, they still choose a few favorites to be the majority of what will be grown for regular consumption.

'Opihikao used to be available and surely GHK will release some again at some point. It's one of my favorite Hawaiian varieties, judging from the few times I've had it. Some truly rare varieties could be the fabled Hawaiian "Mokihana" kava and any cultivar from pacific islands that don't have any kava exports and/or traditional native consumption has greatly diminished like Tahiti and Marquesas...

http://kavaforums.com/forum/threads/vanuatu-cultivars-popularity-by-region-1980s.13706/
you might like this thread if you wanna see some info from an old kava survey/census in vanuatu.
The diversity on the different islands is astonishing!
 

BulamamatoNCIRVCKKPC

Learn to love me, assemble the ways...
I think, in most cases, you can find another cultivar that is available that will fairly well mimick the effects of the rare ones you desire. Not always, but if you are patient, some unusual varieties appear.

So many of the Vanuatu cultivars are similar: 423xxx, 425xxx, 245xxx. I've really grown to prefer Hawaiian, Samoan, Fijian cultivars much more than Vanuatu cultivars. That being said, I often keep some Vanu kava on hand for when I want to feel dopey and forget things.
Oh, how I wish the heaver kavas had that effect on me. However, I choose Vanuatu kavas (specifically, Melomelo and Borongoru) to keep my anti-anxiety meds on the lower end. I still have to use them, is the point. I wish I could just totally taper off meds with Vanuatu kava! This is not to say that I do not dabble in Tongan, Samoan and Hawaiian and only use Waka at night in my tea. :happy: I wouldn't go off meds without doing it very carefully. Just in case anyone thought I might.
 

Palmetto

Thank God!
Chemotype alone fails to capture the complex differences between cultivars. Beyond the fact that it shows relative, not total kl concentrations, it says nothing about other kls, phytochemicals, taste, etc etc.
@Henry I don't disagree with your statement, but, to my understanding, a lot of those differences are more pronounced the fresher the kava is. Powdered kava is fairly removed from fresh, hence many of the minor kavalactone effects are reduced (e.g. effects from not from KLs 1-6). I don't remember where I read a scientific paper on that, but I've heard the same from people living in Hawaii. But, like you said, Papa Kea and Kumakua are both 426xxx, but have very different effects to me. Still, if given limited amount of description, I can use chemotypes as a way to generalize which kavas I am more likely to prefer.

Off topic, there is a New Zealand TV show called "Diplomatic Immunity" that has a make believe Polynesian protectorate of NZ. They drink something they call kama that is "like Kava but stronger". The whole crew get plastered on kama in one episode, and another episode, a woman making kama says, "it tastes like shit. this is the best batch I ever made." I thought it was funny.
 

JonT

Kava Enthusiast
Yes.. Even if there was nothing in kava other than the 6 major kavalactones, their relative concentration only tells a small part of the story. E.g. Two kavas can have identical chemotypes, but their respective K/DHM ratios can be totally diferent. This isn't just some theory. Dr Schmidt's study demonstrated that while Borogu had a K/DHM ratio of apx 3, another cultivar with identical chemotype had a K/DHM ratio of 10 (!). Not surprisingly, the difference in effects between these two kavas is beyond huge. And this doesn't even take into account all the stuff we clearly do not understand when it comes to the synergy between different kavalactones.
I wish this K/DHM ratio were more widely considered by consumers ahead of just chemotype because it must be important in telling you the heady/heavy ratio you're expecting. If people think of Borogu with 3 as a fairly balanced kava then that gives a good baseline they can compare with. Do you know the ratio for Palarasul?
Would have been really interesting to find out what the ratio was for *that* batch of Lost Island a few years ago!
 
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