The Current Vanuatu kava situation - Drinking Noble isn't as easy as we thought...

[Gourmet Hawaiian Kava]

Deleted User, thanks for all your efforts in this. I always new there was adulteration in kava, not only from Vanuatu. I have come across some from Fiji that was also adulterated, in Fiji they import more kava from Vanuatu than they themselves export, so in Fiji they bring in more spiked Vanuatu kava than they export of there own Fiji kava. It will always be a problem as long as people keep buying it and the enforcement is not there.
I understand why the farmers do it, as you all know it is the all mighty dollar and what the farmer gets is a small amount so they need a return on what they planted even if it is the Tudei variety mixed with Noble, poverty forces them to do that. There are a few, not a lot but a few suppliers that will have pure noble, they are hard to find and irregular in there guarantee of pure noble. You can not tell once the kava has been dried and mixed, if the kava is bought when it is still green and not dried then you can tell the Tudei and the Noble. So buy from a supplier that processes fresh root or buy from the actual farmer like I do.
I have known my farmers and contacts in Vanuatu since the early 1980ies so I am always able to guarantee pure Noble and since I grow my own Hawaiian kava it is also pure Noble. Remember guys most vendors do not know there kava is spiked, some do , some don't.
I have always had the position of doing what they do in Vanuatu, they drink Noble kava and so do I, I do not need to wait for science to tell us if we should or should not drink Tudei, the people of Vanuatu have had thousands of years to figure all this out and as I have pointed out many times, it is not a debate on is Tudei bad for you or not, it is would you want to drink what the people of Vanuatu drink? I do, they drink Noble so I sell only Noble kava guaranteed and I drink what I sell. Aloha to all.

Chris

 

[HeadHodge]

...I think Deleted User's treatise should be published in the Harvard Kava Review.

Or at least "The Last Whole Earth Catalog". Too bad it was the last edition (if you don't count "The Updated Last Whole Earth Catalog" or "The Last Whole Earth Catalog Epilog" or "The Last Whole Earth Catalog Supplemental" )

 

[ApéroNoble]

The burden is on the vendors, I've seen companies cause problems in this industry through greed, negligence, and by sheer apathy; cause remarkable pain to folks and in some cases death. They shirk responsibility any way they can to suppliers to manufactures. This industry has got to realize there're folk with real health issues. Many of which turn to alternative medicine for help only to get harm inflicted upon them.

If your going to sell to the public you're responsible for making sure what you say you're selling is what your are selling. Nothing else, nothing less.

Perhaps the worst and most sad is this taking advantage of folks seeking betterment through natural remedies whether it be off drugs to kava or natural compounds for heart health, and encountering complications in their fragile state of health because what they think they are taking is not what they are taking.

This is not shoddy aluminum siding we are talking about, people are putting these things in their bodies; folks are trusting these things to help them

 

[Roaddog]

This is the reason I test my kavas. Great write up @Deleted User . Much love. Roaddog....

 

[ApéroNoble]

Ultimately, the burden is on everyone: farmers, suppliers, vendors and consumers. In nearly every market - food, drugs, dietary supplements, natural remedies, cars - there are people on every level who are willing to accept a substandard and potentially dangerous product. And by doing so, they expose themselves to personal danger and intrusive regulation.

That's the goal here - to avoid both the danger and the excessive regulation. If we take steps, we have a defensible position. If we don't, we deserve what we get.

The burden indeed is upon the doorsteps of various and sundry. The burden is on the vendors, the burden is on this site to lead the way for kava if the destiny of this forum is to be realized to its potential

 

[Monkava'd]

I concur wholly with your stance on a 'burden' @Noueky (as in anything I say below is not directed at you personally ). Though as a whole it's definitely beneficial to take a passive aggressive stance as Deleted User's proposing and blessed be these forums with our aggressive member contribution. It's a start for Vanuatu at the very least stepping into the fray of regulation (still without a follow through). Because if not we'd likely be drinking tudei all the way to hail marry even more so than some might already have because of adulteration; hope this is taken in the correct context , not in offence.
It *is* the individuals such as Deleted User harboring the burden consistently, and what a burden it has become, any evidence that contends with previous info stands to confuse or insight mistrust in his practices; even when guided by an Md. As some say "I take the high road and you take the low road"....well I commend him for walking the more unsteady path.

I believe it's best to not exactly place a true burden on anyone without conclusive results. Anything otherwise may be taken as hearsay, defensively by a vendor or inadvertently cause awry since these situations require the utmost caution in order to avoid a bout with the Fda; at least until we have our facts straight.
Please everyone let's sort out the ifs ands or buts before we count our chickens, dot our I's or cross our T's. I hold deep respect for all of the wonderful opinions among this forum, on this thread in specific and for the vendors abroad. It's just hard too explain how something may be taken out of context when we attempt to contend/convey whomever's responsible for "this" or "that" and whom may be accountable when a noble kava's adulterated.
Let us remember that though it may be wrong no matter the reasoning, these gentleman are trying to make the rock bottom look appealing so they or possibly their families may live another day with a belly full of food.

An analogy I'd like to use in this situation is that when you see the forest for the trees you're looking from a subjective perspective but here's the bottom line, from the bottom to the top and from the top to the bottom; kava continues to be a gray area where the communication is fuzzy at best between govts, committees, plus the community which includes cultivators and finally the vendors. This has a lot of grow room and our reliance on updated information is key before certain individuals within a part of the process should be hung by their respective hides for pre-meditated illegitimate business practices (adulterating a noble kava).

Enforcement has been and continues to represent one of the largest issues because in the same line of thought when a police officer says something like "Obama doesn't have to follow the constitution so I don't have to either", what's to be expected of the population?

This applies to the cultivators because without enforcement they say to themselves "I'm hungry, thirsty, and this particular kava's not selling very well....if I don't take drastic measures there goes my family...I'll just throw in a small amount of this other kava and no one will notice"

It's true we a suffer from these unwise decisions but there happens to be no control either, and my final thought is this.

Deleted User and others provide us with the tools that we use to brandish our pens; what's most pertinent then is how we portray our prose to others and to the governmental authorities of the world.

We are but one forum, our thoughts our powerful, and lest we forget the influence we've attained thus far.

Now after my drivel and banter, all this means in reality is that we're still taking baby steps, so until the people in power do their job we're just here to protest from the sidelines.

What's been grinding my gears lately is Vanuatus political stagnation and that can only hurt our cause, though when push comes to shove they'll have no choice but to advance our movement in accordance with kavas growing notoriety; what's more disturbing personally is the increasing population of new kavasseurs that discover certain unregulated nakamals and think "so this's what kava's all about eh?".
It's not too far fetched to say that some ignorant fellow may come marrily along with his wallet and campaign funds ready to outline the americas next "enemy number one".

I'm patiently awaiting the next update @Deleted User

I apologize for my rant, y'all have made great premises so I'll be drawn and quartered before your right to speak your mind is taken away by greedy pharmaceutical companies or a media hyped up on corporate coca.

 

[Monkava'd]

Perhaps this is a complete off-topic, but one thing has made me perplexed recently. Our local NZ vendor was explaining to me that different Vanuatu suppliers use different rations of lateral roots in their blends. He wrote to me that "As you know The underground part of the Kava plant consist of that main meaty rhizome. It has lateral roots growing out of them. Naturally the underground part of the Kava is made up of 80% stump, and 20% lateral roots. The long lateral root strands contain 5% more lactones than the meaty part (stump), so increasing the lateral roots percentage will generally increase the strength of the final product, which is what my suppliers claim to be doing". Now, this may explain why different batches of the same type of kava (e.g. boroguru) may be of very different strenght and taste. At the same time, I am wondering if this could in any way affect your results? Forgive my ignorance, I suspect a 100% lateral roots noble would still st as bright yellow noble, but maybe it would look slightly different to a 20% lateral blend?

Exactly why I'd be hard pressed to use strength as any indication for the "noble/non-noble" argument.
Not to say that you were Henry, more to the contrary and that's a great question .
I love to get the left field questions out of the way just as much as the right or middle field if you catch my drift.
Great contribution.
Edit-Heck I'd have avoided Opihikao like the plague if this was the case.

 

[ApéroNoble]

Deleted User is on the most wanted list/ $100,000 for quieting and half a mill for capture

 

[HeadHodge]

Deleted User is on the most wanted list/ $100,000 for quieting and half a mill for capture

 

[JonT]

At the time of Dr. Lebot's survey in 1991, eighteen morphotypes of Piper wichmannii and none of Piper methysticum were observed in the Solomon Islands, and kava was not generally consumed.

It is my understanding that Vanuatu Boroguru has been introduced and cultivated in the Solomons fairly recently; it is equally possible that ISA has also, since it grows faster. I am not aware of any limitation on exports of kava from the Solomon Islands, noble or not. To the best of my knowledge, Vanuatu is the only country that has legislation restricting export of non-noble kava, and the only country that makes any distinction between noble/non-noble cultivars.

Regarding the Solomons,

I had very strong kava there. No idea if it was Tudei. Probably not, as it was intensely euphoric. We generally think of Vanuatu as a country where laws may not always be easy or possible to enforce. So even the law on kava may count for nothing in some circumstances.
Really, the Solomons is on another level beyond this (and PNG, even further). The country has not been particularly stable, not even the capital. Some of the stories from the unrest in the last decade are really shocking.
When I visited there was about to be a vote of no confidence in the government. On the day, it didn't happen because the opposition leader never turned up, and was said to be "hiding" in his mother's village. There is still a RAMSI presence in Honiara, and probably elsewhere too.
In short, it's hard to guarantee with the Solomons. Laws on kava export likely don't exist, and if they did they likely would not be enforced.

 

[Gourmet Hawaiian Kava]

Unfortunately in the mid 1990's they started to grow a lot of the Tudei kava to sell to China. I can remember the difference in the Vanuatu kava when I used to get it in the early 1980's and then compared to now, it is like night and day. The adulteration problem has caused the perception of Vanuatu kava to change. Noble Vanuatu kava would never give you a hang over, the words "kava hang over" is a new concept created as a result of the adulterated kava.
Now I am sure there are those that like it, even if it does have Tudei kava and that is up to them but the point is what we drink and want to drink is up to us, the consumer. If we do not know if this vendor or that vendor is selling Noble, Tudei or a mix if the two then that is not right, we should be able to make a informed choice as to what kind of kava we drink. By using the acetone (colormetric) test we can tell. I have always offered to do the acetone test for free to those that might now know how and then i would post the results and Deleted User is willing to test kava with his equipment and then make the results known, it only takes a few tablespoons and it is 100% accurate.
So now Kava has really come into the future with the people that like the Tudei and or the adulterated kava, this was never the thing not that long ago.
The new thing about kava is there are those that will like to drink the Tudei or adulterated kava, simply because it was made available to them on the market and some like it and some get unwanted effects and even get sick from it. Even in Hawaii before Isa was brought here, tudei or a mix of Tudei was never even thought of, we only drank Noble and we all loved it just as the Hawaiians did for hundreds of years.
I guess I am old fashioned but I am going to stick with tradition and go only "NOBLE KAVA"
Aloha.

Chris

 

[ObiWan]

I wanted to learn more about the Kavas I am drinking, so I bought Aceton and a few glasses. Here are my results:

From left to right these are the Kavas:

1 Tongan Pride (KbR), bought May 2013
2 Fu'u from BKH, bought May 2014
3 Nambawan from US ebay seller shamanstools, bought 12/2013
4 Stone from nakamal@home, bought 10/2013
5 Borogu from BKH, bought May 2014
6 Vanuatu Isa/Tudei Speciality from KbR , bought 08/2013
7 Tanna Marang-Marang from GKE , bought February 2014

The first four Kavas seem to be noble without doubts. With more light, they are definitely yellow. The clear winner is also the cheapest Kava. I am also (positive) surprised about the Nambawan from ebay. It is a nice tasting Kava with strong effects.
The Borogu seems to be adulterated, this is a big disappointment. The Isa is as expected.

What makes me really upset is the result of the Marang-Marang. And I think it will also be a surprise for Cian from GKE. He is only reseller and gets his stuff from the Vanuatu Kava Store. It is also sold from an US reseller as Nobel Kava with the slogan "we know our Kava". (but maybe not enough.)
I looked on the page of the VKS. They even have a a link to a Certificate of Analysis from the Vanuatu Agriculture Department which shall proof that the Marang-Marang is noble. Have a look in this certificate: They also seem to use the Aceton test! But what makes me wonder: The certificate doesn't mention for which Kava it is (only "powder" is named) and the document title is "Coco-K-Kava-Analysis-Report-Form.pdf". Remarkable is also the noticed content of Kavalactones (only 2,6%). Ah... wait... on the page for the 250g package is the link to the right document.. But this document also rises questions.

About the Fu'u and Borogu: There is a possibility that I swapped them over by mistake after the purchase when I filled them in my vaccum storage boxes. I assume that the Borogu is the darker one of both, it is also the stronger one. But after reading Deleted User's results I am wondering why my Fu'u seems to be so much better then the batch he tested.

Is it really sure that the natural colour of the Kava has no influence on the Aceton test results? All Kavas on the left (which look bright and yellow) are bright Kavas, while especially the Marang Marang is the darkest one.

I encourage every Kava drinker to do his own tests!

 

[sɥɐʞɐs]

The test is pretty unreliable for people doing it at home now. Prior to Deleted User setting a more precise standard for this test, many people tested these kavas and viewed their results as purely 'Noble'. But as you can see in Deleted User's results...it appears everyone may have been wrong.
The most reliable way to test now, is to send all your samples to Deleted User...then you'll see how it really stacks up. At least according to his testing, which is the best we have at the moment. @ObiWan do you have enough material left to send those in ? It would be a good comparison to see how they fit into his list, after seeing your tests.

 

[sɥɐʞɐs]

Outside of glaringly obvious color changes, I'd say it's pretty unreliable to not have them done by your method and compared to your results. The fact that people previously were happy with their noble color results, but then see the same kavas creeping high up near the tudei section on your list says 'unreliable', to me.
Like you mentioned in another post, our eyes can be decieved without proper reference.
Of course, testing our stuff ourselves, is still better than no testing at all.