It definitely won't pack as much of a punch as loa Waka or as I've heard dua bilo can. Why didn't you like the other Hawaiians?
Just nowhere near as much potency as I was expecting, especially the Hanakapi Ai ... not putting it down or anything, but for the premium price and the 11 year plus it being a waka, me and my friend both expected it to be quite a bit stronger. But I guess we are looking for different effects or our body chemistry is weird.
I think we're just more into the Dua Na Bilo and Loa Waka type effects, so far our favorite is Dua Na Bilo I'd have to say ... though I've been enjoying the Cactus Kava Malolo I ordered a couple weeks ago, more body effects and chill, I still feel like I probably like Dua Na Bil or Loa Waka more plus they are both considerably cheaper than GHK or even Cactus.
It's not that I don't like the "heady" effects, I just also want more body effects than I felt from Hanakapi Ai or Honokane Iki (I know this one is supposed to be weird and super focused, I definitely felt almost too much kavain with it at times, almost made me feel wired sometimes)
Those two both felt extremely clean and pure, probably partially due to Chris' great soil and organic growing methods and the care he takes in his plants, but weren't as relaxing body wise, I need more of a chill sedative effect. I tried KWK Borongoru and everyone say that is super sedative but it was almost too much or not balanced enough, it didn't seem as potent as Dua Na Bilo or Loa Waka and was missing something .. probably the heady effects lol.
So yeah maybe I'm weird but my good friend I mentioned, has tried every strain of kava I've tried including all those I mentioned and he agrees with me on these matters, he also preferred Dua Na Bilo and KWK Loa Waka. And he's not just casually drinking a cup at my house every now and then, he usually buys a half pound off me or more and drinks it on his own time and with me and some days we make big batches and enjoy it for hours.
Someone told me I was wrong to get Hanakapi Ai (even though I saw other say it was "the zombie kava" - to me and my friend it's anything but that) and that I should have gotten Papa Kea (I think?) because it's more sedative ... but everyone is different. I mean no offense to anyone or Chris but sadly I was basically a bit put off trying more Hawaiian strains for a bit due to their cost and the fact both strains I've tried haven't really been anything at all what I'm looking for and both orders took something like 7 days to get here with priority mail which is kinda crazy but I guess Hawaii is kinda slow even though Priority is supposed to be 2-3 days.
But $40/lb for the Pana'Ewa yeah I had to try it ... organically grown kava is absolutely worth that even if it's not exactly what I'm looking for, I can mix it with something else which I usually enjoy and I get to try another Hawaiian strain I've yet to try ... because one of them has to be for me! lol.
Sorry this thread turned into something completely different ... hopefully someone can gleam some knowledge from our opinions at least lol.