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Kava Preparation Chugging the whole damn batch VS Over time effects

Forretressqt

Kava Curious
Hey cats,

My father recently got into instant kava and told me how it's "alright" and proceeded to explain he would mix it with water and chug it all at once.
After discussing a bit more he realised he should be taking it over time in a "Session" and commented on how much better it was.

I experimented with doing the same thing, chugalugging a sessions worth and then continuing the usual sessions the next day.

I find that while a chug will hit hardish, it goes away very quickly and doesn't seem to reach the same "peak" i'll get if I drink it normally.

Do we happen to know why this might be? I was hypothesising it may be due to the small intestines only being able to absorb a certain amount at a time before it passes through- although that wouldn't explain why doing the same with alcohol gives you full blast effects.

It's almost like kavalactones need to accumulate over time for the most potent effects to come through, one of the many mysteries of kava I don't understand, there is also potentially the psychosomatic aspect of "listening to the kava" in which you almost don't have time to settle in and really enjoy the session if you have it all at once.
 

The Kap'n

The Groggy Kaptain (40g)
KavaForums Founder
Hey cats,

My father recently got into instant kava and told me how it's "alright" and proceeded to explain he would mix it with water and chug it all at once.
After discussing a bit more he realised he should be taking it over time in a "Session" and commented on how much better it was.

I experimented with doing the same thing, chugalugging a sessions worth and then continuing the usual sessions the next day.

I find that while a chug will hit hardish, it goes away very quickly and doesn't seem to reach the same "peak" i'll get if I drink it normally.

Do we happen to know why this might be? I was hypothesising it may be due to the small intestines only being able to absorb a certain amount at a time before it passes through- although that wouldn't explain why doing the same with alcohol gives you full blast effects.

It's almost like kavalactones need to accumulate over time for the most potent effects to come through, one of the many mysteries of kava I don't understand, there is also potentially the psychosomatic aspect of "listening to the kava" in which you almost don't have time to settle in and really enjoy the session if you have it all at once.
You're starting to find yourself in the same place I did. There are so many funny questions surrounding kava's activity, and this is one of them. You'll find almost as many unique effects as you find unique people, so in short....there's just SO MANY lol. Polymorphisms play a rather large role in this.

My hypothesis lies at the kavalactones, and their interaction with each other. It's been shown that crude extracts have extraordinarily different clearance times than that of individual kavalactones applied separately. There is a very real entourage effect, and drinking slowly may give more time for that effect to take hold. When chugging, you get what you get, the KLs hit your system, do what they do, then get excreted all together in time. Spacing out may give kavalactones more time to inhibit certain pathways that are used to metabolize and hence extend or enhance the experience in some meaningful way.

I say all of this but I'm a chugger, and it's because I've (even after almost 2 decades) never yet warmed up to the taste :)
 
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