So, you don't want to trust a fellow who was a university professor before he got into the kava business, and who is still (obviously) working with other researchers, because he also sells kava? How then, can you trust anything at all from anyone at all who sells anything? (Nice song by the way!) ;-)
In all honesty: I can indeed see how your concern has some validity, but my intent in posting the qualitative type test for the Koniak was not to take issue with another vendor. I have spoken to Judd many times, and respect the model that he has applied to kava bars. Rather, my intent was to make people aware of the "controversy" surrounding the consumption of high-FKB kavas, and prevent any averse issues that could hurt all of us. I may have mentioned, there was just recently an injury report related to kava filed with the FDA. This is not good for ANYONE in the business, no matter what they sell. I know that Judd tries to sell the best kavas he can get, and everything he gets from Vanuatu is noble, even though testing for it is not technically required.
As per your concerns because of my selling Vanuatu noble strains - Couldn't this test, when perfected, be used on any kava from anywhere? Or is this test capable of being performed only on kava from Vanuatu? Anyone can benefit from this, and it is a great and easy way to verify strains, and might actually function to protect the industry as a whole. That is where I was going with it. Not to mention, with the amount of online sales I have done in the past several months (when my web page has been down for the past several months) is completely negligible. Frankly, in the interest of disclosure, I have sent people to Judd's website before - even customers at my kava bar for items I did not carry or did not have in stock!
Frankly, I work with Vanuatu because I know people there very well, both residents and Peace Corps volunteers that are/were serving there, have extremely close connections to villages, and more than anything - their economy needs capital infusions much more than Fiji, who gets tons of surfer-tourists, backpackers and honeymooners to throw their dollars around. (Or Hawaii who is part of a developed nation you may have heard of.) I am sure some people are in things for a quick buck, but I doubt anyone who bothers to spend time on here and cites their sources is trying to hoodwink anyone to sell an extra bag or two. I also recognize that not all vendors have the availability of resources I have as a former academic.
Regarding other nations' kava, I would venture to guess that most kava exported from Fiji, Tonga, etc. are predominantly noble. They have a long history of drinking it, it is an important part of their economies, and I assume they would not want to risk the entire market. Vanuatu just stipulates it in the Kava Act. I know Fu'u is noble, and chances are anything 'graded' in Fiji (waka, lewena) comes from noble stock. (I just wish they'd mention the cultivar too.) PNG is another story, because some Borogu was brought in by missionaries, but I am pretty sure what they have growing there endogenously is mostly junk.
I have an interest in protecting the industry more so than protecting my own profits. I have many more friends and family in faraway places who would see a much more serious decline in their standard of living if something were to happen with kava than I would. They are dependent, whereas I could simply get a different job if I needed to.
As per the type test, in my lact email from Vincent, I was informed that this test is generally performed with 10g of powder, and 30ml of acetone. The purity of the acetone is also important. Using a different ration could get a darker/lighter color than what is expected, generally speaking.
Lastly, my GREATEST concern is the plethora of tinctures available at health food stores. I have purchased every brand I could get, and am sending them to labs for testing right now, and look forward to publishing the results. I have recently found out one brand touts their kava as "wild harvested." There are no drinkable OR medicinal wild kavas, so that is very disconcerting. Additionally, even knowing that different ratios could cause different colors, I have yet to come across a tincture in the US that was yellow in color. Given the total ml in a bottle, and the total amount of kavalactones per serving, there should be some yellow ones based on the assumptions of ratios, extraction effectiveness of solvents, and general % of kavalactones in kava by weight. So, you have MUCH more reason to be wary of tinctures than vendors selling kava for aqueous extracts.
Again, hope that was helpful and informative. More videos to come soon
Cheers!
Andrew/Iahi