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Less than traditional Kava safety?

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Sam Handwich

Sam Handwich

Kava Enthusiast
Hello all, I am a long time lurker who has been using kava almost daily for about three months. I find it to be absolutely wonderful and am thrilled to have found it and this forum. I am an anxious worrier who always has something to worry about, lately my worries have turned to Kava! Ironic since that it why I use it. Anyway, I have gained confidence through the information and research on this forum to truly belive in the safety of traditionally extracted noble root and I will not touch a kava pill or tincture. My question is, what about the "gray area" products? When I can't whip up a batch of traditional grog I do sometimes use the Kava Candies, Yogi tea and Kalm Concentrate. What is the groups opinion of the safety of these products? I found threads stating that the candy is extracted using alcohol, the concentrate is a C02 extraction and I have no idea about the tea. Any thoughts, opinions, experiences or facts would be very appreciated. Thanks!
 
Vekta

Vekta

Notorious Lightweight
Review Maestro
The "alcohol" in the ingredients of the kava candies isn't the same thing. I can't remember all the technical details off the top of my head so I'll let someone else pick up where I leave off on that. That was my first question about it when it first appeared on the kava forums. Kava Candies you see here are legit and safe.

Yogi tea...meh. Some get something out of it, some don't. To me it's just a grocery store novelty.

Kalm with Kava concentrate is also perfectly safe. I'm sure they won't mind any questions you have. Kalm has a sub forum here as well.

Having niche kava products can be both good and bad. But what we try and do here is try and encourage the consumption and promotion of the good ones. There have been some questionable products here and there. If you're not sure about something it's fine to ask. The vendors and our "kava brains" try to be as open to questions as possible, at least in my experience here.
 
Sam Handwich

Sam Handwich

Kava Enthusiast
Hi Vekta, thank you for the reply. I am happy to hear that you feel the Candies and Kalm Concentrate are safe, I think they are great products that fill their niche well. Candies are perfect for work and I plan on bringing a bottle of the concentrate to this year's news years party. Having quit alcohol a little over 90 days ago I was worried about how such an alcohol centric gathering would go and I think Kalm's Concentrate will be a perfect fit. I agree with you on the Yogi Tea. I find it to be a bit relaxing, but with no real familiar kava effects so I'm on the fence with it. Relaxing, yes, but I also find many other herbal teas relaxing so it may only be a Kava placebo.
 
Zac Imiola (Herbalist)

Zac Imiola (Herbalist)

Kava Connoisseur
It's prolly just the other herbs in the blend. I've had that stuff and it is nice. All the yogi teas are but yeah it has no kava effect other than some familiar flavor and slight mouth numbness (barley if at all)
 
Sam Handwich

Sam Handwich

Kava Enthusiast
I remember seeing a thread a while back where @Deleted User contacted Yogi about the tea to see what type of kava was used. Don't know if he ever received a reply but I would be interested to know. Being that the effects are minimal to nothing I wouldn't want to continue to drink it if it's safety is questionable. It also happens to be the most widely available kava product around here so I would hope that it is safe.
 
verticity

verticity

I'm interested in things
Kava candies contain sugar alcohols which are completely different from the kind of alcohol that people drink. They are just a kind of artificial sweetener. The only risk with sugar alcohols is that if you eat too many of the candies you can get diarrhea. They do not cause any kind of intoxication like normal alcohol does.
 
Sam Handwich

Sam Handwich

Kava Enthusiast
Wow, thank you for the quick reply guys, Starwest looks bad, very much so. Yogi tea is now in the trash, guess I can always pop a candy then drink a different herbal tea if the need arrises. I really appreciate the information that is available here.
 
verticity

verticity

I'm interested in things
Gaia brand capsules are noble, and I can attest that they are effective. They are extracted with alcohol, but I don't think there is any alcohol in the capsules. Some people think alcohol extraction is "more dangerous" than CO2 extraction, but I am skeptical of that belief.
 
verticity

verticity

I'm interested in things
So Dr. Lebot says:
"Ethanol or a combination of hydro alcoholic extraction are also ok and molecules are bio available, when the extract (a solution) is suspended in water it produces a nice yellow "milk". In the past, before the ban, ethanol extracts were produced in the US (I have some in my office here) and were good products, but the lower the ethanol, the better. A practical solution is to improve the solubility of kavalactones by increasing the temperature of the water during the extraction process, they get more "fluid""

Interesting, but what I'm really interested in seeing would be studies that actually measure the FKB content of alcoholic vs. CO2 extracts.
 
Steve Mariotti

Steve Mariotti

Kavapithecus Krunkarensis
Review Maestro
Sam Handwich said:
My question is, what about the "gray area" products? When I can't whip up a batch of traditional grog I do sometimes use the Kava Candies, Yogi tea and Kalm Concentrate. What is the groups opinion of the safety of these products? I found threads stating that the candy is extracted using alcohol, the concentrate is a C02 extraction and I have no idea about the tea. Any thoughts, opinions, experiences or facts would be very appreciated. Thanks!
Click to expand...
CO2 extraction is good, so long as the kava it's extracted from is good.

Kava Candies - noble and delicious, effective too
Kalm Concentrate - one of my favorite things on the planet. noble and delicious.
Yogi Tea - not enough kava to be of much use. Mostly just makes you tired from the valerian root (which I do not care for.)
Paradise Kava's extract pastes - noble and good (if not delicious, which to me they're not)
Kava in pill form - no thanks
Kava in glyerol suspension - no thanks

Best shortcuts when you can't prep traditionally are micronized noble kava (from GHK or KWK), KWK Concentrate and the Kava Candies (in my experience).
 
Sam Handwich

Sam Handwich

Kava Enthusiast
Kava Candies are awesome, I totally agree. That's why I am very much hoping that they are safe. I know that our general opinion is yes, but I would love to see some test results that back this up. As Verticity said -"I'm really interested in seeing would be studies that actually measure the FKB content of alcoholic vs. CO2 extracts." Me too! I do love the Candies and the Kalm Concentrate and find they are the perfect products for their niche. I also love the micro and instant products from GHK and have only recently experienced the joy that is traditional prep. Thanks to Cactus Kava for including the free strainer bag to make that happen. I now really look forward to brewing up a batch of Ono or Mahakea on a Friday night.
 
verticity

verticity

I'm interested in things
There is another option for quick preparation: the AluBall. Basically a shaker ball you can prepare a shell of regular grind root in 30 seconds... Fast and no "grey area" whatsoever.
 
Sam Handwich

Sam Handwich

Kava Enthusiast
Yes! I have an Aluball and love it. It doesn't exactly work incognito at the office but is perfect for a quick after work shell, great product for sure.
 
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