I recently came into possession of a small quantity of 4-HO-EPT, and a couple days ago I took 20 mg with my girlfriend as an introductory dose. I have not seen all that many trip reports for this substance, and I found it to be fairly distinctive, so I figured I would do a write-up of my experience.
I am 27, male, and weigh 150 lb. I have ample experience with LSD/1X-LSD, 4-HO-MET, 5-MeO-MiPT, and 2C-I, as well as a bit of experience with shrooms/4-AcO-DMT, 2C-E, AL-LAD, LSA, and 5-MeO-DALT. However, I had not taken any psychedelics in around 3 months prior to this trip. The setting of this experience was in my apartment, and we took our gel caps with 20 mg 4-HO-EPT each around 2:00 in the afternoon. I had read that 4-HO-EPT is somewhat less potent than other 4-HO-substituted tryptamines - 20 mg being likely equivalent to maybe 10-15 mg of 4-HO-MET or 4-AcO-DMT. This would be a medium to light dose for me; I tend to have a low threshold for psychedelics, though I can just as easily handle larger doses (35 mg 4-HO-MET, for instance) without losing my mind.
Ultimately, I felt 4-HO-EPT was in some ways almost as strong as an equivalent amount of 4-HO-MET, but definitely weaker with regards to visuals and body load. The first alerts of the trip happened within 20-30 minutes. At the time, we were just sitting on the couch, watching Spongebob, which I feel normally puts me in a good mood. My vision became crisp, and I felt a rising anticipatory energy, similar to a 4-HO-MET come-up. I felt a few pangs of nausea, but these disappeared when I chewed on a little crystallized ginger. I have IBS/acid reflux, so psychedelics tend to produce more GI side effects for me than the average person. Yet throughout the rest of the trip, I had virtually no stomach or intestinal discomfort, aside from a few moments of transient nausea. I moved my bowels once maybe an hour and thirty minutes in, but it was quick and uneventful. My girlfriend, however, had a persistent nausea that she decided she needed to sit and wait out.
Our original plan was to go out for a walk (it was sunny and a balmy 55 degrees out), but as the peak approached, I slowly came around to the idea of merely sitting around indoors. The feeling of stimulation I had first felt grew into something that better resembled intense distraction. I felt as though my attention was split among multiple trains of thought at once, which paired well with the vivid detail in which I was seeing my normally underlit and familiar living room. By an hour in, I had peaked, and found I could not even pay attention to Spongebob, instead opting to look around randomly at my surroundings. I saw my girlfriend was struggling with her nausea, but I could barely form the language to ask her if she was alright.
Strangely, I felt very functional and in control throughout this. I felt no compulsion to chase my thoughts down and wrest control of them, and my mood was very stable - in contrast to most other psychedelic experiences I’ve had. There was none of 4-HO-MET's boundless mirth or the brutal introspection of 4-AcO-DMT - only a sense of placid detachment. My thoughts were stimulated, but my mood and body were sedated.
Perhaps the lack of anxiety helped minimize any nausea, but some of the other somatic effects I get from psychedelics were conspicuously absent. No nasal congestion, no body temperature changes, no yawning, only mild tactile changes (at times I felt like a cool breeze wafted past my face), and surprisingly no pupil dilation. However, there was actually quite a bit of shivering/trembling, primarily in my legs (which shook almost like a vibration, as I stretched and writhed resplendently).
By two hours in, I acclimated to my mental state enough to converse with my girlfriend. Although I was a little ineloquent, my ideas did not feel confused. Our topics of conversation maintained a baseline level of psychedelic disjointedness, but had none of the joyful silliness of 4-HO-MET or LSD. We shared a couple of moments of gut-busting laughter, but these evaporated quickly (though they helped banish any lingering concern over how she was faring). Neither of us had any significant open-eye visuals beyond an extremely crisp and bright visual field. I noticed some drifting and warping if I stared for long enough at the stucco ceiling. Closed-eye visuals were mild but noticeable, and I used a strobe light to amplify them. They had some of the flower/spiral shapes typical of tryptamines, but were rather less colorful (black and white with occasional blue and orange colored figures intertwined). Interestingly, this slowly evolved into fully rendered cartoon figures, with bold, flexing outlines. Homer Simpson, limbs asplay, morphed into an angry clown face, and then the fluttering pages of book, and then into a giant frowning Pepe. I stared indifferently as each figure would get sucked into the maelstrom of bending lines and reformed into a new pastiche.
By four and a half hours in, I felt a sudden dip into sobriety. My language became more fluent, any closed-eye visuals faded, and I felt much more in control of my attention. At this point, my girlfriend felt well enough to go on that walk. The fresh air was pleasant and I felt very balanced, though I did not experience any feelings of majesty that the outdoors normally evokes, even on a trip’s tail-end. I ate shortly afterwards (my appetite having returned). Maybe another two hours later, I took some kratom and we went to see a movie, but by then, any lingering influence of the 4-HO-EPT had completely disappeared.
Overall, 4-HO-EPT was very interesting and pleasant (though I wouldn’t quite call it euphoric). The mental effects were surprisingly intense, and though I felt like I ‘missed’ having strong visuals and a giggly mood, the lack of side effects was pretty great. I am definitely interested in pushing this material further - maybe 30 mg next time, in hopes of seeing where the headspace ends up, and perhaps getting a more substantive impression of 4-HO-EPT's idiosyncratic visuals.