Hi there, I have been drawn to this entheogen for a while now and have located some cacti to buy. I found a preparation method on Erowid that seems easier than the whole boiling spiel and apparently doesn't compromise any of the potency. I also don't know how much cactus I should use? Would 30 cm for 1 person be sufficient? I'm planning on doing it with my girlfriend so this method would be preferable as I don't have 2 pots for boiling 2 doses at the same time. I want a fairly heavy dose as I am pretty experienced with a range of psychedelics whereas she is not, she freaks out on weed but is okay on 2gs of mushrooms. What dosage should we both go for? Do I need an mg/gram scale? how much cactus should we use? Here's the aforementioned preparation method:
"Grinding and filtering. This method consists of grinding the cactus, and straining, grinding the solids more with fresh water, straining, and repeating several times until there are few solids. One problem is that grinding tends to froth the stuff up, but with time and gravity it condenses back to a liquid. This method seems to work well, with little reduction in potency.
Finally my preferred method described in some detail.
- cutting: A cutting of the cactus is taken, leaving a viable portion to grow. This is important, especially if one later discovers this individual has special properties. It is best to take a middle section if the cactus is tall enough, leaving both the apical and rooted section to grow.
- washing: The cutting is washed in water, running a finger up and down the grooves.
- de-spining: The spines are cut out removing as little of the valuable green tissue as possible.
- de-skinning: Cuts are made down the grooves. The skin is pulled up attempting to keep a piece going as long as possible. It helps to pull as much as possible from the groove outward.
- sectioning: cuts are made from the grooves to the core and the sections are pulled away from the core. Pieces of core remaining on the sections are cut off. The core is discarded.
- freezing: The sections are placed in a freezer for several hours until thoroughly frozen.
- grinding: The frozen sections are chopped up and ground, and the pulp filtered to collect the liquid. The pulp is ground more and filtered, adding only a little water on the second and third grindings.
- drinking: The collected liquids are drunk as quickly as possible without gaging or regurgitating.
- eating: The remaining solids are consumed.
NOTES: I perfected the final method only during my most recent session, and the resulting trip was very intense (similar, at least visually, to 500 ug of LSD). I was quite convinced that a spirit inhabited that cactus, and that it came through more clearly than other sessions because I had treated it properly. Desiccation or excessive boiling seem to kill part of its spirit. Freezing seems to be a good way to 'put it to rest'. On a more scientific level, I'm not sure why this cactus is so sensitive to the way it is consumed. Perhaps it is because it contains a special synergistic mixture of alkaloids and some are destroyed more easily than others. Also freezing would break down the cell walls while not degrading the compounds as boiling might. "
Any advice/ help would be much appreciated! :)
Edit: I am wanting to take the dose at a very chilled yoga/meditation retreat in nature. How would i store the dose using this method? Should i just mission and boil the 2 doses on separate occasions so that it's easier to store and bring with me? I just worry about the loss in potency when boiling and how time-intensive it is. I'm also not a great cook and don't want to mess it up