Since I have been a month w/o smoking I kinda figured time to quit or at least try hard cutting down on drinking again. My wife shops at whole foods and brought home kava drops. Has anyone tried this and if so what is your experience. It tastes about as nasty as nasty can be but seems to help with relaxation. I mix it with tea.
I’ve tried a product called “Kava Cooler” made by Purple Sticky and it was rather relaxing, and made my lips numb and tingle lol. I know Kava is used traditionally by South Pacificers, ie Samoans and Tongans, and is still used by them even here in the US. A local newspaper here in Salt Lake did an article on “Kava Houses” where groups of Tongans would get together and brew Kava the traditional way(this article was written a few years ago so I don’t remember specifics). I mixed this Kava Cooler stuff with flavored Vitamin Water and it was also a flavored mix, and the taste of the Kava root still came through rather potently. all in all it was relaxing and helped me sleep(which I have a hard time doing). I wish I could find it again. *edited to add* here is the link to the article on Kava [url]http://cityweekly.net/utah/article-4980-kava-not-java.html[/url]
I’m a huge Kava lover. My sister lives in Hawaii and when I visit we frequent the Kava bar. it’s very hard getting a good supply on the mainland. Reason being, it is only the roots that are used and everything above ground is of no use. The herbal companies on the mainland were using the top parts which was making people sick…so, Kava got a bad rap. I would suggest buying over the Internet from Hawaii.
Also the ground root makes a good herbal snuff. Ava in Hawaii is relatively popular as a local customary drink. There are kava bars here and there but the liquor laws do not allow a licensee to serve kava. So no kava at regular bars and no alcohol at kava bars. I personally like the taste of kava, a kind of peppery mud taste. The scent is peppery like a mild black pepper and has a slight woody component. A tincture product may smell different. As for experience in it’s effects, I was hoping for it to help me as a sleep aid/ anti anxiety herb. Not so much so. It does help stimulate appetite for me for food and for sex. The amount needed for a sleeping aid has a drying effect that I am not comfortable with for regular use. Quite nice for relaxation, goes well with tobacco use but not recommended for use in combination with alcohol. As an alcohol substitute, nothing can beat the fresh ground root mixed with water. For your tincture I would just mix the recommended dosage with some water in a shot glass, maybe with a little cayenne mmm that sounds good.
I’ve had it, but I tend to prefer and mix my kava and my liquor together, so that’s probably not what you’re looking to do. As a side note, don’t drink too much kava, because it can have a similar effect on your liver as alcohol.
Juxtaposer- are you serious, Awa snuff. I have some Awa, but would need to seriously grind it further. But how would that work?..you have to kneed that In water to bring out the Kavalactones
As a fine dry powder it works just like tobacco does for snuffing.
I’ve tried the traditional methods. Never been to a Kava bar, but I’ve ordered the root (ground) and mixed it with water. The taste is a bit of an acquired one but not bad. Juxtaposer hit the nail on the head when it comes to taste. I was looking for something a little stronger out of it, but I could definitely feel the effects that lasted a couple of hours. At one point I had a fairly healthy supply of it but I went overboard one summer and finished it all…haven’t re-ordered since. I have never tried any other preparations as I’m a bit of a purist when it comes to these sort of things. like I said, I was looking for something with stronger effects but it’s nice summertime day-off thing for me. how much would one have to snuff to get the effects?
Very funny, that’s like a smoker asking how much he needs to snuff to get the same effects as cigarettes. It just doesn’t work like that.