DOSE:

repeated

smoked

Damiana

(leaves)

BODY WEIGHT:

135 lb

Daminana and Sassafrass are two common, legal botanicals of which I often have had access to. I have, on a few occasions smoked daminana, drank a damiana tea, and smoked sassafrass root bark.

The following is a record of my experiences trying these increbible plants:

Damiana: After ordering about an ounce or so of damiana off the internet, I smoked a bit of it, and the results were quite pleasing. Daminana gives a fairly instant euphoria, followed by a fairly strong sensation of well-being. Damiana has a very pleasant taste when smoked, unlike the bitter or harsh flavors of other herbs I have smoked. The is easy to inhale, and quite mild, for the exception of the occasional popping seed. The smoke is extremely calming, and gives the user a mild buzz. I truly enjoyed the experience, and afterwards, I had no adverse feeling, and no hangover period. I would not consider Daminana a hallucinogenic, or even an alterternative to marijuana, just a calming, and enlightening herbal smoke.

Sassafrass root bark: Sassafrass grows wild in the area surrounding my house, and from a young age, I have dug up the roots to make a tea from them. I once harvested a particularly large tree from deep in the woods. I cut off the roots a little bit above ground level, and thouroughly washed the scrubbing it with a brush to remove all dirt. Two days later, my root, which I placed on a paper towel in the window, was dry. The root bark, which I had previously learned was the most powerful part of the plant, was prevalent on my roots. I used a small knife to scape and cut the thick bark from the largest rhizome of the root stock. Once I had ammassed about a handfull, I then promptly put the bark into my coffee grinder and pulverized it into chunks just the right size for a pipe.

The roots have an almost sickeningly sweet aroma when ground, and I found that when I smoke them, the aroma only got stronger and more astringent, and carried on into the taste. The effects from the root bark were far more extreme than that of the damiana. The harsh smoke is hard to inhale, and in about five minutes, the effects start to appear. I felt this was pretty inebriating, considering I couldn't walk straight, and my head was spinning. The aroma of sassafrass remained in my sinuses, and the taste in my mouth was similar to that of a very sweet root beer.

After about twenty minutes, the effects actually started to increase, I felt quite warm, and even slightly aroused, I felt almost asleep, as my head bobbed on my neck, and then my muscles went into a deep relaxation, and went completely loose. After about an hour, walking was easier, and I started to lose the effects. I felt miserable for about five hours after smoking. I would not consider this a bad experience, just a harsher one than ususal. I would not suggest , however, that sassafrass should be smoked frequently or in larger doses, due to how I felt after a pretty modest amount.

I hope that my experiences with these plants have helped!

Exp Year: 1998	ExpID: 54673
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: Not Given
Published: Dec 4, 2006	Views: 68,773
[ View PDF (to print) ] [ View LaTeX (for geeks) ] [ Swap Dark/Light ]
Damiana (107), Sassafras (390) : Not Applicable (38), Retrospective / Summary (11)