Echinopsis pachanoi aka the San Pedro cactus

[dub]

One of my San Pedro cactus (Echinopsis pachanoi). It is over 15 years old, and came off a larger one (7'+) that I had to leave at my old house due to it's size.

click to enlarge


Echinopsis pachanoi (syn. Trichocereus pachanoi), the San Pedro cactus, is the name given to psychoactive species of cacti (E. pachanoi, E. peruvianus) which comprise about thirty species, mainly found in the Andes. It is also found in greenhouses and homes around the world. It is a large columnar cactus that grows up to heights of twenty feet and it contains mescaline. The San Pedro cactus has also been found to have other psychoactive alkaloids.

Very easy to clone and propagate... you just take a slice of a column, let it heal a little bit, then kick the inside of each star-sided corner and plant into sandy soil. It will start showing roots in a month or so. They eventually grow to 20' +

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Echinopsis_pachanoi

[R]

Time to harvest!

[iBaked]

Have you done any extraction from that before? That is sweet! 

[dub]

No, I have never extracted anything out of it.

I have taken it.

Here's a quick and easy how to:

Cut a 6" section per person.
Place in freezer overnight
Take out an let thaw. The plant texture will turn mushy.
Pull spines out. They run the length of each star point and look like bird feather quills.
Cut cactus spikes out as well. Both are inedible.
Peel skin and scrape the inner mush and get as close to the skin as possible.
Skin is inedible but most alkaloids are contained closest to the skin.
Place in a blender and cover with enough fresh squeezed lemon juice to cover top of cactus mash. Blend.
Place back in fridge until ready to serve. The less warm the better, as the texture gets more mucilaginous the warmer it gets.
Taste is like a cucumber marinated in aspirin water overnight. Texture is of chunky snot.
Taste and texture is hard to hold down, but even if you gag a bit make sure you get down the entire amount.
The trip is strong but doesn't ever get too strong (with only 6"). Lots of laughter and increased colors.
At it's highest point it is hard to tell the difference between it, mushrooms, or acid.


 

[Dashneo]

Everywhere I look says to use a 12" section per person
I'm thinking about trying it over the summer if I can get enough money to buy a section of it

[Dashneo]

Yeah that's true, I just don't know why people would say they didn't get much off less than 12" but they might have been looking to trip out.

One source suggests that a good starting dosage for San Pedro is about 1 pound (about 450gm ), or about 45 gm dry. They also stated that a larger dosage would be much more desirable after mescaline content has been established.

Many people are disappointed with their first excursion into the Cactus wonder world because of taking an initially sub-standard dose. It has been calculated that if a person takes a ineffective dose, the next dosage can be increased by a factor of 7 without pushing the range of toxicity. That is, if your first batch ingested was 20 grams and you felt no effect, you should be safely able to try 140 grams next time without ill effect. My personal opinion is that this is a bit on the excessive side. Better to play it safe and work your way up slowly. If you try to fly and fail, you will probably want to give it another shot. However if you take an excessive amount and have a bad trip, it may scare you off of hallucinogens for life. Think about it before you decide how much to try.

Often times determining the approximate dosage of a section is rather difficult, especially if you don't have a set of scales. To help you figure out how much weight you have for a given size section, here are some figures.

1.5 - 2.0 inch diameter section = 1.0 ounces per inch of length

2.0 - 2.5 inch diameter section = 1.5 ounces per inch of length.

2.5 - 3.0 inch diameter section = 2.0 ounces per inch of length

3.0 - 3.5 inch diameter section = 2.5 ounces per inch of length

3.5 - 4.0 inch diameter section = 3.0 ounces per inch of length

4.0 - 4.5 inch diameter section = 3.5 ounces per inch of length

source: http://www.erowid.org/plants/cacti/cacti_guide/cacti_guide17.shtml

[dub]

I used 6" of a kinda large castuc (6'+)

I imagine if you used a younger one that is proportionately skinner you can use quite a bit more.

It's mellow as far as a trip, not speedy at all - so eating 12" or more would probably be easily handled.

You can find live ones in the garden section of Home Depot and Lowes.

[Dashneo]

You can find live ones in the garden section of Home Depot and Lowes.

really? that's really cool, I thought they only sold them online. Do you know if they cost upwards of $20/foot like they do on the internet? if it were cheaper I'd probably have a larger garden
btw I should have said this earlier but that's one damn nice cactus you got there! Do they grow in the wild where you live?

[R]

From my fellow psychonauts, they commonly use 8-12".  Most of these cactii have a pretty low alkaloid content, about 0.08-0.5% by dry weight, but the bulk of the alkaloids are mescaline.  There are a number of ways on line to isolate the good stuff out.  Mescaline isn't the most potent of actives you will run into and when you consider you need 8-12 peyote buttons for a dose, you are looking at 120-180 mg--roughly 12" of most Echinopsis species.  Plants grown in full sun with a long history of scarce water and slow growth tend to have the most alkaloid content. 

Simple water extracts  will often make you feel pretty bad at first and even relatively purified mescaline has a tendency to make one feel sort of ill at first, but the experience after that is almost universally benign, way less intense than other common psychedelics like LSD.  Colorful visuals and sound distortions are common and visuals are often startling.    Mescalito can be a powerful teacher, especially if you are in a stress free and safe environment and your mood is open minded and calm.   There are lots of good trip reports on Erowid and they seem pretty accurate, IMHO.

[Dashneo]

From my fellow psychonauts, they commonly use 8-12".  Most of these cactii have a pretty low alkaloid content, about 0.08-0.5% by dry weight, but the bulk of the alkaloids are mescaline.  There are a number of ways on line to isolate the good stuff out.  Mescaline isn't the most potent of actives you will run into and when you consider you need 8-12 peyote buttons for a dose, you are looking at 120-180 mg--roughly 12" of most Echinopsis species.  Plants grown in full sun with a long history of scarce water and slow growth tend to have the most alkaloid content. 

Simple water extracts  will often make you feel pretty bad at first and even relatively purified mescaline has a tendency to make one feel sort of ill at first, but the experience after that is almost universally benign, way less intense than other common psychedelics like LSD.  Colorful visuals and sound distortions are common and visuals are often startling.    Mescalito can be a powerful teacher, especially if you are in a stress free and safe environment and your mood is open minded and calm.   There are lots of good trip reports on Erowid and they seem pretty accurate, IMHO.

Thanks for the good info Ngls! You're really getting me excited to try it out! Do you think I'd be fine by myself without a sitter?

[dub]

They don't grow in the wild up here, but they are used As ornamentals. They sometimes flower at night, I have seen mine flower only once.

The El Camino in the background is the neighbors. It is for sale for $2500   LOL

[R]

Mescaline is probably safe without a sitter.  Keep in mind you will probably feel crappy and likely puke, but it becomes very pleasantly bizzare after that.  Mescaline is one of the easiest psychedelics to deal with and the visuals are it's hallmark.  A sitter is always a good idea, but it is pretty easy if you have already tripped on LSD or one of the newer psychedelics.

[R]

I forgot to add I saw these in the local plant store today.  They are about 4-5 feet tall and are selling for 45$.  FYI they are illegal to grow and harvest for ingesting, but they are tolerated and they are very common cacti as ornamentals.  This is very similar to the policy on opium poppies.

[Dashneo]

I have the challenge of living in a dorm. I could probably use a crock pot to simmer the cacti for aroma purposes only (you know how it is spicers) . I might even make a dinner in the kitchennette to make it look more legit.
I know you said to cool the cactus mush but I always read that our supposed to gently heat it for at least 4 hours unless I'm mistaken

[dub]

No cooking needed. The lemon juice will help extract what is needed and your body to absorb it. The method I stated worked for me and my friends.

The freezing and letting thaw is to break down the cellular walls of the plant material into a more digestible material.

We did it at White Sands New Mexico, and then camped afterwards. We were laughing our ass off, tripping our balls off, looking for UFO's in the night sky.

It was trippy (enough) and kind of spooky and hella fun.

Here's a cool link I found, all the San Pedro you ever need:
http://www.sacredcactus.com/greenhouse.htm