DOSE:

joints/cigs

smoked

Calea zacatechichi

BODY WEIGHT:

160 lb

I ordered some bitter variety Calea so that I would have something to smoke while my tobacco-smoking friends went outside for a puff.

The taste of this herb is incredibly bitter. Supposedly it was traditionally made into tea, but the stomachs of Mesoamericans must have been quite strong since I attempted this and found it so bitter it made me gag. Even bongs of it have been far too bitter tasting to stomach, I find that the only bearable way to ingest it is in rolled cigarettes, where I'm taking in only a small amount of smoke at once. Attempting to use food or drink to mask the taste of the smoke seems not to work and only makes the food or drink taste awfully bitter.

On the internet there is talk of a “non-bitter” variety of Calea – I purchased 10 grams of this non-bitter variety to try it, and found that it had no effects whatsoever, no matter how high the dose. This may have just been a poor source.

I started off with one rolled 70mm cigarette at a time, and generally the only effect at that dosage was a sense of calmness and boost in concentration. It's a good de-stresser and as such a single smoke is a good thing to have with friends who smoke tobacco.

At two cigarettes, I felt a more profound calm – almost relaxed and light headed. It is called the dream herb, and it is at these doses that I felt those dream-inducing effects. Taking two cigarettes and then going to sleep produced some fantastic dreams. In my experience going to sleep after smoking two cigarettes sends me into vivid dreams which are often lucid. I can recall a dream where I was wandering through the alleyways of my city, aware that I was dreaming, and creating new alleyways to explore wherever I wanted. Additionally dreams are often easier to recall, usually Calea-induced dreams don't have that feeling of being hard to remember. As well, the sensation of enhanced alertness and perception seems to extend into dreams, I feel more in control of the dream environment even when not lucid dreaming.

Anytime I have taken Calea and went to bed, I have woke frequently throughout the night and generally slept far longer than I normally do. I also find that I tend to awake from Calea dreamsleep without feeling well-rested.

In order to experience more profound effects while awake, I had to go to fairly high doses. As an experiment once, I sat down and smoked 7 70mm cigarettes of Calea in a row to see if I could induce any psychedelic effects. As I was doing this, one of the tenants in the complex I live in was practicing his tuba. When I heard the sound of this tuba, after 7 cigarettes, my mind interpreted the sound as whales. Suddenly I became convinced there were whales floating around outside the apartment, and that the air had taken on the qualities of water. I was smiling at the tranquility of the whales when I heard children outside laughing – my mind interpreted this to mean that there were children inside my house laughing. Under any other circumstances I think this would have been the beginning of a terrible trip, but Calea brings this profound sense of calmness that made it seem alright, that it was just children inside my home and they were having a good time.

All of the sudden I had the desire to study – I was feeling very alert. I grabbed my things and went outside, where whales were floating around above my building. I took public transit to the local library, and took up a study carrel with some of my French verb books. I spent the next several hours studying and found learning far easier than I normally do, all the while with whales floating slowly around the library building.

All in all , it's a pleasant mild high (and good study aide!) when awake, and source of psychedelic dreams in bed.

Exp Year: 2013	ExpID: 102397
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: 19
Published: Jul 16, 2019	Views: 2,013
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Calea zacatechichi (97), Dreams (85) : Retrospective / Summary (11), Various (28)