DOSE: T+ 0:00	10-15 mg	oral	2C-B	(powder / crystals)
T+ 6:00		smoked	Cannabis

BODY WEIGHT:

220 lb

I have a checkered history with 2C-B (to say it as neutrally as possible). Being that 2C-B is such a warmly regarded (near mythic) material, that it was one of Alexander Shulgin's personal favorites—one of which he was the most proud—as well as one of the “Magical Half-Dozen” Shulgin creations, I *wanted* to like it. I mean, I REALLY wanted to feel that this compound was an ally. But in the half-dozen times I've tried it, I was either nonplussed at best, or at worst, turned into a spastic, twitchy mess. I had always attributed these less-than-stellar experiences to either less than ideal set & setting, questionable material, or my own physiology (I have old spinal damage, and some 35+ year old partial paralysis, so certain compounds sponsor or exacerbate the pre-existing spasticity I have experienced since my injury in 1983). But in truth, I never really knew why 2C-B just didn't seem to hold my hand nicely.

Generally speaking, I find the greatest reward in either in stimulants/empathogens/entactogens (MDMA), certain dissociatives (ketamine/NO2), or the classics (LSD/Psilocybin). I am a 20+ year daily cannabis user, but my use is mostly medical, and near exclusively used at night for sleep (as an anti-spasmodic). Having said that, I went into the following experience purposefully avoiding cannabis use during, so as to allow for an un-modulated assay of the material, at least at first.

Set / Setting / Previous Notes:

Set & Setting both ideal. We are home and off work for the holidays, in good moods, and our 10-year-old is staying with her grandmother. Having done a 400mg/.5 tab candy-flip the week before, and a 10mg MDMA microdose test 12hr previous, I'm a bit surprised my partner's so up for it. I'd say she's mildly/moderately excited by the idea of doing it. “Intrigued and Interested” is a better descriptor: moreso than other substances in the past. We each had two coffees (t-4:00), 8 keto mini pancakes for breakfast (t-2:00), one Rockstar each (t-1:00), plus our normal regimen of supplements. After watching “Dirty Pictures” (the Shulgin doc) I ran to the store. Dose was straight after I got home.

00:00 (12:50pm) Between 10-15mg 2C-B taken orally from a gel-cap (amount drawn in a line, and cut roughly in half with a card). Cap & substance weighed 120mg +/- 10mg. After tare weight of the measuring cup, material weighed 20mg +/- 10mg. I vaguely remember my source saying that was the weight/dose realm, so I'm confident that no matter what, the dose could NOT be more than 15mg. She ate her slightly larger half with a wet finger / I ate the smaller pile in the same way, and mopped up the rest, plus swallowed the gel cap. It tasted about the way one would expect: nasty (but about half as bad as MDMA).

00:05: Immediate—mildly negative—stomach reaction.

00:20: Stomach seems to have settled. I'd say it was just nerves, but I know my stomach, and I'm certain there was an actual peptic reaction. Regardless, both stomach & nerves seem better.

00:25: Took a shower after she did.

00:35: First real alerts. Felt a wee bit woozy when I got out of the shower.

00:50: Definitely off base-line for both of us. She is feeling a bit of head pressure. I am feeling a headspace shift. Slight “swirly” feeling in my head.

01:00: I'm absolutely shifting into 2C-B space. Slight, very pleasant butterflies in my stomach & solar plexus. She's shifting into it as well. We agree it's a nice feeling.

01:05: + territory, and still heading up. Feeling the body energy, and just had a clonus-like tremor in my right rear thigh that is reminiscent of my last 2C-B experience where I was nothing but a spastic mess for a few hours. Not the least bit worried by it; merely an observation, and it passes.

01:10: “Psychedelic” yawns. Stomach is still a bit off for both of us. Cigarettes are actually kinda unpleasant, yet I want to smoke, mostly out of habit/ritual. I can see what people mean when they say this is very “clear-headed”. It sorta feels a bit stoning, but not scrambling in any way, at least not at this dose.

01:20: “It's like the best parts of being 2-glasses-of-booze buzzed, but with none of the bad....yet.” (added: “If at all”)

01:30: I have coined a new metric: “Laundry Level”. Not only *can* I do laundry at this level, but I still feel motivated to do so. Of note: this motivation is decidedly NOT that “CLEAN THE BATHROOM GROUT WITH A Q-TIP!!” forced-and-frantic amphetamine mania, but more “Eh. Laundry. Gotta be done, and I'm back here anyway. Oh, don't forget the dryer sheet!” Nor is the pleasant stupor that creeps in and out anywhere near the point of having me say “I CAAAAAAN'T EVEN” and devolving into a puddle of do-nothing. Doing things is good. Not doing things is good. It's all just pleasant. It's feeling like what I remember of a good beer buzz, but with legs, and no whirly-bastards.

02:10: Still good. Over the past 15 or so, it has started to change, subtly, almost imperceptibly. We're still enjoying the experience quite a bit, and both mindful of it starting to taper, but there's no sads like when a good roll starts to evaporate away into its ephemeral, gossamer goodbyes. We do both agree that food not only sounds good, but rather important. I am mindful, though, that eating a significant amount of something may just pull the plug on the experience by challenging the metabolism and making it switch gears so drastically. Hungry as we are, I ask her to let me forestall food for a bit longer, so as to allow us to experience more of this space, how it changes, how long it lasts, etc, on its own.

02:30: Still pleasant, still present, and still interesting. I really appreciate how unforced this feels. It has a welcoming warmth to it that I deeply appreciate, and an intellectual friendliness that feels good. Unlike being utterly blissed-out blotto on something like high-dose MDMA, hyper-analytical like a full-on acid trip, or the “WTF?!” psychospiritual spaceout of a mushroom experience, this pleasant state feels very...”functional”. While not classically “profound” in any real sense, this space feels like there's an intellectual and emotional utility and worth to it that I am really jibing with. As I've gotten older, I've really moved away from things that either de-motivate me, or disassociate me from my intellect, or my being in touch with the present. This is a refreshing change.

03:10: All of a sudden, our 10-year-old (who we assumed was to stay at grandma's this night) is at the front door. Bit of a shock, but it's fine. Honestly, it is. And not in that “forced mellow” way. I'm still feeling it, but I'm also as functional as need be.

03:30: After having eaten, I thought for sure this would deflate, but interestingly it seems to not have changed much, if at all. Also, I begin to notice a sexual excitation in my genitals that I certainly hadn't anticipated, and for me is rather a surprise (spinal cord damage is well known to cause erectile issues). It comes and goes, but regardless, she's mentioned no stimulation, nor interest, so I'll just have to let it be what is, and observe it dispassionately at best, clinically at worst. I am rather impressed by the legs this head-space has, though. Still pleasant. Still noticeable. Never insistent, or intruding, or false/forced feeling. Just when I think I'm headed down, I'm not. Not in a “whoa!” manner. More in a “Oh! Huh. Still altered, yup...” sort of way. Impressive...

04:10: (5pm). Surprisingly still present! I thought for sure this would be gone fully by now. Don't know why I assumed so: I know what the effect/dose/response curve for this stuff is. But that it's still pleasant, still noticeable, and hanging in there is fascinating. It's just a... space. A presence. Interesting. Headed to bed shortly.

[written next day]

After watching a bit of TV with the kid, we head off to bed for the night. I am still flirting with a +, although lightly so. She says she's fully baseline, then remarks that she's noticing that light in her periphery is still doing things, so revises that remark with “Hm. Guess not.” I smoke some cannabis, and that does kick the head-space back up to a full + again. I remark that I'm a bit disappointed that she didn't seem to get anything really tactile or erotic from the experience, and that we couldn't/wouldn't be exploring that aspect of the compound during the tail of the experience, but after a bit, she rolls to me, starts kissing me (which is as nice as always, but not in any noticeably enhanced way), and we kinda decide to “do it for science”. It's nice, but I believe that even though we're still feeling it a bit, the compound's ability to enhance or modulate the sexual experience is well past. Sex is nice, but in the “Sex is generally nice” way, and not more. She has an orgasm, but when asked, she says that it was unremarkable. I do not climax, but I don't feel like it was due to drug-induced anorgasmia. After, we settle in to sleep after some bedtime snacking, and as I lay watching TV, I do notice that I appear to be back at baseline, roughly at the 6h mark on the dot.

OBSERVATIONS:

Some things we note in the light of sobriety: There was some music enhancement, but it was very mild. Body energy was nice, but subtle, and the occasional butterfly flutter feeling in the stomach/solar plexus was pleasant, and reminiscent of the thrill feeling of negative G-forces in a car going over a rise in the road at speed, or a carnival ride (think “Weee!”) We both noticed that a certain enhanced focus was present for both of us: she was enjoying being on social media and feeling an increased level of attention while scrolling through content; I enjoyed focusing my attention more mindfully on this experience, and writing it up in real time for a change. We both noted a mild increase in empathy, but again (at this level/dosage at least) it was subtle. We both agree that there is likely much more to experience from this compound, and that what we *did* experience with this run was merely a taste, but unlike some compounds, this never felt “more-ish” or compulsive for either of us in any way. We were very at ease with this experience front-to-back, and never felt short-changed by the experience we were having. If anything, we both felt quietly encouraged by the fact that what we were experiencing in-the-moment likely signified more to explore In the future.

Also of note, though: there seemed to be little—if any—disinhibition (or increase thereof). Again, the mind stayed clear throughout, and at no time did either of us feel like our judgment was so impacted that we couldn't make sound decisions for ourselves, our safety, or the safety of others. Appetite was unaffected. Motor control was preserved. Nausea was minimal, and contained within the first 60-90min. There were some very mild GI effects (gurgling), but they—too—were very minor. No significant cardiac load, pulse changes, sweating, nystagmus, bruxism, or exacerbated spasticity. Body load was minimal and generally pleasant the entire time.

SUMMARY:

I am rather pleased and encouraged by this experience. After having tried 2C-B a handful of times over the past 20 years (always with less than impressive results), this was a nice, friendly surprise. I was fearing more of a body load, and more of an intellectual distortion. Neither happened. I was also expecting more insistence, and a more pushy experience. None of that. The next day, we both agreed that there is no hangover, we feel positive (but not in an “after-glow” way from the substance itself, but possibly a bit from (having had a positive) / (not having had a negative) experience).

This was a great (re)introduction to 2C-B for me, and was so positive, I'm in the process of sourcing more to have on hand to explore further. In closing, I am beginning to see why Sasha rated this so highly, and I'm grateful I get to experience this gentle, positive material further with virtually no negative side effects.

Exp Year: 2018	ExpID: 112754
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: 50
Published: Jan 23, 2019	Views: 8,452
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