To start things off...

[Dauber]

Let me just say that I was one of those who fell for what they taught in health class freshman year of high school -- pot is X number of times worse for you than tobacco, is way more carcinogenic, etc. But hey.

I admit I joined this "club" just out of curiosity. Nothing against pot or those who use it. I know of the racist background of its US ban. I know it helps people. And I know that people use it simply for fun. And I also know one other thing: I have never, EVER heard of anybody dying from it.

 

Having said that, I'll share my experience. I've been curious about it for a while. It was legalized where I live for medicinal purposes, uhh...I don't know when, but it's been a while...and legalized for rec purposes in 2020. Usual "just been legalized" things -- you're only allowed to own or grow a certain amount at a time, has to be enjoyed on private property, etc. But I was curious enough to actually try it in November 2020. A lot of things were still shut down because of COVID, and my wife and I stayed home so as not to unwittingly infect our respective families. I took almost the entire week off work. Went out to run some errands, and while I was at it, my curiosity got the best of me and I stopped at the dispensary in my neighborhood and got a cookies'n'cream edible. (Smoke bothers me -- even when I use my beloved Weber charcoal grill I light the fire than run away...tobacco smoke is the worst for me; I literally cannot breathe it, it nearly suffocates me.) I showed my wife and she just sighed and said, "Whatever floats your boat, bub!"

So on Thanksgiving I decided to give it a shot. I took the recommended ten microgram dose (one breakway square from the bar). Holy COW it tasted terrible...if I concentrated really hard through the pot taste, I could kinda-sorta tell a slight hint of a cookies'n'cream bar (think Hershey's version of it). I was told it would take an hour or two before I'd feel any effects from it. So two hours goes by, and...I got very dizzy for about five seconds. Then nothing. About twenty minutes later, very dizzy again, for about five seconds. All throughout, 1) REALLY nasty headache, and 2) THEY ARE NOT JOKING ABOUT THE HUNGER SIDE EFFECT!! I WAS EFFING HANGRY!!!! (And thinking back to that experience actually makes me hungry again!) But other than that...that was it. I spent like $40 for a headache and hunger. I didn't feel any buzz, any cool mellow feelings, nothing. My wife said, "Well...I guess you're just not meant to be a stoner." I threw the rest of the bar away.

 

Sometimes I think about perhaps trying again. But two things I would not be looking forward to: 1) the awful headache, and 2) the almost as bad flavor. I know, I know, you don't consume the stuff for the flavor...but flavor is important to me. If I'm going to alter my state of mind, I don't want it to start with something that tastes disgusting.

 

All the talk about legalizing pot, one of the reasons to encourage the legalization was that the government could tax the hell out of it and ergo make some money from it. Man, that is SO truth! When I went to the dispensary's web site, I was prompted "Medicinal or recreational?" I found that the product offerings were 100% identical. The difference: the "recreational" menu prices were astronomically higher than the medicinal menu's! So, yeah....

[Cynicaster]

Sorry your experience was bad, @Dauber.  It's nice to see people be open-minded and reasonable about such things, even if it means re-assessing long-held views on the subject.  

 

I'm not a connoisseur of the herb but I enjoyed it a bit back in my high school and university days.  I'm not opposed to the stuff in any way and have no regrets about anything I did when I was younger, but these days I would much rather drink a nice craft beer or red wine, even though I know those things are worse for your health than a pot edible would be.  

 

As for your experience, I have heard several stories of people saying the first few times they try it, it does pretty much nothing, so that doesn't surprise me one bit.  The headache part is weird to me, not sure what to make of that.  Maybe try a different store and different strain of product?  In any case, you might want to consider taking another swing at it, if for no other reason than you're such a big fan of music.  I know it's cliched to say, but one of the things I miss about the herb is putting the headphones on and kicking back with some of my favorite tunes.  Let's just say, it gets talked about a lot for a reason; it is a very cool and immersive experience.  I always hear new things, even in songs I've heard a thousand times.  Maybe some harmony part or some guitar overdub, etc.  

 

Again, I'm not a connoisseur, but one thing I will offer - if you do want to try it again, do not fall into the trap of thinking "hmm, well, 10 did nothing, so this time I'll try 15!"  That might seem logical but eventually the stuff will actually work and when it does, you'll probably regret it if the dose is too big.

 

  

[Dauber]

A couple of days ago I got myself another edible because, well...I'm still curious. Just waiting for a good opportunity to try it again -- assuming I'll be out of reliable commission for four hours Maybe Friday after work (I usually clock out at 1 on Fridays).

 

But the headache wasn't all that surprising to me -- I always get one when I'm around a lot of weed smoke, especially when I visit the Haight in San Fran.

[Dauber]

OK, update...

I DID try another dose this past Friday. Took it about an hour before my work day ended (it takes time to kick in).

This time it was a peanut butter candy bar from the same company who made that awful cookies'n'cream bar. This one, though, the flavor was MUCH better -- as opposed to the other bar, the flavor was about 95% peanut butter, 5% pot...much more enjoyable. I took the recommended 100 microgram dose, and...well, nothing! No headache, no munchies, NOTHING. If anything, maybe EXTREMELY short spells of lightheadedness two or three times (for like a second or two each time), but that was it. I was fully functioning (didn't drive or anything, not that I do a lot of that in the first place) but was able to do normal household chores, walk the dog for a mile, etc., completely unfogged...again, zero effects.

 

Next time I'll up the dose a little. The guy at the dispensary told me back when I tried it the first time to increase the dose gradually -- by no more than 50 micrograms at a time -- if I don't get the high I want.

[Cynicaster]

On 6/6/2022 at 10:26 AM, Dauber said:

OK, update...

I DID try another dose this past Friday. Took it about an hour before my work day ended (it takes time to kick in).

This time it was a peanut butter candy bar from the same company who made that awful cookies'n'cream bar. This one, though, the flavor was MUCH better -- as opposed to the other bar, the flavor was about 95% peanut butter, 5% pot...much more enjoyable. I took the recommended 100 microgram dose, and...well, nothing! No headache, no munchies, NOTHING. If anything, maybe EXTREMELY short spells of lightheadedness two or three times (for like a second or two each time), but that was it. I was fully functioning (didn't drive or anything, not that I do a lot of that in the first place) but was able to do normal household chores, walk the dog for a mile, etc., completely unfogged...again, zero effects.

 

Next time I'll up the dose a little. The guy at the dispensary told me back when I tried it the first time to increase the dose gradually -- by no more than 50 micrograms at a time -- if I don't get the high I want.

 

Interesting... surprising, actually. 

 

I guess I'm too out of the loop on this stuff to know what to expect anymore.  My hunch is that if you keep trying this while inching the amount a bit higher, eventually you're going to "notice."  And I bet you'll be a bit surprised by the cause/effect relationship, along the lines of "geeze, I had X and it did NOTHING; today I have just a little bit more than X, and... whoa, does that vocal phaser ever sound wild..." 

 

As for the headaches, I'm not too surprised that smoke gives you a headache; I'm prone to that as well.  It's the cookie doing it that is new to me.    

 

[Dauber]

And by "micrograms" I meant "milligrams," of course. Probably will try again this weekend.

[Dauber]

Aaaand tried again yesterday. A square and a half from the peanut butter bar, so 15 milligrams. This time I definitely noticed something. I'd heard so much about fogginess, and I definitely felt it -- but it was a very soothing, comfortable fog. I was still able to function, but found it hard to change focus. I was washing records at the time, and I found my concentration on the little record washer thingy to be extremely focused, but when turning away to do something else for a sec, I couldn't focus on anything else. It was weird, yet...soothing. But still, was able to carry on doing things. (Stayed home, so no driving or operating other kinds of heavy machinery!) So I think I found somewhat of a sweet spot. Maybe next time two squares? But definitely not more than that.