Psilocybe cubensis mushrooms, also known as magic mushrooms or simply shrooms, are generally ingested orally and eaten raw by most consumers. Though, there are still a multitude of ways to prepare these magic mushrooms for consumption to suit the palettes and/or needs of whomever may be doing the ingesting. With edible consumption all but ensuring a successful experience every time, is there still a way to smoke magic mushrooms to feel the effects?
Methods of Ingestion
Some people really don’t like the taste and texture of psilocybin-containing mushrooms and will go to great lengths to improve them. Recipes and techniques for preparing mushrooms are abound all over the internet. Phrases like “blue juice” and “lemon tek” often show up first as recipes for success for those of us that want their mushrooms more palatable.
Of course, a whole industry is growing rapidly around psilocybin-infused sweet treats. Shroom chocolate of all sorts, shapes and varieties, is on its way to becoming “a thing”, a common way to relax and unwind. Along with creating a mushroom extract-rich tea, these methods are popular as ways to maintain the potency and shelf life of whatever amount of mushrooms an individual may have at their disposal.
Can You Smoke Magic Mushrooms for Real or Is it Just Nonsense?
In regards to smoking psilocybin mushrooms, many of us have pondered it but have rarely acted upon it. Users contemplating inhaling mushrooms are usually concerned about reducing possible unwanted and maximally intense effects associated with oral ingestion, or just finding a quick way to avoid the taste.
Really there are two schools of thought when it comes to this subject.
Smoking psilocybin cubensis does nothing.
Many modern day psychedelic explorers like to detail their adventures in online forum-based websites and apps. These experiences are very helpful to others to understand the possible effects certain drugs and their dosages can produce. Access to a safe, mostly anonymous dialogue concerning a topic not often covered in academia or the media can help guide those that are unfamiliar.
According to many who have tried to smoke psilocybe cubensis mushrooms, a main issue is that their very high vape point typically just causes the biomass to be destroyed by heat and burn away without the production of much inhalable smoke.
Even with a full inhalation, any effect at all seemed to be minimal with marginal differences among those who reported their attempts online. Overall, the prevailing sentiment seemed to be to avoid inhaling potentially harmful mycotoxins and mold by not smoking psilocybe cubensis mushrooms at all, and just ingesting them the old school way or any method mentioned above.
There are some effects of smoking psilocybe cubensis.
By grinding up psilocybe cubensis mushrooms as one would similar to cannabis or tobacco and adding into a spliff, joint, or bowl, the inhalation of potent and often inflammatory smoke will actually produce some effects according to some who have done so.
As mentioned, these effects are certainly more miniscule compared to those of actual consumption by chewing and digesting magic mushrooms, and will make themselves appear more immediately for a brief time. More than likely, many users experience a placebo effect or are just a little loopy from the rough taste and throat burn caused by psilocybin cubensis mushrooms’ high vaporization point.
Amanita Muscaria & the Contemporary Origins of Smoking Mushrooms
Many seem to think that the confusion concerning the potency of inhaling magic mushrooms stems from Carlos Casteneda’s 1971 book, “A Separate Reality: Further Conversations with Don Juan” in which he details his time of apprenticeship with an indigenous shaman from the Sonaran desert of Mexico.
Mentioned are powerful psychedelic encounters with many psychotropic plants. In particular, Casteneda mentions he inhaled a psilocybin mushroom-based “dried fine powder in a gourd, combined with 5 other dried plants” to great psychedelic effect.
Though mentioned as psilocybin cubensis mushrooms in the book, many seem to think what Casteneda actually smoked was Amanita Muscaria or “fly agaric” mushrooms, and their active psychedelic ingredients, muscaria and ibotenic acid–two other distinct types of tryptamines. As a separate species than psilocybe cubensis, this mushroom has a much lower vape point that does actually allow for easier combustion once properly dried and prepared.
Those who have properly dried and smoked Amanita Muscaria claim to have experienced intense psychedelic effects comparable to orally ingestion. This is perhaps the source of the confusion that psilocybe cubensis mushrooms are the species that can be smoked and produce nearly the same effects as oral ingestion.
Know the Difference Before You Try to Smoke Magic Mushrooms
Perhaps for any magic mushroom users that are seeking a more “light” or manageable high compared to that of ingestion, the act of smoking psilocybin mushrooms could be tempting. However, as mentioned, the risks of an inflamed throat and lungs from smoking a spore-based biomass could stick around even longer than the high. In addition there’s not really much to write home about as far as feeling and effects are concerned when doing so anyway.
If you’re going to go the route of combusting magic mushrooms, the species known as Amanita Muscaria or “fly agaric” mushrooms have been reported to combust and produce proper psychedelic experiences. But like all things DIY, be sure they are free of any mold, and are also dried and prepared thoroughly before igniting and inhaling the smoke produced.
Only then will you be able to determine fact from fiction first hand.
