Herbal incenses really haven’t been up to much since Spice and all the others got banned around this time last year. Which is a real shame as they all worked, tasted nice and smoked easily. The replacements have tasted nasty, left your throat feeling as if it has been raked with a broken bottle and quite simply haven’t got you high.

Blast Off is a new generation incense that actually lives up to the promise of its predecessors. This isn’t as fluffy as something like the old Magic or Smoke; it is a much more leafy and twiggy blend, but put it into a grinder and it grinds up really very well indeed. I haven’t tried it in a bong or vaporizer so can’t say how well it goes in one of those but in a joint it is very nice indeed, thank you very much!

This incense smells and tastes great. There is a very strong berry scent that adds a nice sweetness to the flavour of the smoke without being too cloying or heavy. There is a tendency with some herbal incenses to just add piles and piles of flavour that takes away the taste of the tobacco too much, but thankfully this is just enough.

It smokes really well as well. Did any one try Smoke 2? Did you get that horrible feeling in the back of your throat and in your lungs as if you had just inhaled petrol that was on fire? Well you get none of that with Blast Off. Just a nice, easy smoke that goes down a treat.

The best part of all this is that Blast Off actually works. It is incredibly mellowing. After just a single joint I felt very relaxed as did my companions. After a couple more we got a giggling fit that lasted a good twenty minutes or so!

This is a great herbal incense to relax with. I’d like to call it a good ‘Sunday afternoon’ smoke; get a couple of mates round, stick on some mellowing music or an old film and roll up a couple of joints to share around, and let the good times commence!

Filed under: Legal High Reviews on December 1st, 2010 | 5 Comments »

Not wanting to get high, but needing a mental and energy boost during a day’s hard work, I thought I’d give Noz Kandy a try.

Thank goodness I did! These handy inhalers contain all natural herbal ingredients including ginseng and gingko as well as menthol vapours. Ginseng has been used a stimulant in the East since time immerorium and one of the properties of gingko is that of a memory enhancer.

These little babies really are perfect for getting you through a stressful day when you’ve been burning the candle at both ends. They work in a similar way to Red Bull, giving you a mental and physical boost but without the horrible shakes, the nasty taste or the horrific feeling that a single sip is disolving your teeth from the inside out.

This is also much handier than a can of energy drink. Because Noz Kandy comes in a pre-filled bullet you can use it as and when required and because it is herbal you can use it as often as you like. The inhaler fits easily into your pocket so is always to hand when you need that boost.

Noz Kandy comes in five different flavours. I have always been a fan of citrus flavours, so thankfully Noz Kandy panders to my personal taste. Lemon, Lime and my personal favourite, Pink Grapefruit are all absoultely delicious, but for those of you who prefer something a little spicier there is the cinnamon one, and for those of you who want something a little cleaner there is a gorgeous pepprmint one.

I will certainly be keeping a few of these handy for hangover days from now on.

Filed under: Mood Enhancer on November 12th, 2010 | No Comments »

What could possibly be better than a tasty smoke? An even tastier smoke in a wide variety of flavours perhaps!

There are a lot of different varieties of flavoured paper out on the market at the moment, and you can choose from regular sized papers, king sized, rip rolls and even blunts, but my personal favourite would have to be the range from Juicy Jay’s.

These are available as either kingsize papers or as rips. The rips are great as you can easily choose however big you want you smoke to be, and they come in eight different flavours. With the kingsize papers you get even more choice! They come in an absolutely vast array of flavours. I like to keep one of each at home so I can always roll something depending on my mood. It is a little like having your own personal fruit stand that you can smoke!

My personal favourites are the Green Apple, which is really tangy and refreshing, and the peanut butter which tastes just like peanut butter cookies. Beautiful.

These flavoured rolling papers don’t just taste good; they look good. Every paper is decorated with a representation of the flavour. The Very Cherry papers have cherries printed all over them, the mouth watering Blueberry are covered in little blueberries. Don’t worry about this being adverse to your health however. The ink is perfectly safe soy based, and with natural gum and high quality paper, Juicy Jay’s are a brand I shall be using for a long time.

Filed under: Uncategorized on September 16th, 2010 | No Comments »

I for one am not all that keen on using herbal alternatives instead of regular tobacco when smoking. I like tobacco and that is that. I have tried one or two herbal brands when a friend tried to give up nicotine, but I simply didn’t like the flavour.

Greengo is the latest one that my friend has tried and they told me that not only is it the best herbal tobacco they’ve tried yet, but that they actually preferred it to real tobacco.

I was skeptical. Greengo contains papaya leaf, mint, eucalyptus and hazel leaf. I have tried so many of these herbal alternatives and not liked a single one, so saw no reason why Greengo would be any different.

I was wrong. This is not like regular herbal tobacco at all. When smoked on it’s own as a regular cigarette Greengo has a rather spicy taste to it that was a little reminiscent of other herbal tobaccos but much more pleasant. However, when it is rolled up on in a joint Greengo comes into its own.

I don’t know how it happens, but when mixed with weed the taste of Greengo is completely neutralised. It tasted as if we were smoking a pure weed blunt, not a joint mixed with herbal tobacco. And somehow we ended up more stoned than we normally would. I looked up Greengo and the makers claim that Greengo reinforces the effect of marijuana. They were not wrong.

Honestly, I’m considering sticking with Greengo from now on. It is cheaper than regular tobacco, and because of the reinforcing ability it means you require less weed, so you save lots of money. It contains less tar than tobacco. When mixed in a joint it tastes like pure weed and nothing else.

To all who have tried herbal tobacco, didn’t like it and have no wish to try a new one I say this; put aside those old prejudices and go for it. This, to me, is the future of smoking.

Filed under: Legal High Reviews on September 15th, 2010 | No Comments »

Since the ban last Christmas of all the herbal incenses I’ve been looking out for something to fill the void. Up til now nothing has even come close to the likes of Spice, Magic Gold or Dream.

So it was with trepidation that I tried Shokotsu.

On opening the packet I was greeted with a tremendously sweet smell. For the last few days I’ve been trying to place my finger on exactly what it reminded me of and I think I have it. Do you remember those Push Pops when we were kids? Those strange sweets that were a little like a lipstick and you’d stick your thumb inside the tube to make the sweet come out? That is exactly what Shokotsu smells like. Which was a nice, if unasked for, trip down nostalgia lane!

I rolled up a single joint to start with. This was a pleasant smoke, not harsh like some of the other new blends that I’ve tried. This gave me a headrush after just a few tokes and made me feel very pleasantly light headed. A lo of the newer blends I’ve found have done this, but the feeling wears off almost immediately. With Shokotsu it stayed longer.

After a couple of joints I was feeling nicely toasted. The stoned feeling stays with you relaxing body and mind for much, much longer than previous batch of new legal blends.

To be honest, I wouldn’t have expected any thing less from the makers of the old Magic Gold. This is not as potent as that was, but it is certainly a nice, tasty and very relaxing smoke.

Filed under: Legal High Reviews on September 9th, 2010 | No Comments »

There are a vast array of natural hallucinogens, and especially if you are a first time user, you need to be aware that taking them is not at all comparable to popping a pill that will simply energise you and give you a sense of euphoria and sociability. They call taking a hallucinogen ‘tripping’ for a reason. It can be an intense journey and under the right conditions then it is very enjoyable, but of course under the wrong conditions a trip can become nightmarish.

One of he best things to remember is that a hallucinogen, such as Hawaiian Baby Woodrose or Fly Agaric, won’t change or elevate your mood; it will enhance it. If you are feeling run down, depressed or anxious you have the recipe for a bad trip as these feelings of depression and anxiety become heightened ten fold. If however you are feeling happy, and are healthy you can look forward to an incredible trip.

It is very important (for first time users in particular) to choose a place that you are going to be tripping in carefully. Make sure it is a place you know well and are comfortable in. At home is the best place you can choose for a first time user and once you get a little more used to the experience you can choose another area you know well, perhaps a nearby park.

It may be a good idea to have a ‘sitter’ with you; a person that you know well and trust, and one who will not be taking anything so that they can watch over you with a sober mind. At the very least I would recommend someone who is experienced with hallucinogens and who takes a low dose. I would not recommend tripping alone. A small group of close friends is ideal, so that you can all experience the life changing journey together.

Prepare the space with interesting things such as books of art, light boxes, soft materials with pleasant textures. Make sure you have a good choice of music that you all agree upon as this can completely affect your trip.

Most of all, take a few deep breaths and try not to resist the beautiful images that you see. Allow yourself to be swept away on your stream of conciousness and enjoy the fascinating and incredible journey.

Filed under: Uncategorized on September 5th, 2010 | No Comments »

What an intense weekend! A 25^th birthday party, and a 30^th birthday party the following night! Well of course such occasions require something a little special and so I tried Blessed.

This is a really nice party drug. I’d already had a few glasses of vino before taking one of these, and I started to get really nice warm tingles all over my skin after just half an hour. I also found myself to have a severe case of verbal diarrhea, and couldn’t stop chatting to everyone around me. The warm tingles continued and every now and then I was getting very pleasant head rushes. This seemed to reach a peak after about two hours by which time I was very energised and very relaxed.

A couple of hours later and we started playing a drinking game. Now, unfortunately one of the side effects of Blessed seems to be short term memory loss, which isn’t particularly helpful when playing a drinking game! I was soon much more drunk than any of my friends!

Thankfully the drinking game was short lived and after a few glasses of water I was back to normal. Well, as normal as you can be when taking an extremely pleasant high! As it was getting closer to about 1 in the morning I decided to take another Blessed and this kept me going pretty much through the night.

This is not a harsh high; this is a pill that wants to be your best mate at a party. Blessed wants to look after you and make sure you have a lovely time without over exerting yourself.

As far as recovery is concerned, I would recommend that you either a) have a day off the following day, or b) don’t play drinking games whilst on this. As it was, we had that 30^th birthday party to go to. I was feeling exhausted. Thankfully, however, I had run out of wine but still had two Blessed pills left over from the night before…

Filed under: Legal High Reviews on September 3rd, 2010 | No Comments »

Who could possibly resist a pill called ‘Dr Feelgood?’ With its snappy name and 60s/70s inspired packaging I found myself greatly intrigued!

And this is a pill that delivers exactly what it promises.  I shared a 4 pack with a mate and we took just one pill each at the start of the evening. Within an hour we were coming up with lots of rushes and a lovely feeling of euphoria washing over the pair of us.

We went clubbing and found that we both had loads of energy all night and couldn’t stop dancing. We both took the second pill at about midnight, and this was enough to keep us going literally all night.  We found that we were both very sociable; this is certainly not a pill for taking on your own – make sure there are lots of people around you!

We had a great night out, but I’d quite like to try this on a night in with my party box; anything that would be interesting when high I keep in my party box – this includes bright shiny things, anything that makes a pretty pattern or reflection on the wall, psychedelic art work etc etc!

This is quite a touchy feely high, and so I’d recommend being around people who don’t mind having loads of hugs at every available opportunity, or if you are at home make sure you’ve got a ready supply of good things to feel; velvet clothes, cuddly toys, a cat or two…

But first and foremost make sure you have good company, as this is one of the most sociable highs I’ve had in a long time. I’ll definitely be getting this again!

Filed under: Legal High Reviews on August 24th, 2010 | No Comments »

Not much has been said on the subject of recovering from heavy nights out.  We all know that a night of heavy partying usually equals a sleepless night and/or massive headache the next day, but there are, thankfully, certain precautions that can be taken.

Taking a pill containing 5-HTP with your high has an incredible multi-dimensional effect. Firstly the 5-HTP converts to serotonin in your body, meaning that your high is much clearer and more pronounced, but also that it gives your body a big fluffy cushion, so your come down is much softer and gentler.  I’ve found two different pills that have this incredible ingredient; Elevate from Lightyears Pills and Serotonin 5-HTP from The Herbal High.

Need to sleep after a night out but feeling totally unable to do so? Never mind, there’s an all natural answer to that as well! Valerian is a great gentle sedative that inhibits the breakdown of GABA, a chemical transmitter in the brain. This helps decrease activity in the nervous system, which in turn can aid the promotion of a deeper, more relaxing and restful sleep. Absolutely ideal if you know you have to be rested the next day but are still totally wired.

Finally what about the next day? You wake up in the morning, and to quote from Withnail and I you feel like a pig has shat in your head.  I have found an incredible pill called Recovery. This wonder pill contains an incredible mix of vitamins and minerals that are typical of the ones your body loses during a night of heavy partying. Replace those vitamins and minerals and you’ll be well on your way to a full and speedy recovery! (Maybe a couple of paracetamol will help here too.)

Filed under: Mood Enhancer on August 12th, 2010 | No Comments »

I don’t honestly think I’ve ever had £5.99 better spent!

These capsules are pretty incredible. I really wasn’t expecting much considering the low price tag, and I had tried some other legal hallucinogens without much luck so when I popped these I decided not to hold my breath.

More fool me. I took all six capsules, as the packaging recommended, two at a time at about half hour intervals. It took a while to kick in, maybe around an hour, but I was soon after getting some really cool closed eye visuals. I mentioned in a previous blog about having good music playing when on a high, I had some proper good 60s psychedelia playing, which I think influenced the visuals quite heavily. I have invented some pretty amazing paisley patterns. If only I could remember them well enough to draw them!

After about another hour I was totally off in my own little world. Everything I could see was completely fascinating and I was finding patterns in every mundane thing around me. Druids Fantasy also seems to provide you with an overwhelming sense of euphoria; if my hallucinogen addled memory serves me correctly I was giggling at pretty much everything for a couple of hours.

I found this to be a highly creative experience; I spent much of my time writing, playing guitar and even painting. Although I wouldn’t recommend the latter as I think I made more ‘mess’ than ‘art.’

The next day I found there to be very little in the way of comedown.  I was a little tired perhaps, but I certainly didn’t feel ill or headachy. As I said, £5.99 very well spent!

Filed under: Legal High Reviews on August 11th, 2010 | 1 Comment »