================================================================= This file is a part of the 1999 Hyperreal Drug Archives Snapshot. This snapshot is hosted by Erowid and will not be updated after October 1999. The information in these files may be out of date. See Erowid's Psychoactive Vaults for more current info. ================================================================= From: dynasor@infi.net (Dennis McClain-Furmanski) Newsgroups: alt.drugs Subject: Guarana Date: 17 Mar 1995 23:08:03 GMT Message-ID: <3kd4oj$3ho@lucy.infi.net> Got a new shipment in from ...OTJ today. Although there's much to be tried that I find exciting, I'm going to try to keep them seperate, so I can get a good feel for the various independent effects. The one I decided to start with (it coming just after I woke up) was the Guarana. Here's the ...OTJ catalog blurb: "GUARANA' (Paullinia cupana, var. sorbills) Famed tonic stimulant of the Brazillian Amazon. Natives insist that their daily dose of Guarana' serves as far more than a powerful stimulant, claiming it acts as both an aphrodesiac as well as a treatment for headache, fever and cramps. The high content of tetra-methyl-xanthine, hypoxanthine, guaranine, theophylline and theobromine accounts for its intensely pleasurable stimulant effects which propel the mind and body for up to six hours. Prescribed as a replacement drug for those that cannot tolerate coffee or tea, but its unusual saponin content (timbonine) underlies the long term tonic effect (ginseng owes its activity to saponins). Known as a healthy stimulant and prefect sustaining food substitute during fasts and diets, it's also fun! One of the few crops of Amazonia with positive ecological status: supports the peoples and habitats of the Amazon Rainforest. Free report on all aspects of Guarana' /w any order. 4 oz. $10. 1 lb. $32, extract, 1 oz $10" The basic background I can add is the fact that while we make soft drinks out of cola, the people in South America make it out of guarana. This comes from ...OTJ as a powder from the seeds. It is to be taken cold -- that is you do not make a hot tea with it like so many other preparations. Dosage is 2 to 4 grams (flat to rounded teaspoon) for stimulant action, more for intoxication. It can also be prepared as an alcohol extract, which has a quicker action. You can dump it directly into a drink (it works well in a bottle of Snapple) or stuff it into capsules if you want to avoid the grit in your mouth. It unfortunately tastes like cardboard, but not too unpleasant to take directly. Effects: I can only quote Tom Wolfe from _The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test_: Rrrrrrrrrrrevrevrevrevrevrevrev... At 4 grams I am cranking about like a 5 mg Desoxyn with none of the side effects of shakiness or tendency (for me) to anticipate the flame out. I have the strong urge to write, but none of the scattered inability to stick to any one subject. And NONE of the itchy twitchy subliminally nauseous crankiness of massive caffiene doses. I'm definitely not hungry, but don't have the caustic anorexic tight stomach that comes with PPA based diet pills; this could well be a good substitute. It's much more of a can-eat-but-no-appetite than a can't-stomach-the-idea-of-food. And I'm definitely not pacing the floor between sentences like I have been after a pot of coffee while trying to finish my thesis. It doesn't have the high of speed (not at this dose), but it does have much of the get-things-done drive. I doubt I'll stay up all night and re-fret my guitar like I did on crank, but I *could* if I wanted to. I got none of this kind of effect from the health food store guarana pills I bought. And no jaw clenching, either. No tenseness anywhere in fact. Coffee? Yeah, sure, just pour it in a hollow gourd and bring it to me in my cave. It'll go good with this raw mastadon. This stuff is $0.36 US per 4 gram dose if you buy 4 oz., $0.28 per dose if you get a pound. It favorably replaces many cups of coffee in effect, and to my mind, in cost. And it feels much more comfortable to me, like it's making me able to do things more and better, instead of *making* me do things more, faster, and questionably better. I have the choice to participate in the stimulation. Since last time I posted about something from ...OTJ (re: Dream Herb) I got umpty-dump requests for the address, I'll give it now to avoid that. ... Of The Jungle PO Box 1801 Sebastopol, CA 95473 Catalog is $2.00 US and well worth it for the excellent information it contains about many plants, their uses, and their preparation. I hear tell it takes weeks to get the catalog. But I get my orders in a week or so. Consider using money orders instead of checks. -- dynasor@infi.net The Doctor is on. ============================================================================= Newsgroups: alt.drugs From: dyer@spdcc.com (Steve Dyer) Subject: Re: Guarana Message-ID: Date: Sat, 18 Mar 1995 03:15:19 GMT In article <3kd4oj$3ho@lucy.infi.net>, Dennis McClain-Furmanski wrote: >"GUARANA' (Paullinia cupana, var. sorbills) >Famed tonic stimulant of the Brazillian Amazon. Natives >insist that their daily dose of Guarana' serves as far more >than a powerful stimulant, claiming it acts as both an >aphrodesiac as well as a treatment for headache, fever and >cramps. The high content of tetra-methyl-xanthine, >hypoxanthine, guaranine, theophylline and theobromine >accounts for its intensely pleasurable stimulant effects >which propel the mind and body for up to six hours. Gee, they forgot to mention that "guaranine", the primary alkaloid in guarana, is just another term for "caffeine", and that hypoxanthine and theobromine are without any psychoactive effects, and that there is very little theophylline or theobromine in guarana, and that there is no such thing as "tetramethylxanthine". In other words, this is New Age marketing bullshit for an herb which contains caffeine. >Prescribed as a replacement drug for those that cannot >tolerate coffee or tea, but its unusual saponin content >(timbonine) underlies the long term tonic effect (ginseng >owes its activity to saponins). Yeah, right. Even if ginseng had any "tonic" effect (a very arguable assertion), the fact that guarana has a "saponin" too, says nothing about its effects. A saponin is just a generic term for a sterol molecule attached to sugar molecules. >Known as a healthy stimulant >and prefect sustaining food substitute during fasts and >diets, it's also fun! One of the few crops of Amazonia with >positive ecological status: supports the peoples and >habitats of the Amazon Rainforest. Free report on all >aspects of Guarana' /w any order. 4 oz. $10. >1 lb. $32, extract, 1 oz $10" Coffee is a lot cheaper. >Effects: I can only quote Tom Wolfe from _The Electric >Kool-Aid Acid Test_: Rrrrrrrrrrrevrevrevrevrevrevrev... >At 4 grams I am cranking about like a 5 mg Desoxyn with none >of the side effects of shakiness or tendency (for me) to >anticipate the flame out. I have the strong urge to write, >but none of the scattered inability to stick to any one >subject. And NONE of the itchy twitchy subliminally nauseous >crankiness of massive caffiene doses. I'll bet you're a cheap drunk, too. -- Steve Dyer dyer@ursa-major.spdcc.com