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B. James
Carbogen Logbooks
2001 & 2009
by B. James & Erowid
v1.0 - Sep 2009
Citation:   James B & Erowid. "Carbogen Logbooks 2001 & 2009". Erowid.org. Sep 2009. erowid.org/chemicals/carbogen/carbogen_info3.shtml
The following are entries from 2001 and 2009 sessions from B. James' work with carbogen. Each entry represents a single 'session' with carbogen. A few individuals have multiple sessions included in the logbooks. Because many entries in the logbooks were anonymized, it is not always possible to tell when the same individual occurs more than once, although it is noted on a few entries.

Some of the entries have been edited for clarity, but many of the comments and quotes are still difficult to fully understand. Fragmentary comments are left as recorded in the logbooks.

2001 Sessions#
No details are given about the mixture of carbogen and nitrous oxide that is alluded to in some entries. [ Please see the article discussing these results in Carbogen Redux from Erowid Extracts Issue #12. ]

SessionID: #2001-1
Date: May 2001
Age: 34
goal: 5 / achieved: not recorded
Easy, somewhat deep breaths.
"It's crazy, felt very short of breath, saw a really neat pattern like a very tight black geometric pattern with red and blue behind it active then still. I had a response of wanting to do more... and mild euphoria."
T+0:05 - "I just got heartburn"
SessionID: #2001-2
Date: not recorded
goal: 20 / achieved: 20
Slow even breaths, with a few quick ones, then with nitrous oxide back on breathing slowed again.
'That's pleasant. It's not as overpowering... Nitrous oxide is better after carbogen."
SessionID: #2001-3
Date: not recorded
goal: 30 / achieved: 30
20 seconds nitrous oxide. twelve breaths starting to [illegible]
"Didn't notice the switch - less edgy. I didn't keep track of the count... 'cause it was keeping me out of the state."
SessionID: #2001-4
Date: May 2001
Age: 35
goal: 15 / achieved: 17
Abrupt movements.
"At 6 [breaths, presumably] I thought about stopping to be one ahead of [illegible]... But decided to wait till 11. At 11 I was very high eyes open multi-colored hallucinations, was present enough to make a little show and go for 15. I recall breathing rapidly -- 17 but not sure how I stopped (CO2 or N2O) but I do remember it being very important to establish that I wasn't dead, or let this gas kill me. Breathing ambient air still left me very high, so I decided to start jumping on the trampoline is the most opposite thing I could do from accidentally have died from breathing the gas -- it was totally easy. After jumping and checkign in with the group that I wasn't dead, I felt a little iffy about the group and decided to walk around a bit with P. Some sort of NDE for a freak."
SessionID: #2001-5
Date: May 2001
Age: 34
goal: 25 / achieved: 25
Slow. 16 s/. Moved hands.
"That's pretty cool. Fun body floating, kind of more like nitrous."

2009 Sessions #
In some cases, respondents included some details of prior experience with psychedelics. [ Please see the article discussing these results in Sampling Carbogen from Erowid Extracts Issue #17. ]

SessionID: #2009-00
Date: 2009
Male, Age: 31
"Everything except PCP". Has had ecstatic effects from carbogen before.
goal: 20 achieved: 20
"Goddammit I love this"
T+0:00 - On GHB (7 out of 10 in intensity), still on way up; slight anxiety and nausea.
T+0:07 - lovely - still feels *some* physical effects. Feels good. No nausea, GHB went well with it. Breaths 8-15 were difficult.
SessionID: #2009-01
Date: 2009
Male, Age: 37
"Extensive"
goal: 25 achieved: 25
Calm before starting.
Possible (probable) that facial hair prevented a tight seal. Not even a threshold experience.
SessionID: #2009-02
Date: 2009
Female, Age: 47
"Comfortable transcending the void"
goal: 30 achieved: 30
Looked deep and intense for breaths 22 through 30.

[Written later by subject] I somewhat spastically raised my hand at breath 3 and administrator stopped and I immediately said, "No, it's OK," and we started again. The breathing was difficult to unpleasant but not scary and I never thought of stopping it. I knew I could make it to the place I wouldn't notice.

I entered a sort of "working dreamspace" where I was working on something that I can't remember. The only lingering memory was the feeling that I was trying to do something that didn't get done. My return space felt hot and uncomfortable and that feeling entered my trip space the way a too-hot bed enters and impacts my dream world. I was told my eyes opened and stayed open at breath 25. I was also told that it took about 30 breaths after the mask was removed before I became aware of the room.

I would describe my overall experience as "Interesting, and I would do it again." I would wear less clothing, though, so as not to get overheated. Also, I was left with a slight residual headache that went away with a little food and drink.
SessionID: #2009-03
Date: 2009
Male, Age: 61
"Mucho"
goal: 25 achieved: 25
Deep breath, "God!"

[Written later by subject] I have a history of atrial fibrilation, which was successfully treated 2 years ago, and this experience seems to have precipitated a period of atrial fibrilation. I am hopeful it will resolve without medical intervention.

Later: It has resolved!

[Next day check-in: The discomfort resolved within hours without medical intervention.]
SessionID: #2009-04
Date: 2009
Male, Age: 44
"Ranging from light recreational to deep psychospiritual - many different and types of everything"
goal: 30 achieved: 30
Subject said he was "gone" after six breaths. His eyes were wide open and he looked terrified and in shock, though when he came to, he said that he was in a great space. Felt as if there was a major event happening, but can't remember what it was. Within a few breaths, his hands had come together in the form of a mudra (when told this later, he said that his hands have only ever done that when he's done 5-MeO-DMT). Breathed hard for another minute after the mask was off. First vocalization after mask came off: "Oops." Laughed afterwards.

"Better than nitrous ... Thought I was in a whole other reality, a dreamtime alternate dimension that actually was happening." Almost as far out as 5-MeO-DMT, but easier. Getting over the fear of suffocating was 5% of the experience. Ten minutes later, still feeling euphoric, refreshed and oxygenated.
SessionID: #2009-05
Date: 2009
Male, Age: 23
"Yes. Mushrooms (lots), Acid (3 times), Ecstasy (dozen times), Nitrous (3 balloons), Cannabis (often). Never seen non-existent objects; only patterns & sub-layers"
goal: 20 achieved: 2
"Came to a thought, but I forgot it" ... "Something I thought was important" "I was at a resolved idea and I got scrambled, slideshow, seeing photographs, people and crowds, then it resolved and I had to wake up... bugs the hell out of me, I got to do it again." "Saw horizon... it kind of opens up." "Tasted bitter, eyes teared up."

Eyes closed the entire time, kept closed until 30-40 seconds after the last breath. Breathing felt labored and unnatural until breath 5, when I saw a blue horizon line that vertically grew into another world. Saw something important and then lots of rapid-fire detailed yet senseless photographs of random scenes. I then felt I could move my hands and understood what had happened. Opened my eyes and instantly sat up. No effects afterward other than confusion and a feeling of being cheated as I came to...
SessionID: #2009-06
Date: 2009
Female, Age: 24
"Mushrooms - 3 times. Nitrous - 10 times."
goal: 20 achieved: 20
Low effect. "It felt like I hyperventilated into my pillow as I was going to sleep. Just felt tingly." Eyes open the whole time, very relaxed afterward. "It felt nice. My mind didn't go anywhere."

[Written later by subject] I kept my eyes open. I was aware of my surroundings, and when the allotted amount was through, I felt very calm from first to last breath. I twitched for only a few moments (maybe 10-15 seconds) after the mask was removed. During that time, my vision regained sharpness. While I was breathing the carbogen my vision blurred slightly around hard edges and contrasts. Experience felt rhythmic through my body -- afterwards (at 5-10 min) my joints and body feel loose and relaxed. Good experience, will do more breaths next time.
SessionID: #2009-07
Date: 2009
Male, Age: 41
"Yes. Lots since the 80s."
goal: 25 achieved: 36
At 23 breaths, subject asked for more, grasping, it was obvious to an onlooker that it was a good experience. "I can handle this ..." "Spirally sun of death, it opened up, hard to say much ... a lift ... heart opening, speaking energetically to these dimensions. Ungraspables. Wish I could remember more, a heart chakra thing going on. Didn't loose my body, wanted to open to that energy in a prayerful way. Soft diaphanous sun swirling, moving into (a visual) ... Seventh or eight breaths, for more breaths it was like that, opening into a cosmic mandala. Beyond that it was a quote unquote homecoming." "It's ok to die" (smiled when he said that). Normally he has physical reactions on DMT, body is energetically intense, goes into kriyas (spontaneous mudras). "That was awesome; A+".

(Later) "The image I recall around 7-8 breaths was a grey, fuzzy diaphanous sun; a cosmic heart. Cool but kind with swirling kaleidoscope dots. I felt like I was rising and floating into the cosmic space, hard to recall beyond that visually or cognitively, but the affect was powerful: open, happy, released."
SessionID: #2009-08
Date: 2009
Male, Age: 41
"Lots."
goal: 20 achieved: 20
Steady, slow breathing. "I could have done more?" I was half blacked out. I though there were visions but not really -- the lights... I could go again and try more. When I knew I was going to 20, then, 20 was 20. At 10-11 breaths, something sat on me, it became fuzzy, tehre was something going on visually." At 20 breaths, he tapped his hand.

(Later) "Very similar to nitrous oxide, but shorter. Cloud forms and bright light."
SessionID: #2009-09
Date: 2009
Female, Age: 42
"Yes, since 1993 when I first took LSD."
goal: 25 achieved: 17
Kind of went to grab the mask at breath 17. "The last number I remember was 14, then I got confused (accompanied by gasping), needing to know, to find, to understand." It was a surprise to be out of that space all of a sudden, a nonsensical, confusing state... It reminds me of ketamine (the dissociative effect). It is very typical of me -- the need to know -- desperation to know what's going on. I wouldn't describe it as pleasant. Was definitely gone ... panic."

[Written later by subject] "That confusion, the need to know what was going on, to be certain of my surroundings and what was occurring, this is something I'm aware that I get stuck on in my life, that has come up for me in deep self-examination. I thought I had faced it and dealt with it, but it's more and more clear that this is just simply a part of my psyche. It was a very visceral contact with that part of me in this experience. I'm grateful to have come out of it so quickly, with no residual feelings. Would I do it again? I might. I would hope to have a more 'breakthrough' experience, more pleasurable. The gasping was so totally involuntary, though, that I don't feel entirely confident I could."
SessionID: #2009-10
Date: 2009
Male, Age: 44
"Years of experimentation with ketamine, DMT, 5-MeO-DMT, salvinorin A, etc."
goal: 25 achieved: 25
"Thank you." "After 5-6 breaths I couldn't tell if I was still breathing." "Positive and interesting ... dream state... normally I can't remember dreams." I would have remember it but once I realized I was back, it just vanished." "Felt like I was exhaling more. But at no time was it panicky or scary."
SessionID: #2009-11
Date: 2009
Female, Age: 31
"Yes, expecially dissociative deep experiences"
goal: 35 achieved: 35
(had a couple of glasses of wine beforehand) "It was not totally unlike salvia (very much like it when emerging)". Had mild tetany [involuntary contractions/convulsions] during (which she has alongside panic feelings in other contexts) and a headache afterward. The part that was very unpleasant that was like salvia was "being pulled through the eye of a needle on a cosmic level". "Lost my ability to know what was around me, confused, forgot I'd taken a drug. I imagine that if that had never happened before, that might be interesting." "Would close my eyes next time." Subject looked wide-eyed and terrified by the end of the 35 breaths.
SessionID: #2009-12
Date: 2009
Male, Age: 41
"Many and varied"
goal: 25 achieved: 25
Breathed quickly, pace sharpened at 3-4 breaths. Lay still and silent for about four minutes afterward. "I was awake the whole time, if felt like I could see through the veils. This happens sometimes with ketamine, the difference is that K distorts it, though."
SessionID: #2009-13
Date: 2009
Female, Age: 36
"Pretty much runs the gamut"
goal: 22 achieved: 22
Felt "inside a light bright" in a static-y way. Felt aware most of the time. Nothing profound came out of it -- there was a feeling on the brink of getting somewhere. Comfortable ... kind of like fainting .. Ten breaths and on, she felt it didn't ramp up... it didn't feel spiritual in any way.
SessionID: #2009-14
Date: 2009
Male, Age: 41
"Most psychedelics have met my blook, to good effect"
goal: 37 achieved: 28-31 (administrator didn't want to keep mask on for the last three breaths
[Written by one of those present in the room:] Definitely a point where the sitters were concerned: at 30 breaths, administrator couldn't tell if he was breathing. He did not appear to be getting less high after the mask came off; the last ten breaths with the mask on appeared indistinguishable from the minute following the removal of the mask. He was waving his arms and his lips were pressed together and turning blue. A sitter pried his lips apart and began mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. A doctor was called in from the next room; but by the time he arrived, the crisis had passed. Freaked out one of the sitters, who was administering the gas.

There was no point at which he was unconscious, nor was he aware of not breathing. The whole time, he felt he was breathing hard. Pink dots swirling -- pleasant psychedelic ... spiraled and intensified and panicky, felt like wasn't getting enough air. Remembers the whole thing. "Totally unpleasant."
SessionID: #2009-15
Date: 2009
Male, Age: 32
"With salvia: loss of awareness with intense body load a couple of times. K-hole a couple of times; DMT, making [?] a couple of times; mushrooms many times. Modest experience with dissociation."
goal: 18 achieved: 18
Difficulty with breathing came at the tail end, breath seemed labored for a while after mask came off, and this induced some panic. Five minutes after the mask came off: "Ok, so *now* it is hard to breathe." "That was cool." Intense blue and white dotted visuals came on quickly at 3-4 breaths, then visuals stayed bright, then cool thoughts, "frustrating I can't remember". Unaware of the mask being taken off, psychedelic experience faded off, then became aware of labored breathing. Not dissociative, but visionary. Ears hurting a little bit.
SessionID: #2009-16
Date: 2009
Male, Age: 43
"Mushrooms, LSD, mescaline, 2C-B, 2C-T-7, Salvia divinorum, fully immersive experience with DMT and ketamine."
goal: 30 achieved: 31
Easy breathing, calm. "That was really nice" (smiling, then searching thought with his eyes). "I'm going upstairs to go find out what I was thinking".
SessionID: #2009-17
Date: 2009
Male, Age: 46
"Long and varied career, ranging from large group experiences to 'heroic' solo doses. Lots of 30 mg insufflated 5-MeO-DMT experiences."
goal: 25 achieved: 22 (because of administrator error)
This person had had some misgivings about trying carbogen because of breathing trauma (hospitalized for severe bronchitis) in his teens. Took in an entire bag and then some; sustained and rapid breathing once mask was taken off. "If it weren't for [the sustained and rapid breathing afterward], it'd be kind cool." "If I had to track it against something, it tracks nicely against insufflated 5-MeO-DMT: similar effects going in, afterwards a lot of the same attendant negatives. I feel out of breath now." Seemed normal and in good spirits right after. "I would do it again."
SessionID: #2009-18
Date: 2009
Male, Age: 45
"Cannabis, mushrooms, LSD, ketamine, ayahuasca, nitrous oxide, MDMA, 2C-B, DMT, 5-MeO-DMT, DIPT, etc. Combinations."
goal: to remain verbal / breaths achieved: 5-5-5-5-5 = 25 total
5 - "white like a TV screen. No coherent vision, just white light."
5 -
5 - "stars, all stars"
5 - "city complex at night" "pharmacy bottles"
5 - "whoo!" total white out feel ... black white letters, molecules, lattice-work
60 seconds -- some geometries, not that coherent anymore
Let me breathe in and all while feeling goes away
The visions are re-entry, "stars to static like a TV screen", granular white
Definitely a sense of repeating objects
[Part Two]
8 breaths requested / taking deeper breaths this time. 7 achieved: "holy fucking shit"
labored breathing this time
"molecules"
Breathing subsides quickly to normal
"whoa" and laughing
SessionID: #2009-19
Date: 2009
Female, Age: 31
"Yes"
goal: 5 + 10 + 10 achieved: 5 + 5 + 10
1st set - Breaths not very deep, not very far out. "No effect" 2nd set - Stopped by hand signal at 5. Euphoric. Deep breathing normal? Felt at bring of deeper realm. Feeling kind of "stimulant" load. Spasm beginning like smoking too much pot. 3rd set - More body stuff: shot of energy from [?] moving up. Salivation produced. Cffc Buzzing in teeth. Tremble in medial part of body. Inner thigh, liver channel. Not unpleasant. Sexual energy channel. More in front energy channel. Worth doing again. Interest in body tremble/shakes. Would go farther next time. Scary having witnessed #14's difficult experience.
SessionID: #2009-20 (second session / same subject as #11)
Date: 2009
Female, Age: 31
See above, #11
goal: 6 + 6 + 6 + 6+ 6 achieved: 6 + 6 + 6 + 6+ 6 (30 breaths total)
Hose was accidentally kinked during the first 6. "Not interesting / not as high / not visual."
Revision History #
  • v1.0 - Sep 2009 - Erowid - First public draft.