Kava kava

March 6, 2005 11:40 PM

I want to buy some kava. Looking on the internet, it seems it'll run me about $12/lb plus shipping. Is the stuff I'm getting going to be crap? Has anyone tried it? What's it like?
posted by borkingchikapa to food & drink (9 comments total)

I've had it a few times - both in Fiji and also some brought back to Oz by my neice.

Basically it is like drinking muddy water.
You need about 2 pints for much effect.
I liken it to being semi-drunk with a tingly mushy-type resonance.

Was it worth it?

Nah..........many other better chemicals IMHO.
posted by peacay at 12:12 AM on March 7, 2005

I'd have to agree with peacay. I had it a few times with my fijian ex-boyfriend, and it's like drinking slushy clay. It made my mouth and throat numb, which I found unpleasant, and I wouldn't really rate the experience any better than a couple of glasses of nice sparkling wine.

I say save your cash.

A friend bought some salvia over the net and I'd rate that as much more interesting, but you'd have to check its legal status where you are.
posted by arha at 2:51 AM on March 7, 2005

Yeah...if you've got _any_ expectations, you're almost certain to be disappointed. We had a college prof who used to throw occasional kava parties as kind of a goof, and most people didn't bother going more than once. Tastes like crap, and the actual feeling is just a kind of numbness.

More importantly, you should also note that it's recently been linked to liver damage.
posted by LairBob at 4:35 AM on March 7, 2005

There was a big dust up a while back that too much kava would play hell with your liver. I always liked it, mellow buzz but there was alaways an irritable crash at the end of it, for me. The numbness in my mouth was always vaguely remeniscent of harder drugs, but otherwise not that amazing. You used to be able to get it at health food stores around here [US] before all the liver warnings which, to tell you the truth, put me totally off the stuff.
posted by jessamyn at 4:38 AM on March 7, 2005

Kava's gorgeous stuff, subtle and lovely and kind. A delight to sit around with good friends, just talk about shit, lazily, and share the cups and the ritual of it while the sun goes down.

That said, I don't see much point in doing it anywhere other than Fiji itself. A lot of what makes a given drug good the place in which it is taken, and the people with whom you take it. That goes for the legal ones as well as the illicit, of course.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 6:27 AM on March 7, 2005

+is
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 6:29 AM on March 7, 2005

The mildly numb / slightly drunk feeling certainly isn't worth the price, but if you have the money to blow, it's a mildly interesting experience.
posted by Savvas at 7:31 AM on March 7, 2005

[I live in constant terror of derailing threads, but...]

What about kava as a treatment for anxiety, muscle tension, insomnia, and so forth? I'm sitting on a gabitril (it's very similar to neurontin) prescription and I'm sure I'll try it sooner or later, but I'm seriously considering trying kava (or some other plant type substance) first.
posted by Clay201 at 10:12 AM on March 7, 2005

As with all other rec psychoactives, Erowid is your resource.
posted by Gyan at 1:43 PM on March 7, 2005