European Tabs - any experience?

Hi guys...seeking some advice, specifically about dosing. This is a bit long and rambling, but there are just a few simple questions.
My previous experiences with acid were all from a particular batch and a particular dealer. The chemical was clearly made in the USA, and it was dissolved on candies. I initially estimated that the dosages I was taking (2-3.5 tabs) were in the realm of 100-120mcg's. The effects included mystic euphoria, slight sparkling and patterning of visual phenomena but no visual "hallucinations" and, of course, supremely trippy thought patterns and a significant body-high. I based my 100 mcg estimate on the anecdotal evidence of young psychonauts my age and the estimated tab-strengths I have heard casually mentioned among drug people.
However, when I started reading the accounts of vintage psychonauts who were dropping acid when there WERE controlled dosages, I find that experiences much more intense than mine are reported on 60 mcg's...it makes me suspect that most young trippers in America are vastly overestimating the strength of their tabs, and I speculate that I have probably not taken more than 50-75mcg's.

I have recently purchased some tabs from Europe (Amsterdam to be precise) that the dealer claims contain 100mcg's each. I have no particular reason to believe this dealer is telling the truth, of course it would be in his interest to inflate the dosage-estimate. However, the fact that they are from Holland makes me believe the dosage info might be more accurate--with the liberal drug laws there, maybe the black-marketization is a little diminished, and perhaps the chemist/dealer has access to better measuring methods?? I have a friend who has tripped on acid from Sweden and claimed it was MUCH stronger than American tabs: "One tab is enough to MELT the world around me" he says.

So my two questions are:
(1) Has anybody had experience comparing American (west coast) tabs with European tabs? Is there an appreciable difference in strength?
and
(2) I am planning a "test run"--to do a little bit of a trip, but not a full-blown brain-melter. Do you think I should do 1/2 tab (if it is much weaker than claimed, 1/2 tab might not feel like much of anything...) or a whole tab (if it IS as strong as claimed, a whole tab might actually be too much for a test run...)??

Any advice, experiences and thoughts are welcome!
-RM

 

In europe, they REALLY over-estimate the doses. If you are getting LSD in the US, a lot of it is usually family produced and will have around 80-100ug on the tabs or in drops.
In europe, they claim that most of the hits are over 180ug and when they complain about a tab being weak they say the tab was 75-100ug.

I would not be afraid at all of taking a full one or two tabs, I know I had some strong euro stuff (avatars last year at this time, estimated 250ug, probably actually 100-125ug) that had me tripping pretty good on even one tab, but there is no way it could have been overwhelming off one tab.

Just pick a good setting and go into it looking for a deep trip, that way if you get it you are prepared.

 

I've only had euro acid and it's almost always been extremely strong, 1 is enough for a solid trip, you can easily feel 1/4 of a tab all day, etc. I've read people here say that they have tried both and found euro stuff stronger. I've also read many reports of american WoW being very strong, so its more to do with the batch. Then again I've also read reports that american WoW is not even LSD, and the same about euro LSD, so it's quite complicated. Take it on a batch by batch basis, my current batch of EU stuff is very weak for example, but there is apparently a shortage of high quality crystal in EU at this time.

I have had my ass handed to me off one EU hit, as in had to cancel all my plans for the night and be taken home by my friends, and at the time I was already quite experienced with both LSD and tripping in general.

http://www.hipforums.com/newforums/showthread.php?t=401948&f=117

 

Damn, wish I had the money to go to Europa.

 

The tabs are specifically "Albert Hoffman: The Original" blotters. Tiny little squares with picture of Hoffman riding a bike. Anyone heard anything about this batch?

 

General consensus is that those are on the weaker end. Take a full one or you will likely be disappointed.

The only time that euro acid had me spun on one tab was my first time ever with LSD and it was an avatar. Still not overwhelmed.

And I don't know personally if getting really high off one tab means it was 'too much'. I usually am taking at least 5-6 hits and I have only ever had euro blotter until this batch i have now is north american.

 

the 2010 hoffmans were a bit on the weak side, but i dunno about the originals. the other euro doses i've had were red shivas and red star microdots. one is a full on trip. stronger than most stuff i've gotten in the US, but i don't have good connections.

just eat a whole one and be prepared for a whole trip.

 

Yeah man I've read/heard a lot about the hoffmans, and they're very inconsistent, tbh I wouldn't buy any. I've heard some people say they're good, but an equal number of people say they're bunk. As far as the whole US acid vs. Euro acid, as far as I know, the general consensus is that US L is superior in quality, i.e. it's typically fluff, whereas the Euro stuff is usually silver crystal (except for swiss/czech). However, Euro L generally has a little more ug on there than American. Not necessarily truth, but what I've stumbled across in my journey through the internets.
Now, as far as the acid being better because it's from the Netherlands? False. I wouldn't buy drugs from the netherlands, I mean, I'm assuming you're getting it in the mail, but packages coming from the netherlands undergo extra scrutiny, because of the lax drug laws, and there's a higher risk that package will be intercepted. If at all possible, try to get it from another european country, not NL. If your karma is right, and you look in the right places, you should be able to find top-notch LSD from america. From what I've read, America still has a strong underground network of dedicated chemists, that began in the 60's and continues to this day. White fluff and needlepoint are definitely going around, you just gotta be in the right circles.
As for your 2nd question, take the whole tab man. Unless your getting some dalai lamas or some other print that's known to be strong and clean, it's probably gonna be in the 50-75 ug range, at best, and if you cut that in half, you're barely gonna feel anything at all.

 

I already bought them and of course they moved in an envelope. In any case it's too late to advise me on whether or not to buy them because I already have them!
They've been burning a hole in my freezer for the last four weeks.
Think I might do 2 tabs tomorrow. Might still be disappointing but at least I'll definitely feel something instead of "ummm...is it working...maybe?" (that's the hope anyway).
Gonna resist the temptation to combine w/ 2c-e (I have some of that too)...I DO want to try this combo, but fo this trip I need to make sure I am sampling the tab-strength accuracy with no other random variables.

 

I have gotten doses from Europe a few times, every time they have been exceptional. Very pricy but worth it.

 

so what's the print on your doses, raga mala?

and why did it go from "should i take 1/2?" to "i think i'll take 2"

 

The print (which I assume means the pic on the blotter) looks like the bottom half of hoffman riding a bike (yellow, black, white and green colors). I have 10 tabs, two rows of 5. So it looks like a whole picture of the stuff would be 20 tabs (5x4) or maybe 25 (5x5). I can't see the entire picture but I have seen pics of the full sheets online.

Two reasons I switched to considering taking 2: First, I got a better setting and opportunity for the trip than I thought I would, I will be safe and don't have to do anything tomorrow; Second, based on what I heard from you guys, it doesn't sound like the blotters are likely to have the full 100mcg's that the dealer claims. This is still a "test run" (first time on these tabs), but I see no reason to deny myself at least the possibility of a good full trip. I am actually planning to do all this today so, I will very shortly be able to report back.

 

take two, even if they are 100 ug, you won't trip TOO hard

 

Well!...

 

^^very descriptive...sounds like a nice trip

 

Always had fairly nice stuff from around my neck of the woods.

 

...I will give a fuller description later on today. Suffice it to say, there is no doubt the tabs are legit.

 

Here's my trip report: WHOA.
Certainly more intense than either of my two previous experience. Two tabs may indeed have been too much for a test run...The setting also turned out to be less ideal than I thought.
A friend offered to provide his place (very well-appointed, nicely decorated with lots of cool art and stuff) on the condition that his other friend be allowed to watch me drop and talk with me during, because this other friend has an interest in trying acid at some point. This sounded like a fun arrangement to me: the idea of narrating my symptoms to someone sounded like a fun way to interact with the trip.
Not so. The guy turned out to have no notion of the acid experience, he kept getting frustrated that I was "acting boring" and that "I thought you were going to turn into a dragon or something." He started to become belligerent and eventually fell to INTENTIONALLY trying to scare me and trip me out. It worked, and my rip got quite negative. I had to ask my friend to get the other guy OUT OF THE HOUSE.
In order to do so, my friend had to drive him home, so they left me ALONE in the house for almost an hour. Since I was already moving toward a bad mindset, it got fairly scary when I was alone.
There were very noticeable visuals: surfaces crawling and morphing. Saw my face in a mirror and tripped on that for about ten minutes. Time dilation was immense.
Once my friend got back things got a lot more fun, he drove me around town a bit and the evening got more blissful and comedic.
Thank god for good tripsitters; if it was just me and the strange guy it would have been a terrible night.

Two tabs of this stuff was certainly more than I have ever taken before (4 tabs of american candies). For my tastes, I don't think I'll ever be taking more than two. In fact, one and a half might be my dose of choice for the rest of this batch. (Then again, 2 could be quite awesome if the setting started out better).

 

Cool you had a powerful trip, that sucks about that guy intentionally trying to scare you. You seem like an individual who knows about preparing for proper set and setting, did you not really give advice to that guy on how to be a trip sitter? Were they drinking or something?

 

No, you're right. That guy's involvement was a miscalculation. To be honest, I didn't think I'd HAVE to instruct him about the qualities of tripsitting, etc because I THOUGHT his interest in the drug was sincere and that he'd already been doing research.

More background: the dude is somebody I knew in high school and from the few times I had hung out with him he seemed cool. He claimed he was researching acid very seriously because he wanted to be safe when he took it. He also said "yeah I've been reading about it for like a year."

Now, in my case, "reading about" acid was very helpful before I did it: reading Erowid and other helpful internet resources, as well as established/published accounts like Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test etc etc. I assumed (ASS+U+ME) that he had an equally nuanced knowledge of it that I had before my first time. I don't know what he's been reading but the dude clearly did not have any sort of intellectual knowledge about acid and clearly had a misconception about what the experience was like. Also, he seemed not to be a good dude: regardless of the knowledge-level he clearly had no compassion towards whether my experience was positive.

I enjoy certain kinds of music while tripping, and AS I WAS PEAKING, he was taking issue with my music selections, he also tried to negotiate buying some substances from me while I was high...in other words, I believe he was trying to take advantage of my inebriation.

In all, he was a much worse dude than I had any way of predicting.

He was not drinking but he did smoke a couple bowls (of MY weed...). Unlike most people the weed didn't seem to make him more chill it just lowered his inhibitions and made him more of an ass.

I'm very glad my other friend was there and could handle him.
And I'm proud of myself that, even when very very fucked up, I did not say anything rude back to him, I just maintained my composure.