Tobacco - The stuff noone told you about

I love smoking, its really nice except for the cancer and dying part.

Still, this post is not about telling you not to smoke, this post is a fucking huge wall of text teaching you things you didn't know about Tobacco!

Tobacco is a misunderstood sacrament. It's not the nicotine you have to worry about, it's not whether your cigarette has a filter or not. These are illusive marketing ploys. miss-direction. The real concern is the added chemical poisons and radioactivity.

This is the kind of post that needs an index... so these are the topics i will talk about

• Nicotine helps memory, alzheimers, & cognitive degradation
• The tobacco species you smoke is not very good and there are other alternatives
• Nicotine is not the only good stuff, did you know about Harmalas?
• Freebase Nicotine
• Did you know you are a glue smoker?
• Radioactive Tobacco is common Tobacco
• Tobacco Shamanism
• E-Cigarettes
• General Industrial Tobacco Additives
• Some more Curiositys

Taming THC: potential cannabis synergy and phytocannabinoid-terpenoid entourage effects

We usually only consider the cannabinoids, but these have very complex reactions with several terpenes, terpenes are responsible for flavor and many other things in cannabis.

They help modulating the synthesis of different cannabinoids inside the plant and can be manipulated to create new strains with the desired cannabinoid ratio (high) and flavor

Taming THC: potential cannabis synergy and phytocannabinoid-terpenoid entourage effects

Ethan B Russo

Abstract

Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) has been the primary focus of cannabis research since 1964, when Raphael Mechoulam isolated and synthesized it. More recently, the synergistic contributions of cannabidiol to cannabis pharmacology and analgesia have been scientifically demonstrated. Other phytocannabinoids, including tetrahydrocannabivarin, cannabigerol and cannabichromene, exert additional effects of therapeutic interest. Innovative conventional plant breeding has yielded cannabis chemotypes expressing high titres of each component for future study. This review will explore another echelon of phytotherapeutic agents, the cannabis terpenoids: limonene, myrcene, α-pinene, linalool, β-caryophyllene, caryophyllene oxide, nerolidol and phytol. Terpenoids share a precursor with phytocannabinoids, and are all flavour and fragrance components common to human diets that have been designated Generally Recognized as Safe by the US Food and Drug Administration and other regulatory agencies. Terpenoids are quite potent, and affect animal and even human behaviour when inhaled from ambient air at serum levels in the single digits ng·mL−1. They display unique therapeutic effects that may contribute meaningfully to the entourage effects of cannabis-based medicinal extracts. Particular focus will be placed on phytocannabinoid-terpenoid interactions that could produce synergy with respect to treatment of pain, inflammation, depression, anxiety, addiction, epilepsy, cancer, fungal and bacterial infections (including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus). Scientific evidence is presented for non-cannabinoid plant components as putative antidotes to intoxicating effects of THC that could increase its therapeutic index. Methods for investigating entourage effects in future experiments will be proposed. Phytocannabinoid-terpenoid synergy, if proven, increases the likelihood that an extensive pipeline of new therapeutic products is possible from this venerable plant.

Check the PDF Link

Since i'm not an expert i took the liberty of copying this nice article regarding the above study from someone who is, read on!



While working at the Victoria Cannabis Buyers Club I was able to teach some of the members about Black Pepper. While benefiting from the medicinal effects of THC, these patients suffered from bouts with anxiety while medicating. Most patients who have tried this simply took a few sniffs of the black pepper to receive an almost immediate effect. Others have reported that after chewing on pepper corns they felt relief within an hour, but that may be a delay most would seek to avoid. So how does this work? The Aug. 2011 British Journal of Pharmacology: Cannabinoids in Biology and Medicine, Part 1 includes numerous articles exploring the nature of the cannabis plants’ chemical dynamism. In the article “Taming THC,” scientists report having discovered more than a hundred terpenes that “may contribute meaningfully to the entourage effects of cannabis-based medicinal extracts.” Terpenes create the many scents of cannabis and are shared among the plant kingdom. Scientists explored how these aromatic oils synergize and mitigate the active cannabinoids contributing to an entourage effect.

Psychoactive Honey

Honey is sometimes used to preserve mushrooms, that got me wondering if there is any kind of honey that is psychoactive, perhaps if the bees pollinated psychoactive species? Here is what i found on my quest!

First i found this documentary

DPCPX :: Caffeine Analogue :: Psychedelic Potentiator

I love caffeine, so i decided to take a look at some analogues out there, therefore I present you my favorite!

The Analogue

Meet Dipropylcyclopentylxanthine, or DPCPX, this caffeine analogue acts as a phosphodiesterase inhibitor, and is almost as potent as the nootropic rolipram at inhibiting PDE4, Like most PDE4-inhibitors, it is an anti-inflammatory drug.

Marijuana and alcohol - To mix or not to mix

Most of us mix alcohol and marijuana, actually, we mix alcohol with everything most of the times... I would say that's a foolish thing to do, but let's use science to formulate an opinion!

In the first study data suggests that ethanol may increase the absorption of THC resulting in an increase in the positive subjective mood effects of smoked marijuana. 

So you get higher and faster than with cannabis alone! If that's desired and as long as you know the risks is a good enough reason to mix both substances. But remember both have very different effects, and while alcohol potentiates the THC high, you will also feel alcohol effects.

The second study found that adolescent rats under the influence of ethanol and THC were less likely to explore than those under the influence of either ethanol or THC alone. The same study also found that adult rats given the ethanol/THC combination had more trouble remembering new objects compared with adult rats given either drug alone

Pluto's Hidden Ocean

Sub-surface oceans in the Solar System may be far more common than we’ve realized. We’ve grown used to contemplating water under the ice of Europa, but similar oceans may well exist on Ganymede and Callisto, and there are signs of a possible ocean beneath Titan, not to mention the unusual activity we continue to observe on Enceladus.

This is fascinating, but i was caught completely off-guard when i found a paper proposing a subsurface ocean on pluto! There are a bunch of articles regarding this in lots of science websites, as usuall i will just leave you the full paper!

Determination of Pesticide Residues in Cannabis Smoke

Following my previous post regarding marijuana contaminants, i thought it was time to share something more "scientific" about the subject. 

Because of all the hype regarding cannabis legalization i think it is important to demonstrate the dangers of cannabis, everyone talks about the benefits and about how safe it is, but most of the times all the info comes from studies about administered THC and not smoked material. 

The warp drive: hyper-fast travel within general relativity

Do you like Star Trek? I love Star Trek! And we all agree that the Warp Drive would be an excellent addiction to everyday technology, the good news are that theoretically we can make one! The Bad news are that it won't happen in my lifetime...

Possible Bubbles of Spacetime Curvature in the South Pacific

Does the city of Ryleh exist? Is Cthulhu dead but dreaming?

Who cares! It's a good enough reason to make a scientific paper!