Newbie Amsterdam experience + questions for experts

[Toufas]

(Apologies in advance for the long post and the occasional (mis)use of the English language. This is my first post so pls be kind).

Part I

It was a couple of weeks ago when I had a proper taste of Amsterdam. I am not a smoker and last time I had a sniff was more than 10 years ago when I was still at University. But even then, it was more a case of sharing a joint with a few friends on the odd occasion and it had no effect on me whatsoever. I had never really experienced anything close to being high before. And I was visiting Amsterdam with a friend that had even less experience that me. But we were both keen to find out ...

So as soon as we left our bags we started with Blue Lagoon. I had the pre-rolled hash mixed with tobacco and my friend the pre-rolled weed (Eur3 each). As it was the first time in 10 years that I would be smoking I was expecting it to actually hit me right in the head but it didn't happen. I felt a bit buzzed and kept laughing for a while when my friend started to do some stupid moves but that was it. I also felt like the blood was pumping fast in my veins and a slight discomfort around my heart area. My friend had a period of feeling a bit funny and euphoric but it was a very brief period and he was completely aware at all times. As it was late at night we went back to the hotel slightly disappointed by the first experience but we were both looking forward for the next day.

The next day we did a bit of sightseeing in the morning and around midday we popped in one of the shops downtown to try a pure pre-rolled this time (1g, Eur6). We both went for hash and I added a bit of tobacco in it fearing that it might be too strong for me. We smoked it inhaling really fast but it did absolutely nothing to me. Funny enough, my friend was feeling it this time. It came to him after 15-20min when we had left the shop. We were walking around and we actually had to stop as he wasn't in a position to walk so he sat on a bench. He was having a hard time trying to figure out where he was and where he was going to. He had visual and audial hallucinations that he seemed to really enjoy so I patiently waited for him to recover from the high. After about an hour he regained his senses and was able to walk again without the fear that he might get hit by a tram. He certainly enjoyed the experience, his first ever, but I was really pissed off because I had felt nothing at all for the second time. We wandered around for a while and we ended up at Tops (ex Super Skunk).

This time I went for the most expensive joint in the menu. It was an Amnesia (Sativa) 1g that cost me E10 while my friend got the White Widow at the same price. There were both pure pre-rolled joints (did I tell you we had little experience on this?). Anyway, we sat inside and I started smoking it taking some long and deep breaths. If this wasn't to hit me then my brief experimentation with drugs would be over and it would have been all museums from then on. But I got lucky. THAT.WAS.IT.

I am unclear how exactly it begun but suddenly I felt the blood pumping really fast through my veins. My senses started to wake up and be more alert. Music became louder. My eyes could see further; I could see clearly at the back of the room. But it was a slightly frustrating experience and I started to feel anxious and uncomfortable. Until I found the trick; I closed my eyes and then suddenly magic happened. Numerous colors started to appear. Amazing fractals coming from everywhere. The discomfort disappeared. The music became even louder. I was feeling my heart pumping blood effortlessly faster. I took a deeper breath, I was loving it. But that was only the start. Symptoms became worse, i,e better. I was sitting next to the window that was overlooking the river. The boats were going up and down (Gay parade Weekend) with techno music at full blast. Inside the bar, crap music was playing. But I wasn't hearing either of those. Instead, I was hearing the most celestial music ever played. It was an ambient trance tune that was combining the music from the boats with the music of the bar and taking them into a different level. It was just amazing. For the first time in my life I could not feel my tinnitus anymore. This thing has destroyed my ability to enjoy music for the last 20 years. But no, not today. Today my ears could hear anything without any distortion or background noise. No matter what the actual noise/music was it was transformed into something extraordinary with amazing depth and clarity.

The barman would hit hard the coffee machine to discharge the old coffee. That noise would normally drive you mad, wouldn't it? Well, no, not me, it didn't bother me at all because amnesia converted that sound into the most beautiful industrial techno music (Autechre, Aphex Twin style). I actually wanted him to do make that horrid noise again in order to hear and believe once more what this thing was doing to me. The music was taking me into a different level. I could hear 3-4 sounds at the same time that were combined into something exceptional with the best audio performance ever. In the past I had listened to D. Gilmour/Orb collaboration in 3D sound (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3D_audio_effect) and I was left speechless. Not so much by the music but by the 3D sound. With 3D sound you get the feeling that sounds are coming from all over the place, behind your back, above your head, etc. Well, that's nothing; what I was experiencing now was 5D not just 3D!!!

And it wasn't just the sound. My other senses came to life as well. I leaned over my head on the table to rest. I then felt that the bar lady was wiping the surface of the table. But the dust from the cigarettes that was coming my way was hitting my arms like sands of arena on the blow of the desert wind. Her voice and the other guys voices that were sitting on the other side of the table were mixing with the music that was getting louder and louder. I was feeling very powerful. Vibrations through my whole body. A deeper breath. I feel I take control of every bit of my body. My breath passes through my heart and my heart is working silently at 1,000,000 miles per hour. The best well oiled machine the Germans ever made. A deeper breath and I feel even more powerful. I have the feeling that my heart is made of paper thin, invisible arteries that control every bit of my body with absolute precision. Amazing feeling. I cannot believe this is possible, I have the feeling that this is not me, it is someone else that has this amazing power. I slow down my breath, this feeling is too much. I start to see even more amazing fractals, million images pass through my eyes in milliseconds. Stuff that even the most creative guys would never think of producing I am seeing them before my eyes and I think it's a pity that they go away only for even more wonderful things to appear. I can see now where Steve Jobs got the inspiration for all those amazing Apple products ...

I am on a trip that is difficult to describe, amazing things pass in front of my eyes. Different colorful combinations, amazing images of untold beauty. I feel I am floating into a dreamland and my body is not restricting me. It is some sort of out of body experience but this is happening, it is real, I feel it. I stay on that trance for around 30mins.
After a while I start to get anxious. How am I going to get out of this? How will I ever get back to reality? I remember something I read: the best drug is not the one that takes you the highest but the one that brings you down safest. I am getting slightly nervous thinking that after this high the low might be disproportionately bad so I don't want to open my eyes. After a while, very reluctantly I open just one eye and I see my friend looking at me. I am good. Still alive and I can get back to reality. I can control this. Get innnnnn. I give him the thumbs up and I close my eyes again. This is it. Fractals re-appear. Trip continues almost where it left off. And actually feeling even better now because I do not worry how I am going to get out of it. I can control it. I know I can.
I let this go for a bit more. After a while I find the power to talk to my friend. I asked him which song was coming from the boats outside on the river. I was pretty sure that it was a crap song but I couldn't tell because amnesia was converting every sound on my head. I was right that it was a crap one; it was INXS.

When I finally came to my senses there was just one thing in my mind. I went straight to the Bar: "same again please". I took two more joints and off I went. For the next couple of hours I was busting my friends balls with this experience. I then understood why people are getting hooked to drugs. If a simple joint did this to me I couldn't imagine what stronger stuff would do to your mind. It is actually very difficult to imagine that as I don't think there is much room left for a higher degree of "highness". I would class this experience a very solid 10 based on this excellent chart I found in this forum: http://potimages.com/data/media/8/unive ... _chart.png.

to be continued...

[Mack 10]

So you enjoyed it then? lol..
Your on the crazy train now, cho cho! next stop euphoria!


glad you finally got high!

[FlyByNite]

Next trip be sure to post a trip report here.

You will find prices a bit to much higher.

Enjoy
FlyByNite

[nathan420stoner]

glad you had a good time 1st time is always great would avoid the prerolls myself i prefere to make my own spliff

[matty223]

wish i could see and hear the shit you did

[Toufas]

Part II

I could not do any more that day. For the next couple of hours I was still feeling the effects and didn't want to smoke anything else. I was really looking forward to the next morning though and as soon as we woke up we went straight to Vondelpark. During the night I kept wondering ... if I was feeling so ecstatic with that crap music and the uncomfortable environment at the coffee shop, imagine how much better it would be with my headphones and my own music on in a relaxing environment. I couldn't wait to test my theory. We found a quiet place near the big water fond. The day was lovely and the sun blazing. Off we go. Now I knew the drill; I only had to close my eyes and the journey would begin. And begin it did. No agony this time. I was into it right away. I knew what to do and now I also knew the exit strategy so it was much more comfortable to enjoy. The elements around me also helped. The sun was playing hide and seek behind the clouds. Every time the sun would come out my skin would feel the brightness and the blast of heat someone feels in the deep desert around midday. When the sun would hide then the arctic wind would blow and send a shiver down my spike. But it was so pure, crispy and clear. The wind would also occasionally send some of the fountain droplets on my skin. It was heaven. It was the most purified water ever. San Pellegrino was cleansing me.

I was wearing a light jacket that had loaded up with all sorts of perfume from testing at the duty free shop. When I changed position on the bench were I was laying the collar came close to my nostrils. That was the most beautiful, heavenly eau de perfume ever made. I smelt it and it felt like angels were directing with their wings the aroma of the most beautiful flowers across the earth to penetrate every pore of my skin. Unbelievable feeling. I had a juice next to me. I drunk a couple of sips. I felt every bit of it in my mouth. It was as if my teeth were extracted, completely cleaned and put back in their place stronger and cleaner than ever. That juice felt like the Niagara waterfalls splashing in my mouth. Fractals, colorful and unpredictable drawings were there while on the back of my eyes thousands of suns were exploding every time that the sun would come out of the clouds. Hyperbole, exaggeration. That was the distinctive of the second amnesia experience and I couldn't wait for the third.

We did a bit of sightseeing for the rest of the day on high spirits. In the afternoon we wanted to smoke another one but I wasn't close to Tops and had left the other amnesia joint back at the hotel. We bought another pre-rolled hash joint from a CS down town but it didn't do me any good. I shouldn't be experimenting I guess; once you find something you really like stick with it, no? Anyway, the next morning I went to Vondelpark alone. Unfortunately, my friend wasn't lucky enough to experience the feelings I did so he decided to go on a cultural visit outside Amsterdam. But I had stuff to do. What's the point of seeing one more windmill when you have the option of seeing millions of them and then much more?
So same ritual again (I love Vondelpark) but the high was nowhere near the first two times. I didn't experience that amazing omnipotence feeling in my heart and no audio hallucinations either. The distinctive feeling of the third amnesia was the power to withstand the impact. The impact that I felt as soon as I closed my eyes. Thousands of elephants started to jump all over my body and I wasn't feeling a thing. Massive asteroids were crashing against me and I was just walking past them with no scratch. Strange feeling ... fractals and CEVs were also there but the highness never reached the level of the first two times ...

As I wanted to leave Amsterdam with a good taste of amnesia in my mouth I went back to Tops. I asked for something similar fearing that another amnesia with diminishing returns will take the glitter off it. The helpful lady at the counter warned me though that "if you liked amnesia you are probably not going to like anything else". I wanted to try anyway and she said Cheese (Eur10) would give a much mellower feeling without the amnesia related paranoia. My friend took the same and a space cake. Off we went to Vondelpark for the last smoke of our trip. She was right, it didn't do anything for me. Only felt a little bit high but this wasn't what I was after based on the experience I had with amnesia. It didn't work for my friend either. He later gulped down the cake as well to no effect.

Time to wrap this up ... I will always remember my first proper experience in Amsterdam. That afternoon at Tops will stay for ever in my mind and it is probably the most powerful experience and most full filling one I have ever had. I am looking forward to my next Amsterdam trip already but on the back of my mind I have that fear that I reached the top already (pun intended ). Hopefully, from this forum I will get insights to make my next experience even better. I wished I had found this forum *BEFORE* I took the trip ...

*MY* recommendations for newbies:
1) Go with a friend. A friend you can trust that he wont disturb you when you are on a high, he wont abandon you or get you out of your trip for a laugh. Ideally, when you are getting high he should be sober to look out for you.
2) Find a nice place to enjoy uninterrupted highness. Vondelpark was ideal for me but bear in mind that I was there during summer. I couldn't imagine being on a high in a coffee shop and a guy accidentally stepping over my foot, brushing my arm, etc.
3) Try the pure stuff and the most expensive. No mixes or the cheapest thing on the menu. Also, inhale deeply but slowly in order to "control" how high you get.

Questions for the more experienced guys:
1) Why did my audio experience reach the top during my first amnesia when I was listening to the annoying coffee machine sound or the crappy INXS song and not when I had my own Namlook (ambient) music on my headphones? Was it because my mind was hardwired to expect what tune was coming? It doesn't make any sense ...
2) Is it because my brain was pure from sativa (first time I was ever trying it) so the first time that it was processing it it had the deepest impact? Do other people also notice that the same drug has different, i.e. diminishing effect the more you use it?
3) How is it possible to reach that level of highness with just a Eur10 joint? Is this actually what people feel when they smoke the good stuff? I can't imagine people doing this day after day though. I was knocked out for hours .... For example, how come Pengaldinho (excellent work mate, keep it up) can try +10 joints in a day???? If he gets the same feeling like I did with every joint it would be impossible to cope.
4) Someone above recommended I should avoid the prerolls. Why? what is the difference of a 1g amnesia preroll from buying 1g that I roll up (badly) myself?
5) I think I got lucky trying that amnesia joint. But I could have gone for any other joint on the menu and would have probably felt nothing. I mean, I tried 5-6 other joints during my trip and they all did nothing for me. So, how can someone reduce the element of luck? Is it a matter of keep trying different ones? I am sure some would try the amnesia that I did and feel nothing, well, my friend is a good example ... This is such a tricky game ...


Toufas

[Toufas]

And finally a bonus question:

6) Given the little I know the perfect environment to get high for me would be in my home. I would lay on my sofa have a fun constantly changing direction and probably alternating between cold and hot targeting me. A sound system playing some techno shit and probably another one with some ambient at the same time. Maybe a radio in the background as well. Someone should quietly enter the room half way through and spray me with a perfume every now and then. Different one every time. And to top it off while I am something like one hour deep into highness a bird should come and give me a blowie. I think I could probably die happy after that ... You can tell that amnesia did some serious damage in my mind, no?

If you read the two parts above you will probably understand why I think this would be the ideal set up. Environmental changes give you the opportunity to change your experience while your senses become much stronger and you feel things to the maximum. Has someone done something like this? What is YOUR perfect environment for enjoying absolute highness?

Toufas

[Pierre von Mondragon]

Reading this just makes me want to rip through all of my stash in a oner, in an old fashioned bucket stylee...

Mind you even mushrooms don't always give me great visuals, (need DMT really), but auditory pleasure is what keeps me with the weed, though it makes me less tolerant of egregious musics, a la INXS, but the best ambient layers are always real-time, eg Eno+ a documentary soudtrack+ window open+ really fucking ripped. You just got so high with no real frame of reference, that the audio experience must have been unparallelled, but you can never go home again, or something. Namlook eh? I like the first Silence and Dreamfish albums a bit, wasn't keen on Silence II & III though.

Like the writing man.

[Trashcanman]

Hi Toufas,
Glad you had such a nice experince....
I can't really give you a scentific answer to your questions to the board, rather my opinion
Ain't a doctor ya'know.
Well sativa does tend to,hmmm expand senses,thoughts and so on... i think you answered
your question regarding the experience listening to the music yourself.
To me sativa broadens all my senses especially ones my mind does not expect, you see
you actually listened to daily sounds you always would take for granted, but because your
senses were "stimulated" you actually for the first time REALLY listened to your surroundings
I always go for the sativa, it makes the world more beautiful and more....
Personally i don't smoke on a daily or even weekly basis cause like you said, your body builds a
tolerance to it... i just do it every once in a while
Course when i get to the dam, my ass gets kicked left to right from all the good weed smoked
there, last year at the cup i tumbled over, idiot that i am.
Got to Amsterdam, checked in at the Hotel, visited 6 Coffee shops to stash up, then went to
Voyagers and meet the whole ACD gang.
Never in my life did i see so many joints make the rounds, off course i took a toke of everything
offered, rolled so many myself i stopped counting, then got introduced to MR. SPOON and finally
found myself in geostationary orbit around earth (I think ).
Made the mistake that i didn't sleep for a good 36 hours and didn't eat anything during that
time, LOL
My story here is that before i left (7 days) i could smoke with the best'off em, that's how quickly
i built up a tolerance.
So I would recommend not smoking every day... just my two cents.
Maybe somebody from the board that smokes it every day could tell you how they feel about it.
That's the beauty of smokin' the herb, it doesn't get you addicted, it's up to everyone himself how
he wants to live his life.
Well regarding the pre-rolls, the guys are absolutely right, there's mostly crap in them...
Crap just meaning the shake and so on, its not very potent.
The forum here is a fountain of knowledge and if you had the honor to meet some of the Ladies and Guys
from ACD you'll understand....



Peace

[Willjay]

High Toufas, as for your sound, the coffee shop gay parade was analog sound, the head phones you were using, unless they are very expensive, do not have the dynamics that large speakers and real sound have, go get high at a concert of one of your favorites bands and test my theory

As with your tinnitus now you know why it's medical

[CloudMaster]

High Toufas,

I'm no expert but I can share what I have experienced myself and what little I know in response to your questions below:

1) Why did my audio experience reach the top during my first amnesia when I was listening to the annoying coffee machine sound or the crappy INXS song and not when I had my own Namlook (ambient) music on my headphones? Was it because my mind was hardwired to expect what tune was coming? It doesn't make any sense ...

I think this has a lot to do with your mindset at the time, that first high/stone must have been an unexpected sensation thus your senses reacted differently .

2) Is it because my brain was pure from sativa (first time I was ever trying it) so the first time that it was processing it it had the deepest impact? Do other people also notice that the same drug has different, i.e. diminishing effect the more you use it?

With any substance that affects your nervous system you start to build a tolerance with regular consumption, yes the effects will diminish the more you use it but by having breaks and changing strains you can get round this. The THC receptors in your body will continue to be affected by the use but the effects on your nervous system will be less noticeable. I use marijuana everyday for medicinal purposes and to avoid building up high tolerances I smoke light sativa dominant strains during the day and hash and Indica strains of an evening. Now Hazes can be deceptive too, starting off with a sativa mind high only for Indica body stone to hit like a sledgehammer shortly after, a friend of mine refers to it as the "Haze trap door" as in you start off high only for the floor to be pulled from under you by the ensuing indica effects.

3) How is it possible to reach that level of highness with just a Eur10 joint? Is this actually what people feel when they smoke the good stuff? I can't imagine people doing this day after day though. I was knocked out for hours .... For example, how come Pengaldinho (excellent work mate, keep it up) can try +10 joints in a day???? If he gets the same feeling like I did with every joint it would be impossible to cope.

I can still remember my first pure marijuana joint (thai stick) some 25 years ago, I was on training exercise to walk a 100 miles in 5 days, on the 3rd day we walked approximately 40 miles and the soles of my feet had disintegrated through blisters. A friend had some smoke and after a shower and change we limped to a discreet corner of camp and had a smoke, still remember how we ran back to our beds later realising our feet did not hurt anymore. I did not have hallucinations or visuals but just remember how relaxed and pain free I felt, especially my feet which had felt like lead weights all day prior to the smoke, in fact my whole body felt as if it could float.

The very opposite thing happened the first time I smoked a hashish joint, noticed very quickly that the body effects were far more intense, very heavy head and limbs. I smoked that hashish outdoors on a hot sunny day which in my opinion also affected the way I reacted, could not open my eyes and just wanted to lie down and was in no state to do anything. My friend who was not smoking commented that I had turned very pale skinned and clammy. The second time I smoked hashish I smoked a lot less and took my time with the joint, smoking a little to get the effects then pausing in between relighting the joint I found I had a similar experience to you. My mind and body were so relaxed I had cerebral journey with my eyes closed, similar to your experience with sound and visuals.

Due to regular use of marijuana and hashish I no longer feel the intensity of those early experiences and part of that is down to tolerance. It also depends on how you smoke, it can take me an hour to smoke a pure joint sometimes but I could also smoke it very quickly, like wise a pipe/ bong gives you different effects to say a bong or a vaporiser. Like Peng when in Amsterdam I like to try as many strains as I can and due to my tolerance levels I can smoke a lot, but again I do plan it out and stick to my rule of sativa for mornings maybe haze and light hash in the afternoon with Indica and strong hashish for the evening.

4) Someone above recommended I should avoid the prerolls. Why? what is the difference of a 1g amnesia preroll from buying 1g that I roll up (badly) myself?

If you can't roll buy pre rolled cones to fill or a rolling machine. Prerolls form certain reputable coffeeshops are fine but its always better to buy your marijuana so you can see and smell it to gauge its quality and potency, with prerolls you could end up with the dregs of a tub or flowers that are past their best with no say in the matter.

5) I think I got lucky trying that amnesia joint. But I could have gone for any other joint on the menu and would have probably felt nothing. I mean, I tried 5-6 other joints during my trip and they all did nothing for me. So, how can someone reduce the element of luck? Is it a matter of keep trying different ones? I am sure some would try the amnesia that I did and feel nothing, well, my friend is a good example ... This is such a tricky game ...

We all react differently to effects of marijuana/hashish due to our THC receptors, different strains give different effects, this can be said of smoking and eating cannabis, for some smoking has more of an effect and for some eating has.

6) Given the little I know the perfect environment to get high for me would be in my home. I would lay on my sofa have a fun constantly changing direction and probably alternating between cold and hot targeting me. A sound system playing some techno shit and probably another one with some ambient at the same time. Maybe a radio in the background as well. Someone should quietly enter the room half way through and spray me with a perfume every now and then. Different one every time. And to top it off while I am something like one hour deep into highness a bird should come and give me a blowie. I think I could probably die happy after that ... You can tell that amnesia did some serious damage in my mind, no?

If you read the two parts above you will probably understand why I think this would be the ideal set up. Environmental changes give you the opportunity to change your experience while your senses become much stronger and you feel things to the maximum. Has someone done something like this? What is YOUR perfect environment for enjoying absolute highness?

Try a few different strains and hashish, always in a comfortable environment, some sativa strains give you a very clear mind high which is good for the day and in social situations and I think a strain such as Super Silver Haze sounds right up your street. Try an indica strain or hashish if you want to relax and couch lock with a film etc. My preferred smoking environment is usually with nature and sunny outdoors when possible.

No damage done but this does sound like the beginning of your journey of discovery, as you try different strains and different types of marijuana you will see that they have many facets and dimensions. I hope you enjoy all your new discoveries in the same way as you did on your trip. Looking forward to your next trip report (pun intended) .

Every cloud has a silver lining..................

[worldcitizen1723]

buy a pipe. smoke pure no comparison to a pre rolled joint

[Toufas]

Many thanks for the replies guys. Some excellent advice here, especially from CouldMaster, thanks again. I will certainly try Super Silver Haze next time and report back

Building up tolerance is a bitch to be honest, so moderating intake or do it only on special occasions sounds like a good advice. I felt incredible but I am not sure I would be happy doing it every weekend for example. Not that I could from where I am currently, but special things I guess are not meant to be for very frequent use ...

Willjay you are a legend: "As with your tinnitus now you know why it's medical " I am still laughing with this.

Getting high on a concert sounds like fun, though when I was tripping with amnesia I didn't feel like moving or doing anything active at all. Mind you, my friend had to move me from where I was sitting as the waitress had to rearrange the tables; I am not sure how exactly this happened as when I was done with my trip I was sitting somewhere else but I couldn't remember how did I physically move.
I think getting high anywhere else than in a controlled environment would have been very dangerous in my case. Maybe with a different strain I could try the concert, I recall taking a couple of E's in a club with techno smashing it big time and it was good fun ...

[courtjester]

I'll just take one of whatever you're having, my man.