I wan’t to talk a little bit about herbal incenses. I’ll explain what exactly they are, how they’re made, their highs, and why they are potentially dangerous. I’ve come across many people using these, not knowing what they really are. There’s even people that still believe that they’re completely natural. (I did when I first began using them.) Although, I have smoked some completely natural blends, they have never gotten me high and have only produced a relaxing effect. 

What is an “herbal incense”? An herbal incense is a blend of different herbs that is laced with research chemicals. They are sold as “incenses” and labeled “not for human consumption”, but the research chemicals that they contain are solely to get you high. They serve absolutely no purpose for an incense.

What are research chemicals? Research chemicals or RC’s, are chemicals that have been made to mimic the effects of illegal substances. They are initially created to be able to legally research illegal substances. Hence the name “Research Chemicals”.

Why are research chemicals potentially dangerous? These chemicals have a very short history of human use and are often active in extremely small amounts. Because of this, it can be very easy to overdose if you don’t know what you’re doing. Their short history also makes any possible long term effects unknown.

Why do people smoke herbal incense? There are a few reasons why people prefer to smoke herbal incense rather than marijuana. Herbal incense could be obtained legally (not anymore around here, though). It’s much more convenient to go to a store that’s always stocked rather than a drug dealer. Herbal incenses do not show up in standard urine tests. Herbal incenses are cheaper than marijuana. 

What is the high like? This is a hard question to answer. The effects of herbal incenses can vary greatly depending on the research chemicals used in them, the quality of the research chemicals, and the ratio at which they’re blended into the incenses. I’ve also noticed that the effects vary greatly from person to person. The most general things that I can say about the high is that it typically produces a stimulating effect with a lot of euphoria and confusion. The high’s usually last around 20 minutes or so. After that there is a period of relaxation and tiredness. After this period has passed, it’s like you had never been high at all.

Tolerance is tricky. Most herbal incenses from my experience are very potent. I’ve only smoked a few that haven’t been. You’re tolerance to them builds up fairly quickly, as well. When first starting off, only take one or two hits. If my tolerance is built up, there’s a point of smoking where I just don’t get any higher than I already am. If my tolerance isn’t built up and I make the mistake of smoking too much, it can easily send me into a very uncomfortable high. Just one hit has been too much on a low tolerance when I had other substances in me as well. Research chemicals can be life threatening when overdosed on.

What are the side effects? Side effects vary. Long term side effects are still unknown. But I can explain side effects that I and people around me have experienced. I’ve seen a few people with low tolerance vomit and even enter seizure-like states. It’s common to get a headache after smoking multiple times in a couple hour time span. I’ve often experienced rapid heartbeat, shortness of breath, and light headedness. Heavy use has led to a depressive, ego death type state, lasting weeks. Heavy use has also lead to marijuana barely affecting me. This is common in many people that I have spoken to. It can take months before marijuana will begin affecting you the way it should be again. 

How have herbal incenses been able to avoid the law? The herbs that are chosen for these blends are chosen for a reason. Many herbal incenses use legal herbs that already have known psychoactive properties. Although these will not actually get you high, it serves as a mask for the research chemicals because the herbs have the possibility of being behind the high. The herbs wont get you high because either you would need to use heavy amounts of them, or smoking doesn’t allow for the full effects of them to be released. Many of these herbs are stronger when digested, rather than smoked. 

The government has been trying to ban each individual research chemical. There are many research chemicals and trying to ban them individually is difficult. In order to find if an herbal incense contains research chemicals, there has to be a test done for every single research chemical. There is no general test for research chemicals. They are all different from each other and need individual tests. There are even still new research chemicals being made and many don’t even have a test developed to detect them yet.

Herbal incenses are marketed, well…. as incense! They are clearly labeled “Not For Human Consumption”. Some state things such as “Free of JWH chemicals!”. This, however, does not mean that they are free of research chemicals. JWH chemicals are just a specific series of research chemicals that have been banned. Other herbal incense packages even give you directions on how to use it as an incense. They’ll say something like “Place in bowl and ignite to release the natural scent”. Like you’re just going to light your whole 4 grams of it on fire in a bowl to get a few seconds of “scent” after you paid 30 dollars for it.

Even though they managed to sneak around the law for good decade or so, many areas are placing bans on herbal incenses in general. The research chemicals themselves can still be obtained from online vendors though.

How are herbal incenses made? Making herbal incenses is pretty simple, but you deal with some chemicals that may make you think twice about smoking it. 

What you’ll need:

• Research chemical of choice
• Herb of choice
• Digital Scale
• Glass bowl with lid
• Small glass jar with screw on lid
• Can of Pure Acetone
• A well ventilated area
• A place to wash your hands… frequently

As you may have noticed, you need PURE ACETONE. This is not the watered down acetone in the plastic bottles that you use to remove your nail paint with, this is industrial 100% pure acetone that can be found in the paint removal section at the hardware store in metal cans, as they would eat through plastic. This is also why you need your bowl made out of glass. The area needs to be well ventilated because acetone is harmful if you breathe it in. Yes, this stuff goes on the herbal incense you’re going to be making… and smoking… as in breathing in. Having second thoughts about smoking it yet? The acetone is needed to dissolve your research chemical because things like water is not strong enough to dissolve it. The idea is that all of the acetone will evaporate off of the incense and therefore be acetone free when you smoke it. But who knows how long the incense that you’re smoking was left out for the evaporation process before sealing it in a package. I’ve also noticed that the acetone does leave behind a residue, which I would assume isn’t healthy to smoke. You need to wash your hands frequently when making this because you’re going to be handling the acetone with your bare hands. I’ve tried to wear gloves, but the acetone eats through the fingertips so they end up doing no good anyway. It’s also easier to use your bare hands to feel the wetness of the herb to ensure it’s consistency. During the time period that I was making herbal incenses, my hands became very dry.

Before beginning, you will need to determine your chemical to herb ratio. I would always make a strong blend one ounce at a time. I would use 1 gram of research chemical for every ounce of herb, which is what i’ll use for the instructions.

What to do:

1. Weigh out an ounce of herb and put it into your glass bowl.
2. Weigh out 1 gram of research chemical and put it into your small glass jar.
3. Fill the small glass jar with acetone, screw the lid on, and shake it until the research chemical is fully dissolved.
4. Unscrew the lid to the small glass jar and pour your acetone/research chemical mixture as evenly as you can over your herb in your glass bowl. I actually used two lids for my small glass jar. One of the lids I had poked holes in to make it easier to pour consistently over my herb.
5. Put the lid on your glass bowl and shake it until all of the herb is wet with the mixture. I would use my hand to feel for consistency. 
6. With the lid off of the bowl, wait for all of the acetone to evaporate. It should be completely dry before smoking it. To speed up the drying process, I would spread my herb out onto a cooking pan.
7. You’re Done

Herbal Incenses are obviously way cheaper to make than to buy. The only thing of any cost is the research chemical. The other materials will last you a while. I mentioned earlier herbal incenses being 30 bucks for like 4 grams in the store. When you make them, you’re basically making an ounce for the price you would have paid in the store for 4 grams. Unfortunately, high quality research chemical vendors can be difficult to find. The vendors should also be based in the country that you’re located, because they probably wouldn’t go too well through customs. 

These highs can be fun for a little while, but trust me, they definatly aren’t worth dying or going to the hospital for. Weed can fuck you up every bit as much and lasts way longer. Dish out the extra few bucks for a safer, natural, more satisfying high. But hey, that’s just my opinion.

Peace.

**DISCLAIMER** - I am not telling anyone to use, make, or sell herbal incenses. They may be illegal or a danger to your health. This is strictly for informational and harm reduction purposes only. I am not liable for the things that you choose to do. Please take caution when using any substance.

I recently had the worst trip I’ve ever had. It’s something I hope to never experience again. During this time, i had been using LSA, alcohol, and herbal incense. Up until this experience, I had only been smoking herbal incense when offered. After this experience, I made the decision to never smoke herbal incense again.

I was going over to my friend’s house to chill and have some drinks. Before I left, I decided to use up the last of my hawaiian baby woodrose seeds. I think it was about 8 seeds or so. I ground them up and ate them probably about 20 minutes before I left. On my way to my friend’s house I started to notice some slight effects. The street lights were enjoyable to watch and other things were a little difficult to concentrate on. I timed my consumption of the seeds about perfectly. Soon after I got to my friend’s house, the effects were starting to come on stronger. 

I started to drink a little and I was having an awesome start to my trip. My friend was trying to do something with her stereo and wanted me to help her, but I was unable. Electronics are too confusing in that state of mind. I was laying back on the couch enjoying the music and talking to my friend. The alcohol and the LSA were mixing really well. I looked up as I layed back at a picture that was hanging over my head. It was thick and stuck out of the wall a little ways. I was amused by the edges of the picture because they began warping in and out. I dont normally get too many visuals from hawaiian baby woodrose, so I think it was the extra kick from the alcohol that helped it along. I was well into my trip by now and my friend pulled me into her room, where I made a very bad decision.

I went into the doorway of her room where she pulled out her corncob pipe. She wanted to smoke there, since the smoke bothered the other person that was there at the time. There wasn’t any actual herbal incense left in the pipe, only the resin from it. Thinking a hit of resin probably wouldn’t do that much, I went ahead and took a hit. I could almost instantly feel myself get higher. It had only been a few minutes since I had taken the hit and I had entered a full blown panic attack. I began to have a lot of trouble breathing and my heart felt like it was beating very weirdly. I was in extreme discomfort and I couldn’t concentrate on anything except for my breathing. My sense of time and the order of which things were happening were completely fucked. I kept trying to stay put on the couch and try to relax the panic away. But I felt like I needed to get up and walk around to keep myself grounded to reality. I kept going to the bathroom because I didn’t know if I was going to throw up or not. LSA numbs my insides so I couldn’t tell. I felt like I was going to pass out. I wanted fresh air. I was overheating in the apartment. I walked outside into the cold winter air. It felt great. I walked around a little bit outside, trying to calm myself down. I thought I was going to fall right into the snow and pass out. I had never been this high in my life and I became extremely concerned for my health. I seriously felt like I was going to die. Everything that I had been taking for granted was coming to the front of my mind all at once. I kept telling myself that I’m going to be okay. I had been outside in the cold for quite a while with no jacket. What was left of my logical mind told me that I needed to go back inside or I would end up freezing to death. The cold air just felt so good and I dreaded going back inside. I knew I had to though, so I did. I made my way back inside and sat on the couch trying to focus on my breathing. My friend kept talking but I couldn’t understand the things that she was saying. This is where they became concerned for me. 

The other girl that was there was trying to tell me to take one of her adderalls, telling me that it would sober me up fast. At first I kept saying no. I’m still pretty new to adderall and have only taken it a few times. With the way that my heart was beating and the way that I was breathing, I felt like a stimulant was the last thing that I needed. But my situation kept heading more south and there was no sign of it improving. Finally I asked her for the adderall. I didn’t know how much longer I could keep myself concious. She was right. After I took the adderall, I sobered up very quickly. I was so relieved and thankful that I was starting to feel normal again. It wasn’t long before I was able to drive myself back home. All I wanted to do was to crawl into bed with my girlfriend and my dogs and sleep.

I should of known that it was going to be a bad idea to smoke the resin of the herbal incense based on previous experiences. I’m confident that the trip would have remained wonderful if I would have just stayed away from it. Even though this is something that I never wish upon myself again, this experience did make me re-appreciate many things I had been taking for granted lately. In the end, I came out a better person. But my run with herbal incenses has come to an end and I will never be smoking them again.

Peace.

**DISCLAIMER** - I am not telling anyone to try or use any of these substances as they may be illegal or a danger to your health. This is strictly for informational and harm reduction purposes only. I am not liable for the things that you choose to do. Please take caution when using any substance.

I want to write a little about a couple of things I’ve been told by friends about their herbal incense experiences and ones I’ve witnessed. These are only the things that stick out to me. I’ve had my own share of herbal incense experiences, both positive and negative, but I’ll tell more about my experiences over time. 

I know a couple people who claim to have gone into seizure-like states after smoking herbal incense. I also know someone who has actually gone to the hospital more than once after smoking it. Another friend of mine has told me that after smoking herbal incense for a period of time, they began to cough up odd colored shit. (I’ve done research on many of the actual herbs that are used in a lot of these herbal incense blends and some of them actually claim to clear your respiratory system, so this could be the cause of the cough? But that doesn’t explain the odd colors.) I also recently spoke to someone who had gotten very sick on it and sounded very similar to an experience that I witnessed at my house, which I’ll explain now.

I was at my house one night, sitting with my uncle. With our high built up tolerance to herbal incense, we were blazing it off of my hookah like champs. My cousin had just got dropped off and walked in the door. His mom, who dropped him off, decided to go next door to my house and visit my aunt. My cousin takes a seat and we pass him the hookah hose. He has NEVER smoked herbal incense before, therefore, has no tolerance. I should have taken this into consideration. He only takes two hookah hits (which are actually quite large out of a hookah) before he’s gone. We were watching “Salad Fingers” on YouTube at the time because it’s especially creepy while high. My cousin started freaking out about the show and told us to “turn that shit off”. Shortly after that, he then laid back in his chair and seemed to leave this earth. His eyes were fluttering and he was pretty unresponsive to our voice. This must be that seizure-like state. Out of nowhere, puke spewed from his mouth and all over my living room. It looked like something from the exorcist. At this point, I started to worry. I could tell that there was a little worry in my uncle’s eyes as well. That worried me even more with my uncle being a pretty experienced drug user. After that, my cousin continued with his journey while still sitting in his mess. Probably about another 10 minutes had gone by before he started to snap out of it and come back to reality. He looked around with a look of confusion. “Wha… What the fuck?”, he said as he looked around at the explosion of vomit. He looked at me and said, “Dude… did I do this?” I told him that he indeed did. I was amazed that he didn’t even know that it was him that threw up all over the place. I told him that he could use the shower and that I would borrow him a change of clothes. While he was in the shower, my aunt called me saying that my cousin’s mom wanted to come over and visit. I straight out told her no. She asked why and I said that there were things over here that she shouldn’t be seeing. I figured she would probably hate me if she came over here to find her son completely fucked up after only about 20 minutes of being dropped off at my house. So I told them to stay there and that we would come over there and visit shortly. My cousin had been in the shower for a while and I checked up on him about three different times. The first time I went to check up on him, I stood outside the door calling his name, with no response. After I called a few times I finally heard a faint “what the fuck?”. Good, he was conscious, so I went and sat back down. He responded fine the other times I went to check on him. After he finally got out of the shower, I told him that we had to go next door and talk to his mom. We went over there with him wearing totally different clothes. He was totally sober now and had no problem communicating. When his mom asked why he was wearing my clothes, he simply said that he spilled soda on his.

I really don’t know if this was a positive or a negative experience for him. After the experience, he came up to me and said, “That was awesome”. But the next time he was over, he wen’t on some stoned babble about how you should just smoke weed, hah. The experience was quite worrisome for those of us watching, though. There is also another experience of a friend, which I’ll share next.

This is also another person who had never smoked herbal incense before. We rolled a joint of it and smoked it up. After the joint was smoked, he said that he wasn’t feeling anything. My girlfriend and I were already really high and couldn’t understand why he had yet to feel anything. So, we decided to smoke some more off of the hookah to ensure his highness. After that, he STILL claimed to not feel anything and said that he was going to leave. When he stood up, he paused. After a few seconds had passed he was like “Where the fuck am I!?” He had clearly began feeling it. After that, he sat down and stayed for about another half hour and watched “Salad Fingers” with us. We have a thing about watching that when we’re high on herbal incense, haha.

Then there was the time that I got my own mother high on it. I went over to my her house and was sitting out on the deck with her. She was stressing over some stuff and complained of a headache. I somehow convinced her to have this “herbal smoke” with me. It did take a little bit of work and promising that it wasn’t marijuana. I was very careful not to let on any sign that this was going to get her high. After convincing her, I rolled our joint. After we smoked it, I asked her if she was feeling anything. She gave me kind of a shitty look and said, “I don’t know, am I supposed to be?”. I told her no and started to laugh. She knew what was going on and I could tell that she was feeling it. She got really pissed for a minute and was yelling about what a mean thing I had done. She was attempting to make a phone call and kept fucking the number up and couldn’t dial. After this, she got giggly and had a funny look on her face. After she came down from her high, she told me that dad had better not find out about this. But at least I got rid of that pesky headache she had!

Another time, my girlfriend invited this girl to come hang out with us for a bit. I had never met this girl before, so I don’t really know how she normally acts, but when she got in the car, she was calm enough. After smoking with us, she turned into a completely different person. She had a massive burst of energy and was acting like she was going to explode open. It would have seemed as if she had just done some coke or something. I’ve seen it have quite a stimulating effect on a lot of people, including myself, but not to quite that extent.

These are only a few things I’ve heard from people and witnessed. Most of the other things I’ve heard are pretty much of the norm and aren’t worth mentioning. That’s all, folks!

Peace.

**DISCLAIMER** - I am not telling anyone to try or use herbal incenses as it may be illegal or a danger to your health. This is strictly for informational and harm reduction purposes only. I am not liable for the things that you choose to do. Please take caution when using any substance.

I used to smoke A LOT of herbal incenses. I was making them for a period of time, as well. But, this post is just a little about my first time smoking it.

I was sitting at my friends house visiting. She tells me that I need to try this shit that will fuck me up. So I told her I was down and she rolled a joint of “Chill” brand herbal incense. (Chill was my favorite and among the most potent in my area up until the herbal incense ban.) And it did smell very good, might I add. It only took a couple hits for me to realize that this was powerful shit. I was sitting on my friend’s couch and felt my chest and jaw area’s tighten. My heart beat accelerated and I had a slight shortness of breath. I was really freakin high. Everything in my vision became wavy. I felt like if i stood up, I would just fall back over. This is the only time I’ve experienced this waviness, but I remember it was at that point where I turned to my friend and was like “what the fuck is this shit!?” My high lasted about 20 minutes, which is about the average with herbal incenses.

I definitely would not have been able to drive during that experience, although driving later became one of my favorite things to do while high on it. So, that was the beginning of my heavy herbal incense phase that lasted about a year or so. It was cheaper and easier to obtain than pot. I no longer smoke herbal incense for various reasons, which I’ll explain in a future article.

Peace.

**DISCLAIMER** - I am not telling anyone to try or use herbal incenses as it may be illegal or a danger to your health. This is strictly for informational and harm reduction purposes only. I am not liable for the things that you choose to do. Please take caution when using any substance.