HaCKeRz Kr0nlcKLeZ 1/HaCKeRz Kr0nlcKLeZ.iso/drugs/guarana.rpts

Internet Message Format | 1996-05-06 | 6.9 KB

From: [e-mail] (Dennis McClain-Furmanski)
Newsgroups: alt.drugs
Subject: Guarana
Date: 17 Mar 1995 23:08:03 GMT
Message-ID: <3kd4oj$[e-mail]>

Got a new shipment in from ...OTJ today.
Although there's much to be tried that I find exciting,
I'm going to try to keep them seperate, so I can get a good
feel for the various independent effects.

The one I decided to start with (it coming just after I woke
up) was the Guarana. Here's the ...OTJ catalog blurb:

"GUARANA' (Paullinia cupana, var. sorbills)
Famed tonic stimulant of the Brazillian Amazon. Natives
insist that their daily dose of Guarana' serves as far more
than a powerful stimulant, claiming it acts as both an
aphrodesiac as well as a treatment for headache, fever and
cramps. The high content of tetra-methyl-xanthine,
hypoxanthine, guaranine, theophylline and theobromine
accounts for its intensely pleasurable stimulant effects
which propel the mind and body for up to six hours.
Prescribed as a replacement drug for those that cannot
tolerate coffee or tea, but its unusual saponin content
(timbonine) underlies the long term tonic effect (ginseng
owes its activity to saponins). Known as a healthy stimulant
and prefect sustaining food substitute during fasts and
diets, it's also fun! One of the few crops of Amazonia with
positive ecological status: supports the peoples and
habitats of the Amazon Rainforest. Free report on all
aspects of Guarana' /w any order.  4 oz. $10.
1 lb. $32, extract, 1 oz $10"

The basic background I can add is the fact that while we
make soft drinks out of cola, the people in South America
make it out of guarana.

This comes from ...OTJ as a powder from the seeds. It is to
be taken cold -- that is you do not make a hot tea with it
like so many other preparations. Dosage is 2 to 4 grams
(flat to rounded teaspoon) for stimulant action, more for
intoxication. It can also be prepared as an alcohol extract,
which has a quicker action. You can dump it directly into a
drink (it works well in a bottle of Snapple) or stuff it
into capsules if you want to avoid the grit in your mouth.
It unfortunately tastes like cardboard, but not too
unpleasant to take directly.

Effects: I can only quote Tom Wolfe from _The Electric
Kool-Aid Acid Test_: Rrrrrrrrrrrevrevrevrevrevrevrev...
At 4 grams I am cranking about like a 5 mg Desoxyn with none
of the side effects of shakiness or tendency (for me) to
anticipate the flame out. I have the strong urge to write,
but none of the scattered inability to stick to any one
subject. And NONE of the itchy twitchy subliminally nauseous
crankiness of massive caffiene doses. I'm definitely not
hungry, but don't have the caustic anorexic tight stomach
that comes with PPA based diet pills; this could well be a
good substitute. It's much more of a can-eat-but-no-appetite
than a can't-stomach-the-idea-of-food. And I'm definitely
not pacing the floor between sentences like I have been
after a pot of coffee while trying to finish my thesis. It
doesn't have the high of speed (not at this dose), but it
does have much of the get-things-done drive. I doubt I'll
stay up all night and re-fret my guitar like I did on crank,
but I *could* if I wanted to. I got none of this kind of effect from the
health food store guarana pills I bought.
And no jaw clenching, either. No tenseness anywhere in fact.

Coffee? Yeah, sure, just pour it in a hollow gourd and bring
it to me in my cave. It'll go good with this raw mastadon.

This stuff is $0.36 US per 4 gram dose if you buy 4 oz.,
$0.28 per dose if you get a pound. It favorably replaces
many cups of coffee in effect, and to my mind, in cost.
And it feels much more comfortable to me, like it's making
me able to do things more and better, instead of *making* me
do things more, faster, and questionably better. I have the
choice to participate in the stimulation.

Since last time I posted about something from ...OTJ (re: Dream Herb) I
got umpty-dump requests for the address, I'll give it now to avoid that.

... Of The Jungle
PO Box 1801
Sebastopol, CA
95473

Catalog is $2.00 US and well worth it for the excellent
information it contains about many plants, their uses, and
their preparation. I hear tell it takes weeks to get the
catalog. But I get my orders in a week or so. Consider using
money orders instead of checks.

--
[e-mail]                                       The Doctor is on.

=============================================================================

Newsgroups: alt.drugs
From: [e-mail] (Steve Dyer)
Subject: Re: Guarana
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Date: Sat, 18 Mar 1995 03:15:19 GMT

In article <3kd4oj$[e-mail]>,
Dennis McClain-Furmanski <[e-mail]> wrote:
   >"GUARANA' (Paullinia cupana, var. sorbills)
   >Famed tonic stimulant of the Brazillian Amazon. Natives
   >insist that their daily dose of Guarana' serves as far more
   >than a powerful stimulant, claiming it acts as both an
   >aphrodesiac as well as a treatment for headache, fever and
   >cramps. The high content of tetra-methyl-xanthine,
   >hypoxanthine, guaranine, theophylline and theobromine
   >accounts for its intensely pleasurable stimulant effects
   >which propel the mind and body for up to six hours.

Gee, they forgot to mention that "guaranine", the primary alkaloid
in guarana, is just another term for "caffeine", and that hypoxanthine
and theobromine are without any psychoactive effects, and that there
is very little theophylline or theobromine in guarana, and that
there is no such thing as "tetramethylxanthine".

In other words, this is New Age marketing bullshit for an herb which
contains caffeine.

   >Prescribed as a replacement drug for those that cannot
   >tolerate coffee or tea, but its unusual saponin content
   >(timbonine) underlies the long term tonic effect (ginseng
   >owes its activity to saponins).

Yeah, right.  Even if ginseng had any "tonic" effect (a very arguable
assertion), the fact that guarana has a "saponin" too, says nothing about
its effects.  A saponin is just a generic term for a sterol molecule
attached to sugar molecules.

   >Known as a healthy stimulant
   >and prefect sustaining food substitute during fasts and
   >diets, it's also fun! One of the few crops of Amazonia with
   >positive ecological status: supports the peoples and
   >habitats of the Amazon Rainforest. Free report on all
   >aspects of Guarana' /w any order.  4 oz. $10.
   >1 lb. $32, extract, 1 oz $10"

Coffee is a lot cheaper.

   >Effects: I can only quote Tom Wolfe from _The Electric
   >Kool-Aid Acid Test_: Rrrrrrrrrrrevrevrevrevrevrevrev...
   >At 4 grams I am cranking about like a 5 mg Desoxyn with none
   >of the side effects of shakiness or tendency (for me) to
   >anticipate the flame out. I have the strong urge to write,
   >but none of the scattered inability to stick to any one
   >subject. And NONE of the itchy twitchy subliminally nauseous
   >crankiness of massive caffiene doses.

I'll bet you're a cheap drunk, too.

--
Steve Dyer
[e-mail]