Who here has tried Khat?

[pokerfan]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khat

I've had it during every trip to Saudi. It's very pleasent, much nicer than coffee.

[SofaKingLiberal]

1. You can buy it here..

http://www.miraakhatshop.co.uk/index.html

[pokerfan]

2. But I can't

"At present we cannot sell Miraa to customers residing in Norway, Sweden and the USA."

[SofaKingLiberal]

4. I missed that. Here's a place that will sell the seeds.

http://www.bouncingbearbotanicals.com/khat-p-89.html


With the following disclaimer:

Disclaimer

All of the Ethnobotanicals available from this site are sold for research, education and propagation purposes only. None of the Ethnobotanicals sold are for human consumption. Some of the Ethnobotanicals available are poisonous. The Herbals available have not been evaluated by the FDA. Research all Herbals before using. Use at your own risk.

Customers must be over 18 years of age to purchase anything from this site.

Bouncing Bear, anyone and anything related to Bouncing Bear and this site can not be held accountable for any of your actions or choices.

CUSTOMERS WHO VIOLATE THE USER AGREEMENT WILL BE PROSECUTED TO THE FULL EXTENT THE LAW ALLOWS

[EstimatedProphet]

3. If anyone has used it, how is it like ephedrine?

That's the stuff in diet pills, and I hate it.

[pokerfan]

5. No idea

I never chewed the leaves, always took it as tea, in place of morning coffee. Just made me feel mildly euphoric and alert but without any of the normal coffee nervousness and jitters.

So, of course our government classifies it as a Schedule 1 drug under the Controlled Substances Act.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

8. Not even remotely similar

Ephedrine is awful, chemically stuff.

Khat is very smooth and natural. No jitters, no unpleasant skin feelings, no "hangover". It's actually kind of relaxing in its own special way. You just kind of pay close attention to all sorts of things without making any effort whatsoever.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

6. I went on a weekend bender on that stuff once.

My roommate and I had some Ethiopian friends in college who would randomly drop in and party with us -- and then disappear back to their normal diaspora and studies -- sometimes for months at a time.

They had always told us about how wonderful khat was, but we had never even heard of it. So, one Labor Day weekend they showed up with a coffee can filled with the stuff.

We partied like usual all weekend -- except for the khat that we were constantly chewing and brewing into tea. Finally, on Monday, we did a traditional Ethiopian tea ceremony and studied all afternoon as is, apparently, common practice among Ethiopian students.

Personally, I loved the stuff. It was all very natural, and I primarily felt very focused and awake. On anything. And everything. At some of the more intense moments, it almost bordered on psychedelic. At some point, we went out to a party and I could very distinctly follow about 4 different conversations simultaneously.

[Deja Q]

7. Must... resist... temptation... to be... obviously vulgar!

:rofl:

[driver8]

9. Is this the same stuff as "qat"?? (Great scrabble word, by the way)

There was an article in Rolling Stone about the men in Pakistan (I think?) who chew Qat. Is this the same stuff?

[pokerfan]

10. Same thing

In fact it was Pakis who gave it to me in S.A.