To blend, or not to blend...

[BobDylanKratom]

I suspect that like many of you, I’ve got dozens (hundreds?) of strains to consider when deciding on my next serving of this wonderful leaf. I’ve read so many enticing posts extolling the virtues of blending strains — either from the same vendor or mixing multiple vendors’ strains. A mix of all greens, a fast with a slow spec, a green with a white and two reds, etc., etc. The possibilities are endless.

I never do this. I don’t have an hangups about it - I just don’t know what to blend. As someone who would like to drift inside the Blending Orbit, what are your tips to get me started?

Or, alternately, do you prefer only pure servings of your kratom? If so, why?

I’ve been meaning to ask this question for a while. I’m going to start blending blind regardless, but I would really welcome any suggestions to make the experience as effective and enjoyable as possible. Thanks in advance for any feedback!

[Marcussk]

I always take the strain by itself the first time to see how it affects me on it's own. Some "green" strains are slow for me and some "reds" are fast etc. Its like everything I got from lucky herbals, and i only ordered his "green" strains, were all slow and relaxing to me but gave me no energy boosts.
I then record its effects in a binder I use to keep track of my stash inventory, because after I got more than 10 strains I couldn't keep track. After that I blend to combine effects. Sometimes it doesn't really work out, but sometimes it really brings out the best in the leaf. If I get the effects I am looking for then I make a note of it.

An example is luckyherbals green hulu, it doesn't put me to sleep but it is super relaxing with pretty good pain relief and a mild not in your face euphoria. I take that and mix it with botanical bunny's plantation, which for me is super fast with a jittery energy but not much of any other effects. That just works great for me, makes me feel like I am zooming through whatever I am doing, but I feel chilled out at the same time.

Just play around and see what you like.

[NEFbotanicals]

tbh, lot of people in here mix the strain just for color purpose. or mix the strong one with the weak one

[BobDylanKratom]

I always take the strain by itself the first time to see how it affects me on it's own.

That makes sense. It’s what I’ve been doing all along so far, though I haven’t done a good job of documenting the effects for later use. I like the binder idea!

[BobDylanKratom]

tbh, lot of people in here mix the strain just for color purpose. or mix the strong one with the weak one

I suspected a lot of the blending was done like this, at least initially. But after reading so many success stories it seems like there are a lot of genius chemists/chefs cooking up the perfect blend to meet their specific needs or wants. Maybe it’s like a lot of other things in that folks are quick to post their successes but (understandably) not their blended failures. I think it would be equally as valuable - and entertaining - to read about the blends that didn’t work!

[Sneakers]

I always take the strain by itself the first time to see how it affects me on it's own. Some "green" strains are slow for me and some "reds" are fast etc. Its like everything I got from lucky herbals, and i only ordered his "green" strains, were all slow and relaxing to me but gave me no energy boosts.
I then record its effects in a binder I use to keep track of my stash inventory, because after I got more than 10 strains I couldn't keep track. After that I blend to combine effects. Sometimes it doesn't really work out, but sometimes it really brings out the best in the leaf. If I get the effects I am looking for then I make a note of it.

An example is luckyherbals green hulu, it doesn't put me to sleep but it is super relaxing with pretty good pain relief and a mild not in your face euphoria. I take that and mix it with botanical bunny's plantation, which for me is super fast with a jittery energy but not much of any other effects. That just works great for me, makes me feel like I am zooming through whatever I am doing, but I feel chilled out at the same time.

Just play around and see what you like.

Great minds think alike I guess lol. I do basically the same thing. First time I take the strain by itself, then I'll add it to the rotation. I actually even like that combination of Lucky GH with BB plantation md by the way. Anyways I typically combine a white, a green and a yellow/red every day. I also typically stagger these. I'll burn say 1g of a white and see how I feel, then 20 minutes or so later a green or yellow, after another 20 minutes another, etc. I don't know how efficient of a method this is, but I definitely get a variety of effects, and honestly I like it that way. The reason I stagger is to avoid unwanted consequences like too much sedation or getting too wired. I can kinda gauge how I feel and adjust accordingly. Technically I guess I'm not blending, I'm just taking multiple strains in succession.

I'm also not going to lie, its a bit of trial and error, and I have so many samples that I can make never ending combinations of the strains. So I typically try to take note when I find something that works. There have been a few times where I've even felt sort of a synergy between two strains. The strains by themselves didn't have much effect on me, but when I took them together they're amazing. I seem to have a lot of luck in this regard with TFH's greens and Fused Flora's whites.

[Marcussk]

I'll burn say 1g of a white and see how I feel, then 20 minutes or so later a green or yellow, after another 20 minutes another, etc. I don't know how efficient of a method this is, but I definitely get a variety of effects, and honestly I like it that way. The reason I stagger is to avoid unwanted consequences like too much sedation or getting too wired. I can kinda gauge how I feel and adjust accordingly. Technically I guess I'm not blending, I'm just taking multiple strains in succession.

I actually do something similar, the only difference is I really don't focus on the color but the speed of the kratom. If I know what it will do I'll take my whole dose at once, but since I have to work and not be acting crazy, when I take something I haven't I will stagger it to see how it hits me.

[NEFbotanicals]

tbh, lot of people in here mix the strain just for color purpose. or mix the strong one with the weak one

I suspected a lot of the blending was done like this, at least initially. But after reading so many success stories it seems like there are a lot of genius chemists/chefs cooking up the perfect blend to meet their specific needs or wants. Maybe it’s like a lot of other things in that folks are quick to post their successes but (understandably) not their blended failures. I think it would be equally as valuable - and entertaining - to read about the blends that didn’t work!

yup, but from my experience i found someone mix "quick effect strain" with the "late effect strain". maybe for long last effect