How would you rate kratom quality every year?

[Rannek]

Hi there! I am very curious about your opinion! How would you rate each year kratom quality overall in a 1-10 scale? In your own personal subjective experience?

Here is my list:

I started using kratom in 2014.

2014: 7 (Good overall quality)
2015: 7 (Good overall quality)
2016: 9 (This was the year on of my best batches ever, fire strains everywhere)
2017: 8 (There was still some fire batches out there)
2018: 5 (Quality dropped heavily, but still ok)
2019: 7 (Overall good quality, a few bunk)
2020: 2 (Very poor batches)
2021: 1 (Lot of bunk bunk batches lately, there was one that not even smelled kratom more. It had a golden root smell.

Share your opinion!

[Madvillain626]

i'd give 2020 at least a 7. Lots of great green and white strains. Fire batches I'd put against anything I've had before like Wild Green Hulu from TFH, Super Green from 7ohm and Yellow MD from Mitraman

high point was definitely 2015/2016, tho part of that might just be nostalgia. Everything felt new and the "kratom industry" was firing on all cylinders. You had mmspeciosa, Socal, Gaia, Motark, Kratom-og, DG botanicals, phyto extractum along with smaller vendors like doodle and sourced by masochista. Felt like there were a wider range of "good" vendors. I'd say there is a pre and post ban-scare era from kratom. Socal getting sued and reddit banning vendors and strain reviews killed the vibe a bit. Thank god for Doublem. The low point for me was defintely 2018. Not terrible, just meh.

[SanPedroLover]

Did anybody on here ever use Speciosa Pro or Herb Research back in the day? Their stuff was always legit. Also loved Koda @ Meridian Botanicals (not sure what happened with him last year) and DG Botanicals. And I used to get Nomad Botanicals for years and a guy named Eroc from the old Entheogen.com forum wwaayy back.

[BallzDeep9]

How would you rate each year kratom quality overall in a 1-10 scale?

hey there Ranned, very good Topic! Thanks for starting this... I'll first say, you're Spot On. In my humble Opinion!

I didn't start until 2016, but the 2017 quality was very good I agree. WHY ?? Simple answers: Most kratom was still wild harvest. The Indo's began planting seeds around 2014, 2015, pretty sure that's accurate... Generally speaking... maybe some veteran's here could confirm.

THEN the Big Panic in November 2017 !! . Huge "Kratom Scare" and fear-mongering on the Internet!! BUY Everything!! within 2 weeks ALL online vendors were Sold Out. Even big sellers like SoCal got wiped out in just days. So... Over 300 vendors in USA, all contacted Indo's around Dec 2017 / New Year 2018 "We're totally out, Please send us anything!!"

That's what the Indo's did!! They shipped anything and everything... Pick some bunk Hirsuta/ Javanica leaf, and call it Kratom? Oh yeah. So YES - half of 2018 was bad. But!! By the Fall things bounced back. 2019 started out good. Lots of Buyers... Too many buyers? BOOM !! Kratom Demand boomed in 2018, 2019... Supply once again, was falling short. Thats when the major Shipping fiasco, "Shipping Blockade" happened in late 2019... remember? What really happened? We saw photos of POS Indonesia with months of shipments in a huge pile. Postal shipments were not moving... FDA began seizing more packages... DHL and UPS were flagging Customs on everything. Ouch!!

So 2019 into 2020... "The Year of Container Kratom" saw 100 Ton loads being shipped by Air Cargo... and it was Plantation crap. No more "Wild Harvest" ??

[Greyfeather]

So 2019 into 2020... "The Year of Container Kratom" saw 100 Ton loads being shipped by Air Cargo... and it was Plantation crap. No more "Wild Harvest" ??

For some reason this made me think of Storage Unit Kratom Guy. Oh lord That is still the best chapter I have ever read on these boards. What a character. I'm just assuming he had to sell all of that 'treasure kratom' for extract.

[Luvndpeace]

Hmmm Store unit Kratom guy - sounds very interesting Grey.

[GrannyJ62]

O man Storage Locker Guy lmao
I swear all I have is fire leaf Thanks to
Lizasbestbotanicals
TFH
Rhino Remedies
So many more reccomended here off ballz list.
2020 was the Best Year for me it just depends on who you trust

[GrannyJ62]

You can search and check it out I can't bump it cause e poison locked it but thanks for reminding me about that guy what a piece of work

[Rannek]

How would you rate each year kratom quality overall in a 1-10 scale?

hey there Ranned, very good Topic! Thanks for starting this... I'll first say, you're Spot On. In my humble Opinion!

I didn't start until 2016, but the 2017 quality was very good I agree. WHY ?? Simple answers: Most kratom was still wild harvest. The Indo's began planting seeds around 2014, 2015, pretty sure that's accurate... Generally speaking... maybe some veteran's here could confirm.

THEN the Big Panic in November 2017 !! . Huge "Kratom Scare" and fear-mongering on the Internet!! BUY Everything!! within 2 weeks ALL online vendors were Sold Out. Even big sellers like SoCal got wiped out in just days. So... Over 300 vendors in USA, all contacted Indo's around Dec 2017 / New Year 2018 "We're totally out, Please send us anything!!"

That's what the Indo's did!! They shipped anything and everything... Pick some bunk Hirsuta/ Javanica leaf, and call it Kratom? Oh yeah. So YES - half of 2018 was bad. But!! By the Fall things bounced back. 2019 started out good. Lots of Buyers... Too many buyers? BOOM !! Kratom Demand boomed in 2018, 2019... Supply once again, was falling short. Thats when the major Shipping fiasco, "Shipping Blockade" happened in late 2019... remember? What really happened? We saw photos of POS Indonesia with months of shipments in a huge pile. Postal shipments were not moving... FDA began seizing more packages... DHL and UPS were flagging Customs on everything. Ouch!!

So 2019 into 2020... "The Year of Container Kratom" saw 100 Ton loads being shipped by Air Cargo... and it was Plantation crap. No more "Wild Harvest" ??

Yes I think this is what happened! You are pretty accurate! I am sure you can still get good quality kratom today, but it is much much harder nowadays. It is not in every corner like back then. I love this plant, and helped me so much in my life, sad to see the quantity is over quality nowadays. I hope it will change. And what makes it harder is than you can not see the quality on photos, you need to buy a sample, and then still you maybe get a bait and switch on bigger amounts. No one is gonna tell you the last shipment is bunk, all vendors will say, their strains are fire. Why? Because of money of course.

[onespeedstop]

I've only been 'around' since 2016 or 2017, but it's gotten a hair better every year for me. I would suspect that is due to a couple of factors, 1) finding better vendors, and 2) finding my ideal dosage levels, and 3) patience ha-ha. As we all know, kratom can be a little hit & miss, at any time. But I've never not been able to find decent+ stuff online, and I've pretty much never gotten stuff that was all garbage from anyone, thought I have gotten some dud strains before, even that's been pretty rare.

Hopefully we never use up all the kratom and then havta wait years and years for some more to be grown ha-ha. Or if they start pulling more govt./USPS crap like they did with shipping vape stuff.

[Adorable45Deplorable]

6
2020: 6.5
2021 : 11/10 (cuz thats when I found this community.)

[Rannek]

I made a funny picture.

[Bubba5150]

I've only been 'around' since 2016 or 2017, but it's gotten a hair better every year for me. I would suspect that is due to a couple of factors, 1) finding better vendors, and 2) finding my ideal dosage levels, and 3) patience ha-ha. As we all know, kratom can be a little hit & miss, at any time. But I've never not been able to find decent+ stuff online, and I've pretty much never gotten stuff that was all garbage from anyone, thought I have gotten some dud strains before, even that's been pretty rare.

Hopefully we never use up all the kratom and then havta wait years and years for some more to be grown ha-ha. Or if they start pulling more govt./USPS crap like they did with shipping vape stuff.

This is pretty much me spot on as well. Amazing what finding vendors that care about quality as much as you do does for your overall experiences. Also, at the very beginning I did not use a scale so obviously that can be disastrous as many of us now know. I have received some absolute dud test samples, but those never made it to the menu anyway so my purchases have been fortunate.

[onespeedstop]

This is pretty much me spot on as well. Amazing what finding vendors that care about quality as much as you do does for your overall experiences. Also, at the very beginning I did not use a scale so obviously that can be disastrous as many of us now know. I have received some absolute dud test samples, but those never made it to the menu anyway so my purchases have been fortunate.

Ultimately, it's not surprising to find that most smaller vendors became vendors to insure they had a steady stream of good kratom, and that they take a bit more care in what they sell. I guess at first I just had no idea how small a thing kratom really was. Like I figured there'd be a Coke and a Pepsi, and maybe a smaller 7-Up brand, and that'd be about it. When it seems to be almost the opposite - that the bigger "brand names" are the weak/crappy stuff, and the small almost unheard of names have the best quality.

And yeah, someday maybe I'll get a scale, I just don't really see the need, my dose amount has been steady for a year+ now, I use the same 1/4tsp measuring spoon every time ha-ha.

[Bubba5150]

This is pretty much me spot on as well. Amazing what finding vendors that care about quality as much as you do does for your overall experiences. Also, at the very beginning I did not use a scale so obviously that can be disastrous as many of us now know. I have received some absolute dud test samples, but those never made it to the menu anyway so my purchases have been fortunate.

Ultimately, it's not surprising to find that most smaller vendors became vendors to insure they had a steady stream of good kratom, and that they take a bit more care in what they sell. I guess at first I just had no idea how small a thing kratom really was. Like I figured there'd be a Coke and a Pepsi, and maybe a smaller 7-Up brand, and that'd be about it. When it seems to be almost the opposite - that the bigger "brand names" are the weak/crappy stuff, and the small almost unheard of names have the best quality.

And yeah, someday maybe I'll get a scale, I just don't really see the need, my dose amount has been steady for a year+ now, I use the same 1/4tsp measuring spoon every time ha-ha.

Don't get me wrong, I am not knocking not using a scale. I feel I did great for almost 2 years without one myself, but it is also the only time I was vomiting sick from taking too much (only happened once). It was one of those cases where I tried a new strain from a new vendor and it was waaaaaaaay better quality than what I was taking at the time and it showed me too lol. If it wasn't for that event I would likely still not be using a scale. You use a 1/4 tsp so I doubt you will ever run into this, but I used a much larger spoon without a scale so the scale taught me to use a smaller spoon. Why do I always have to learn the hard way?

[onespeedstop]

Don't get me wrong, I am not knocking not using a scale. I feel I did great for almost 2 years without one myself, but it is also the only time I was vomiting sick from taking too much (only happened once). It was one of those cases where I tried a new strain from a new vendor and it was waaaaaaaay better quality than what I was taking at the time and it showed me too lol. If it wasn't for that event I would likely still not be using a scale. You use a 1/4 tsp so I doubt you will ever run into this, but I used a much larger spoon without a scale so the scale taught me to use a smaller spoon. Why do I always have to learn the hard way?

I keep waiting for that to happen....to get this insane powerful kratom that teaches me that lesson, hasn't happened, but I just figure I've been lucky to mostly get potent stuff from the beginning. I never bought locally, or pre-capped stuff, so that's probably why.

I have gotten the wobbles/sweats a few times along the way. I think at one point I was up to 8 grams a day, and it was overkill. Great, the less I use, the longer it lasts. Ballz is right about 'L.E.D', it's good advice for any drug/substance really. But it varies, quite a bit from person to person, so just ramp it up from too little, up to nauseous, then scale it back and there's yer perfect amount ha-ha. And hey, at least you sorted it out, I still see people posting on reddit about why does kratom always make me puke ??? I took my usual 45 caps and then chased it with a gallon of milk that was left out on the kitchen counter overnight, some expired fish nuggets, and then I smoked crack for a couple of hours. Why does kratom make me sick ????

[Bubba5150]

Don't get me wrong, I am not knocking not using a scale. I feel I did great for almost 2 years without one myself, but it is also the only time I was vomiting sick from taking too much (only happened once). It was one of those cases where I tried a new strain from a new vendor and it was waaaaaaaay better quality than what I was taking at the time and it showed me too lol. If it wasn't for that event I would likely still not be using a scale. You use a 1/4 tsp so I doubt you will ever run into this, but I used a much larger spoon without a scale so the scale taught me to use a smaller spoon. Why do I always have to learn the hard way?

I keep waiting for that to happen....to get this insane powerful kratom that teaches me that lesson, hasn't happened, but I just figure I've been lucky to mostly get potent stuff from the beginning. I never bought locally, or pre-capped stuff, so that's probably why.

I have gotten the wobbles/sweats a few times along the way. I think at one point I was up to 8 grams a day, and it was overkill. Great, the less I use, the longer it lasts. Ballz is right about 'L.E.D', it's good advice for any drug/substance really. But it varies, quite a bit from person to person, so just ramp it up from too little, up to nauseous, then scale it back and there's yer perfect amount ha-ha. And hey, at least you sorted it out, I still see people posting on reddit about why does kratom always make me puke ??? I took my usual 45 caps and then chased it with a gallon of milk that was left out on the kitchen counter overnight, some expired fish nuggets, and then I smoked crack for a couple of hours. Why does kratom make me sick ????

Your summation of a user that just does not get it is classic, I love it!

[MagPie]

Don't get me wrong, I am not knocking not using a scale. I feel I did great for almost 2 years without one myself, but it is also the only time I was vomiting sick from taking too much (only happened once). It was one of those cases where I tried a new strain from a new vendor and it was waaaaaaaay better quality than what I was taking at the time and it showed me too lol. If it wasn't for that event I would likely still not be using a scale. You use a 1/4 tsp so I doubt you will ever run into this, but I used a much larger spoon without a scale so the scale taught me to use a smaller spoon. Why do I always have to learn the hard way?

I keep waiting for that to happen....to get this insane powerful kratom that teaches me that lesson, hasn't happened, but I just figure I've been lucky to mostly get potent stuff from the beginning. I never bought locally, or pre-capped stuff, so that's probably why.

I have gotten the wobbles/sweats a few times along the way. I think at one point I was up to 8 grams a day, and it was overkill. Great, the less I use, the longer it lasts. Ballz is right about 'L.E.D', it's good advice for any drug/substance really. But it varies, quite a bit from person to person, so just ramp it up from too little, up to nauseous, then scale it back and there's yer perfect amount ha-ha. And hey, at least you sorted it out, I still see people posting on reddit about why does kratom always make me puke ??? I took my usual 45 caps and then chased it with a gallon of milk that was left out on the kitchen counter overnight, some expired fish nuggets, and then I smoked crack for a couple of hours. Why does kratom make me sick ????

Your summation of a user that just does not get it is classic, I love it!

Good morning lol for me thanks!

[onespeedstop]

It was only a *slight* exaggeration of the posts I see there (on reddit) on a regular basis.

But yeah, if yer getting bad kratom, shop around, it won't ever truly all be bad until they harvest all the mature wild leaf and we havta wait 5-10 years for anything decent to grow on the plantations. Hopefully it ever gets to that, but it could in the future, then everyone will be complaining and you'll know it's not just you ha-ha.