Thea, I’ve been studying and using medicinal herbs for many years, and my advice would be to stay away from this company. My main reaction to that site was, Waaayyyy overpriced, and after viwing the macro close-ups of the products offered, what is in there is of questionable quality.
To break it down specifically:
Mello Yellow contains valerian, passionflower,chamomile, red clover and “spiked with” vanilla. The first three herbs have long been known for their sedative properties, and work quite well in my experience. 24.95 for 4 oz is way overpriced, you’d be better off buying the herbs in bulk and making an infusion (tea) to calm frazzled nerves. The macro view of that blend looked to have a lot of odd bark, when it should be mainly leaf material, excepting valerian root.
Purple Haze. They say it’s just lavender flowers. In which case 24.95 is really a crime. You can get a big bag of lavender flowers ib bulk for that. I couldn’t get the macro close-up on that page. If you can, the material should be all vibrant purple tiny dried flowers. If it’s not, it has a whole lotta something else in it.
Coc’a Bolo. Climbing hydrangea( I’ve never heard of this plant being used medicinally, but I’ll look it up); Kava- used as an anti-anxiety herb, long folk use in the Pacific islands; Yohimbe, used as a male sexual stimulant, but always with a caution advisory, “spiked with” “watermelon”, their quotes. This one looks really questionable to me.
Ragin’ Red. They only list Papaver Somniferum seed as the ingredient, which is not psychoactive. That’s why garden centers can sell the seed (I’m glad, it’s an exquisite flower). It’s the latex of the developing seed pod that is a very potent and useful pain medication; unfortunately, so effective it leads to serious abuse, so banned in the US. The macro view showed a whole lotta other stuff besides poppy seed, so they ain’t telling the whole truth.
Finally, Wild Child. “Lettuce opium” I presume they mean wild lettuce, Lactuca virosa, a weed(in the sense of all over the place) which has been described as a feeble opium. Like Papaver, it’s the latex that is used. The macro view shows a lot of bark and other material, not the resin that would be the active ingredient.
So, to my view, their stuff is incredibly over-priced and the photos they show don’t look like the right plant material. Additionally, I’m not sure how effective, say, chamomile is in a lung delivery. I’ve never heard it advised as the way to go. Smoking is certainly an effective way of using herbs; the popularity of tobacco, marijuana, and opium attests to that. They work, all too well, and with significant detriment to the ol’ body. I’ll run the smoking use of these other herbs by some more knowledgeable, and scrupulous, herbalists. I’d stay away from this company, though.
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