Never having been around the stuff I don’t know. I read the real story of the cocaine bear, and it said the bear’s stomach was packed with coke. I guess I imagine the stuff as being bitter, or at least something someone wouldn’t want to eat. The real bear was only #175, so it was definitely exaggerated for the movie.
It has a taste, but it’s an anesthetic and kinda tastes like ‘numb’, for lack of a better way to describe it. However, it smells amazing.
It’s not at all bitter (excluding any bitter adulterants). In fact, it’s very common to rub it on your gums.
Alkaline in the back of the throat when sniffed.
True, the post nasal drip is gross, but I’m not sure that would really count as what it tastes like.
IME most things taste a lot worse when they drip down the back of your throat. It’s always best to try not to let it make a pit stop in your mouth on the way down.
Maybe the bear had already had granulated sugar, stolen from a nearby cabin, and then came across the cocaine and thought - wow!
I don’t think the taste mattered. I imagine the bear was trying to win a bet.
Disclaimer: the last cocaine I had was in the early 80’s, and I’m sure my supply was not of the finest grade. However, it tasted like shit. Yes, you rubbed it on your gums, and the person who brought the coke would often lick the empty envelope. This had nothing to do with the flavor and everything to do with not wasting any of it.
I do not think that you can tell what cocaine tastes or smells like. It seems to have a chemical/medicinal element to it but that cannot be separated from the process for making cocaine from coco leafs.
That involves washing the leaves in kerosene or gasoline in step one, some kind of acid in step two to convert the paste into base. And solvents like acetone or ether for the final step.
It is probably not good for you, or the bear.
Step Chemical Substitute
Coca Leaves Kerosene, Gasoline, Benzene,
To Coca Paste Sulfuric Acid, Hydrochloric Acid,
Sodium Bicarbonate Sodium Hydroxide
Coca Paste Sulfuric Acid, Hydrochloric Acid,
to Cocaine Base Potassium Potassium
Permanganate, Dichromate,
Ammonia Hydroxide Sodium Hydroxide
Cocaine Base to Ethyl Ether, Chloroform,
Cocaine Acetone, Methyl Ethyl Ketone,
Hydrochloride Hydrochloride Acid Hydrogen Chloride Gas
Nowadays it tastes like fentanyl. Would not recommend.
We have had several overdoses of people who wanted a little toot and found out it was cut with fentanyl. Fentanyl is much cheaper than coke. By far the largest number of ODs are from heroin users but it’s happened with coke users too.
I have it on good authority that’s what happened in this case.
In the gustatory sense of the word, cocaine “tastes” bad. Bitter, numbing, not something you’d want to seek out.
But it’s a powerful dopamine agonist, meaning that it pings the reward system very hard, meaning that once it hits your bloodstream, everything that’s currently in your senses and perception suddenly becomes the most right, correct, and ordained thing ever. And urgent.
So the cocaine powder is bitter and gross, but after you take it, suddenly consuming bitter and gross things seems like the best idea, the only idea on the world. And the feeling falls off very quickly, so the desire to chase it is very strong.
If I could secretly put a cocaine drip in your arm without your knowledge, and hit you with a dose throughout the day whenever I felt like it, I could pretty much train you to do anything and you’d think it was your idea. Scratch your nose, pick up pencils, whatever. And when I take the drip away, you’d miss it so bad that you’d go insane scratching your nose and picking up pencils, not knowing why it seems so important. But it was the dopamine all along. And when you’re aware that the feeling came from the white powder, boom, you’re chasing that white powder forever.
I had cocaine only one time, 25 years ago. I don’t really remember liking it a lot that night. Next morning I finished the entire bag and licked out the inside. Didn’t enjoy that either, but it just felt really urgent. Sometimes I still have dreams about it, me running around in a snowstorm with my tongue out. It’s serious business, wouldn’t suggest trying it.
That’s… a harrowing description. Thanks.
I remember something that Robert Downey, Jr. said when he got into so much trouble for cocaine use. I’m paraphrasing from memory:
“It’s like I have the muzzle of a loaded gun in my mouth - and I love the taste.”
The feeling of cocaine is really just like… “NAILED IT”. Whether that’s hitting a 3-pointer from full court, or closing a million dollar deal, or taking a big risk and getting a date. It’s the feeling of winning and being right and doing exactly what you’re supposed to be doing. The ultimate fist-pump. I’m sitting in my living room railing powder off the coffee table? Why? Because I’m a GENIUS.
Even if you haven’t done those things, you know it from vicariously watching others succeed. This is why people love watching sports or gambling. Cocaine is a shortcut to that, but a lot more powerful.
I have had coca tea in Peru a few years ago, but never cocaine. The tea was earthy and strongly vegetably. I wonder if the tea has any resemblance to cocaine. Has anyone here had both - how did they compare?
This is my recollection as well. It has a bitter/metallic taste. It’s not “horrible” (it wouldn’t make you gag or anything) but not tasty. Cocaine also has a greasy texture.
I’ve only ever had the finished product, but there’s nothing about it I’d describe as earthy or vegetably.
Did it provide a buzz?
No, the coca tea lacks the chemical concentrations of the refined product. I was drinking the tea (“coca mate”) to ward off the effects of high elevation, so there is no intoxicating effect in the quantities I was consuming.
Interestingly, you are not allowed to bring even a single leaf or teabag (yes, they have it dried in stores in packages, and fresh in clear plastic bags at the produce market) home to the US. I guess the authorities dont want anyone to get the idea of refining it here.
… and then … WOOOOOWWW!!!
… after a night of drinking with friends, a Florida bear breaks into a cabin …
Mr. Legend just speculated that maybe the cocaine was cut really badly with mannitol. Of course, given the size of the packages, I would think that would happen further down the line. But now I’m wondering if bears taste sweeteners the same way humans do.
(Just for the record, I’m not AT ALL conversant with the drug trade; everything I think I know comes from a very short period in the late 70’s/early 80’s and things I’ve seen in the media.)