SoCal Red Riau Review

[g-otis]

I was really excited when I received my latest order from SoCal, which included Red Riau, Red Indo, Pink Maeng Da. All were good, pink maeng da made me jittery though.

The standout was the red Riau. For me, it took a little while to feel the full fx, but once it started it was a very pleasant evening burn. It stayed with me for a few hours, ended with a beautiful night of restful sleep. Insomnia is a problem I’ve had for years, so this is a good leaf for that, without over sedation. Here’s my score:

Energy = 6/10

Euphoria / Mood = 8/10

Relaxation = 8/10

Sedation = 5/10 (8/10 near end of burn)

Pain Relief = 8/10

Overall = 8/10

Kudos to SoCal. Good kratom and unbelievably fast processing/shipping. My go-to vendor.

[whiffypants]

Yeah, SoCal is unquestionably a great vendor, and he always gets his stuff in the mail -fast-. I have some SoCal Red Riau from last year; I'll have to pull it out and see how it measures up against the current offering.

While I have never tried the SoCal Pink Maeng Da, I'm actually not surprised that you'd find a pink jittery if reds work well for you on their own, as "pink" tends to indicate a red and white blend, and the pinks I've had all seemed to be pretty strong on the white.

Which means that if you were to take that SoCal Pink Maeng Da and blend it 2:1 with another red or mix of reds, you'd probably have something fantastic. It may well be that if there's a white in that pink, as I suspect, it just needs to be toned down a bit: adding more red (any red, even a red you set aside as being "meh" on its own) should do exactly that. So definitely give blending it a shot.

Great review, by the way. Clear and well written. Thanks!!

[g-otis]

Thanks, man. I believe I’ll give the Pink MD another try, early tomorrow while doing Saturday chores for my wife. I might need an energy boost. if still don’t find it to my liking, I’ll just give it to my brother in law. He likes whites and yellows.
Different strains are funny, I’m learning. Even my favorite strains can sometimes have an unwanted or adverse effect occasionally, at differing doses. I think the experimentation and mixing/matching is a lot of what I like about kratom, being knew to it and all. Kind of an adventure, if you know what I mean!

[BallzDeep9]

I've got a lot of SoCal kratom, and some of it's the best you can get. The Best! Recently the DG Fans are saying on MeWe that SoCal's Red Bali RB1 from June is better than DG's expensive kratom .. That RB1 got sold out within 1 week of course .. 200 kilos gone, as word spread around the Internet.

OTOH, I've had SoCal strains that did nothing for me .. they are #1 for Variety .. you better KNOW what you want, when ordering. They have always been known for Whites - White Horn, Cambodian, Hulu, and Riau. I've got a small SoCal White Riau around somewhere and it's very good. I'd imagine the Red Riau is also good.

[e_poison]

Nice review, thanks! I've been really into reds lately. I might place an order with SoCal and check it out. Any other good reds/whites there?

[g-otis]

That RB1 got sold out within 1 week of course

Yep. I had a stash of the RB1 in June. I wish I had bought more, because he hasn’t had any Bali or Borneo in awhile. Next week, I’m going to order some stuff from some of the vendors listed here. That is a kickass resource, btw!

Any other good reds/whites there?

Like ballzdeep mentioned, the Bali last month was as good as I’ve had. Borneo too. They don’t have huge selection now, but I was pleased with the red Indo and red Hulu I had recently.

As for new vendors, I’m shopping at Mystic island. I have heard good things about the Vampire, so I need to try it. Any exceptional leaf or blends there? The have a new age vibe going on with the names and descriptions...but it’s kinda groovy.