Herbal Salvation - 5-strain review

[MissOuterBorough1982]

As most of their regular customers know, HS has changed suppliers (according to what they told me in an email.) I loved just about every strain I bought from HS throughout the fall/winter of 2017 and found their product to be remarkably consistent, high quality and potent. I've now tried 5 of the strains from their new stock and wanted to share my initial opinions here.

First, my preferences: I take kratom primarily for chronic back pain, depression and anxiety. For my purposes I have best results with slow greens and faster reds, the occasional slow red for nighttime use, and some golds and yellows. Most whites are overstimulating for me and make me feel anxious. I look for potent painkilling strains that offer relaxation, moderate non-jittery energy, and major mood lift, a sense of well-being. Previous HS favorites of mine that I bought again and again were Red & Green Bali, Green Malaysian, Red & Green Maeng Da, Yellow Vietnam, Red Thai, and Red Sumatra. My normal dose is pretty low: 2 grams in the morning, and then an additional gram every 3 hours or so throughout the day.

My only complaints about ALL of the 5 new strains: 1. They appear to contain a sprinkling of dirt or sand. Not much -- just enough that when I toss and wash I can feel a few obvious particles of grit. Not ideal but for me, not really a deal breaker. 2. All of these strains were for some reason much harder on my stomach than previous leaf I've purchased from HS. Not sure what's up with that.

Green Malaysian: I found the new Green Malaysian very stimulating, way more so than the older versions I've received from HS. It acted on me more like a white, made me feel rather jittery and anxious and left me with the beginnings of a headache that lasted all day. This was at a cautious dose of 1 gram. I later tried a half gram, and that experience was less teeth-grinding -- but still had virtually no low end or painkilling qualities that I could discern. For me this strain might be useful the same way I use whites, for the occasions when I need to add some pep to a strain that is too sedating (see below). Otherwise I doubt I'll use much of it.

Red Ketapang: Underwhelming. I'm going to play around with my dose on this one and see if it makes a difference. First impression was that it's not horrible, but rather unremarkable and weak.

Green Bali: This strain, too, seemed weak and "meh." I will continue to play with dose and see if I can get better results with a lower or a higher dose.

Green Maeng Da and Red Malaysian: I took a gram of each mixed together and hello! Much more like the HS product of old. Relaxing, potent, good painkilling properties, nice mood lift. After about an hour I felt like the mix was becoming too sedating and added a half gram of Green Malaysian to bring the balance back to the mid-spectrum experience I prefer. It was lovely. I believe a blend of these 3, at those proportions, will go into my rotation.

So: Green Maeng Da and Red Malaysian are the clear winners here; a 50/50 blend of these two provided everything I look for in kratom. Jury is still out on Red Ketapang and Green Bali; neither was horrible but i found both rather weak and unremarkable. Unless I get better results after experimenting with my dose a bit, I probably won't purchase either of these again. Green Malaysian: you'll love it if you like that speedy "caffeine overdose" feeling. I believe I'll find it useful in blends in very small amounts to add energy to a mix so, not a total loss.

A few final things: Shipping was extremely fast, they included a 25 gram sample (the delightful Red Malaysian, which I'm very happy to have tried), HS still appears to be fully testing all of their kratom, and at least for now, they are still offering a 40% discount for crypto payments.

Thanks for reading!

[acejestyr15]

Thanks for the detailed review MOB1982!!! That as you know, is exactly what I need to know one way or the other. I think that at this point I am going to just stick with my tried and true herbalRVA since there's such a great variety that I enjoy so much. It's a real shame about HS but oh well, now I'll save money and know the product I'm getting for that money is quality. I am also going to continue my search for other strains and or other vendors to have a good mix of different stuff stocked up in my bin. If anyone has suggestions I would love to read them. Thanks again MOB, and thanks to any who makes suggestions in advance!!!