Can You Smoke Shrooms?
One of the more popular (and famous) psychedelics are magic mushrooms. People eat them, cook with them and lemon tek them. But can you smoke shrooms?
Shrooms contain a compound called psilocybin — which affects your brain and causes visual and auditory distortions, known as hallucinations. These can range from mild to strong. They can bring a variety of different sensations. They, mostly, bring on positive shifts in mood.
Due to shrooms’ potential to trigger euphoria, their effect on anxiety and depression has been the focus of ongoing research. Other mental health issues are slowly getting into the mix, with addiction, PTSD, and eating disorders high on the list.
In this article, we break down a number of topics relating to psilocybin mushrooms.
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How To Take Shrooms
So, how does someone go about taking shrooms? Do you eat them? Smoke them? Drink them? For someone just starting out, here’s what you need to know.
Usually, magic mushrooms are eaten. Either raw or dried, shrooms are simply chewed up. You can always decide to grind them up in a powder and put them in your smoothie, or even make magic mushroom tea. Most commonly, however, people just eat them — which is popular for people when microdosing shrooms.
You can also use the powder to put it in some edibles, but make sure to avoid heating it up as psilocybin begins to break down under excessive heat. Add the powder to your buttercream, salad dressing, or even mustard, and enjoy your shrooms in a more special way. Additionally, you won’t really have the “shroomy” taste in your mouth you might not be a fan of.
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Can You Smoke Shrooms?
But there is something dangerous about smoking magic (or any) mushrooms. According to Twitter post by Matt Johnson, a professor and researcher focusing on psychedelics and behavioral health at Johns Hopkins University, “I want to warn that one should NEVER try smoking or vaping shrooms or any other fungus. Fungal lung infections can be fatal. No joke.”
So we recommend that no, you should not attempt to smoke or vape mushrooms of any kind.
And besides, it is not going to cause any effect.
In order for psilocybin and psilocin to take effect, shrooms must pass through the digestive system. It is how they get activated. So, while you can smoke shrooms, the compounds only get into the lungs. This cannot replicate the same process and trigger the serotonin receptors in the brain. That’s why smoking shrooms is generally uncommon.
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Here Are Some Bad Things That Can Happen if You Smoke Shrooms
| Potential Health Effect | Potential Harmful Outcome |
| Inhalation of harmful compounds | Burning mushrooms could produce harmful chemicals that could irritate or damage the lungs. |
| Reduced potency or altered effects | The heat might break down psilocybin, reducing or altering its effects. |
| Lung irritation | As with any non-standard smoking material, inhaling the smoke can irritate the lungs. |
| Respiratory issues | Chronic or repeated smoking of any substance can lead to respiratory problems, including bronchitis. |
| Risk of fungal spores | Fungal spores may be inhaled into the lungs, potentially causing a rare type of infection or lung disease. |
| Toxic byproducts | Depending on the mushroom and how it was grown, there might be potential toxins released when burned. |
| Risk of misidentification | There’s always a risk of misidentifying a magic mushroom. Smoking a toxic mushroom can be harmful or even deadly. |
Remember To Always Buy From A Trustworthy Source
Before getting to the ingesting part, it’s important to obtain your shrooms from a trustworthy source. Check the laws of the state you’re in and find out whether or not psilocybin is decriminalized where you live. Even though shrooms still aren’t going to be available to purchase in a store, chances of getting something pure and clean is more likely, as there are trusted distributors which supply medical centers.
It’s also possible to grow psilocybin mushrooms at home. This is a relative novelty as decriminalization practices started taking place and opened up the space on the market.
What you should definitely do is avoid buying from Craigslist or similar marketplaces, as well as venturing out and foraging on your own. There are high chances of getting really low quality shrooms or picking something similar with potentially toxic and harmful compounds.
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Set And Setting Matters
Once you have your mushrooms, it’s time to figure out your set and setting. Set refers to your mindset and how you approach the psychedelic experience you’re about to have. It’s up to you to create your own story of why you’re doing this. Whether it’s to solve some problems you’re facing, get some clarity from a difficult situation, or simply because you’re curious and looking for a bit of adventure, having a clear mindset helps guide you throughout the entire experience.
Always remember to be kind to yourself. Sometimes you might experience a “bad trip,” or a negative psychedelic experience. This might be due to unresolved anxious and nervous feelings or fears you might feel, so give yourself the space and time to process before deciding to never try psychedelics again.
The setting, on the other hand, refers to the ambiance you create when having your psychedelic experience. You want to choose a space that’s safe, comfortable, and secure. Some people like to do it in the privacy of their own homes where they feel safe to express their emotions, whatever they might be. Others like to be outside, surrounded by the calming sounds of nature.
If it’s your first time trying shrooms, it’s recommended to have someone with you or close by to support you along the way. They don’t have to be an experienced user or even anyone dabbling with psychedelics whatsoever. They just need to be there to keep you calm, safe, and supported.
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Measuring Your Shrooms Dosage
How much shrooms should a beginner take? Is there a shrooms dosage that is too much?
Depending on how the experience is going, you do need to consider a few things. If your goal is microdosing, then the dosage is extremely low and it might be hard to hit without precise measuring. The reason for it is you never know how much psilocybin your piece of shroom actually contains. The general microdosing dose is between 0.1 and 0.5 grams, so if this is your goal, be precise.
If aiming for a low dose, 1 gram of shrooms, which usually equates to 10mcg of psilocybin is the recommended amount. This is what you should start with if this is your first time trying shrooms at all.
For a medium dose, you should go for 1.75g, for a high dose 3.5g, and then there’s something known as the “heroic dose,” or 5 grams of shrooms. This dose supposedly brings on the full depth of a mushroom trip experience.
As you can see, eating shrooms is the most popular method. Can you smoke shrooms? Yes. Should you? If looking for the proper effects, it’s not something anyone should recommend doing.
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Common FAQs About Smoking Shrooms
Weed and magic mushrooms each cause distinct effects on the brain, so smoking weed while consuming mushrooms may make you feel the effects of both. It’s also possible to physically smoke mushrooms in a blunt, but the psychedelic effects of it are mild — and it isn’t safe — so smoking shrooms with weed isn’t recommended.
The effects of using cannabis and magic mushrooms together depends on the type of cannabis you’re using. While scientific studies on the subject are limited, anecdotal reports say that high-CBD weed hinders the effects of shrooms, while high-THC weed amplifies them. Cannabis can have unpredictably strong effects when used alongside psilocybin, which can make for a bad trip.
It is possible to smoke shrooms in a blunt alongside cannabis. Incorporating them either dried or powdered enables you to smoke them, but the mushroom high is much milder. This is because psychoactive substances in shrooms degrade when exposed to heat. It also isn’t recommended to smoke mushrooms because it can pose a risk to your respiratory health.
You can consume shrooms in a range of ways — which includes smoking them dried. The psychedelic effects of smoking dried shrooms won’t be as potent as eating them, and that’s because the psychoactive compounds in shrooms break down when heated. You also run the risk of respiratory infection if you smoke shrooms because you are exposing your respiratory system to fungus. So, overall, smoking shrooms isn’t recommended.
Smoking shroom powder is one of a few ways to consume shrooms, but it isn’t recommended. This is because it can pose a risk to your respiratory health through aspergillosis, an infection caused by exposure of the lungs to fungus. The high caused by smoking shroom powder is also much milder compared to simply eating shrooms.
As mentioned earlier, smoking shrooms can cause a high, but it’s much milder compared to eating them. The dose of shrooms that would be in a blunt or bowl would essentially be a microdose, resulting in a state of more mental clarity rather than a high.
Disclaimer: We do not endorse the illicit use of Schedule 1 psychedelic compounds in a non-therapeutic setting. We do, however, hope the regulations look at the research to understand how these drugs can used in powerfully positive ways.
