I have been attempting to grow a Kratom cutting, and I managed to root it with the help of Miracle-Gro soil, but ultimately the leaves began to curl up. I thought I had overwatered the cutting, so I stopped watering it for several days, and the leaves continued to get more curled and dried. Today I did a last ditch attempt to get the cutting to grow, by putting it outside and taking off the remaining dead leaves, in the hope that it will be able to sprout some new leaves.
When I took off the leaves I noticed that they were perfectly dry, and I had a gut instinct that these leaves could be smoked. Notably, these leaves have a potent Kratom smell, unlike the fresh leaves I chewed for a previous article on Kratom Cafe, which basically had no smell.
Indeed, I have read some reports, buried deep in the internet, that it is perhaps possible to smoke Kratom. I figure smoking Kratom leaves is the best way to truly test if Kratom is smokeable.
I haven’t smoked anything in a very long time, I don’t even smoke cigarettes, so I had no smoking paraphernalia. I figured I was gonna do this Kratom smoking experiment right, and I went down to the headshop and bought a brand new pipe. The shopkeeper was nice enough to throw in some bowl screens, to prevent the Kratom from getting sucked through the pipe.
Before beginning this experiment, I had not taken Kratom in over 24 hours, and was at the point where I was really ready to take some Kratom. So if smoking Kratom has any psychoactive effect at all, I will notice it.
I proceeded to pull off little bits of the leaf by hand in order to pack the bowl. This is one of those bowls where you screw a cap onto the top, so the leaf inside can burn better. I took a dry hit, i.e. I sucked through the pipe without lighting it at all yet, and it had a really pleasant Kratom taste.
I then took the first hit, and it tasted far better than I expected, although the smoke is a bit harsh, but no harsher than tobacco. I notice an instant change in perception on the first hit, but couldn’t really put my finger on the effects. On the 2nd bigger hit I instantly felt a surge of opioid warmth.
I smoked most of the first bowl and was feeling a definite uplift in my mood and a decrease in fatigue. I then pack the 2nd bowl and continued smoking. Honestly this is quite fun, I thought this experiment would be a disaster, but the reality is you can smoke Kratom, at least the actual Kratom leaves.
As I finish the 2nd bowl I begin to feel a very pleasant feeling behind my eyes, and the experience is becoming a touch more sedative.
As I pack the 3rd bowl, I realize I am in a dreamy and slightly intoxicated state. It feels very pleasant. I then try to hold the hits in for longer instead of immediately blowing it out, as I get used to the harshness of the Kratom smoke, and it works much better.
By the time I get past the 4th bowl I am feeling highly euphoric, and I am feeling definitive Kratom effects, as if I took a lot of Kratom. It seems smoking Kratom is extremely fast acting compared to anything else.
Notably, just one Kratom leaf was enough to pack 5 bowls, and that 1 Kratom leaf was way more than enough for me. I was satisfied with the effects and decided to save the 2nd leaf for sometime later.
Interestingly, as fast as the euphoric, dreamy, and the generally stronger Kratom effects came on, they went away, aside from a general feeling of relaxation and contentedness. This makes sense, since instead of the Kratom steadily releasing via digestion like it does when taken orally, no more Kratom is entering my bloodstream once I stopped smoking.
To be clear, although this experiment of smoking relatively fresh Kratom leaves worked, I absolutely would not recommend smoking Kratom powder. I tried that many years ago and it doesn’t work since the smoke from Kratom powder is way too harsh, and Kratom powder simply does not smoke right, it will cake up and clog up the pipe instantly.
Beyond that, smoking Kratom leaves apparently can produce good effects, and the effects come on very fast, but the effects leave really fast too. I definitely prefer the steady and long lasting effects of taking Kratom orally over smoking Kratom leaf. I can imagine if someone is solely using smoking as their Kratom ingestion method, then they would be smoking all day to maintain the effects, and that would be really annoying and unnecessary considering how well Kratom works orally.
Further, in general smoking is not the best route of ingestion, since burning any material produces carcinogens. It is better just to take Kratom orally. The only reason I conducted this experiment was to put to rest the age old question of if you can smoke Kratom, and the answer is a definite yes, but only with fresh Kratom leaves.
All of that being said, the fact that Kratom leaf is smokeable raises the possibility that it could be vape-able, and perhaps that is something that should be explored further.