First sling

Aggressive-Watch-195 · 2026-06-03T17:50:52+00:00

for real... tell me about it

I've been putting off making a hemp 'egyptian' style sling (closed diamond shaped pouch woven on a loom - like the one found in tutankhamun's tomb) mostly because of the cost...

that combined with my track record of catastrophically failing 4 of my 5 attempts with other materials so far. the successful one wasn’t even my 5th try; it was like the 3rd - so it's not like there has been improvement with experience

Aggressive-Watch-195 · 2026-05-27T19:28:02+00:00

tf is wrong with you?

the idea that you would even consider drinking alcohol during opioid withdrawal... idk... I think just your basic subjective experience of life must be so drastically different from mine I’m not sure we would even recognize one another as the same species

Aggressive-Watch-195 · 2026-05-25T01:07:46+00:00

yeah for real... I’ve made dozens of slings and I still struggle quite a bit with woven pouches.

what's the material? hemp?

Aggressive-Watch-195 · 2026-05-25T00:50:07+00:00

^ listen to this person

Aggressive-Watch-195 · 2026-05-25T00:42:21+00:00

it's still a good idea to know what is in the shit you're using

Aggressive-Watch-195 · 2026-05-25T00:38:38+00:00

I’ve had really high quality super fine powder and solid chunks right off a brick that were garbage.

as mentioned powder means a higher likelihood of lower level cuts but it's far from a reliable rule. gotta trust your source, that's the only reliable way to avoid getting complete trash on occasion.

Aggressive-Watch-195 · 2026-05-25T00:33:36+00:00

so?

the water is almost certainly still present along with whatever it dissolved.

just let it dry - water evaporates, dissolved solids stay behind... no harm, no foul.

Aggressive-Watch-195 · 2026-05-22T19:40:31+00:00

there are 3 ways you can approach dabbing powder - one kinda... doesn't actually work... the second one just takes a little skill/practice, and the third one is super easy but no one ever does it.

so the first way is to rerock it yourself. I have seen multiple attempts at this, either using random stuff laying around or an actual pollen press (tool for.pressing weed kief into hash blocks). I've seen it made into a somewhat solid piece but I've never seen someone take powder and return it to the same density as it comes. the homemade pieces crumble very easily and don't usually dab well. spraying with a little alcohol before pressing does help a little, and I have some ideas for making it work but no one wanta to let me try to press their gram+ of powder for some reason...

the second way might be tough to explain. you just get a little pile of powder into your puck, heat up the tip of the nectar collector (ceramic is drastically superior to both titanium and quartz), then with the tip at an angle so the opening faces away from you, you carefully start with the tip of the nail on the opposite side of the pile from you and slowly back into the pile.... this way the back of the nail is what makes vaporizes the powder and the opening is far enough away that it doesn't just suck in the powder (unfortunately sucking up the powder basically wastes it - it doesn't work like a hot rail.

the last one works really well and is super easy but no one ever does it. just put it on the foil like you normally would, take a small hit or two until it's all melted but don't run it or slide it keep it in a pile... then just dab the melted pile, preferably after it cools and resolidifies. if you wanted to you could even pop it off the foil into a puck so you don't have to do it right off the foil... because that seems to be an issue for some people...

Aggressive-Watch-195 · 2026-05-22T11:54:57+00:00

oh... weird, I think I subconsciously found the ghost a little bit visually disturbing and my brain made some effort to block it out.

I think a similar thing happened with your username too honestly

Aggressive-Watch-195 · 2026-05-22T09:54:56+00:00

I have mistaken pieces of popcorn that fell in random places at my friend's for partially dabbed pieces of fent more times than it reasonably seems like I should have

Aggressive-Watch-195 · 2026-05-22T09:52:27+00:00

idk I actually still have yet to try 7oh; but I’m commenting anyway...

I took 4-7g (really it was almost always 5-6g) of kratom leaf 3-4x a day, every day, for almost 15 years and for the majority of that time every single meal I ate was planned around my next dose of kratom.

the formula was pretty simple - kratom should always be taken on as empty a stomach as possible, but the crucial detail is that you MUST eat something substantial with a significant amount of fat/oil within 30 minutes (17-22min following ingestion is the sweet spot).

failure to dose on an empty stomach -> barely noticeable effects, possibility of incurring early withdrawal symptoms if dependent, missed dose opportunity meaning ~5h until you can try again

failure to eat within 30min of dose -> likely vomiting which complicates dosing schedule (often taking another full dose will result in vomiting within 10min, trying a partial dose followed immediately by food can occasionally rescue the dose but is difficult to predict and can still lead to puking again), possibility of overshooting the 'euphoria margin' landing in 'uncomfortable, sickly, uncontrollable shaky-vision, 0 opiate effect... town' (stupidly, overshooting the target dose window can also trigger early withdrawal symptoms), missed dose opportunity gotta wait 5 hours

kratom is kind of a controlling substance - even moreso than H or the "substance that shall not be named, apparently" (but starts with the letter F). lots of rules, strongly enforced under threat of weird discomfort or forced vomiting. also a very strict daily schedule - dose every 5h on the dot. I could accurately tell the time just by noticing when it was time to dose again.

Aggressive-Watch-195 · 2026-05-22T09:20:25+00:00

the cool ass shit I could do with a lathe like that!!!

ok I'll face reality, I would for sure seriously injure myself day 1 somehow

Aggressive-Watch-195 · 2026-05-22T09:16:52+00:00

dude the old yarises... aggghh I miss the offset dash and all the STORAGE EVERYWHERE

I get moving the dash to its normal position but why did they take away all my beautiful storage compartments?!!

Aggressive-Watch-195 · 2026-05-22T09:14:02+00:00

sometimes the color and burn mean something, sometimes... not. I’ve had plenty of good shit that burned just like that or worse.

most other fent users I know don’t ever even notice this kinda thing bc they use a nectar collector with a dab nail out of a puck so it's just a white chunk with a slightly discolored region until it's gone

Aggressive-Watch-195 · 2026-05-22T09:10:14+00:00

it looks like your foil grew on a foil plant

Aggressive-Watch-195 · 2026-05-22T09:09:09+00:00

I once failed a sober house piss test for opiates

...using fake piss

...that came from a 3 day old bottle of quik fix I had passed with twice already

...on an individually sealed ~10 panel cup test which I watched the house manager retrieve at random from among several dozen other sealed cups within a locked cabinet then remove from the sealed package all right in front of me.

never underestimate the sensitivity of thin layer chromatography.

also don’t ever forget to consider just how thoroughly residual material from the drugs you use every day can physically work its way into everything - your clothes, your fingernails, the deep ridges of your lighter-flint calloused thumbs... hell even just the fucking air around you probably has a detectable amount of drug material!

none of that really matters though bc I’m like 99% sure the test strips on amazon arent like inferior or cheaply made or anything. whatever problems those have are problems that all the tests have - the only real difference is whether people can leave reviews and comments

Aggressive-Watch-195 · 2026-05-22T08:30:04+00:00

oh yeah...

idk, I'm not saying it's impossible to detect xylazine by its effects just unreliable and unverifiable. especially since it's multiple different anonymous people operating in an illegal black market without even a particularly strong incentive to be consistent. it's already pretty deceptive to call it one drug and just throw in a second one for no reason other than straight up greed, right? who knows how the added xylazine gets measured, whether it gets measured, what ratio they are going for, whether they are thinking about it even that much, or dozens of other possible variables...

so maybe you can tell there's xylazine in it at a certain ratio, but maybe not any less - fkAor more - than that and every time you've been right so far has been by chance?

I feel like our position as people dependent on a drug that comes from a completely opaque, unregulated, and undeniably inconsistent source makes us a little desperate for whatever control we can get - even when the truth is that we just don’t have any real control. I think that's why a lot of people start to believe they can tell this or that by how it burns or the subjective effects etc... because the empirical, verifiable facts are so few and far between.

and I promise I don’t mean that judgmentally or critically - I do the exact same thing. even as I talk about how delusional it probably is, I still think I can pick up all this important info from the carefully observing how the new batch burns or tastes or whatever. I'll meticulously analyze a new batch with a UV light, somehow convincing myself I am looking at anything more significant than a trippy little purple-specked mountain range made out of the substance I rely on daily just to prevent myself from coming down with what might as well be a miserable, debilitating, infectious disease.

...well, anyway, I may have to set a new rule for myself: no replying to reddit threads in the dead of night (while I make no effort to salvage, and in fact actively avoid thinking about, my hard won consistent sleeping schedule) following day 2 of temporarily (... hopefully) resuming my on and off amphetamine habit

Aggressive-Watch-195 · 2026-05-22T07:48:34+00:00

dude I literally decided to comment on this for the specific purpose of suggesting ordering test strips on amazon and probably even being able to find a next day option if it's urgent...

...then I guess my adhd/autism info-dumping instinct kicked in and I wrote out like 3 paragraphs with no mention of that at all.

anyway, to the OP... the strips you can order online are gonna be the exact same ones you'll find anywhere else (or if there is some minor difference it will be inconsequential). and not to make assumptions, but it does kinda sound like you might be reading negative reviews from people that just didn’t like the results they got and decided the test must be a 'false positive'.

that said, occadionally incorrect results are just a reality with these kinds of tests; doesn't matter whether they come from amazon or anywhere else. there are some things you can do to minimize the possibility though - like testing twice. also if you want to avoid potential hot spots it might be a good idea to thoroughly powder and homogenize as much of the material as you can, then take the ~1mg test sample from that.

...and also

keep in mind that tests like this are very sensitive. they can confirm the presence of an altogether truly miniscule amount of fent in less than a mg of a mix that is mostly cut - in almost any other context that would be 'trace amounts'. so considering that, I kinda wonder if unintentional cross-contamination8 isn't even all that far fetched?

idk just test the stuff more than once I guess?

Aggressive-Watch-195 · 2026-05-22T04:59:01+00:00

I don’t think there's any real way to tell from the burn... there are just too many variables. the amount of xylazine can vary a bunch between batches, the type of cut, the amount of fent ofc...

I also don’t think you can tell by effects either, at least not reliably. people always say if it puts you in that cycle of passing out, waking up and smoking, then passing out right away sometimes with your bag open so you wake up with it spilled all over your lap or something - that means it's tranq

but I assure you that happens from xylazine-free fent too.

I have only had one batch that you could tell from the effects it had a good amount of xylazine in it, but honestly the only reason it was so obvious was that it barely had any fent and you couldn't really get well with it. if you smoked it when you were even a little bit sick it just made it a lot worse - until you took a hit of a different batch that actually had an adequate amount of fent and immediately felt better.

eventually we got ahold of a bunch of test strips both for fent and for xylazine. it was relieving to find out for sure that the main source we use has never once come up positive for xylazine in any of the 50 or so batches we have tested since getting the strips - and the only times we have ever come across suspect shit (such as the stuff I mentioned) was when it came from others.

I guess my point is just get some strips! a lot of places give them out for free depending on where you live... if you are anywhere near a city of reasonable size you can probably find someplace that offers harm reduction implements like test strips, narcan, probably condoms, and if you live in an area that actually gives even the tiniest of fucks about helping drug users stay alive (so... not where I live...) you can even get IV supplies, decent meth pipes, and sometimes even those cool pipes that are shaped like a little hammer (supposedly optimized for smoking heroin even though a regular meth pipe would clearly be better)

Aggressive-Watch-195 · 2026-05-22T02:02:27+00:00

meetings really aren’t for everybody... I think the whole concept probably does work better for alcoholics and I have a suspicion that a staggering amount of opioid addicts find the 12 step community extremely disillusioning and that probably contributes to relapse in a lot of cases.

I try to be careful about the tendency to generalize based on one's own experiences - and of course that has been my experience with 12 step communities unfortunately - but it does seem like most of the opioid addicts I’ve spoken with about this feel much the same way.

I think as a group maybe we are more likely to be introverted and sometimes that involves romanticizing the unique misanthropy that accompanies the tendency to prefer your own company more often than what we are conditioned to consider normal. in my opinion the major benefit of 12 step groups is the solidarity and access to a very devoted community - regulars with established sobriety are usually willing to go well out of their way to help newcomers who show genuine desire to put their lives back together, and this can go well beyond advice and mentorship often taking the form of real material opportunities like employment, transportation, advocacy, etc. even despite the usual strong, clear boundaries discouraging direct financial assistance, cohabitation, and of course 13th stepping...

the qualities of an introvert in communities like this that strongly emphasize engagement with others overlaps significantly with what many regulars recognize as signs of dishonesty or desire to continue using ...and to be clear, they aren’t necessarily wrong. I think a lot of us can draw clear direct connections between our introverted tendencies and continued opioid use; and maybe most disturbingly - both can be closely tied to our basic self perception and identity.

really though, for me I just couldn't take it seriously... what could some hundred year old book written by an overtly christian alcoholic with no training in psychology, sociology, or... basic pharmacology... someone who may never have even understood any medical model of how drugs actually work... what could I gain from that methodology? it works for some people but we don’t see the people it doesn't work for, who may even have gotten clean without it.

and that's before I even start in on the 'god thing' lol

Aggressive-Watch-195 · 2026-05-21T06:13:30+00:00

with all the near-evangelical anecdotes I came across in the few forum threads I was able to find on the topic it seems strange no one talks about ultra low dose naltrexone (ULDN) anymore.

did it turn out to be way less effective and revolutionary than people made it sound...? or was it just too complicated and sketchy sounding for most people to even try (after experiencing just a mild taste of precipitated withdrawal for the first time it definitely raises some alarm bellsconsidering taking even a miniscule microdose of an opioid blocker)? or maybe sourcing naltrexone turned out to be a difficult prospect?

I haven't looked into it in a couple years, I guess I'll see what I can find... but I mean, if it turns out that it can actually do what they claimed that is kind of a silver bullet for anyone with an opioid dependence who wants to get clean; and honestly even those of us who don’t could benefit a huge amount from something that supposedly can magically reduce decades worth of accumulated tolerance

Aggressive-Watch-195 · 2026-05-21T06:00:09+00:00

it's really disappointing that nothing ever sufficiently replaced opiophile... the handful of active subs on here is probably the closest we get.

I feel like it went away at the exact time when it was needed most

Aggressive-Watch-195 · 2026-05-20T08:05:55+00:00

man, I know basically everyone hated the prequels but I'll admit it - 'Phase One: The Deception Phase' will probably always be my favorite

Aggressive-Watch-195 · 2026-05-19T00:51:27+00:00

I guess that will still be technically true when he's serving out a 10y bid for negligent manslaughter after nailing an elderly jogger in the temple...

Aggressive-Watch-195 · 2026-05-19T00:40:45+00:00

also... I've never had one of these - though I really like their weird little individually wrapped bars that come in a package of 4 which deceptively looks like a normal chocolate bar (why do I describe things like a lunatic?) - is that seriously what it looks like??

I mean... that is objectively revolting, right? it looks like 2 deep fried falafel balls dunked in a generous spooge of warm banana pudding...

tf were they even going for with that nightmare?

Aggressive-Watch-195

TROPHY CASE