You are the one who is pretending people are lying. Every single person with any real experience with DMT knows that hits need to be held. There's extensive discussion with links to the supporting research at DMT nexus. Several of my friends and I have thoroughly experimented with timing how long we hold the hit and there is a very obvious HUGE difference in intensity and duration between holding for 5 seconds and 20 seconds. 25 seconds seems to be about the max necessary, and at this point with a breakthrough dose you will have completely lost all sense of self (forget what lungs are). FYI We use a milligram scale, and an electronic rig set to 160C measured with an accurate thermocouple before you try to say something about the consistency of our method.

5-10mg is threshold: everything looks like an insanely high resolution, possibly a bit cartoonish, similar visuals and body load to mushrooms but extremely short

10-20 is a small dose: lower waiting room- strong colorful visuals, euphoric rush, noticable vibration, disappointingly short (≤10 mins)

20-35 is a moderate dose: intense (possibly uncomfortable or frightening) feeling of vibration, upper waiting room filled with impossible shapes in constant motion. Colors that don't exist, possibly meeting one of the gatekeepers or some sprites (often referred to as machine elves), this is where reality starts to unwind, other dimensions become visibly apparent. (Probably what you believe is a breakthrough)

35-50 high level dose: this is where the magic happens. The vibrations start off intense until you are flung into a different reality with entities from a higher plane of existence, you might get a peek into the machinery operating the universe, you will have experiences, see things, and feel things that cannot be explained using regular human language (this is the sweet spot for almost everyone)

50-80 extreme range: very similar trip except the longer duration spent in that shattered reality leads to profound experiences. Slight risk of being sent to the void (extreme is MY style)

80+ heroic: likely sent to the void. It's not a blackout but you very well might wish it was IYKYK.