There’s a spectre hanging over hallucinogens, the spectre of 25I-NBOMe. It’s a substituted phenethylamine hallucinogenic and entactogenic stimulant. Chemically, it’s the N-benzyl derivative of the hallucinogen 2C-I. The addition of the 2-methyoxybenzyl made it an exceptionally potent 5-HT(2A) receptor agonist. They’re sold as “N-Bombs”, “2C-I-NBOMe”, “Smiles” or “25I”. I’m sure new and exciting street names will pop up as time goes on.

25I-NBOMe is not believed to be habit-forming. Unlike LSD, a drug with a good safety record, 25I-NBOMe has a few deaths to its name in the short time it’s been on the market. It’s a powerful stimulant with significant nervous system activity that doses in the microgram range. Overdosing is exceptionally easy with the pure powders available online. I better not see you on my newsfeed, “Moron eats bag of mysterious ‘LSD’ powder; dies.”

For a totally different substance with an unrelated chemical skeleton, 25I-NBOMe is a good substitute for LSD. They both provide an eye popping psychedelic experience with significant empathy. You will finally see why all those hippie first-timers to hallucinogens went nuts with spirituality and kaleidoscopic colorful imagery. Of course that empathy, individualism and free love led straight to the Reagan years as the hippies got older and had kids. White people…

25I-NBOMe is sometimes sold on blotter as LSD or acid. 25I is cheap, so it makes more profit for the crooked dealer. DOC and DOB, other phenethylamine adulterants, require much larger doses and therefore require a much larger square of blotter. 25I-NBOMe has a similar potency to LSD meaning it can be put on blotters the size of LSD blotters, making it a much better substitute. They sell LSD testing kits that test for presence of LSD, but cannot rule out LSD cut with something else. Thanks, prohibition.

As a pure substance, 25I-NBOMe comes as tiny white crystals. DO NOT SNORT 25I-NBOME. DO NOT EYEBALL 25I-NBOME. In nearly all of the deaths there was snorting. The line between a safe trip and a possible fatal one is a vanishingly small amount of powder. A single 500-750μg dose is a barely visible dusting of powder, and the difference between 500 and 1500μg is impossible to see. Handling 25I-NBOMe is difficult for that reason. Use surgical gloves, a disposable apron, and a face mask when preparing doses. Think of it as Breaking Bad cosplay. Dispose of them afterwards and wash your hands. All equipment that isn’t disposable should be washed thoroughly, many times with soap and warm water while wearing gloves.

The phenazepam article covers how to do basic liquid volumetric dosing. 25I-NBOMe can directly dissolve in water. Water is alright if you’re going to dose via dripping a liquid under your tongue. Be careful when heating in a warm water bath to accelerate dissolving. Beware of significant evaporation unintentionally increasing the drug/solvent ratio.

If you want to blot, you may need a more accurate children’s oral syringe. You get heavy blotter paper or standard watercolor paper #14. If it isn’t already perforated, perforate it. You’ll be doing 20 doses. You dissolve 15mg of 25I-NBOMe into 110ml of alcohol, the alcohol evaporates faster. I added 10ml to take care of evaporation and inexactness. It’s better to err on the side of caution.

Once the crystals are fully dissolved you have to remember that 25I-NBOMe is dangerous, much more dangerous than LSD. So the inexact methods for laying LSD blotter are unsafe here. Using a syringe. Suck up 5mL and slowly, very slowly, drip the solution on each blotter square. Use tweezers to pick it up to make sure that all the liquid is absorbed. It will take a long time to do it this way.

You should treat psychedelics as a combination medical of a procedure and a vacation. Take a day or two of leave from work for your fact that you’re taking leave of your senses. Get up early in the morning to reach the airport. You can’t drive, so put away your keys. Eat 2 hours beforehand but not too much. Phenethylamines tend to cause anorexia and some side effects are actually the effects of starving or dehydrating yourself. Now the flight is going to be 8-10 hours with most people reporting 10 hours. Prepare a meal to eat or some cash ready for ordering out. Seamless or Grubhub is going to be a great friend. You’re not going to be able to drive. Don’t even try. If you’re going to appreciate nature, bring a sober driver or only go a short distance from home, 5-10 minutes, on foot.

25I-NBOMe’s dose is between 500-750 μg with 750 μg being typical in an LSD sized blotter. It is inactive when swallowed or taken orally. There are multiple methods of administration, I prefer sublingually. You place the blotter under your tongue and hold it there, ignore the bitter taste, for 30 minutes. There are major blood vessels running down there, and it will be rapidly absorbed. Buccal administration, or holding the blotter in your cheek pouch, works. Gingival administration by gumming the blotter paper is also effective.

The first feeling comes in at 15 minutes, with a sensation things have definitely changed. This vague feeling will lead to a heightening awareness and pupil dilation. Patterns are most visible. The stitching of your clothes, the veins on a leaf, the design of a ceiling tile. After 45 minute, it will have really set in. Edges will start gaining a fringe. At first it will be as if heat is distorting your vision, then the fringes gain color.

It will peak and fall several times over the next 10 hours. Writing about psychedelics is always difficult. By nature, the imagery is subjective, and the feelings will only be for yourself. I can tell you that after 3-4 hours is when it really hits hard. You’ll want to sit down for this part. Everything will begin warping around, and fractal patterns will smash into your vision. If you have a friend with you, you’ll talk, about deep things, about silly things, and somehow, the answers will be easier to get. There is one caveat. It’s not as introspective as 2C-I or proper LSD. But the imagery and the imagination boosters are on full. I watched rainbow fringed streams on the sea of my ceiling tiles. I spotted a golden and red fox in my doorway. It is astonishing and you feel so happy.

Pupil dilation is significant throughout. The strong seratonergic effects will make you behave oddly. There may occasionally be bursts of anxiety. Ignore them. They will pass. If you are discovered, feign a really bad fever and headache. Cover your eyes and just say you want some water, lie back down in bed with some headphones and really enjoy some music. You may notice teeth grinding, and odd temperatures shifts. Those are normal. If they feel severe you should read the article on serotonin toxicity.

After the trip ends, you’ll be jet lagged. You might have trouble sleeping up to 12 hours later, but there are ways to fix that. I prefer a Xanax, a cup of tea, and cozying up to my laptop.

Have fun; try not to die.

Previously, Backdoor Pharmacist takes Molly, ambien, quaaludes, mephedrone, kratom, benzos, smart drugs, more sleeping pills and “bath salts.” Backdoor Pharmacist does not drink coffee.