Conditions
I purchased a 400mg pack of Spice Gold, sealed, for £3 or $6 USD. I also purchased a clipper lighter which was used to smoke the spice along with green Zig Zag papers and a glass pipe. I started with smoking two bowls, one directly after the other. I wait and then smoked a joint of spice that contained approx 150 mg of spice, the bowls approx 70mg of spice in each. After inhaling a hit I waited until between 20 and 30 seconds before exhaling. Activities that followed were listening to music, watching 2 movies, and browsing the internet. I also used the remaining spice in a joint in the morning to test the wake-and-bake effects of spice.
Description/History of Spice
Quote:
is an exotic herbal smoking blend that really works! This extra strong Spice Gold variety is available in 400mg packets, and contains the same ingredients but is a much stronger, more potent blend. The aroma of Spice provides an uplifting feeling - stimulating yet soothing - surprisingly effective. The plants contained in Spice have been used ritually by ancient cultures throughout the world. It is the perfect smoke for chilling out at home or going out with friends. Spice releases a pleasing aroma that is acceptable anywhere, anytime.
Packaged in a high quality pouch to ensure freshness, Spice Gold is ready to use pure, no need to mix with tobacco. Simply roll in your favourite cigarette papers or place in a pipe.
Spice Gold is nicotine and tobacco free.
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This is take directly from their bigger packages. It smells like a spice (literally), perhaps cinnamon if I had to compare it. A substance that looks like marijuana but actually smells very different. Some pictures online advertise it as sort of greyish colour but it is not, it is very green. A dark, leafy green. Spice has been used for awhile now as an alternative to marijuana. The legal status of Spice and Spice Gold in the UK is legal, and I believe it is the same for the majority of europe and Canada. I am unsure of the legal status of Spice in the United States. There have been people claiming recently, online through reviews and message boards, that Spice Gold is the best legal smoking blend and that it rivals even some strains of marijuana. There are people who would rather smoke spice that marijuana, otherwise known as "Spice-Converts". I conducted this review and report because I wanted to know if Spice was the real deal, here we go.
Smoking Out of a Bowl
Smoking Spice Gold out of a bowl is, obviously, very similar to smoking marijuana. I personally find the aroma not as nice as marijuana's scent. It just smells very poor in my opinion. I started smoking the first bowl out of the total two of which I smoked. The smoke hit me as harsh and unpleasant. Most other legal herbs I have smoked have had a similar experience, where the smoke is harsh. This may be attributed to the fact I was using a pipe and not a water-filter device like a bong, however marijuana smoke from a pipe was nowhere near as harsh as Spice Gold's. I felt no immediate reaction like i usually do with weed, so I proceeded to pack another bowl. Again, the smoke was still very harsh and burned my throat. I started to get light headed and warm, I then sat down and listened to some music (4:21 The Day After - Method Man).
Smoking Out of a Joint
Now don't let it be said that I have lied to you all and have made you think that I am a good joint roller, I assure you I am anything but. In fact this was the first time I tried rolling a joint. It wasn't that successful but it did work. Actually, it didn't look too bad, i underestimated myself!! Anyway back to point, smoking Spice Gold out of a joint is just as harsh as smoking it out of a pipe. In fact, it is probably harsher. The smell is still the same. Just a quick ote o the smell, I have friends who say they prefer the smell of burning spice to burning weed, but prefer the smell of bud to the smell of spice. Weird, as I prefer weed to both. The joint did work but I have to judge between which method was better I would say smoking it out of a bowl greatly surpassed the joint technique mostly because the harshness of the smoke was decreased with the pipe and increased with the joint. Unfortunately this time I did not get a chance to try spirce with a bong but hopefully in the future I will.
Effects
The effects of Spice Gold can be very correctly compared to the effects of marijuana. I have been smoking marijuana for about a year now and I can tell you that the effects are similar. In the beginning after the two bowls I began to feel light headed and felt as if I was just drifting along in the world. I then began to have my sense of touch enhanced the same way it is with weed, I also felt as if I was in some kind of cartoonish-like state. Later the effects put me in couch lock mode where I did not want to get up and do anything. This unfortunately lasted throughout the entire experience I had. The munchies did kick in quite a bit, almost as strong as with weed in my opinion. And, as similar to weed, when you eat the affects of Spice begin to decrease. Listening to music is very rewarding on spice but does not compare to doing so when on marijuana which is, by far, more superior. I sat down and watched dodgeball and found it to be as funny as it was sober, but I do say I enjoyed the experience much more when I was on Spice Gold. In general I felt very relaxed, very tired, and i felt exposed and open to the world. My sense of touch was, again, greatly increased and similar to marijuana's effect, but not as powerful. On a side note, my spelling and grammar decreased dramatically more so than they do when I am on weed. Fascinating. The effects lasted for the remained of the night until I was too tired and needed to go to sleep. While a Placebo Effect could be taking place here I really doubt it. I went in with nothing but skeptical thoughts and did not believe it would work, but it did. I do think that there is a strong possibility that the Munchies effect was brought about by either placebo, or a variable I never bothered to control (I had not eaten much that day). Also, when I am high on marijuana I usually laugh uncontrollably and it feels great, however on spice i did not laugh at all.
Better Than Weed?
Certainly not. Spice gold can compare with weed but it could never match up to the effects and quality of good marijuana. Some say that Spice Gold is better than 'schwag' or 'soapbar'. While I have been fortunate to never myself buy any of that stuff, I have tried it before and I would say that the effects of the schwag and Spice Gold can be compared as very close, but the effects of schwag weed is still superior.
Conclusion and Bottom Line
We all love weed, thats why we are on this forum. We believe that is should be legal and we all know we enjoy its effects. Spice Gold, to put it bluntly, is not marijuana. It just isn't. What it is is a nice alternative to weed if you completely can't find any. I would not say that spending money on it is just wasting money that could be spent on bud. While it is cheaper than weed (£3 for 400mg, £15 an eighth) it doesn't meet marijuana standards. My advice and bottom line is as follows: Buy weed. If you really can't find any then buy Spice Gold if you want to get high. They are two different herbs, so one can not expect them to be the same, however marijuana's effects are still far superior. I will give it a 6.5-7 on a scale of 1 to 10 on similarity to weed high. That should give you an idea. I also suggest going out and trying it yourself, only £3 for 400mg you have nothing to really loose!