Micro-dose
Considering the following:
- Fresh and dry psilocybin mushrooms are generally considered equivalent using the 10% dry to wet ratio. Remember this is only an approximation, and fresh mushrooms can be more or less than 10% of their dry weight. This means that if you take 3 fresh grams, you could be taking more or less than 0.3 dry grams, depending on the mushroom and environmental factors, like humidity levels.
- Caps and stems contain different levels of psilocybin. The psilocybin contents in Psilocybe cubensis, one of the most commonly enjoyed strains, are in the range of 0.37–1.30% in the whole mushroom, with 0.44–1.35% in the cap and 0.05–1.27% in the stem.
- Psilocybin content varies from mushroom to mushroom, from flush to flush, and between strains. Changing varieties during your microdosing protocol will make calibration difficult as you’ll be ingesting varying amounts of psychoactive substance with each different type of psilocybin mushroom.
- Psilocybin content changes in the different stages of development of a mushroom. Miniature pinheads that just didn’t grow bigger can be more potent than larger mushrooms per gram of weight.
Having an electronic scale for the kitchen is a good place to start. Scales accurate to 0.1 – 1.0 grams go for about $20. Weigh the dry mushrooms out before pulverizing to know how much total mushroom mass there will be once they are powdered. Knowing how much you have to start with will help you divide up the amounts for each microdose.
For example: 2 grams of dried whole mushrooms will yield 10 microdoses of 0.2 grams after powdering.
As a psilocybin microdose is approximately one tenth of a standard dose, you will use somewhere between 0.2 – 0.5 grams of dried powdered psilocybin mushrooms per dose. However, remember that this amount can be higher or lower depending on each individual’s neurophysiology, and an important part of the microdosing process is calibrating the dosage to fit just right to you. This process can take up to several microdoses to figure out, so it is better to start low, and slowly (and patiently!) work upward until you find your psilocybin sweet spot.