Are Magic Mushroom Caps Really Stronger Than Stems?

Dear Stoner: Can you or one of your expert friends settle a debate between me and my brother? He swears that magic mushroom caps are stronger than stems, and I don't think there's a difference.
Kaya

Dear Kaya: Many of these mushroom discussions and debates remind me of conversations about cannabis fifteen years ago. I remember hearing stoners argue over the whole "indica and sativa" thing or debate the function of red and orange hairs on cannabis buds. The answers are out there, but the information just hasn't reached the public yet. And where's the fun in settling a bar argument with facts, anyway?

As far as caps versus stems goes, you're both correct — but your brother is a little more accurate, according to Friday Ventures cannabis and psilocybin lab owner Noah Novello. "The potency can be very different within the same mushroom," he says. "I've seen caps 75 percent more potent than stems, I've seen the cap and stems be the same, and I've seen the stem be stronger. In most cases, the cap is stronger, but I've seen it go all directions."
Novello is on the cutting edge of psilocybin testing in Colorado. He and his team have been analyzing the potency and stability of psilocybin products, from raw mushrooms to gummies and tea. Psilocybin production can be homogenized within mushrooms, Novello adds, but the boomers you find on the street probably aren't. So, yeah, you and a friend could nibble from the same bag and experience very different results.

Again, I can't help but remember the feeling of rolling the dice after eating an amateur weed brownie in college. Sometimes I would feel nothing while my roomate went into a THC coma. Sometimes my eyes went into the back of my skull. No wonder eating homemade edibles and underground mushrooms can take us on such a trip.

Youngsters these days have it so easy, with their ten-milligram weed gummies and burgeoning psilocybin scene. Although Colorado's medical mushroom program is still about a year away from opening for applications and it won't be as widespread as retail cannabis, the state Department of Revenue has confirmed that there will be psilocybin gummies and other extracted products available for patients. Giddy up!

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