POD 112: Understanding Albino Penis Envy with John Workman
Added 2024-09-24 06:42:23 +0000 UTCThis is the first recorded interview with mycological legend and Sporeworks entrepreneur John Workman, we discuss his discovery of Albino Penis Envy, bioluminescent petunias with mushroom genes, attempts to cultivate the nipple king Psilocybe hoogshagenii, and his spores being sent to the International Space Staton.
Sporeworks' Space Spores Blog Post
Comments
ARock is the man
Steve Bertram
2025-03-01 22:27:32 +0000 UTCMy first spores were from Homestead and were called Amazonian "Stropharia Cubensis". I was not successful. But, then I got spore syringes from Psilocybe Fanaticus in 2001. I bought directions and spores via cash in an envelope mailed to a P.O. Box. I just recently started to grow Psilocybe Ochraceostratas (formerly known as Natelensis), Psilocybe Mexicanas, and Panaeolus Cyanescens ('Natural' psychedelics are decriminalized in my city and you can even get DMT in a couple stores). It's amazing to me how different the trips are between species.
John Slezak
2025-01-12 04:21:41 +0000 UTCI bought from fist bong from Lazar’s Bazar!
Cody Wickman
2025-01-03 16:46:08 +0000 UTC2009: In SWIM’s pet hamster’s dream* he arranged, using his grandmother’s stolen credit card information, for a set of spore prints from eagle eye, I think he told me it was called….B+…harvested two flushes a few months later, back then he had only tried psilocybin containing mushrooms once prior…in this fictitious realm of dreams and illusions…anyways, after that several dream-years passed before he felt the calling again, over the course of which he studied fungal tissue culture at the PHD level within the health science research department of RIT…eventually, with the help of anonymous entities he became familiar with APE, GHOST, p. natalensis, and enigma. He swears by starting with liquid culture, inoculation of grain, to spawning using a coco-coir based medium, supplemented with a mineral or two. wild dreams, this 🐹… I’m told he mostly uses agents of consciousness modulation like N,N-DMT at subthreshold doses combined, depending on the vibe, with MDMA, LSD, racemic Ketamine, 2CB, and even liquid cocaine, these days. Following a combination of reputable protocols and his own highly developed intuition, most often alone, in conjunction with disciplined ritual craft, meditations, yoga, mixed martial arts, and energy manipulation using declassified inner order techniques & thangs like sound bowls, gongs, binaural frequencies…etc.. It was perhaps both a blessings and a curse that he was raised in something like witness protection, unable to form lasting relationships with other humans…father working closely with groups like Joint Special Operations Command, the CIA, DEA (which is a TERRORIST ORGANIZATION) and uncle a notorious DEA undercover agent….whose house, apparently, this hamster got *very* lit at, unbeknownst to his uncle, during a Thanksgiving invitation years ago…before this hamster started to speak up, and got scapegoated into exile, where he remains. Isolated in a sense, and yet more connected to the planets, earth, and the creatures of nature, than ever before… live free, or die ~ ⚡️•⚕️•🐦🔥
Cor Leonis
2024-12-01 07:44:43 +0000 UTCI just always read on the Facebook Shroomery that it was an overseas company and whether you got your order or not was hit or miss due to customs and the legal gray area. I’m glad to hear this podcast clear the air and put a face to the name!
Foothills Fungi
2024-11-24 00:47:54 +0000 UTCI haven't order from them in over a decade but never had an issue, what is the stigma?
Hamilton Morris
2024-11-24 00:42:13 +0000 UTCI totally take this back. I apparently just can’t follow instructions. The NaBH4 really isn’t messy, I just had crap technique. My bad!
rabidreject
2024-11-22 12:35:18 +0000 UTCSince he says it's something that hasn't been made before, my guess would be Tarik Peterson's proposed phenethylamine from POD 69. I think it'd be called something like 6-methoxy-7-methylbenzopyran-3-amine, though I'm not a chemist.
Juniper
2024-11-22 06:51:32 +0000 UTCI have ordered from them alot. Never once had issues.
Brian Blier
2024-11-20 16:22:36 +0000 UTCSo is sporeworks still a reputable site? There’s a lot of stigma around ordering spores from there
Foothills Fungi
2024-11-19 22:09:09 +0000 UTCSemilanceata is liberty caps. I don't think you'd want to be eating Cinctulus
DreamStone
2024-11-14 00:45:28 +0000 UTCI have seen so many " mislabled" or false advertised spores going around it's crazy! Seeing vendors sell dried fruit that is labeled APE and is a golden teacher and the guy selling it is looking at me like I'm crazy when I tell him what it is! Lol poor consumers!!
Aaron Slonaker
2024-10-28 16:29:45 +0000 UTCFantastic interview! John does sound like “The Dude” and I keep picturing him in shorts and a bath robe, holding a White Russian, about to head to the bowling alley. He’s definitely got a rug that ties the room together!
Spaceman Spiff
2024-10-18 23:10:18 +0000 UTCWhere *we* came from.
Pvt. Idaho
2024-10-15 14:09:45 +0000 UTCThat the supposed oppressive force of parallel medicalization wasn't even on his radar was an answer in itself!
CSN
2024-10-15 14:04:53 +0000 UTCTerrance McKenna would conjecture that's where they came from!
CSN
2024-10-15 14:00:35 +0000 UTCI cant believe there is cubensis in space...
Helmer
2024-10-06 17:06:01 +0000 UTCYeah, he was sort of looking for a legal loophole it seems. I think the DEA would still come down on you for it containing a Schedule 1. Workman mentioned a few times that was a good enough reason for him to not sell liquid culture, because it's possible they will come down on those even if the amount is immeasurable.
B-Boy Bungus
2024-10-04 16:09:54 +0000 UTCDid you understand what he was talking about regarding sclerotia? Sounded like maybe he was looking for a loophole or something like that to allow him to distribute a product.
david
2024-10-04 16:03:57 +0000 UTCMy HPLC results of Ps. mexicana var. tampanensis sclerotia were 0.4mg/g, essentially bunk, and I have seen similar results from others. The actual fruiting bodies of Ps. mexicana var. tampanensis tested between 12.0-15.0mg/g, where an average cubensis tests around 5.0mg/g (although a testing center I know of has seen results as high as 27.0/mg/g in cubensis). The fruiting bodies of Ps. mexicana var. tampanensis also contained measurable amounts of aeruginascin, baeocystin & norbaeocystin in my results.
B-Boy Bungus
2024-10-04 16:00:21 +0000 UTCPharmahuasca - So glad you mentioned this. You, HM, are the only person I've heard tout the utility of the (US) abandoned antidepressant MAOI, meclobemide. It is available in Canada from a pharmacy with a prescription and they will accept that from a US medical doctor to a US address. It's just not available from US pharmacies only due to its dwindling use in this country over the years. It is absent on three EHR drug databases I searched. It's available in 150 mg tablets as the freebase (rather unusual). BTW, the HCl salt is not water soluble. To recap your assessment mostly from another podcast: 300 mg oral meclobemide Synthetic oral DMT one hr later 25 mg - very interesting - definitely the aya and DMT effect 50 mg - some would consider this a full experience 75 mg - total deconstruction of your reality - best to have some facilitation Advantages - far less nausea, shorter duration than traditional aya Prompt and predictable on and offset duration 90-120 minutes meclobemide, the MAOI component is of the reversible sort and far cleaner drug, itself with little perceptible cognitive effect Other thoughts. Could it be dosed at the same time as the synthetic DMT. Earlier dosing does make sense. But since DMT is cheap and plentiful, what then, if any is the increased dose, if any, for simultaneous dosing for the same effect.
david
2024-10-04 14:44:45 +0000 UTCSclerotia - Re Pollock, I think it was. What was he claiming about sclerotia? They are certainly potent. Was he saying that they are not ‘mushroom’ and therefore should not fall under prohibition? It’s not so clear that mushrooms or any of such fungal material is truly illegal. Some would say the ‘mushroom’ is mostly the mycelium and underground. Some fungi, like Tampanensis produce potent sclerotia while other like Hoogshagenii produce alkaloid potent mycelium yielding potent colonized grain. From Shulgin, TIHKAL “Which brings us back to the mushrooms, and the topic of the law. In the original writing of the Controlled Substances Act of 1970, our Federal drug law, there are only four plants listed as being “Scheduled Drugs.” In Schedule I there was Marijuana (later defined as the plant Cannabis spp.) and Peyote (later defined as the botanical Lophophora williamsii); in Schedule II there was Opium poppy and poppy straw, and Coca leaves. It is generally known that commercial opium comes from the plant Papaver somniferum and that commercial coca comes from the plant Erythroxylon coca, but I am not aware of either of these botanical binomials having been explicitly named in the statutes. A couple of quickies were slipped in, not completely properly, in the giving of the binomial of Tabernanthe iboga as a synonym for ibogaine, and the giving of the binomial of Catha edulis as a synonym for cathinone, both Schedule I drugs. So there are definitely four, and maybe six, plants that can be considered Scheduled drugs." "But nowhere in the legal archives of current drug statutes can you find mention of Genera such as Psilocybe, Stropharia, Paneolus or Inocybe. Nor of the dozens and dozens of species that stem from them. So, you would logically conclude that these magic mushroom are not illegal? Well, yes and no." "No, in the letter-of-the-law sense that they are not explicitly named as illegal entities. But yes, in the de facto exercise of the law. With the inescapable fact that both psilocin and psilocybin are named as Schedule I drugs, and the acknowledgment that there are some mushrooms that might contain these drugs, then these botanical entities become legal complications. Might the dried fruiting bodies be seen as packaging strategy for the sale and delivery of a Scheduled I drug? Might the growing of them be seen as a production strategy for the manufacture of a Schedule I drug? Of course it might be, as the law has stated that the manufacture and sale of Schedule I drugs is a Federal felony. “Your Honor. I gathered these things out there in the field for my dinner salad. I had no idea that they contained something illegal.” A reasonable defense, and it may well work today, along with the argument that opium poppy pods are buyable at the Farmer’s Market as floral decorations, and morning glory seeds can be bought at the local nursery for next Spring’s garden. Innocence may be a virtue for a while, as it is not widely recognized that these decorative poppies are in fact Schedule II opium capsules and those Ipomoea seeds in fact contain ergine, a Schedule III depressant. But that is today. What happens tomorrow?" "Today, to a large measure, the burden of proof still falls upon the accuser, and that ephemeral and undocumented “presumption of innocence” concept provides some measure of protection. They, the accusers accusors, must prove you are guilty. But, as the legal structure drifts from the criminal statutes to the regulatory statutes, this protection is lost. You must prove that you are innocent. The perfect example is the random urine test, which demands, without any probable cause, that you prove that you do not have drugs in you. There is no presumption of innocence. This has been the sad state of our income tax laws for years, and now it is becoming a reality in our drug laws. Prove to the court that you didn’t know that these mushrooms were psychoactive! Shades of the Inquisitions of a few hundred years ago. Or the Salem travesties of more recent times. Prove to us you are not a witch.”
david
2024-10-04 14:27:12 +0000 UTCIncredible interview!! Love to get the back stories and learn more intricacies about cultivation/fungal genetics
SwampFox
2024-10-01 15:08:52 +0000 UTCThere is a large number of observations of them on inaturalist in the US. Not sure which populations have been sequenced to confirm they are P. semilanceata or a close relative
Jahshj
2024-10-01 14:58:31 +0000 UTCI loved this interview! I really wonder what he is referring to as "liberty caps" (Psilocybe Semilanceata)?. Maybe it was Panuolous Cinctulus? Liberty Caps are native to Europe and there has been no real evidence of them being found in the United States.
Happi Hyphae
2024-10-01 14:20:40 +0000 UTCVery good episode, HM. TY. Can anyone comment on the APER cubensis cultivar and it's qualities with respect to APE?
david
2024-09-30 19:41:38 +0000 UTCShroomery!
Justin F
2024-09-29 18:15:46 +0000 UTCNo wayyyy. Sporeworks FTW! 🍄
Arylcycloscopy
2024-09-28 16:04:28 +0000 UTCI really enjoyed this interview with Jeff Bridges. I didn't expect Mr Lebowski to be so verbose. Lol
Jonathan Iffland
2024-09-28 14:37:49 +0000 UTCAgreed, I loved that.
Hamilton Morris
2024-09-27 04:50:36 +0000 UTCThis is off topic but can you tell us anything about piezocatalysis where a piezoelectric molecule becomes a catalyst upon being energized by ultrasound in a liquid bath. The deformation results in a new charge profile in the molecule, which then takes on a new catalytic function. Sounds amazing if true.
Skogel
2024-09-27 04:42:12 +0000 UTCI had a very similar experience as a freshman at OSU almost 40 years later lol. Protoplast fusion is a proven concept within genera. Not sure about the stability of the hybrids as fungi tend to shed chromosomes more easily than other eukaryotes. I linked studies about protoplast fusion in Ganoderma and polyploidy/aneuploidy in fungi. https://www.mdpi.com/2311-7524/9/10/1129 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5656283/
Jahshj
2024-09-27 03:27:01 +0000 UTC"Do you have an opinion?" (On the increasing corporatization and medical interest in the psychedelic space) "Not.... really? Could you repeat the question?" 🔥😂 ✊ If ever there was a qualified expert opinion, that was it.
Pvt. Idaho
2024-09-27 00:44:26 +0000 UTCI'd definitely be interested in trading a.p.e. spores and pictures and any a.p.e. specific information
Thomas
2024-09-26 18:09:17 +0000 UTCI been growing albino penis envy from spores exclusively for about 5 years now. I have a massive spore library and a lot of pictures I'd love to trade with anyone else obsessed with a.p.e.. also is there any place I can find old pictures from workman other than the shroomery? I'd like to see more pics of the original fruits he found
Thomas
2024-09-26 18:07:57 +0000 UTCNo, I am not doing the chemistry in the united states and the FAA doesn't apply to synthesis.
Hamilton Morris
2024-09-26 17:27:36 +0000 UTCI can say I am like him. I've had a few profound experiences on mushrooms and other psyches and I grow a lot of magic mushies. Like a lot. And I haven't even had any this year and I pretty much never consume. I still love mushrooms and studying them and growing different ones. In my mushroom lab I have 100+ genetics. I just love seeing them and the different ones. If anybody is interested in trading 🧬 just DM me.
Kayden
2024-09-26 15:31:42 +0000 UTCIt’s probably cheaper as well actually lol Sorry I just keep thinking of reasons to use this reduction method instead…
rabidreject
2024-09-26 13:04:33 +0000 UTCIt seems more available as well as a sort of middle ground between the horribly messy work up when using CuCl2 + NaBH4 and the relatively dangerous LiAlH4 reduction. It just seems like it may be easier to work with for those is us that don’t have degree’s in chemistry, without adding much danger. 🤷♂️ I dunno, you’ve probably thought of it and decided against it for some reason
rabidreject
2024-09-26 13:03:45 +0000 UTCHey Hamilton this is pretty unrelated to this episode but I am essentially trying to work out the reduction of the corresponding nitrostyrene for mescaline. You mentioned you were making a peyote/mescaline pamphlet and were thinking about the CuCl2 catalysed reduction using NaBH4. Iv been trying this recently and have had pretty bad results. I’m about to try the zinc/Hcl method and was wondering why you were intending on using the CaCl2 method in your pamphlet. If anyone else on here happens to know please do chime in…
rabidreject
2024-09-26 12:52:29 +0000 UTCHats off sir, will keep my ears open for any and all hints 👀
Matt4dma78dhf
2024-09-26 09:10:30 +0000 UTCIs the precaution due to the analogue act?
Scott Sharp
2024-09-26 00:44:09 +0000 UTCIncredible. This was so special to hear. Thanks
DreamStone
2024-09-25 23:50:39 +0000 UTCGreat cast 🙌 anastamosis was the word he was looking for for hyphae fusing 🪢
Gabriel Frank
2024-09-25 22:06:56 +0000 UTCNo, this is an entirely new molecule that has never been made before.
Hamilton Morris
2024-09-25 19:49:16 +0000 UTCExcellent interview Hamilton! Can’t believe that you interviewed Workman. Thank you so much!
JayT
2024-09-25 19:01:05 +0000 UTCBoth. I think weirdos find community and connection in this space as it's pretty accepting of humans in all their varieties and I love that. It's liberating to fly your freak flag and have it celebrated. But you do encounter a lot of people where you can tell they've lost touch with everyday reality and sometimes it's silly and sometimes it's worrisome. What's the tipping point? It's one of those topics I find people nervous to talk about but I would love more discussion on it. I think periods of abstinence or infrequent use help people reflect on what was personal development / revelations about themselves vs. behavior change correlated to their psychedelic use.
mia
2024-09-25 16:44:14 +0000 UTCLook forward to hearing your interviews with ‘Irimias the Obscure’ & Len Pickard. Anyone here reading ‘Lethal Doses’?
Bushy Haired Stranger
2024-09-25 16:34:03 +0000 UTCThe later for me, if anything the mushies helped me reconcile with the weirdness
Loke Guiks
2024-09-25 16:12:19 +0000 UTCI can confirm I have a bunch of sporeworks genetics going now. I think my first order was over ten years ago
Daniel Odorizzi
2024-09-25 14:01:00 +0000 UTCI haven't listened to this yet (excited to), but had the same thought and searched old episodes. This references Albino PE (APE) where the interview a few years back was original PE, link here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/podcast-24-true-53931022
Tyler Young
2024-09-25 08:35:21 +0000 UTCI asked my gf and she just said I’m weird 🙃 I was fascinated when I was young even before I tried them. It think it goes both ways but an interesting question! What is your opinion?
Kenneth
2024-09-25 05:49:53 +0000 UTCSuper exciting..can't wait for the documentary And the next 2 podcasts and of course the pickard
M
2024-09-25 02:06:29 +0000 UTCAfter his wife died, his county forged his signature on his deed to his property and stole his land. He's been trying to fight for it back but the governmental corruption goes all the way up to the state level and they threw out his case. It sounds ridiculous but his evidence is very damning. Listen to his episode on the MycoWizards podcast if you wanna hear his full story. His involvement with early at-home mycology is also extremely fascinating.
Armchair Idiot
2024-09-25 00:24:06 +0000 UTCWhat happened?
Hamilton Morris
2024-09-25 00:10:53 +0000 UTC100%, Grade AAA+, top-tier content. Really great stuff.
B-Boy Bungus
2024-09-25 00:08:07 +0000 UTCI'd also love to hear this
Scott Sharp
2024-09-24 23:45:47 +0000 UTCits a lot of trichocereus bridgesii
Owen
2024-09-24 21:21:46 +0000 UTCIf you look through this reddit post you can see a lot of the data. all citizen science. still pretty cool https://www.reddit.com/r/sanpedrocactus/comments/kfboy8/updated_version_of_the_chart_outlining_the/
Owen
2024-09-24 21:18:01 +0000 UTCWait there are strains of San Pedro more potent than peyote? Can you link to more info about this?
Armchair Idiot
2024-09-24 20:53:12 +0000 UTCThat era of the internet is so criminally underdocumented. I would love to see a report or something about all the mycology information online during that time.
Armchair Idiot
2024-09-24 20:51:55 +0000 UTCI hope one day you interview Marc R Keith (RogerRabbit). I know you typically prefer to interview people who have never been interviewed before but I really feel like his story needs to reach as wide of an audience as possible. It's really sad what happened to him
Armchair Idiot
2024-09-24 20:49:19 +0000 UTCSuper curious about the mystery substance you're going off to synthesize. My guess would have to be MXE but I really can't say
Matt4dma78dhf
2024-09-24 20:11:48 +0000 UTCHe is adorable
Adam Wall
2024-09-24 18:10:32 +0000 UTCGreat as always Hamilton!!! ❤️🥰
Lilveiss
2024-09-24 18:01:42 +0000 UTCFor microscopy research of course
M
2024-09-24 17:27:28 +0000 UTC😁
M
2024-09-24 17:27:15 +0000 UTCProbably a bit of both. Like most circumstances
M
2024-09-24 17:26:33 +0000 UTCI would love to hear everyone's opinions on Hamilton's question: Do you think the mushrooms (or psychedelics) make people weird/eccentric or weird/eccentric people are attracted to mushrooms/psychedelics?
mia
2024-09-24 17:06:03 +0000 UTCThis will be interesting. I didn't even know that was an issue with albinos.
Metally Challenged
2024-09-24 15:31:49 +0000 UTCThey way mushroom cultivation is going similar to cannibis,higher and higher potency. The same is happening with San Pedro mescaline currently some even surpassing peyote mescaline content.
Owen
2024-09-24 15:06:44 +0000 UTCInteresting how this person seems to have missed an era of online mushroom info, jumping from the classic books to the forums. There was a whole period of texts files on bbses and usenet, then html pages scattered around the web in the mid-90s - I seem to recall some hosted on lycaeum, hyperreal, erowid? I definitely was growing pf-tek style mushrooms based on a hodgepodge of such info as a little 15 year old boy circa 1996! I feel like the shroomery didn’t take off until the late 90s.
Kasey
2024-09-24 14:52:56 +0000 UTCWasn't there already an EP about this subject a few years ago?
Knosnothing
2024-09-24 14:30:56 +0000 UTCYeah this probably wasn’t the best episode to ask for recommendations - I more meant on psychedelic research as opposed to mushroom growing. I got about as into growing mushrooms as I am going to!
rabidreject
2024-09-24 12:41:48 +0000 UTCMycogeeky for mushroom cultivation
WISE APE MYCO
2024-09-24 12:40:12 +0000 UTCOoo this guy just reminded me it’s pretty much shroom season here. Liberty caps are STRONG.
rabidreject
2024-09-24 11:25:12 +0000 UTCFantastic interview! Funny that he said he would never eat an albino penis envy. I grew APE once -- the potency difference compared to the B+ growing in the next tub over was beyond what I thought was possible. I have a personal issue with APE now... and I haven't taken shrooms since that fateful day 🤣
Aidan
2024-09-24 11:16:57 +0000 UTCHey Hamilton, bit random - do you have any recommendations for any one else’s podcasts that are of a similar subject matter to you? You say you are constantly surprised that people are amazed you have the job you do but I feel like people may struggle in KNOWING if there actually are any other podcasts that are similar to yours? There are quite a few that don’t go into much detail, the sort you get invited into to talk but I dunno about more detailed ones like yours…this goes for anyone on here actually to be fair. If you have any cool recommendations, give me a shout!
rabidreject
2024-09-24 10:05:50 +0000 UTCGreat podcast! bored of growing cubes , time to try semilenciata I didn't know they had ever been done!
zealot
2024-09-24 10:00:21 +0000 UTCVery nice!
Octopappa
2024-09-24 09:05:17 +0000 UTCI hope they grow the space spores and sell spores of that lineage. I would so buy that
Armchair Idiot
2024-09-24 08:26:08 +0000 UTCSuper stuff as always, Hamilton. Thank you, Sir!
Leigh Bergin
2024-09-24 07:13:24 +0000 UTCGracias, Hamilton!
Charles Scott
2024-09-24 06:44:54 +0000 UTC
