First of all I would like to specifically state that this review is not a poor reflection of the individual employees of the Nederland Avenue store. Those employees are not well informed or particularly knowledgeable about kratom or THC products or Amanita Muscaria products but at least they are friendly and attempt to be helpful.
The other disclaimer is I have never bought any nicotine vapes, tobacco products, devices, glassware, or accessories so I am not commenting on those. I am specifically commenting on my experience as a regular customer purchasing products containing THC derivatives, Kratom, and Amanita Muscaria products respectively.
I will keep this as concise and simple as possible.
I frequently purchase products from the Nederland Ave location and occasionally the Twin City and Hwy 365 locations. I purchase at least a $10 product 3-5 times per week and have spent hundreds or possibly over a thousand dollars there over the past year or two.
To date I have not encountered a single employee who knows anything about Kratom, THC or CBD products, Amanita Muscaria products. They do know anything about the legality of any of their products or what laws these products may be subject to. They also do not understand the chemical composition, effects, production, or distribution of these substances. They CANNOT TELL YOU ANYTHING OTHER THAN WHAT IS ON THE LABEL which may or may not be misinformation
For example:
I asked the employee of the Twin City Hwy location in Groves about some CAPS brand products and he had no idea what he was talking about.
1. The CAPS chocolate bars contain and undisclosed amount of ingredients that is misleading. They are labeled as containing "1000mg" but the ingredients say it contains THC-A, Muscarine, Muscimol, and many other ingredients. Muscimol is the chemical responsible for the effect of various psychoactive Amanita mushrooms including Amanita Muscaria. The problem is it does not list the actual amount of Muscimol present so there is no way to establish a safe and effective dose. THC-A is a substance that is active only after decarboxylating normally by heating (smoking or vaping normally) to convert to CB1 agonism of Cannabis. It is NOT orally active and when consumed it produces NO psychoactive effect and is therefore misleading to people who may assume this product "Contains THC and therefore will produce a cannabis like effect. IT WILL NOT. If the labeling is an accurate representation of the ingredients the only psychoactive effects would be mediated by the Muscimol and would have a completely different type of effect on different receptors in the brain. The problem is there is no way to tell how much you are taking. Muscarine is listed because it is present in Amanita Muscaria mushrooms that were most likely used to extract from but Muscarine is not desireable. Google it for more info.
2. The CAPS Mushroom Gummies 10 pack shaped like a mushroom misleadingly state that they are mushroom gummies but they do not list any Amanita Muscaria derived ingredients. The only information available is they contain "500 mg each" for a grand total of "5000 mg" per package. That would be fine for a single active ingredient but they are labeled as containing THC-A, Delta 9, and THC-P. Same issue with THC-A being inactive orally and the product not listing any Muscimol, Ibotenic Acid, Muscarine, or Amanita Muscaria in the ingredients means that these essentially contain an undisclosed amount of only two active substances: Delta 9 THC and THC-P. These two substances have an extremely different potency with THC-P being exponentially more potent by weight. So essentially there is no possible way of establishing dose before ingestion without more information or a chemical test.
3. The CAPS indiviually packaged Amanita Muscaria gummies do list Amanita Muscaria derived ingredients on the label. HOWEVER they do not break down the amount of each and there is no way they contain 1500mg of muscimol. I would have assumed that was referring to weight of Amanita Muscaria Extract but it is unclear. Also despite not disclosing the presence of any THC in the product, ONE OF THESE GUMMIES PRODUCED AN EASILY RECOGNIZABLE THC EFFECT. THESE MOST LIKELY CONTAIN THC BUT DO NOT LIST IT.
4. The employees all parrot the same pseudoscience and misinformed hearsay that is all too common currently. They do not know anything about Kratom ( I have over a decade experience as a regular, user, purchaser, and in the past seller of kratom and I have done extensive research) and can only tell you what the package says.
5. Half the QR codes I scanned did not work and the QR Codes that did were almost entirely misinformation, outdated, or for different unrelated products.
6. The most unacceptable aspect of Vape City is on two separate occasions as I was asking questions about products while attempting to gain information to help me decide on a purchase I was instructed to leave the store unless I read more
