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Discussion => Shipping => Topic started by: philter3 on February 19, 2012, 08:48 pm

Title: Best Shipping Practices for Fungi?
Post by: philter3 on February 19, 2012, 08:48 pm
This is a request for input on best/preferred shipping practices for goods of a fungal persuasion.

I am a longtime myco-hobbyist who is pondering a vending sideline here on SR... and I likes to have me ducks all in a row.

I'm assuming that (given location) USPS Priority Mail would be best. Vacuum sealing the internal package seems appropriate. Opaque vaac bags.. doable.  Machine printed labels.. check.

 What else is considered "best practices" on shipping out for fungal vendors?  It's not like you can conceal the actual dried fruiting bodies like one might a powder product. Nor does it have the scent hazard of MJ.

 Please help educate me!
Title: Re: Best Shipping Practices for Fungi?
Post by: goldgutted on February 19, 2012, 08:51 pm
Some sellers exclusively sell them in powdered capsules. This way, they look like health pills.
Title: Re: Best Shipping Practices for Fungi?
Post by: philter3 on February 19, 2012, 09:47 pm
Downsides to powdered dried are significant..

1. Oxidization and degradation of the actives (in my experience.. grinding should happen hours (at most!) before consumption).
2. Loss of receiver trust in apparent quality (when you have a whole fruiting body in front of you it's difficult to imagine it was cut or adulterated) and the concomitant decline in perceived effectiveness.
3. Time and effort in packing into those blasted gel-caps (They are annoying little SOBs!)

Compared to a vac-sealed mylar bag with an oxy-absorber and all time post-drying/pre-shipping in a freezer.

Have you heard of any advantages to the shroom-flour in gelcaps other than palatability and innocuous appearance?

Title: Re: Best Shipping Practices for Fungi?
Post by: goldgutted on February 19, 2012, 09:51 pm
Another possible advantage may be decreased body load since the mushroom has already been physically broken down. Also, if the user opens up the capsule and bombs it, he will come up faster and the trip will be more intense, but the trip will also be shorter.

The disadvantages you listed are valid.
It is really up to you in the end.
Title: Re: Best Shipping Practices for Fungi?
Post by: tordemon on February 19, 2012, 10:25 pm
I'll just chime in that I would personally prefer them to be sealed whole as opposed to ground. When it's ground up, I'm always concerned somebody may have just ground up some shiitake and added an appropriate amount of 4-HO-MET in the capsule.
Title: Re: Best Shipping Practices for Fungi?
Post by: novocaine on February 19, 2012, 10:42 pm
Downsides to powdered dried are significant..

1. Oxidization and degradation of the actives (in my experience.. grinding should happen hours (at most!) before consumption).
2. Loss of receiver trust in apparent quality (when you have a whole fruiting body in front of you it's difficult to imagine it was cut or adulterated) and the concomitant decline in perceived effectiveness.
3. Time and effort in packing into those blasted gel-caps (They are annoying little SOBs!)

Compared to a vac-sealed mylar bag with an oxy-absorber and all time post-drying/pre-shipping in a freezer.

Have you heard of any advantages to the shroom-flour in gelcaps other than palatability and innocuous appearance?

The only advantage is the kids love em because they are use to poppin pills ;) ;D ;D
Thats the only advantage imho when it comes to selling shroom filled caps

If I may add to your list of disadvantages...the shroom spirit HATES capsules as those who know will agree ;)

Re- shipping
Miss- label your shrooms for no other reason but gives another out for your customers. Tell your customers what you labelled them as so they have a comeback if questioned.

You wont have any problems shipping shrooms unless you send to a country that scrutinizes plant based material but even then 'dried shrooms' may get through.

Also let your customers know to store in the freezer. It may seem obvious to most but not to everyone.
Title: Re: Best Shipping Practices for Fungi?
Post by: philter3 on February 19, 2012, 11:53 pm
Novacaine.. re: Creative mislabeling..  that is an excellent idea. What species are cosmetically similar to cubes and plausible in your estimation?
Title: Re: Best Shipping Practices for Fungi?
Post by: novocaine on February 20, 2012, 05:57 am
dont laugh but I really could not tell at a quick glance between my halved an sometimes quartered dried cubies to shiitake when it had been vac sealed...but my eyesight isn't to good these days lol

I think you can get more creative then that my dear myco buddy:)

But I assume that there is a lot of legit dried shroomage getting around in the postal system. Plus the absence of mycologists working for postal/customs makes mushrooms a safe bet for shipping.

Title: Re: Best Shipping Practices for Fungi?
Post by: tordemon on February 20, 2012, 03:49 pm
Also let your customers know to store in the freezer. It may seem obvious to most but not to everyone.
Woah, that's the first time I've ever heard of this; what are the approximate lives of shrooms left out of freezers compared to those left in freezers?
Title: Re: Best Shipping Practices for Fungi?
Post by: novocaine on February 20, 2012, 09:11 pm
IMO unless the the mushroom has been freeze dried it will still have <5% moisture content even if it is 'snap' dry. Left out in the open air in humid conditions it will oxidize and draw in more moisture and I have seen "dried" mushrooms rot and go mouldy within a week or two.
Compared to mushrooms in the freezer still good after 18months+. I had some galindoi 'stones' that where still good after 3-4 years stored in a freezer.

If not in the freezer, an air tight container would be a minimum and even then I would put in some type of disiccant.
Title: Re: Best Shipping Practices for Fungi?
Post by: tordemon on February 20, 2012, 10:39 pm
IMO unless the the mushroom has been freeze dried it will still have <5% moisture content even if it is 'snap' dry. Left out in the open air in humid conditions it will oxidize and draw in more moisture and I have seen "dried" mushrooms rot and go mouldy within a week or two.
Compared to mushrooms in the freezer still good after 18months+. I had some galindoi 'stones' that where still good after 3-4 years stored in a freezer.

If not in the freezer, an air tight container would be a minimum and even then I would put in some type of disiccant.
They were vacuum-sealed by the vendor, and the seal has yet to be broken. Opinion? I was planning on using them in like 5 days; I don't want them to be bunk, now. (It's probably been a month...)
Title: Re: Best Shipping Practices for Fungi?
Post by: BuddyRoyale on February 20, 2012, 11:01 pm
There's no reason to make your mushrooms into a powder, IMO this is only met with skepticism.  Mushrooms are among the easiest things to ship, dogs aren't trained to pick them up and I doubt the USPS has their weight by volume flagged (although I don't actually know).  Double vacuum seal and stick it in a box.  Don't mess up the return addresses and you should be set.
Title: Re: Best Shipping Practices for Fungi?
Post by: philter3 on February 21, 2012, 02:05 am
IMO unless the the mushroom has been freeze dried it will still have <5% moisture content even if it is 'snap' dry. Left out in the open air in humid conditions it will oxidize and draw in more moisture and I have seen "dried" mushrooms rot and go mouldy within a week or two.
Compared to mushrooms in the freezer still good after 18months+. I had some galindoi 'stones' that where still good after 3-4 years stored in a freezer.

If not in the freezer, an air tight container would be a minimum and even then I would put in some type of disiccant.

From  experience... even perfectly good fungi ground into powder and then frozen in large ziplocks will lose potency in a freezer.
  The logic went something like this.. "There is almost X lbs. of this.... if it's ground up it's just some odd powder in the back of the freezer.. could be anything. If it's still whole fruiting bodies and a casual visitor spots it in the freezer..questions may be asked.. if it sits outside the freezer it's just going to waste away".

6 months after being ground up... if I had to guess I'd say only 5-20% of the activity remained.

Title: Re: Best Shipping Practices for Fungi?
Post by: novocaine on February 21, 2012, 07:03 am
IMO unless the the mushroom has been freeze dried it will still have <5% moisture content even if it is 'snap' dry. Left out in the open air in humid conditions it will oxidize and draw in more moisture and I have seen "dried" mushrooms rot and go mouldy within a week or two.
Compared to mushrooms in the freezer still good after 18months+. I had some galindoi 'stones' that where still good after 3-4 years stored in a freezer.

If not in the freezer, an air tight container would be a minimum and even then I would put in some type of disiccant.
They were vacuum-sealed by the vendor, and the seal has yet to be broken. Opinion? I was planning on using them in like 5 days; I don't want them to be bunk, now. (It's probably been a month...)

If it is still under vac, you will be fine.
But you will find that even those vac seal bags will absorb oxygen and lose its vac after some time.
Title: Re: Best Shipping Practices for Fungi?
Post by: inscape on February 21, 2012, 03:41 pm
if i remember correctly, it would also depend if we're talking cubensis vs. azy's, cyan's, ect., the latter having a higher percentage of psilocybin which has a much longer shelf life as it slowly breaks down into psilocin, rather than the psilocin rich cubensis with a much shorter shelf life of around 6 months.  id imagine if the OP is a typical indoor grower he's prolly growin cubensis though. i've had liberty caps (psilocybin rich) stored for up to a year and a half with no noticable loss in potency.
Title: Re: Best Shipping Practices for Fungi?
Post by: philter3 on February 22, 2012, 04:45 am
inscape,
thanks for this insight. It's been cubes all the way as it happens. 
Title: Re: Best Shipping Practices for Fungi?
Post by: inscape on February 22, 2012, 07:21 am
well growing azy's or cyans, ect requires growing outdoors, so the only reasonable one to grow indoors is cubensis. good luck!! ;)
Title: Re: Best Shipping Practices for Fungi?
Post by: Pazure on March 01, 2012, 02:56 am
well growing azy's or cyans, ect requires growing outdoors, so the only reasonable one to grow indoors is cubensis. good luck!! ;)

holy shit. i am like stunned as fuck that you know of the azy!!!
i have them listed elsewhere cause i cant afford a sellers account here at the moment but you syould PM me inscape.
P. Azure
Title: Re: Best Shipping Practices for Fungi?
Post by: jimmyg on March 02, 2012, 03:10 am
One vendor I bought from shipped them sealed in an opaque plastic vessel labeled as "Live Cultures" of shitakes, I believe. Some type of legal fungus, anyways. Given that there is legitimate trade in that sort of thing for hobbyists, I thought this to be a very safe strategy.

Good luck!
Title: Re: Best Shipping Practices for Fungi?
Post by: philter3 on March 13, 2012, 10:09 pm
Thanks to everyone who was good enough to give me input and advice. I've decided to go ahead with things and should be up and running as a vendor soon (3-4 weeks). Everyone who was kind enough to give me input will get a PM with a freebie code they can use for themself or pass to a friend (if they don't get mail stateside), once I'm up and running.

 Thank you all.