Penis Envy mushrooms are the caviar of the psilocybin mushrooms world. They’re much more expensive, harder to produce, and give users a stronger and more powerful euphoric experience.

It’s called a Penis Envy mushroom because of its penis-like shape. This shroom is different from other strains because it is chemically more equipped to give off faster and harder trips than usual mushroom strains.

There are several varieties of Penis Envy mushrooms, with the two most popular ones being albino penis envy and uncut penis envy.

When ingesting a Penis Envy mushroom, it’s generally recommended to only consume about 70 percent of the original size that you’d normally consume other shroom strains.

Growing Penis Envy mushrooms is often difficult for beginners. While you can grow your own Penis Envy mushrooms by diligently following the instructions, the harder challenge is propagating your mushrooms to create more spores and strains for the next generation. 

We’ll go into deeper detail throughout this article, so stick to the end and you’ll become a mushroom connoisseur.

What Is A Penis Envy Mushroom?

Penis Envy mushrooms stem from the Psilocybe cubensis shroom family. They're a strain of magic mushrooms. 

It’s a unique variety that has gone through an interesting history, so much so that it would most likely no longer grow in the wild naturally.

The Penis Envy mushroom has been bred artificially through so many generations that they act like a spoiled child. They have less resistance to contamination, are more prone to dying in less-than-perfect conditions, and have lower pin rates than other mushrooms in the same family. 

Where Do Penis Envy Mushrooms Come From?

How the Penis Envy variety came to be discovered is even more of a mystery. The most popular rumor seems to be surrounding the famed ethnobotanist and psychedelic advocate, Terence McKenna. Legend has it that an indigenous guide led him to an enormous mushroom patch on one of his mushroom hunting expeditions to the Amazon Rainforest. He collected spore samples of unique specimens from that patch and distributed them to mycologists back in the United States.

One of these mycologists was Steven Pollock, a doctor with a particular fascination for psychedelic mushrooms. Pollock went on to cultivate the spores and research the mushroom's properties. After years of propagation and genetic selection, he arrived at a variety that we now know as Penis Envy. 

Here, like its beginning, the story again gets hazy. Pollock became involved in various legal and illegal ventures that would eventually lead to his murder. By this time, the DEA was monitoring him, and many mysterious circumstances surrounded his death. For one thing, his research and several rare specimens seemed to be missing from the scene of the crime.

It's unclear whether the Penis Envy variant that we know today was the same one that Pollock developed. Other sources point to mycologist Rich Gee as the man who cultivated the prized strain. Perhaps many other pioneering mycologists contributed to its development along the way. 

Uncovering conclusive proof of Penis Envy's origin is unlikely ever to happen. While it's certainly possible that Terence McKenna stumbled upon a penis-shaped mushroom deep in the rainforest, he never confirmed such speculations. But it's certainly intriguing that one of the most potent psychedelic mushrooms comes from a story that's as mercurial as its psychedelic effects.

What Makes Them Different From Other Shroom Strains? 

One obvious difference from Penis Envy mushrooms and other shroom strains is in their difficulty to cultivate. Penis Envy mushrooms require specialized care and environmental conditions to bloom. They take almost 30 percent longer to colonize around the substrate and have a lesser pin rate than that of other Psilocybe cubensis mushrooms. 

Despite being such a high-maintenance shroom, Penis Envy mushrooms are considerably worth the hassle. These mushrooms have stronger highs, more powerful hallucinations and an intense euphoric side effect that make them so desirable in the psychedelic world.

Since these shrooms are so hard to cultivate and even harder to find, Penis Envy mushrooms are expensive. Reproducing them and creating another generation is often the biggest challenge—another difference from other shroom strains that consistently reproduce. 

Physical Differences

While each mushroom is special and unique, Penis Envy shrooms are particularly thick, full, and meaty.

Aside from the iconic penis shape and even the mid-shaft bulge that looks like foreskin, Penis Envy mushrooms are also shorter and denser than most shrooms when fully grown. Since these mushrooms have more meat inside them than usual, it’s recommended to eat a smaller amount than usual and it will still be potent.

Chemical Differences

Are Penis Envy shrooms stronger than ordinary shroom strains?

Penis Envy shrooms feel much more magical than ordinary shrooms because their psilocin and psilocybin ratios are farther apart. Since the body doesn’t have to convert as much psilocybin to psilocin, the trip starts quicker and feels heavier in just a few minutes.

Not only does this hit you quicker, which feels better, the quicker trip doesn’t lessen the duration of the entire experience. You’ll still feel high for hours on end with a Penis Envy mushroom. 

Intenser Trips

According to the few shroomers who do get the chance to ingest a Penis Envy mushroom, their experience is often described as light and floaty. Some say it feels like a spiritual journey through space and time, or a smooth rollercoaster underwater. Although it sounds cliche, Penis Envy trips are “clean.”

According to experiences around the web, Penis Envy trips are much more vivid, visual, and even emotional. You’ll feel lighter, more energetic, and have a sense of euphoria walking around freely in your home. 

How Did They Get Their Name? 

Penis Envy mushrooms look just like a penis and that’s why it’s named that way. Also, given that they are generally long and girthy, men envy them.

A common myth that gets passed around is that the Penis Envy shroom was engineered to undergo mutation to look this way. This is completely false because the technology to bioengineer a shroom to look a certain way was not available during the time that this shroom was discovered and mass-produced.

What Variations Exist?

There are several types of Penis Envy mushrooms out there, but we’ll just talk about the two most common ones.

Albino Penis Envy Shrooms

Albino shrooms look white and have a milky complexion. The caps have a hint of dark blue at the tip, which slowly gradients into white towards the outer areas of the caps. These mushrooms are smaller than the average Penis Envy shrooms. Despite the size, the chemical content and potency remain around the same as the traditional ones.

Albino Penis Envy shrooms can be best described to look like a normal Penis Envy shroom, except smaller and blue. In most cases, these are considered novelties more than anything and are a smaller subset of the bigger mushroom family, Psilocybe cubensis. 

Uncut Penis Envy Shrooms

The Uncut shroom has a head that does not spread out. The caps don’t open at all and remain closed or almost closed to the stem.

These shrooms are supposedly the strongest of all the Penis Envy varieties. Other variations include the Trans Envy and Texas Penis Envy.

Trans Envy

The Trans Envy variety is a cross between Penis Envy and Transkei mushrooms. They display some physical characteristics of both, possessing thicker stems than typical Transkei mushrooms, with the pale caps of the Penis Envy variety.

Their potency level also seems to be somewhere between the stronger Penis Envy mushrooms and slightly less intense Transkei mushrooms.

How to Grow Penis Envy Mushrooms

You can grow a Penis Envy mushroom quite easily in the right temperatures with a grow bag and mycelium substrate. An entire batch can sprout in about two months, give or take a couple of weeks. 

The first week transitions the spores to the germination stage, which later on completely colonizes the substrate by the second week if everything goes well.

By the third or fourth week, you can expect fruiting to already take place, with your mushrooms growing by the day. The indication for a complete fruiting cycle is when your substrate or cakes turn blue, which means that the Penis Envy mushroom has fully grown.

Make sure to collect the few mushroom spores that your batch will produce. It won’t be much, in fact it’s going to be less than five percent of your shrooms that give you those goodies. With that, spore prints are also expensive and hard to find. Using a growing kit as mentioned here would be the most convenient way to cultivate your own Penis Envy shrooms.

Consuming Penis Envy Mushrooms

By all accounts, Penis Envy mushrooms are said to produce one of the most intense psychedelic experiences among the P. cubensis species. While that's enough to excite even the most seasoned shroom enthusiasts, it's worth a reminder to consume it responsibly. 

When it comes to Penis envy mushroom dosage, be mindful. If you haven't taken psychedelic mushrooms before, then consider starting with a less potent variety, reducing the dosage, or making sure you have an experienced friend to be your sitter. Remember that the mushroom strain isn't always an accurate predictor of your individual experience. The appropriate set and setting can be equally as important. 

If you're looking at microdosing penis envy, check out this guide on the best schedules.

If you've got a hold of some highly sought-after Penis Envy mushrooms, then take a moment to appreciate the unique combination of nature and human intervention that brought them into being. Then, strap in and enjoy the ride!

Further Reading

How long do shrooms stay in your system?

How to Grow Psychedelic Mushrooms

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