Hello friends!
It's been a little while. We here at Herbal Headventures have been debating for several months how to go about this review, because it's the first time we felt compelled as a team to report a negative experience. The question becomes, how do you do this communication with tact and professionalism? We're hoping this will do the trick.
Several months ago, we were contacted via Twitter by Island Lion Herbals, an online company that markets kratom and a lesser known herbal "supplement." The online store presents a limited inventory with enticingly low prices (~$10/oz. of kratom) and an affiliate marketing program that offers 10% commission on purchases through an affiliate link.
Now, we here at Herbal Headventures are open to trying new companies and products, and when offered samples for the testing, we were down for it. Generally speaking, we keep comprehensive research into the companies for when we are writing the review, so we admittedly had not spent a lot of time reviewing the credentials of this company prior to accepting a shipment. Therefore, we simply discussed the arrival of product to our doorstep via private messages.
After a couple days, we were asked if we had received the product. We had not. Usually, we get these shipments rather quickly, so for the sake of safety, we asked for the shipping tracking number. This was where the first questionable event occurred.
Due to either an inappropriate shipping procedure, or perhaps an oversight on the part of the company, the product we were sent was not sent in secure packaging, nor was it labeled for tracking purposes. We found this kind of odd, as a professional company shipping "not for human consumption" edibles would surely have, at very least, padded envelopes and a shipping label printer for the USPS. Instead, ILH opted to send unsecured packets of kratom in a standard business envelope with a couple stamps on it.
Since it was shipped in this manner, it was the first time ever that any of us have received a letter that was mangled by the USPS mail sorting machines. We received the product about a week and a half after the anticipated arrival, in a plastic bag from the USPS, and the envelop was ripped to pieces. Theoretically, this occurred due to the fact that the envelop was uneven and fatter on one side, due to placing the packets in there. A padded envelope would surely have prevented this occurrence.
Upton inspection, the packets seemed to be well-secured and reasonably sealed, and the product appeared to be devoid of tampering.
The packets themselves were rather difficult to open, both because of the material they were made of, but also because they were rather dusty and the product was easily caught up in parts of the packet itself. Master Flash had some reservations about the quality of the product based on the experience thus far, but being the guinea pig, she prepared and parachuted the kratom with our new favorite method, wrapping portions of the dose in fruit roll-ups.
All was well at first. Master Flash opted to try the Red Vein Borneo 5g that was sent to us. It began to kick in and the experience was kratom-expected, with relaxation and a decent chill factor. That is, until she got sick.
Now, for the record, we have tried numerous strains and suppliers of kratom. During the course of our trials, we have experienced mild vertigo and nausea that was easily remedied by drinking extra water; potent strains have a tendency of requiring more water, after all. However, this was different. The Red Vein Borneo kratom caused an intense level of nausea, vomiting, and reactionary muscle spasms, that led to the triggering of a major fibromyalgia pain episode that lasted for weeks.
In short, Island Lion Herbals wins the first place award for being the first company to ever successfully make our reviewer thoroughly, physically ill.
After receiving the product, ILH has not attempted any further interaction or follow up on the product review, nor have they seemed particularly interested in interfacing with our team, even after we announced that a recent sample caused some serious physical illness.
So, at this point we will say this... For this company, we would say it is buy at your own risk. The pricing is almost suspiciously low, especially considering the product and the offering of an affiliate program. In fact, we suspect that it's far more about an affiliate marketing platform than it is pure products and assistance. The pricing, low normally, is actually *discounted* right now, across the board. We see this a lot from companies that are more focused on profits than quality products and transparency.
Regarding the packaging, it's hard to know what the actual customer experience would be, because of the choices made for shipping.
The company does not offer capsule machines, nor do they have capsule options. It's powder or nothing, and we always have a bit of an issue with that.
There is also nowhere on their site where you can learn about their source growers, their importing practices (if they have any), who quality checks their product, or any of the people that work for the company. The best you can get is that they are located in New York, NY, which suggests that they are not the original growers of the plants they sell... So the question becomes, who are you getting this from, and how did you choose that person over someone else?
Lastly, when attempting to find more information about this company, utilizing WhoIs Lookup for their website domain, we find that they opted to pay for protected registration. For a registered, trademarked company, we find this suspect. If we are not able to call, email or contact anyone directly, we will not do business with a company.
All this being said, we have another packet of supposed kratom that was sent to us, that we will NOT be using.
We do not recommend that any reader or potential kratom user do business with Island Lion Herbals at this time. Do so at your own risk.
We regretfully share this information, simply because we prefer to discuss successes over failures... But whatever the reason may be, the product from this company instigated illness rather than relief, and we felt it best to share our experiences.
P.S. Funny enough, the company has "custom" strain combinations, but didn't send ANY of those custom offerings for review. We always ask for companies to send their signature strain or blend, and IHL opted to send us run of the mill strains (by name) that ultimately under-performed compared to every kratom experience we've had to date.
