Which one is right for you, pine pollen tincture vs powder?
Pine pollen is best known for its hormone supporting effects. For this reason, men especially love it, although its great for women too.
And there are some pretty big differences between the pine pollen powder and the pine pollen tincture forms which are discussed below. Although the extract type will result in different qualities for many herbs, here the difference is quite pronounced.
Quick Recap of the Benefits of Pine Pollen Powder
As a powder you’re getting all the nutrition that pine pollen provides. This includes many vitamins, minerals, amino acids, antioxidants, and other nutrients within (like resveratrol, SOD, MSM, etc.), making it, as my brother likes to call it, “Nature’s Multivitamin”.
In this form pine pollen can really be thought of as a food. That’s why we have the Megadose version in which you can take several tablespoons per day. In China this is a common practice and they even use it to add to flours for baking.
The thing about the powder is that the phytosterols or androgens, meaning the testosterone, DHEA and other hormones pine pollen contains, are said to be destroyed in the human digestive tract. Still the hormonal benefits do occur with the pine pollen powder. The success of our male clients with the “Morning Wood Test” and at much else attests to this working…though, of course, hormones aren’t the only factor in this either.
Still the powder is more modulating of the hormones. Plus, it appears to help in combating xeno-estrogens. In this form there is almost no chance it could increase your hormones to unsafe levels. It is fine to take every single day for years if you wanted. No cycling is needed.
It is safe for women and children. And it’s great even pregnant or breastfeeding women as the original pine pollen baby can tell you. (After all the importance of good nutrition is even more important at these stages.)
Quick Recap of the Benefits of Pine Pollen Tincture
When you tincture pine pollen you have something quite different. The alcohol draws out the phyto-androgens, concentrating them. Other components will come along too, but not everything that is found in the powder.
By squirting the alcohol tincture in your mouth, and holding it under your tongue, the hormones can immediately enter your blood stream. No digestive tract to get past, thus they’re available right away in your system.
With the tincture, it is better to think of this as BOOSTING your hormones. And on that note this could likely be overdone. Its still nothing like shooting up with steroids, but if a person downed a bottle of tincture it would probably have some negative side effects.
For this reason, pine pollen tinctures are generally only recommended for men over the age of 30. Anyone younger than that should be just fine hormonally although this day and age with all the environmental pollutants, I can’t say that’s necessarily the case. For instance even at 29, I have used pine pollen tinctures off and on over the past couple of years. But anyone under 20 definitely should avoid them. That means no children at all.
Although they’re not generally recommended for women, a few women have used pine pollen tinctures and reported great benefit. You’ll have to make the choice for yourself. Definitely not for pregnant or lactating mothers. And in these cases it is typically 1 to 5 DROPS of the tincture.
In addition, it is best to cycle pine pollen tincture. Some people like to take it four or five days a week while taking a break the rest. Others will take it for a month then give it a week off. Or just a random approach, taking it every once in awhile. Any of these options and many others are fine. It’s just not something you want to be on forever.
Also, some people are sensitive to alcohol. A way to get around this, while still getting the tincture benefits, is to squirt it into a very hot liquid. The alcohol has a lower boiling point than water so it will evaporate while leaving behind the components.
Pine Pollen Tincture vs Powder…Why Not Combine?
The tincture boosts hormones. The powder modulates them. What follows it a bit of a theory though we’ve heard favorable results from customers already. By taking the two together you have the boosting effects, but also with all the other nutrition and the intelligence of the pine pollen you get in the powder which along with that.
Overall, this seems to give more holistic results while achieving the great hormonal benefits many men describe. For this reason, we’ve put together a special Men’s Hormone Package which includes both, and the addition of nettle root.
If you have any other questions be sure to ask below.
(There is another method that we’ve experimented with. In a tincture after the alcohol has drawn out the components for a couple weeks, the powder that is left is usually discarded. But using a Spagyric or alchemical process this powder can still be used through calcining it then being added back in. This results in the whole plant being available in a tinctured form, called a Spagyric tincture. While we don’t have this commercially available with pine pollen yet, our Nettle Root Tinctures and Ashwagandha Tinctures are both spagyrically prepared.)
So it is best not to think in terms of pine pollen tincture vs powder. It is better instead to see each as having valuable, somewhat different benefits.
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lesly says
HI there, I’ve only taken 2 doses of pine pollen powder, 1/2 teaspoon, cracked cell wall pine pollen and I felt incredible energy and increased sex drive, but I’m normal and don’t think my hormones are out of balance, however, I found out I am pregnant, so I’m concerned since this raises testosterone levels. Would it affect the sex of my child? I don’t care what the sex of the child is, so long as Mother nature chooses it. I just don’t want any interference, just basic concerns about my child’s sex hormone levels being adequate as to prevent androgyny or any kind of transgender type things, since this supplement raises testosterone levels. I want to know if you know any pregnant woman who took this all the way to the end of her pregnancy and what was the sex of her child? Did everything turn out okay? And as far as a food, would it be better for a pregnant woman to take the pine pollen that doesn’t have the cell wall cracked? Since it would be the way it would be found in nature and I guess that would be the least processed way to ingest it? Thank you for your wisdom and amazing videos.
Zane Christopher says
My brothers wife actually took pine pollen through both her pregnancies and we know others that have done the same. Results, while not linkable to actually taking pine pollen, seem to result in larger, healthier babies then is common nowadays. Actual increases in androgen levels will be negligible when consuming the pollen. Also note that some of the estrogen you create in your body stems from testosterone aromatizing into estrogen. You can read more in a article we will be publishing shortly about The Importance of Testosterone for Women.
As far as cell-welled cracked or not, I don’t think it would matter that much but do whatever puts your mind at ease. A more natural way of consuming things is usual the right way to do things.
Taking Pine Pollen during your pregnancy though is your decision to make and we certainly advise you to consult with your doctor. Hope this helps some! Let us know how it goes if you do go ahead with taking Pine Pollen during your pregnancy!
Bree says
Hi there. I’m curious why the tincture is generally not recommended for women? Because of its potenency? Curious as a female with an androgen deficiency.
Zane Christopher says
Only because many women are good in this department and even a little of the tincture can boost a woman’s androgen to levels not necessarily wanted if the woman is not very careful with the stuff. We are erring on the side of caution. Of course, if you do have an androgen deficiency, then pine pollen tincture can be very effective for you Bree. We have had very many women have positive results with this one. Just be aware that you need far less than the recommended dosage. I would suggest not going higher than half of it unless you really really have to because of your deficiency. If you do it, please let us know how it works out for you. :)
Allen Harvey says
Why are you included nettle root in the package of pine pollen? Since i have read about amount of nettle root blocking dht? Which would not be a good thing.
Logan Christopher says
I don’t think it blocks DHT, so much as modulates it. Nettle root does so much more than this single molecular action…that is why we include it.
That being said, it’s not for everyone. You’re welcome to just work with other herbs and not this one if you choose.
JI says
Hello,
I recently bought the tongkat Ali, pine pollen powder and pine pollen tincture. In addition I also bought Thor’s hammer. I started dosage on the 4th. Until then, I used to get morning wood on and off, never consistently. That is why I bought these, to give me consistency with morning would and added sex drive. On the 3rd, my girl was over and we had great sex. I had solid erection. I have been taking the tongkat Ali and pine pollen powder together twice a day and the tincture once a day. I have since list all sex drive. I no longer get random erections. What is going on? I’ll be meeting my girl this weekend and completely freaked out. I’ve gone from moderate sex drive and good erecetion when aroused to nothing at all. Please help.
JI says
Meant to say: I have lost all sex drive. Very sad.
Zane Christopher says
Hi JI,
Can you list your dosage amounts? Also, your age plays a huge roll in this. If you are younger than 30 you definitely do not need to be on all of that! The tongkat does need to be cycled or its effects will wear down some depending on the individual. With the tincture too, you should take some time off after the bottle is completed. It sounds like you may be burning yourself out with these hot yang herbs.
I would also suggest not focusing on just having morning wood as a goal since not having morning wood isn’t a terrible thing in and of itself. Focusing on healing the body over managing symptoms will help you the most in the long run.
JI says
Zane,
I was taking 1 dipper full of pine pollen tincture once a day. The pine pollen powder and tongkat Ali powder – dosage as directed on the pack twice a day. Then I used Thor’s hammer an hour or two before doing the horizontal Tango. Unfortunately this past weekend when my girl was here, I could not get it up. When stimulated with a BJ, I got hard, but could not maintain hardness during the tango. Ultimately ended up satisfying her a different way. I was so frustrated that I stopped this over the last week. I used to get morning wood sporadically, but after taking the product, it stopped Nd the sexual desire was gone. Not sure what is happening. However, my energy level went up at the gym! I was able to bench 20% more this week. Insane! So not sure what is going on.
I am thinking of restarting thus weekend. Probably with Thor’s hammer to see if that helps and the adding the herbs later one by one.
Any suggestions or thoughts on what I should restart first and dosage?
JI
Zane Christopher says
Hi JI, have you had your testosterone checked lately? We have noticed that some people that take a lot of T herbs have had that issue which means you should scale back a lot on dosage. You are pretty young in my eyes (37) so you may not need all that stuff, maybe just only one to keep things working properly. “Less is more,” is what they say and we have found that many people that are trying to improve sexy time issues especially with those that have pretty balanced testosterone don’t need to take the recommended dosage.
JI says
Oh and I am 37.
Chris says
JI,
I had the exact same problem as you. I purchased the men’s hormone package and was Taking two doses of pine pollen tincture a day, two doses of pine pollen powder a day, and two doses of nettle root powder day. Initially, my sex drive skyrocketed, but then just like you, it dropped to zero. I first took a two week break from all of those supplements, and then I started taking find pollen pou I first took a two week break from all of those supplements, and then I started taking one dose of Pine pollen powder once a week on Mondays, one dose of nettle root once a week on Wednesday, and one dose of pine pollen tincture on Fridays. Using the herbs this way has raised my libido to a very healthy and normal level. My dosage was too high and taking too much can actually have the reverse effect and decrease your sex drive.
Richard Jacob says
What about using few drops of PINE OIL daily ?
Zane Christopher says
That should work as well as any of the other methods. I did take some pine oil for awhile. Tastes great!
Christopher says
I am taking pine pollen and Tongkat Ali I got from you guys and the tincture I made myself over the last 2 months (which could be very strong) but I am 100% positive it has caused suppression at least in me. The boys are noticeably smaller. My wife even mentioned it. The only thing I can contribute this to is that my E2 went too high as I may have gotten a bit carried away and did a whole and a half of a dropper before bed a few nights ago. Now I have zero sex drive. But I am holding on to muscle well and lost body fat. So I am stumped. I know it says it won’t shut you down I don’t think this is correct for the tincture. I think if you let your test get too high it will convert over to e2 (and I wasn’t using anything to control estrogen outside of a little resveratrol which isn’t a strong AI) and e2 will shut you down or suppress you. It is the most suppressive hormone in the male body to test production. I stopped the tincture and have been using just your tongkat Ali.
I think it makes sense since phytoestrogens can lower test, phytoandrogens can push you over the limit which aromatizes and shuts you down. Now to try and get the boys turned back on. ugh
Zane Christopher says
Sorry to hear that Christopher. That is a huge bummer. I suppose in tincture form herbs can more easily be overused to where they might have negative side effects. A customer had this theory concerning pp tinctures.
Just to warn others the tincture (awaiting bloods in a few weeks) if you take too much it will certainly put you over physiological limits (IF) you are already pretty high.
Thing is some men specifically as they age once they reach a specific limit in their levels they start to compound and aromatize T into E a lot faster than if their numbers were in the 700s.
Essentially if somebody does well at 750 and they get boosted to 900 too fast, they will be converting T to E very fast, and that excess E doesn’t get metabolized as quickly or controlled will almost certainly cause suppression and side effects.
This may be the very reason why some guys lose morning erections etc.
Anyhow I will continue to buy from Lost Empire as I think you guys have great stuff.
We definitely recommend cycling the Tongkat Ali as it is very powerful and has diminishing returns. Many guys are looking to boost their T
and that is all they are looking to do. This is not very smart when the body is so interconnected. We wish to push for balance, whether that is low T for some or high T for others. Herbs are just one possible component of increasing testosterone but like anything and a balance must be found.
I am sure you do plenty of other stuff to increase your levels but yeah, there is still such a thing as too much too late. Personally, I have found that we may need to reduce dosage size for some of the male herbs as people seem to be over doing it. I only take one spoonful of Tongkat Ali bi-weekly with a tablespoon or two of pine pollen on the days I don’t take Tongkat. I also take two days off a week. Learning to find your happy zone (usually lower than what we think we need) is a constant work in progress.
Opposite that is learning to balance the hot properties of these sex hormone herbs with herbs that nurture the base. Yin herbs like Rehmannia, Pearl powder, Gotu Kola, etc. help balance the body out. Adaptogens can also help the body deal with the expanding nature of pine pollen tincture and Tongkat Ali. Personally, I believe that our ashwagandha tincture, super balanced in itself, is the reason my t levels are doing so good. I take this every single day once or twice a day. We have someone doing bloodwork working with the ash tincture that will be writing an article soon which may bear this out.
Let us know what’s up with your blood tests when you get them, Christopher!
Christopher says
Just FYI I found my perfect balance!!! This stuff is amazing. I actually spoke to Logan via email.
I don’t take Tongkat on the weekends. And I also don’t take tincture on Monday and Tuesday and sometimes Thursday.
I have gotten better at listening to my body. I Know if i take too much tincture I can get agro. I just bought a mega dose pack. Because I am making my own tinctures and going to store them. Hands down the best supps ever. I’ve taken real test. Don’t want that roller coaster ride ever again. This is pretty close without the rest of the stuff.
Feeling great!
Zane Christopher says
That is really exciting to hear, Chris! We are happy you found your path. You did exactly what we want people to do, find what works for them and not just give up on herbs because somethings not working out. Just remain vigilant as the healthier (and more sensitive) you get the more likely you will have to modify your routine to compensate for that fact. Viligance and experimentation must be a constant to fight off getting comfortable and losing out on possible benefits. Keep up the great work! It really pays off in how you feel.
King says
What is the best time of day to use pp tincture????how many droppers a day?????? How many times a day??????
Logan Christopher says
You can take it whenever you like, like in the morning and before a workout. The recommended pine pollen tincture dosage is 1/2 to 1 droppers two times per day.
Zane Christopher says
That’s gonna depend to a large degree on the person. One way to take it is to try and mirror the natural testosterone cycles in a day. This means you would take it first thing in the morning, around noon and before bed. In general, you could start doing that with half a dropper a day and go up to a full dropper for each. I personally just do a dropper full in the morning and one before I go to bed.
There is also the option of putting some on your scrotum. This actually works as far as we can tell. The skin being so sensitive in that area it is easy absorbed there. Can’t be sure about the mechanism of how it works but I’ve had personal success with it. My method was putting it on before going to bed. Sometimes it can burn a little from the alcohol but the new stuff we are getting next month didn’t have that effect on me.
Hope this helped!
tyler says
Hey there, I got some questions.
I bought the 50 gram pine pollen and I decided to make my own tincture, I used everclear (its burning the hell outta my mouth) im curious to how long this should last me? because it seems like theres only enough to last me a few weeks if that im not sure if I didn’t use enough alcohol or what. I let it sit for 2 weeks and mixed it quite well. also how much should I use in each dropper? im not sure if I should fill the dropper up each time or half or what, I been filling it up just a little and doing that 3 times a day. and last, is this considered a prohormone? since the androgens in it…also I do feel quite good taking this so far, so my hopes are high
Zane Christopher says
Hey Tyler, good on you for making your own tincture! So yeah, everclear is harsh for pollen. I definitely recommend cutting it with some water. This will not only help you consume it but will increase the amount so should last you longer. Many people recommend consuming 1:2 or even 1:4 for personal use. I would add the same amount of water as you have alcohol but you could always do less to keep the potency higher. Up to you! If you do cut it with water you can increase the dose to compensate. Personally, I recommend people build up to a full dropper 1-3 times a day.
Yeah, you could call it a prohormone but it also does have hormones as well. So its both. Hope that helps!
Zane Christopher says
Hi Tyler, good work on trying the tincturing yourself. How long it lasts you will depend on how much alcohol you use with the product and how much you take daily. A ratio of 1:1 (1 part pollen to 1 part alcohol) is gonna give you less then doing a 1:2 (double the alcohol) amount but will be stronger medicinally. Everclear is really corrosive stuff and while it will definitely pull androgens out faster cause of the high alcohol content, you could probably use a 40% vodka and get similar results. Pine pollen isn’t as tough as roots where such a high alcohol content is more advisable because of all the fiber it must break through.
If you want, you could also add some water to the mixture, reducing the ratio while tempering down the burning caused by the alcohol. You could then just take more to compensate for the watered down effect. When I take pp tincture I usually do a couple full droppers a day. You really just have to find what works best for you though.
And I am not sure if its considered a prohormone, there is technically suppose to be testosterone and other hormones in it along with stuff you could call prohormones. Unfortunately, no one tests for hormones in foods or supplements that we know of. I’ve been looking for a couple years now cause we want to verify this really important aspect of pp tincturing but alas, have found no organizations that do this testing.
Hope this helps! Glad the stuff is working for you so far!
jesse says
what are your thoughts on flavouring the tincture with marshmallow or liquorice root?
Zane Christopher says
Don’t see why not. Supporting herbs would invariably have a synergistic effect. And the pine pollen would help balance out any pro-estrogen effects the liquorice root might have.
Carl says
Well, I never took the 3 tablespoons at bedtime to see if what was said about it causing morning wood; but after being off of TRT since 1 April, 2016 and NO morning wood, I’m now getting morning wood since I’ve started pine pollen powder at 3 tablespoons per day. I am happy to report morning wood has returned as of this week, frequently! Now, I’m hoping for some of those erections during the day when my mind ventures that way!!! At 58, 6 feet tall, 270 pounds, and a diabetic … I AM VERY PLEASED.
As you know, men, as they age have that EGO PROBLEM. Take my leg or arm, but not my erection!!!!! Problem number one is fixed: Morning erections. With that being said, I’d be curious to know if there were any other advice as to what to combine with pine pollen that will help me crave sex more often. Problem number one is fixed: Morning erections.
I sure hope the effects of pine pollen doesn’t lose its mojo with time! To be continued …
Thanks one! Thanks all!
Logan Christopher says
I am glad to hear that Pine Pollen powder worked so well for you.
We’re currently having a sale for Horny Goat Weed with coupon code HORNYGOATWEEK for 20% off, but you might also want to try Tongkat Ali to restore the libido to a more vigorous level. If you do decide to take Tongkat Ali, Horny Goat Weed or even Pine Pollen Tincture, it would be wise to cycle it 5 days on and 2 off.