Review of yohimbe products

In mail this site has received from around the world, readers reported widely different experiences with yohimbe. Some readers mentioned that on standard recommended dosages they almost passed out (or at least felt as if they would) while others reported that they couldn’t feel any effect at all.

Of course, as is the case with any therapeutic agent, yohimbine (the main active ingredient of yohimbe bark) affects different people differently. However, the grave differences among the personal experiences as they were reported are only partially the responsibility of a different yohimbine tolerance level in different people. Rather, different experiences are often just the result of different brands tried.

The point is: because yohimbine, the most active ingredient of yohimbe bark, is by itself a prescription medication, most people in the US use yohimbe bark instead, which is freely available. So, what people normally ingest are not specific amounts of the pharmaceutical agent yohimbine but a certain number of milligrams of yohimbe bark or yohimbe bark extract. Depending on brand and production batch, the yohimbine content may vary between 5 and 0.05 percent. And if the yohimbine content of one brand can be 100 times that of another brand, it is only natural that people report different experiences, depending on the brand they tried.

We would consider 5 milligram of yohimbine a low standard dosage, and 10 mg a more generous standard dosage. US yohimbine prescription dosages are 5.4 milligram per tablet. Yohimbine prescription tablets are available under a good number of brand names, the reason being that yohimbine is not a patented substance. Why the US Food and Drug Administration, in their infinite wisdom, have decided that the dosage that can be sold as prescription medication should be 5.4 milligram and not 5.3 or 5.5, is something ordinary mortals will have some difficulty to understand. But the dice of the FDA decision fell for 5.4, and 5.4 it shall be until the yohimbe tree will become extinct.

Nevertheless, the 5.4-milligram tablets usually have an indented line along which they can easily be split. Recommendations vary between half a tablet an hour before sex and 1 to 2 tablets several times a day. (See the articles on Yohimbe and sleep and on My current own yohimbe regimen for information on what I consider a sensible dosage.)

The effect of about 10 milligram of yohimbine is pretty consistent in a test subject, and it’s usually a good, effective dosage, so we take it as benchmark. We have experience with more yohimbe products than we have listed below. However, we previously haven’t kept record, and those products reviewed below are the ones we have used consistently, or recently.

YOHIMEX is the US yohimbine prescription medication of Kramer Labs. It’s yohimbine and just yohimbine, nothing else… no secret formula or other attempts at cheating. If you can get a yohimbine prescription from your physician, it’s a well-controlled and sufficiently economical method to ensure your yohimbine levels.

SIGMA-ALDRICH sells a number of yohimbe products. However, in the US, they do not sell to everybody, but just to laboratories. I had no problem buying Sigma-Aldrich yohimbine in Southeast Asia, and I have found it well tolerated and effective. And, of course, at about 1 cent a milligram, it’s really cheap.

PROCOMIL is a non-prescription medication sold in a good number of countries where tablets containing yohimbine can be traded over the counter. The German-made coated tablets contain 5 milligram of yohimbine plus a number of other substances, among them 0.1 milligram of methyltestosterone, some muira puama, and traces of desiccated (dried) animal testicles. The effect of Procomil is largely one of yohimbine. Actually, I doubt that the other ingredients have anything to do with the pro-sexual power of Procomil. They are probably just a gimmick aimed to hide the fact that what is sold as active ingredient is just yohimbine. Obviously, creating the aura of a specifically formulated product has its advantages for the company that sells Procomil (the Hamburg, Germany-based Walter Ritter Pharmaceuticals). Consumers may develop a higher level of brand loyalty, and competitors are easier fought off. But for all practical reason, Procomil is yohimbine in a 5-milligram dosage, and if prescription yohimbine is not available in your country, Procomil is a reliable substitute. Procomil is sold in many Arab countries and in Thailand.

AMERIFIT 1500. Among yohimbe bark products we have found AMERIFITS 1500 milligram yohimbe bark to be rather weak. We would have to ingest at least 3 or 4 of the rather large tablets to get the feeling of 5 milligram of yohimbine.

YOHIMBE FUEL from Twinlab has the advantage of being standardized. Allegedly, it is being standardized for 8 mg of yohimbine per capsule, but I feel that it’s milder (or weaker) per capsule than for example Yohimex 5 mg tablets. The maximum I have ingested in one day were 7 capsules (first 4, and 4 hours later another 3). If one capsule indeed contains 8 mg, this added up to 56 mg. I have to say that it was a bit too much. The sexual effect was strong, but I had the worst heart palpitations I ever experienced on yohimbe. I am not sure, though, whether it was the yohimbe alone, or whether my condition was aggravated by some 50 gram of chocolate I ate in the morning. (Anything containing caffeine or theobromine or related substances is strictly counter-indicated with yohimbe.) My usual dosage of Yohimbe Fuel is 2 capsules in the morning. It carries me into the evening (as all yohimbine does), and in combination with sildenafil citrate (some one to two hours before intercourse) I have used it very often.

The reader is reminded, that meanwhile I have more tolerance for yohimbe than I did a few years ago, so while 2 capsules are OK for me, they may be too much for some people. Those who have no experience with yohimbe, or know that they have a low tolerance for yohimbine, should try 1 capsule first. We have run a price comparison for Yohimbe Fuel with many online retailers.

RAW YOHIMBE BARK, as sold in some health-food stores, contains many other alkaloids apart from yohimbine. I find raw bark clearly inferior to bark extracts or pure yohimbine. Raw yohimbe bark actually often gives me a headache and a feeling of mental numbness, while bark extracts that have a high yohimbine content, or even more so pure yohimbine, tend to support mental clarity and alertness. I often write articles after having ingested yohimbine; but after having used yohimbe bark, I’m not much in the mood for writing. The dosages I tried ranged from a quarter teaspoon (too little for a pro-sexual effect) to a full teaspoon (which gave me a headache). When using raw bark, one has to be aware that yohimbine is not easily dissolved in water. Cooking the bark, and drinking the water as tea, may only deliver a small percentage of the yohimbine contained in the bark. If one doesn’t want to ingest milled raw bark, one should cook the bark in an organic acid like vitamin C, or in orange juice.