How to Use Rapé: A Step-by-Step Guide

This guide covers self-application with a Kuripe — the V-shaped personal applicator pipe. If someone else is serving you, that's done with a Tepi; more on that below.

Before you start, have ready: your Rapé, your Kuripe, tissues, and a quiet spot where nobody will interrupt you for the next quarter of an hour.

Step by step

1. Measure out a pea-sized amount into your palm. If this is your first time, or you know you're sensitive, take half of that. You can always take more in your next session — a too-intense first experience puts many people off for good, and there's no prize for starting strong.
2. Flatten the powder and scoop half of it into the nose end of your Kuripe. The other half is for your second nostril.
3. Pause and set your intention. In the traditions Rapé comes from, it is never taken casually — this moment of stillness before the blow is considered part of the practice, not a formality.
4. Insert the nose end into one nostril, seal your lips around the mouthpiece, and give one short, firm blow. A quick, decisive breath works better than a long slow one.
5. Exhale through your mouth and keep breathing through your mouth for the next few minutes. Sniffing draws the powder down into your throat, which tastes exactly as pleasant as it sounds.
6. Repeat with the other nostril without a long gap. Rapé is traditionally always taken on both sides — in some Amazonian lineages the left nostril is associated with death and letting go, the right with rebirth. One side alone is considered incomplete.
7. Sit with closed eyes and observe. Whatever comes up — thoughts, emotions, nothing at all — let it be there. This is not the moment to check your phone.
8. After 5–15 minutes, or whenever it feels complete, blow your nose thoroughly.
9. Give thanks, drink some water, and carry on with your day.

If you'd rather watch than read, this video shows the whole process: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erYM7e6IZSI

What to expect

A brief sting in the nose is normal in the first minute and fades quickly. Beyond that, experiences differ from person to person and from blend to blend. Practitioners commonly describe a wave of alertness and physical presence, or its opposite — a deep, quiet stillness. Some report strong emotions surfacing; others simply feel clear-headed and grounded.

In the Amazonian traditions it comes from, Rapé is understood as a tool for quieting the mind and reconnecting with the body and the natural world. This is why many people reach for it before meditation, prayer, or journaling rather than in the middle of a busy afternoon.

Serving someone else: the Tepi

When Rapé is applied by another person — a friend, a facilitator, a practitioner — it's done with a Tepi, a longer pipe held between the server's mouth and the receiver's nostril. The blow itself is called the Soplada — the ceremonial blow — and in the traditions of tribes like the Yawanawa and Huni Kuin, the way it is given carries as much meaning as the medicine itself.

Haux e muita alegria! <3

DISCLAIMER

This product is an incense, not intended for ingestion, inhalation, or any internal or external use. We make no claim — and nothing here should be read as encouragement — that it has any healing, therapeutic, medicinal, or psychoactive properties. It is offered solely as a collector's and decorative item for its ethnographic, cultural, and historical value, without any express or implied warranty of fitness for a particular purpose. All information provided is for educational, scientific, ethnographic, informational, and entertainment purposes only, and does not constitute health claims or medical advice. All products are sold as botanical samples only. Any handling or use is solely at the customer's discretion, responsibility, and risk, including compliance with all applicable laws.