By Serge Kreutz Version 4.0, July 2003
Pasak bumi is a herbal medication (Jamu) widely used in Indonesia as an aphrodisiac for men. In Malaysia, the same medication is know as tongkat ali (Ali’s stick).
Even though it is largely unknown in the US and Europe, the pro-sexual effect of pasak bumi is actually well documented in Western science. Anybody can check this for himself at the Medline database.
To search for scientific information, one has to use the plants scientific, Latin name, eurycoma longifolia. The plant is also a proven therapeutic and preventive medication against malaria, so in order to focus the search on the pro-sexual properties, one should use the additional search term “sexual”.
I have tried several pasak bumi and tongkat ali products. I had no effect from the El Jack or Long Jack pills available in the US that claim to be a 1:100 extract. I have my doubts on that as I have seen documents on the FDA website that show that the people marketing these pills have just applied for a registration of tongkat ali powder in pill form, not of extract in pill form
I have also tried tongkat ali powder as it is sold in Malaysia. I had good sex at that time, but am not sure to what extend to attribute it to the tongkat ali.
I have then been challenged by the Indonesian tongkat ali company Sumatra Pasak Bumi (they run the websites pasakbumi.com and tongkatali.org; “pasak bumi” and “tongkat ali” are the same herbal by other names) to try their 1:50 extract and am now convinced that it has a testosterone-raising effect.
While most authors claim that one has to take pasak bumi for some time before its pro-sexual effect sets in, my experience with the 1:50 extract is that at a sufficient dosage (1 gram), there is an immediate effect.
What I feel first (after 1 to 2 hours) is a specific hot-headedness. In reports on human clinical trials, this hot-headedness has been referred to as facial flushing and headache. I believe that hot-headedness is a better description. It’s not a headache, as the hot-headedness is not painful. I also don’t think that facial flushing is a correct description. With “flushing” I would associate something that is immediate and temporary. But the hot-headedness persists for a few hours.
On the other hand, if one takes a 1-gram dosage for several days, this hot-headedness subsides. I assume that this is the case because one’s organism gets used to the presence of the pasak bumi (tongkat ali).
I have tried all kinds of tricks to raise my testosterone levels, and I have mentioned in other articles that I seem not to respond sexually to testosterone enhancement. I have tried straight testosterone supplementation, or supplementation with DHEA or andro, or hypothalamic stimulation with clomiphene, or aromatase inhibitors like anastrozole, as well as Tribestan, and then tongkat ali. Not that I wouldn’t have felt the increased testosterone levels. I did, especially with the clomiphene / anastrozole combination. I felt the increased testosterone levels as aggressiveness.
Well, the 1:50 tongkat ali extract is the first substance that makes me feel increased testosterone levels in a sexual way. But aggressiveness is again a major component.
I don’t think that the tongkat ali extract makes me a better lover, though. Sex tends to take less time on tongkat ali. And it’s much more egocentric and, yes, aggressive. I will be inclined to have a much stronger grip on my female partner, and enjoy the idea that I “take her”, rather than focusing on harmony.
The tongkat ali extract also gives me more ejaculatory power and makes me want to orgasm two or three times in rather quick sequence (within 10 minutes). This suggests that through increasing testosterone levels, the orgasmic release of the hormone prolactin is partially inhibited, or at least delayed. (A surge of prolactin at the time of orgasm is what usually causes detumescence and a cessation of desire.)
I am in my 50s now, but when I use 1 gram of the 1:50 tongkat ali extract, sex is much more similar to what it was in my 20s when, presumably, I had a better testosterone profile, and also was a much more aggressive person.
Actually, I even wonder whether the wide use of pasak bumi (tongkat ali) is one of the reasons behind communal violence in Indonesia and Malaysia. Both Malaysia and Indonesia are normally very friendly countries, but the native men in both countries also have a tendency to violent excesses, on a communal and personal level. The term “running amok” comes straight from the Malay family of languages. “Amok” means “violent anger” and “running amok” is a way of venting it… by going on a mad killing spree until the person running amok is killed himself.
Of course, the management of aggression isn’t entirely dependent on brain biochemistry or testosterone-raising substances like pasak bumi. Aggressiveness also is a behavioral component of our psychology. Plain awareness that aggressiveness usually is the wrong policy in human interactions already goes a long way in containing it.
Because of this, the increased aggressiveness resulting from ingesting pasak bumi must not necessarily result in communal or personal violence… or at least not in a form that would be noticeable to our fellow humans. I think that anybody using pasak bumi should know that the herbal can make aggressive; meditation exercises may be a good idea to make oneself better prepared for this effect.
I have tried many other alleged pro-sexual herbals, but apart from yohimbe and tongkat ali, I have never had a clear positive sexual result from any of them.
Sure, some of these other herbals may actually be healthy, ginkgo biloba for the brain, and ginseng for the kidneys (or whatever they want), but for the vital organ, they do nothing. Having the choice between ginseng and tongkat ali, I’d definitely go for the later.
Apart from an increased aggressiveness, the anabolic effect of increased testosterone levels should also be taken into account. During my trials of generous dosages of pasak bumi, I seemed to gain muscle even though I only do little weight exercise. Generous dosages of pasak bumi may not be suited for women, or for men who want to preserve a slender appearance.
