Smartshop exploration: where to start
A smartshop shelf is a good place to lose twenty minutes. Plants you half-recognise, extracts with confident labels, and a few names you've never seen. Most of the questions people bring us begin at that shelf, so we begin there too.
Each guide below takes one plant or product type and explains it properly: what it is, what the different versions are, and what's worth knowing before you buy. No lecture, no hard sell. Pick whatever caught your eye.
The guides in this group
- Kanna: meet the plant behind the extracts: What kanna is, how the plant differs from the extracts on the shelf, and why those products aren't interchangeable.
- What Is Kratom? The Plant, the Evidence and the Dutch and EU Legal Position: The plant, what human research shows, dependence and interaction risks, and the Dutch and EU legal position.
- Kratom Formats: What Powder, Capsules, Extracts and Gummies Labels Really Tell You: How powder, capsules, extracts and gummies are measured, and what units, 7-OH and COAs do and don't tell you.
- Blue lotus: what is it, actually?: Which plant it is, what lab studies found (no controlled human trial), why product identity can't be assumed, and the Dutch position.
- Damiana: beyond the shop description: What traditional use, rodent studies and lab work show, and what they don't.
- Dream herbs explained: African dream root, seed and uvuma-omhlophe: Which plants African dream root, African dream seed and uvuma-omhlophe are, what the sources describe and where research stops.
A word on kratom, since it comes up first: its Dutch legal position is more complicated than a shop shelf suggests. The kratom guide below has the detail, and the current official rules are the place to check before you buy.
Where to start
New to all of this? Begin with Start here: what is a smartshop?, then follow your curiosity. Kanna is a good first plant guide because it shows how much one name can cover. Already know which plant you're after? Jump straight to its page.
Related guides
- Buying in the Netherlands and EU: check the product and the country: Why a product being on sale in one country doesn't settle the question in another, and what to check.
- How to read a supplement label (and a lab certificate): How to read the label before you compare products.
- Supplements, herbs and medication: Why plants and medication deserve a second look together.
Where to shop
Azarius and Zamnesia are the shops these guides point to when a plant or extract is actually sold there, so they are useful for seeing what the shelf versions look like next to the guides. This is a read of their public pages, not product testing.
Last updated: 12 October 2026