After 10 to 15 minutes, when the coca leaves are well dampened, the quid is ready, “chewer” adds a basifying agent. This alkaline substance will softens the leave's astringent flavour and most of all make the saliva more basic, thus extracting the alkaloids out of the coca leaf material. The quid is not effective before adding the alkali, which is a crucial step, as non basified saliva does not pull alkaloids from the coca leaves.

Read more: http://www.drugs-forum.com/forum/showwiki.php?title=Introduction_and_Use_of_Coca_-_Erythroxylum_Coca#ixzz32frCgNva

Diagnosis and Causes of Disease

For diagnosis Isiais uses Ambil which is a paste made from tobacco with a certain type of salt that his tribe makes from vegetables on it.  Sometimes, he chews mambe, a paste of coca leaf powder. When asked why, he explained that Ambil and Mambe protect him from the illnesses that may be affecting the client and that they help him see what to do in terms of healing. Ambil and Mambe prevent the shaman from being affected by certain types of diseases a client may have, as well as help him figure out whether to touch the person, how to treat and also whether to give certain tasks to complete before actually doing any healing practices on that person. He spoke of different types of illnesses: those that come from human disorders, those that come from environmental influences, those that are hereditary, and artifical illnesses.