What Happened To Powder City? The Full Story
As featured on Epic Beasts and Reppin’ Christ Fitness, Powder City was an online nootropic vendor that offered a range of products for everything from cognitive enhancement and mood support to bodybuilding supplements and sexual health aids.
Their mission statement made it clear where they stood among supplement suppliers. As their About Us page explained:
“Powder City’s mission is to deliver the highest quality health and wellness products as a price leader in the market so that our customers can meet and achieve their performance goals.”
The Powder City site claimed to focus on customers’ wants and needs by striving for continuous improvement of their core values: “Quality first, people matter and strive for excellence.”
But was this all shrewd advertising aimed at putting the consumer at ease or was Powder City really that legit?
Here we will endeavor to establish just how on the level Powder City was. We will accomplish this goal by exploring Powder City’s product line, their testing process, their pricing and their reputation in the marketplace.
Unfortunately, their mission was compromised recently and the company closed amid lawsuits and much online speculation about the quality they claimed to strive for. As of the end of March, Powder City is now closed to the public. (to satisfy your nootropic needs, I suggest these vendors).
Many of us saw their closing as an inevitability. Not long ago, Powder City gave people pause with their decision to stop selling Tianeptine after a Harris County, TX boy died from taking it.
This raised some red flags about their reputability as a vendor. Powder City was facing a lawsuit brought against them by the boy’s parents who said that their product did not give sufficient instructions for taking it.
The coroner’s autopsy report backed up the parents’ allegations, confirming that he died of toxicity from Tianeptine consumption.
The charge is that Powder City did not offer proper dosage recommendations and there was no way for the child to know how many milligrams he was ingesting.
Products
Many nootropic sites offer a wide variety of products that are not limited simply to natural supplements.
For instance, Bulletproof sells everything from MCT oil (marketed as Brain Octane Oil) and energy-boosting coffee blends to performance kits and grass fed ghee butter.
Powder City was no exception; their roster of products included all of the following:
Cognitive Enhancement Capsules
- L-Theanine
- Caffeine + Theanine Capsules
- Turmeric Curcumin & Piperine Capsules
- Omega-3 Fish Oil Capsules
- Sulbutiamine Capsules
- Aswagandha Capsules
- Artichoke Extract & Forskolin Capsules
- Empty Gelatin Capsules
- Rhondiola Rosea Extract Capsules
- ALCAR Capsules
- Focus3d
- Lion’s Mane Mushroom Capsules
- Huperzine A Capsules
- Bacopa Capsules
- NALT (N-Acetyl-L-Tyrosine Capsules
All of the supplements listed above are popular supplements with noot nuts the world over. Each of them has a reputation for improving memory, sharpening focus and/or increasing attentiveness.
Energy Boosters
- Caffeine + Theanine Capsules
- Acetyl-L-Carnitine (ALCAR)
- Agmatine Sulfate
- Beta Alanine
- NALT (N-Acetyl-L-Tyrosine)
- Ashwagandha Extract
- PEA (Phenylethylamine HCL)
- Taurine
- Phosphatidyserine 20%
- Sulbutiamine Powder
- L-Tyrosine
- Focus3d
- Teacrine ® (Theacrine)
The vast majority of these supplements are known to significantly increase energy and many are regularly utilized by bodybuilders to help with endurance when powering through a rigorous exercise regimen.
Of the drugs listed here, the two that are of particular interest are Focus3d and Teacrine, two proprietary formulas that were exclusive to Powder City. Focus3d is an energy and focus supplement which contains L-Theanine, TeaCrine ®, Caffeine Citrate and Dicaffeine malate.
Dicaffeine malate is caffeine that has been bonded with malic acid. It is a form of caffeine that is often found in soda and energy drinks. Caffeine citrate is a faster-acting form of caffeine which unleashes the benefits of caffeine’s effects more expediently than your average cup o’ joe.
TeaCrine® was said to improve mood, focus, motivation and energy levels. Theacrine is structurally similar to caffeine which makes this blend a little iffy. Essentially, it is little more than a blend of mild stimulants that doesn’t appear to be much different than a can of Red Bull.
Mood Support
- Tongkat Ali
- 5-HTP
- Melatonin Powder
- Green Tea Extract
Tongkat Ali is an ancient compound which has been used for many years to treat the symptoms of ED (Erectile Dysfunction) and to boost testosterone. It has been proposed that Tongkat Ali may help improve mood in those who are seriously stressed.
5-HTP has a strong rep among “natural warriors” for its ability to assist in mood and relaxation. The Natural Medicine Journal also suggests that it can alleviate the symptoms of Premenstrual Syndrome and RLS (Restless Leg Syndrome).
Melatonin is a powerful all-natural supplement for improving short-term memory. Other studies have shown that it can improve mood in winter depression.
According to Psychology Today, Green Tea Extract can help to maintain a positive mood over time. Green tea contains potent antioxidants that have even been researched for their potential to ward off heart attack and cancers.
Build Muscle
- L-Arginine
- D-Aspartic Acid
- Horny Goat Weed
- DHEA
- Resveratrol 99%
- Coleus Forskohlii Extract
- Beta Ecdysterone 95%
- Tribulus Terrestris Powder
- Diindolylmethane (DIM)
People have been using some of these supplements for ages to build muscle and help them plow through a particularly tough workout. But some of these products are simply perplexing.
Horny Goat Weed has been sold in bodegas and convenience stores for decades as a sexual enhancement pill and some have claimed it is a natural support for ED (Erectile Dysfunction), but many have claimed that it has no effect whatsoever.
Of course, this is a problem with many nootropic supplements and the source of your supplements plays a key role in whether you unlock any of its purported benefits. The biggest problem facing the nootropic community is lack of transparency among vendors.
Many vendors do not list the precise milligram amount of each ingredient on their bottles because, quite frankly, they aren’t legally bound to do so.
Since most nootropics are not approved by the FDA (Food & Drug Administration), these supplements are unregulated which means a shady vendor can put an insufficient amount of an ingredient in their blends and no one can penalize them for doing so.
This is not to say that this was the case with Powder City (although the lawsuit seems to support the idea that they weren’t transparent when it came to such things), only to keep our readers informed about the scams that are the scourge of the noot scene.
Powder City seemed to be on the level in this area, at least on the evidence we had to go on—pictures on their product pages—but the case of that Harris County boy seems to say otherwise.
Other Products & Services
Powder City also offered a Sexual Health store which included many of the aforementioned supplements as well as Pine Bark Extract, which was on a liquidation sale for just $8.66 in the months leading up to them closing their shutters.
For that price, consumers got 250 grams of pure pine bark extract.
Pine bark extract has a range of health benefits from alleviating the symptoms of ED to treating ear infections naturally and conventional diabetes to preventing hearing loss and increasing athletic performance, making it a popular natural form of hearing protection for shooters who compete professionally.
Testing
Powder City supposedly used a third party testing process that only the best and most reputable vendors implement in their manufacturing cycle.
They use high performance liquid chromatography as a method by which to ensure their products were pure and undiluted.
The process includes, but is not limited to, structural information, heavy metal testing, a microbiology panel which tests for contaminants and gravimetry.
Each barrel of product that was shipped to their warehouse(s) were individually inspected with samples being taken from each barrel.
Pricing
Quite simply, Powder City had some of the absolute greatest prices on the market. A 30-count bottle of L-Theanine went for just $4.97! Most brands of L-Theanine retail for anywhere between $7.99 and $25.95.
Another example was their ALCAR capsules which sold for $8.99 where most other ALCAR brands retail for anywhere from $14 to $28.
It is clear from our research that Powder City had the edge when it came to cost-effectiveness. It’s a shame that folks will no longer get that kind of savings.
Reputation
Some on Reddit had suggested that Powder City’s rating and reviews were biased. One poster reported their refusal to post his honest, unbiased review of their Adrafinil:
“I had been skeptical of their overly positive reviews so when I left my review for the “Best Nootropic Stack” which I wasn’t really impressed with (I gave it 2 stars) I had a feeling that the review would never be published. I was right. They published my 4 star review for the Adrafinil, it was “approved” within 24 hours but as of now, 4 days later the 2 star review hasn’t appeared on their site.”
Another Reddit user had warned of their supposed “free” shipping taking forever. The Reddit community had also documented Powder City’s intention to ban users who requested refunds.
At least one Longecity member had admonished users to avoid US-based vendors entirely, saying, “After purchasing what I thought was Adrafinil from 2 different US resellers other than the discredited Cerebral Health, I’ve come to realize that it’s scam bait all around.”
Still, some people loved their experiences with Powder City products. Over at Powder City’s Amazon store, they got an average 4-5-star rating with customers calling their products “Very good product,” “does well in my stack” and, “Most legitimate pharmaceutical grade company out there.”
That last quote came from a compounding specialist named Devin Wallace who gave it a five-star rating after purchasing 50 grams of their Alpha GPC.
What are people saying now?
In the wake of Powder City’s announcement that they were closing, users took to Reddit to discuss the company on r/Nootropics. “Noooooo!!” one user cried. “I love Powder City. I’ve sent you guys most of my money.”
Another user said, “Wow, I had noticed something was up with them. This is a huge blow, they were by far my favorite supplement/nootropic company.”
There is much speculation about the hole that Powder City’s closing may leave in the marketplace. Users are already wondering who will pop up to fill the void. One user writes, “What does this mean for Supplementastic and Nootrostop, if anything?”
This user has inadvertently pointed out something rather interesting. It appears as though, in a very shrewd move, Powder City has taken the onus off themselves and their products by creating two sister sites to Powder City., sites which are still operational in the wake of their closure.
Supplementastic and Nootrostop are both sites owned by the creators of Powder City.
Supplementastic appears to offer many of the same supplements and powders that Powder City offered, and even offers products that were never before available on Powder City including gelatinized maca root, Sarcosine and Shilajit.
UPDATE: As of April 2017, both Nootrostop and Supplementastic appear to be closing as well. This may mark the end of the line for PC and all its affiliated businesses. We will keep an eye on the situation and update this post as things progress.
Conclusion
In summation, Powder City may have closed down, but the people behind it aren’t going anywhere.
Before opting to use their services, our readers may want to conduct their own independent research to ensure a positive buying experience.
There is no way to know whether Supplementastic or Nootrostop will be any more or less reputable than Powder City was.
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