1836 Kratom Review

Wait, a country singer made this?

Yes, and a pretty good one.

Jeremy fronted a band called Jeremy Steding and The Rebellion. His own site says they charted more than a dozen radio singles and put out five studio albums. They shared stages with Robert Earl Keen, Turnpike Troubadours and Clint Black. That is a real career.

By 2017, Jeremy was living in Nashville with his young family, and the musician’s life had run its course. He had first found kratom at a shop in Austin, where he had lived since 2007. So that spring he started a kratom company. He had very little money and no employees. He called it Quantum Kratom.

The legal name was Quantum Botanicals, LLC. It grew into Steding & Sons Mercantile, and Jeremy retired from music as a profession in 2019. The music never really left, though. One of the charities the company gives to is the Health Alliance for Austin Musicians.

So why is it called 1836?

We honestly don’t know, and we looked.

The company doesn’t explain the name anywhere we could find. 1836 is the year Texas declared independence from Mexico, and this is about as Texan as a kratom brand gets. It is also a year that turns up in kratom’s own story. The University of Florida’s College of Pharmacy gives 1836 as the year traditional kratom use in Southeast Asia was first reported.

Maybe it is one. Maybe it is both. Maybe it’s neither, and there is a better story we haven’t heard. Either way, it’s a great name.

What’s so special about names like Green Means Go?

They belong to 1836 and nobody else.

Most kratom is sold under strain names like Maeng Da, Bali and Thai. Every seller in the trade shares those names, and Kratom Strain Names shows just how many of them there are. 1836 mostly skipped that. It named its products Green Means Go, Texas Red, Great White, Shangri La La, Indonesian Sunrise and Sand Panther’s Super Gold.

We love that. A name only one company uses points straight back at that company. Types of Kratom makes the full case for why that matters, and it uses 1836 as the example. The names are also just fun to say. Try saying Shangri La La without grinning.

Where does 1836 get its leaf?

From growers in Kapuas Hulu, in West Kalimantan, on the Indonesian side of Borneo.

That is the regency at the upper end of the Kapuas River. It is also where our own leaf comes from, so in a way we are neighbors twice over, once in Texas and once in Borneo. Borneo Kratom tells the story of that region and its trade.

Jeremy has been there. He wrote at the end of 2019 that he’d traveled to Indonesia that year. He visited the village where the leaf is picked and spent time with the family of the company’s main source.

How careful is 1836 about testing?

Very. Every lot is tested twice.

The company says each lot is tested before it leaves Indonesia. Then it is tested again by accredited third-party labs in the U.S. before it’s packed. The U.S. panel covers alkaloids, metals, pesticides and microbes. As a last step, the leaf goes through what the company calls its own heat process.

Then 1836 posts the reports on its own site, product by product and lot by lot. We’ve watched those reports stay current since 2019. Our lab tests page links to the whole list, and Kratom Lab Testing explains how to read one.

Here’s our favorite detail. 1836 also retests its drinks months after they’re made, to see how they held up on the shelf. It’s a smart question to ask, and Does kratom expire explains why. And the powder labels are refreshingly short. Each one lists exactly one ingredient, dried kratom leaves.

Is 1836 AKA GMP Qualified?

Yes. 1836 is an AKA GMP Qualified Vendor, and one of the program’s biggest champions.

To qualify, a maker has to pass an independent inspection of its facility, its manufacturing records and its labels. Our page on AKA GMP Qualified kratom walks through what the inspector looks at. 1836 got in early, too. In January 2019, back when it was called Quantum, it posted that it was among the program’s early participants. Who the American Kratom Association is, and who pays for it, is on its own page.

Why does 1836 tell people kratom may not be for them?

Because the company would rather you choose well than choose fast.

Its motto is “Research. Reflect. Decide.” Alongside it, the site says all kratom products may be habit forming, and then adds, “Moderation is rad.” Jeremy recorded a video explaining who he thinks kratom might not be right for. The resources page also links to views that disagree with the company’s own, and says so out loud. And the site warns that people taking SSRIs or SNRIs, two kinds of prescription drug, should avoid kratom because of possible interactions.

That takes guts for a company that sells kratom. It is also exactly what we’d want a brand to say to our customers. We’re thankful they say it.

What does 1836 want from lawmakers?

Real rules for kratom, and a clear line between kratom and 7-OH.

On its resources page, the company asks for national regulation. It lists five things. A minimum age. Honest labels. Set limits on alkaloids. Required audits of kratom facilities. And clear legal definitions for each kind of product. It also says, in its own words, “7oh is NOT kratom.”

Tiffini told The Texas Tribune in 2025 how that looks out in the world. She walked into a convenience store to check on 1836 stock, and the clerk offered her a bottle of 7-OH that had just come in. He thought it was strong kratom. She had to explain what the store was actually handing out.

We stand with them on this. We have never sold 7-OH products and we do not defend them. Kratom Extract explains how a concentrated product differs from the leaf. The company also says it gives to kratom studies at the University of Florida, Jeremy’s own school, on the agricultural side and the pharmacology side.

What does it take to be an 1836 Trusted Vendor?

Training, a promise, and a certificate at the end.

1836 runs a Trusted Vendor Program for the stores that sell it. A store finishes 1836’s onboarding and product training. It commits to 1836’s standard of service and agrees to honor the company’s satisfaction guarantee. The training videos are public, and their titles tell you a lot about the company. Selling Kratom Ethically. Avoiding Medical Claims. Why We Don’t Sell Synthetics.

We went through the program, and Whole Earth Gifts is listed in 1836’s Trusted Vendor directory. We’re proud of that. Every 1836 product we carry is on our 1836 Kratom page.

Thank you, 1836

Jeremy and Tiffini built something we’re glad to put our name next to. It’s a Texas company with a songwriter’s heart, leaf from the same corner of Borneo as ours, two rounds of testing on every lot, and a website that asks you to think before you buy. Jeremy is a genuinely good guy, and it shows in everything the company does.

So thank you, 1836. Moderation is rad, and so are you.