Hashish
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Image:Hashish.jpg
Hashish (from Arabic حشيش meaning grass, often shortened to hash, and also referred to by countless slang terms such as shit or chocolate) is a psychoactive drug derived from the Cannabis sativa plant. It is solid, of varying hardness and pliability, softening under heat. Its colour can vary from reddish brown to black, and can also be greenish or golden. It is usually smoked in pipes, and sometimes in joints mixed with tobacco or Cannabis buds. It can also be added to cookies or other food and ingested. Hash is used for its relaxing and mind-altering effects.
Hashish is comprised of the compressed trichomes collected from the leaves and flowers of a mature, flowering Cannabis plant. Certain strains of Cannabis are cultivated specifically for their ability to produce large quantities of trichomes, and are thus called hash plants. Trichomes are small glandular hairs containing plant resins which appear on the leaves and stems of the Cannabis plant.
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History
According to the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, the word assassin derives from the Arabic word حشّاشين (haššāšīn), or Hashshashin, an Islamic sect of militants founded by Hasan-i Sabbah who were supposedly avid hash-eaters. This is also the view expressed by Charles Baudelaire in his Artificial Paradises of 1857.
It is believed that hash first orginated from Central Asia, as these regions were some of the first to be populated by the Cannabis plant, which may have originated in the Himalayas. Hash quickly spread around the world after the Arabs began to gather and trade it. Production of hash later spread to North Africa (most prominently Morocco) and the Middle East (Lebanon). Consumption of hashish saw a dramatic increase in the 20th century, becoming a popular pastime in Europe and America, gaining prominence in the hippie scene. The greatest export of hashish was in the 1960s and 1970s. Hashish levels declined significantly in the United States starting in the 1980s due to several reasons, including the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. This helped increase the popularity of marijuana use in America, and encouraged new growing methods such as growing marijuana indoors.
Hashish is traditionally found in a belt extending from North Africa to North India. Hashish is produced in desert conditions and is almost never cultivated in the tropics. It is far more popular in Europe than in the United States, as Morocco is the world's biggest producer, while it has not been traditionally produced in the Americas.
Manufacturing
Hash is made from tetrahydrocannabinol-rich glandular hairs known as trichomes, as well as varying amounts of Cannabis flower and leaf fragments. The resin reservoirs of the trichomes (erroneously known as "pollen") are separated from the plant via various sieving methods, cold-water separations, or chemical extraction. The resulting concentrate is compressed into blocks of hashish, which are easily stored and transported without degrading the THC content due to oxidation. Pieces are then broken off, warmed up and smoked in bongs, pipes, mixed with marijuana to make joints, or mixed with tobacco to make spliffs and smoked in hookahs or Sibsi (Sebse) pipes. As THC is fat-soluble, it is also possible to dissolve hashish in butter and use it for cooking (see hash cookies and Alice B. Toklas brownies). North Africa, in particular Morocco, and Central Asia (Afghanistan) are the primary sources of hashish, although the science of hash extraction and the rapid dissemination of this knowledge means that more people are making hashish for personal use, using readily available materials or custom-built devices such as Lungs.
In Morocco, approximately 800,000 of the country's 32 million people are involved in cannabis cultivation. Its market is comprised almost entirely of Europe, Algeria and Tunisia, with only a small fraction seeming to reach the United States.<ref>International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, released by the Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, March 2005</ref> About 80% of the hashish seized in France every year comes from Morocco.
Charas, a substance which is hand-rubbed directly from the Cannabis plant, is generally produced in Nepal and India. Users report that charas generally produces a more trippy, "up" high due to the plants being mostly sativa. Blonde hash or "gardah," often from Morocco, Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Netherlands, tends to produce both cerebral and narcotic highs, depending on the strain grown. There is also hashish of greenish or reddish hue. A green tinge may indicate that the hashish is a soap bar, which has been cut with low-quality leaf or contains high quantities of chlorophyll, which create a harsher smoke. High-quality hashish is often sifted through a fine screen, allowing the trichomes to separate. In Morocco, Afghanistan and the NWFP area of Pakistan, most hash is sifted, but in Afghanistan there is a method of making hash which resembles charas. First, Cannabis resin is placed on a large heated mortar, then the resin is threshed with a heavy object. The result is a very gooey, sticky black hash. This method is mostly used in villages around the Hindu Kush mountain region.
Availability and quality
Image:Hashish-shop-Kathmandu-1973.jpg Hashish is widely available in Europe, as opposed to marijuana which is on the whole more sparsely available, although recent reports suggest a rapidly expanding 'home-grown' supply chain. Reasons for this include the fact that hashish is much more compact and thus easier to smuggle than marijuana, and also that countries exporting to Europe have a long tradition of making hashish for storage, quality and export. The market expansion for marijuana in Europe is also happening because dealers in certain countries offer extremely adulterated hash (or soap bars) almost exclusively. Marijuana is more difficult to adulterate, although some dealers attempt to modify it as well, usually with less success than with the soap bar. Some young European consumers have become so accustomed to soap bar hashish that they erroneously believe it is the only quality available.
Hash is widely available in central and southern Asia. As in Europe, marijuana use is sparse in these regions. The primary hash-producing countries are Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal, Morrocco and India. Charas and gardah are the primary products. Much of the hash available is high quality, although some adulterated product is available, easily identifiable by its extremely low prices. In Afghanistan and Pakistan one can get 15 grams of gardah (sifted, pressed resin) for around $10. In India and Nepal one can get 15 grams of hash (mainly charas) for around $20.
Blocks of 100, 125, 200 and 250 grams of hash are common. Unscrupulous hashish dealers sometimes repowder the hashish, mix it with foreign materials such as plastic, soap or boot wax, and re-press the mixture into a hashish block, which is sold as if it were the pure product. This is sometimes known as soap bar, due to the fact that it is packaged in 250-gram blocks that resemble the shape of a bar of soap. It is not only an act of consumer fraud, but also endangers the user's health when plastic or other doubtful agents are used. Sometimes low-quality marijuana leaf is used to dilute the hashish in a more natural way in the countries of origin, producing a low-quality hash that is still natural and does not contain any synthetic chemicals. Other suspected dilutants include camel dung and sand. Rumors of hashish being mixed or laced with potent and potentially more dangerous intoxicants such as opiates and PCP are quite common, but cannot be verified. Opiates and PCP are generally more expensive than the hashish with which they are supposedly mixed.
Pure, properly stored hashish of premium quality is soft and can be molded by the heat of the fingers alone. Old, improperly stored hashish of poor quality is rock-hard and brittle, and has to be heated substantially before it is soft enough for use (although some hashish of considerable potency, usually Moroccan, may also be found in hard form). Most hashish falls in between these two extremes, and the tactile qualities also vary according to the methods used in extraction and pressing.
The only reliable methods of testing the quality of hashish are through chemical testing or consumption.
Hashish use is experiencing a resurgence in parts of North America (especially the Pacific Northwest) with the rise in popularity of a particularly pure and potent variety of hashish known as bubble hash.
Preparation and methods of ingestion
'Hard' Hash
This hash is usually between dark and light brown in colour, often crumbled into tiny pieces to obtain maximum surface area when burning. Once crumbled, it is often mixed with tobacco (although a tobacco alternative such as certain types of herbs may also be used). This mix can be rolled up into a cigarette with rolling papers (what is known as a 'joint','biff' or 'spliff') and smoked like a normal cigarette. In Europe and North Africa many users break off a 1-2 cm piece of cigarette and use this as a 'filter'. In France and the French-speaking parts of Switzerland, this is known as rolling 'Maroc' ('Maroc' meaning 'Morocco' in French). In Spain it is called a 'Mora.' In the United Kingdom, it is variously known as 'draw,' 'hash,' 'resin', 'puff' and 'block.'
If the hash is not crumbled fine enough or is of a low quality, small still-burning chunks of hashish may fall out of the lit end of the cigarette as it is being smoked. These can suddenly fall onto clothing, carpets, etc., immediately burning a hole. These are known sometimes as 'hot rocks,' 'hash rocks' or 'blims' or 'meteorites.' This is especially true of the hard, low-quality hash known as 'soap bar' which does not burn as easily or consistently, and is often prone to fall out of the end of the cigarette while still burning rather than simply burning along with the tobacco.
'Soft' Hash
This is usually very dark brown to black in colour and goes under the name black in France, squidgey black (named due to the colour and properties of the hash) in the UK, or pakis in Spain (meaning it originates from Pakistan). As this hash is softer, it can be rolled out into a long, thin spaghetti less than 1mm thick in diameter, with the heat of the fingers sufficient to soften the hash up enough to make it more pliable. This long, especially thin column of hash can be rolled up in a joint placed on a bed of tobacco or cannabis, burning along with the tobacco as the user inhales. The hash must be very thin to expose a maximum surface area, if not the tobacco will burn faster and the column of hash will remain sticking out the end of the joint, as the centre is left unburnt.
Alternatively, a North African technique called darbouz in Arabic can be used to ingest the spaghetti without having to roll it in a joint. One places a drinking cup on the table, sticks the prepared spaghetti of hash perpendicular into the side of a cigarette (not-burning), and jams the cigarette horizontally into the cup so that the hash hangs down inside the cup without touching the bottom or sides. The hash is then lit up and allowed to slowly burn almost like an incense stick whilst the top of the cup is covered with a piece of card, a CD cover or the like to trap the smoke. As the hash burns it slowly fills the cup with smoke which the user can then inhale by moving the cardboard cover slightly to make a little gap for their mouth. This method completely does away with any need for smoking any tobacco or rolling papers, which have no beneficial effect on the hashish and, just the opposite, add carcinogens, additives and flavourings to the smoke.
Another method of smoking hashish, found in Canada and also in Russia, is in the form of bottle tokes, bots or BTs. In Canada, this process is often referred to as Brewing Hash. The user warms the hash in their hands or with a lighter and break small chunks off of the main piece. These smaller pieces are then picked up using the lit end of a cigarette and placed inside of a bottle with a small hole in the side of it. This effectively creates a mini grill in which the toke is roasted. The higher quality of the hash being smoked means that it will burn quickly with thick smoke leaving a small red ember or hot rock. Lower grade material will burn slower or not complete the combustion process and therefore the user needs to pay closer attention or risk inhaling cigarette smoke along with the toke, resulting in, in a non-tobacco smoker's opinion, a very foul toke. Glass bottles produce the best tokes due to their relatively small capacity although larger plastic bottles may be used as well.
Honey oil
Image:Golden Cannabis Oil.JPG Honey oil (often shortened to oil, and sometimes referred to as BHO, or butane hash oil, which is particular to the method by which it is made) is a highly viscous oil/paste made from the resins of a mature, flowering cannabis plant. It is commonly smoked using hot metal blades or plates, or inhaled using specially designed vaporizers. Honey oil is prized (by some) even over cannabis itself, due to its extreme purity and lack of other vegetative matter.
Honey oil is a psychoactive drug in the same class as cannabis, from which it is derived, and contains a similar blend of THC, cannabidinoids, and cannibidinols (in the UK, cannabis and hashish are class C while cannabis oil is class A). The THC content of honey oil is variable based on the particular strain of cannabis from which it was derived, and is similar to that of hashish.
Manufacturing
Honey oil is made by separating the resins of a cannabis plant from the plant material, using one of a number of industrial solvents, such as butane, hexane, grain alcohol and denatured alcohol, naptha, and various mixtures of these chemicals. Solvents are selected based on their ability to evaporate completely and cleanly, leaving no chemical residue.
The purest, most potent grades of honey oil are made using only the flowers and leaves of the female cannabis plant which contain trichomes. This material is placed in a metal or plastic sleeve and washed in chemical solvents to separate the resin from the plant material. The solvent slurry is optionally filtered, then reduced by evaporation, resulting in paste that varies in color from amber to dark green. This paste if filtered will be translucent and runny. If the paste is not filtered, it may by very thick, and opaque.
The most common solvent used in the preparation of honey oil is high-grade butane, sold in sporting goods stores and used in camping stoves and cigarette lighters. Due to the low boiling point and extreme combustibility of butane, extreme care is needed in the handling and preparation of these materials. Honey oil prepared using butane is often referred to by its acronym, BHO.
Honey oil made using isopropyl alcohol is referred to as ISO Oil or as QWISO for Quick Wash ISO and is quickly replacing butane as the most common solvent for making Honey Oil. Isopropyl alcohol (Safety Sheet) is less explosive than butane (Safety Sheet).
Availability
Honey oil is generally considered the province of amateur growers, who make it from collected trim leaves and immature "buds" from harvests as a by-product. Honey oil is generally not sold on the street as commonly as other cannabis products, but is highly prized among connoisseurs and those who use cannabis products medicinally.
Honey is most often found in rural areas where fresh marijuana is not available all year round. A high prevelance of 'outdoor' marijuana growers will make oil to use or sell through the winter months when there is no crop.
Soap bar
This low quality form of hash is known in the UK as soap bar. It is usually hard, low in potency and has a strange taste. There exist several myths about the origin of this type of hash. Robert Connell Clarke claims in his book Hashish!, that soap is low-quality Moroccan hash containg only about one tenth of Cannabis pollen (slang for trichome glands) and lots of leaves and other waste plant material. The mixture is hard to bind together, so it's mixed with beeswax or pine resin and condensed milk. Brownish color is due to henna or instant coffee being mixed in. Turpentine is also added to give a more resinous look.
The low-quality and high additive content (some of which may even be toxic) means that this hash is not only extremely weak, it is also prone to induce headaches, whilst generally causing a higher amount of damage to the user's body (notably the lungs).
Such a dangerous product exists because cannabis is illegal in the UK, and much of the supply is in the hands of criminals. Those people are not concerned with the health of their customers. This type of hazardous hash is produced and sold solely to make big profits. It is widely spread across Europe.
'Good' quality or real hashish can be made by extracting a maximum of 3.5 kg of resin from 100 kg of cannabis plants. This resin will easily form into bars without the need for chemical additives. Poor quality soap is made by extracting up to 6 kg of resin/plant material from the cannabis. This mix of resin and cellulose plant material will not bind together unless an additive is used. Solder "flux" is the most commonly used additive in Morocco. PCP or opium are never used in Morocco, because they are not available and they would be worth far more than the resulting hash. (The sum of the parts would equal more than the value of the whole!) Moroccan soap bar in the UK in 1995 cost up to £2400 per kilogram. In 2005 the price has dropped to around £500 per kilogram. Meanwhile pure hashish commands a much greater price.
Kief
Kief is perhaps the simplest form of hash, if you take a bud covered in trichomes and brush it, the dust that falls off is kief. This dust is essentially trichomes that have broken off of the plant. This dust is often the byproduct of grinders used to break the bud up, another method is rubbing the bud against silk. These trichomes, or resin glands, may be inadvertently combined with small pieces of the plant that broke off as well; this is detrimental to the quality of the kief. Once collected, the dust may be smoked as is or subjected to high pressure until compressed into a hard piece. This can be done between two coins in a vice.
Kief is known by many slang terms including:
- Bud buster crystal
- Hippy hash
- Hippie crack
- Crystal
- Grinder dust
- Sutherland
- Stoner dust
When handling buds, kief can get onto your fingers or tools such as scissors. This kief gets compressed and when removed is known as finger hash or scissor hash.
See also
- Club des Hashischins - A club in Paris in the 1840s, dedicated to explore the effect of drugs, specifically hashish.
- Charles Baudelaire - A member of the club mentioned above, who in Les paradis artificiels (1860) described the effects of opium and hashish.
- Fitz Hugh Ludlow and his autobiographical The Hasheesh Eater (1857).
- Bubble hash
Notes
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External links
- Photos of Cannabis cultivation and Hashish in Morocco (Rif) on www.geopium.org
- More information on Hashish
- A recent publication on Hashish production and trafficking in the Rif area of Morocco
- Smoke soap = smoke poison
- How to judge Hash quality
- UK forum on soap bar
- Dutch website including pictures & ratings of many types of hash, as well as cannabis
- What is in a Soap-Bar? (includes pictures)
- The Legalize Marijuana Party
- Hash cookies recipes and more assumptions about Hash.
- Smoking Hashish in Morocco
Further history
Further reading
- Hashish by Robert Connell Clarke, ISBN 0929349059
- Artificial Paradises by Charles Baudelaire; first edition 1860.
- The Hasheesh Eater by Fitz Hugh Ludlow; first edition 1857).
- Indoor Marijuana Horticulture, by Jorge Cervantes, ISBN 1878823299 ; 2001, reprinted 2005br:Hachich
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