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Hashish (from Arabic حشيش, often shortened to hash and also referred to by countless slang terms) is a preparation of the psychoactive drug cannabis derived from the cannabis plant (traditionally, C. sativa subsp. indica has been cultivated for production of hashish). It is solid, of varying hardness and pliability, softening under heat. Its colour can vary from reddish brown to black or it can be golden coloured or greenish if it contains surplus herbal material. It is usually smoked in joints mixed with tobacco or cannabis buds or another agent, or in pipes. It can also be ingested by chewing and swallowing or by mixing/cooking with food (typically cookies or cakes). Hash is used for its relaxing and mind-altering effects.
Hashish is composed of the compressed trichomes collected from the leaves and flowers of a mature, flowering female 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.
History
It is believed that hash first originated 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) and then South Asia (mostly in India and Pakistan). 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. Hashish levels declined significantly in the United States starting in the 1980s for several reasons, including the Soviet war in Afghanistan. This helped increase the popularity of marijuana use in North 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.
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 Hassan-i-Sabah who were supposedly avid hashish eaters. This is also the view expressed by Charles Baudelaire in his Artificial Paradises of 1857. However, some argue that the term was created due to political reasons. The etymology of assassin and hashish originating from Hassan-i-Sabah was also proposed by Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea in "The Illuminatus! Trilogy", and later, in his novel Angels and Demons, Dan Brown also referenced the purported historical link between the term 'assassin' and 'hashish.'
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, ice-water separations, or chemical extraction. Finger hash is produced by rolling the ripe flowers of the plant between the fingers, a highly labor intensive process which produces spherical balls of resin. 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.
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 [1]. 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, 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 impure, 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, and Afghanistan , 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
Hashish is more widely available in Europe, 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 and export. The market expansion for marijuana in Europe is also happening because dealers in certain countries offer extremely adulterated hash almost exclusively. Marijuana is more difficult to adulterate, although some dealers attempt to modify it as well, usually with less success than with hash. Some young European consumers have become so accustomed to impure 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, Morocco 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.
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 use
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 German- and 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 'brown (also a name for heroin in some parts of the UK),' 'hash,' 'resin', 'puff', 'blow', 'soap bar', 'solid', and 'block.' In the Netherlands, this is called "Maroc", "Lieb" (Lebanon) or, from quality zero being best to secundeira worst: "triple zero", "zero zero", "super primaira", "primaira", "secundeira". Also, there is a branch of nearly white 'powder hash' ('pollen' or 'kief has') that is the result of not stamping the raw material for the more common compressed hashish.
Soft Hash
This is usually very dark brown to black in colour and goes under the name black in France, squidgey or soft black (named due to the colour and properties of the hash) in the UK, or Paki Black in Spain (meaning it originates from Pakistan). As this hash is softer, it can be rolled out into a long, thin spaghetti less than 1 mm 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.
Another way of smoking hash in joints is to mix it. This involves holding a "j" around the same size as a pencil end rubber over an open flame. The j should then catch fire at which point the temperature should be perfect to blow out the flame and then mix together with tobacco, preferably a dry sort such as the contents of a cigarette. At the end of this procedure the individual tobacco pieces should have a layer of hash, it is not uncommon by the time that the hash has cooled that their will be small crumbs notably called "bombers" or "hotrocks". This mixture is then rolled into a blunt in the same manner as in other procedures. (This method is also used if the participant is wanting to smoke soft hash in a pipe or bong).
Alternatively, a North African technique called dabous or "Khabour" (stick) 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.
Rather than covering the cup using a cardboard or a CD case, some prefer to use an inverted cup in order to double the volume of smoke.
Soft, dark hash is in the Netherlands normally referred to as "Afghaan". Also popular brands are "Citral" and "(Fungus) kashmir".
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.
Another, rather different method to smoking hash is known commonly as hash cones. The user takes a twist tie, burning off the paper or plastic from the metal wire underneath. This wire is then tightly coiled around the tip of a pen. The hash is then rolled out to a small, paper-thin piece large enough to cover the newly formed metal coil on the pen. It is pressed in and, due to its soft consistency, will stick to the wire. The wire is then removed from the pen and the hash can then be lit. The metal coil will keep the heat travelling smoothly up the hash and a person can then catch and inhale the resulting smoke.
Another way that is used to inhale hashish is known as hot knives. The hashish is broken up in small parts, then 2 knives are heated till red, then using 1 of the knives one gently touches a piece of the hashish to get it to stick on the knife, using the other knife the piece of hashish should be pressed, the person inhaling the smoke should have a conical shaped paper to inhale the smoke through. This method is known to be efficient but is harsh on the lungs.
Honey oil
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 an essential oil that has a viscosity ranging from thick to runny, extracted from the cannabis plant. It is commonly smoked using hot metal blades or plates, inhaled using specially designed vaporizers, or smoked from a bed of ashes. Honey oil is considerably more potent than 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. The name honey refers to the color and consistency of the oil, there is not actual honey involved.
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, as well as which substances they more readily dissolve.
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 colour 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 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 [1] is safer than butane [2].
Availability
Honey oil is generally considered the province of amateur growers[citation needed], 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[citation needed], 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[citation needed]. A high prevalence of 'outdoor' marijuana growers will make oil to use or sell through the winter months when there is no crop.
Impure hash
Low quality forms of hash often contain impurities. Such forms can vary significantly from being very hard to very soft, usually possess a low potency (if any at all), and have a strangeness in taste and possibly an oily feel to them.
The impurities in the hash may range from waste material from the cannabis plant to products such as soap, vaseline, beeswax, boot polish, animal faeces, turpentine, henna, ground coffee, milk powder, pine resin, barbiturates, ketamine, aspirin, glues and dyes, as well as carcinogenic solvents such as toluene and benzene. These impurities are added to exaggerate the value of smaller amounts of hash (itself usually of very poor quality).
The low quality causes one to smoke more to get the same effect. This increase in consumption coupled with the impurities can cause adverse health effects.
Pure hash does not not need any binding agents to bind the trichomes. This resin will easily form into bars without the need for chemical additives.
Kief
Kief (various spellings, including kif, keef, etc) is perhaps the simplest form of hash. It can be found by taking a bud covered in trichomes and brushing 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 as well. An additional method of obtaining trichomes is to rub the bud against silk. These trichomes, or resin glands, may be inadvertently combined with small pieces of plant matter that may break off from the bud, which 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 pressure-cooking can be accomplished by placing the keif between two coins in a vise.
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).
- Charas
Notes
- ^ International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, released by the Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, March 2005
External links
- A recent publication on hashish production and trafficking in the Rif area of Morocco
- How to judge hashish quality
- Analysis of adulterated hashish
- A Collection of Hashish Photography
Further history
Further reading
- Hashish by Robert Connell Clarke, ISBN 0-929349-05-9
- 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 1-878823-29-9 ; 2001, reprinted 2005