Chillums

Just spent an hour banging this descrition out in another thread and thought, "ah! what the hell! I ought to post this as a thread and get some chat going about chillums". So here we go.

** PLEASE NOTE THAT THE SMALL IMAGES IN MY POSTS CAN BE SEEM MORE CLEARLY IF YOU CLICK ON THEM **

Limey's chillum 1.01


1. What is a chillum?

It is one of the simplest forms of pipe in the world and was, probably, invented in south asia a long, long time ago. It's shape and construction suggests it was first made by:
grabbing a handful of clay from nearby waterhole
sqeezing the clay around an index finger, to form a shortish tube
drying this tube in the sun (and maybe in a fire)
dropping a pebble into the tube to form a pipe bowl.

Over time, chillums have evolved to become (sometimes) highly decorated, precision engineered devices. But the principles remain the same...

a chillum should consist of three parts: the pipe, the stone and a saphi/saffi (spell it how you like, the word should be in sanskrit anyway). the pipe is, well, the pipe, a straight cone of clay, stone, glass, metal, carrot, wood, whatever. The purists swear by terracotta. The bore of the pipe should be conical but straight sided. Chillums with an uneven bore are hard to clean.

The stone is a conical stone, usually with a few channels carved lengthways down the sides. It sits inside the chillum at the fat end, usually between half and inch (1.5cm) and an inch/3cm from the opening of the chillum. It performs two functions: a platform in the pipe to place your substance(s) upon (so, like a gauze/screen in a pipe or bong) and as part of the cooling/de-tarring (the smoke passes over it, cools and deposits tar)



the saphi is a piece of cloth, ideally something like cheese cloth, which is dampened with water and tied over the small end of the chillum, from which you draw the smoke. It acts as a filter, removing a little tar but most importantly, it will trap any burning particles that whizz down the tube towards your throat.

2. how to HOLD a chillum (there are many ways, here's one) - try this with an empty chillum, for practise. it takes while to get it right

i. hold your right hand palm up in front of you, parallel to the floor
ii. raise your fingers upwards, keeping your palm/back of hand parallel to the floor, so your fingers are gathered into a "lotus at night" bunch.
iii. place the chillum with the saphi just above your palm. the chilum is held vertically, perpendicular to your horizontal palm. you are holding the pipe with your fingers and thumb
iv. place your left hand next to your right hand, with the thumbs side by side and the soft mound at the base of your left thumb filling the gap between your right thumb and the fingers on your right hand
v. wrap the fingers on your left hand round the fingers on your right hand
you should now have cupped the chillum neatly in your two hands with no significant gaps between hand or fingers. the chillum still should be vertical.
vi. open a gap between your right hand thumb and your right hand index finger - this is the gap through which you will draw the smoke
vii. if your hands are arranged properly, you should be able to easily draw air through the chillum while not drawing any air through any gaps in your hands/fingers

why all this digital gymnastics?
you should NEVER touch a chillum to your lips
skipping all the "sacred" blah for a moment, mostly this is because you will get tarry lips. and it's not hygenic.

You can now hold a chillum like a hardened sadhu!

3. what to put in a chillum

if you believe the hype (there is considerable controversy).. the indians (in the broadest sense) have been smoking chillums since the dawn of time i.e. long before the europeans brought tobacco to India/the "old world" in the 15th/16th century. Logic therefore dictates that IF you believe chillum smoking is a ancient rite, you should NOT smoke tobacco in chillums.

However, it is rare indeed to find [white] people smoking chillums in india/asia that do not include tobacco. I would urge you to ignore them and only smoke weed and resin (charas or hash) in your chillum. If you do want to put tobacco in there, the etiquette is to toast a (mild) cigarette over a flame which, allegedly, burns off some of the nasties. It also dries the tobacco. You grind the tobacco to a powder in the palm of your hand, carefully removing any paper or burned bits.

Tobacco or no tobacco you want to put plenty of resin in your chillum. By plenty we are talking at least half a gram. Chillums are meant to be strong. The better the resin, the better your pipe will taste (well, of course). For some reason rubbed resin (charas) seems to work fractionally better than seived (hash).

Myself I prefer to put some weed (doesn't have to be the best) in my chillum mixed with plenty of resin and no tobacco. It's tricky to get this mix absolutely right, it doesn't burn as freely as a tobacco mix. I like to slightly dampen the weed (a drop of water, squeezed out of the weed) then mix in resin that is broken up small but not powdered (if using tobacco, the usual practice is to powder the resin).

Most people set aside a bit of tobacco/weed (with no resin mixed in) and drop this into the bottom of the chillum bowl. Basically, it saves your primo resin being wasted as it can easily fall into the gap between the wall of the chilum and the stone.

Mix the tobacco/weed and resin very very throughly.

Load the mix into the chillum bowl. It should fill the bowl to the brim. Tamp down the mix gently so the bowl is filled evenly but not tight. If you have ever seen a pipe smoker (the tobacco kind) fill a pipe, well, it's the same principle.

4. how to light a chillum

this is where things get really controversial.

Alot of the more extreme chillum heads insist that a chillum MUST be lit with two matches or the sun will eat the moon and shiva himself will descend from the mountain and smite the unfortunate etiquette-busting stoner.

Of course, matches were invented by a scandinavian guy in the 19th century so I think it is safe to say that this two match business is, hmmm, bollocks.

I have a written account of sadhus smoking chillums from the early 20th century and this is how they did it:
the placed the gear in the bowl
they put a small thin stone on top of the gear, mostly covering it
they took a small piece of charcoal from the fire and placed it atop the uppermost stone
they draw long, slow tokes on the chillum
hold
exhale

of course, most stoners dont have a wood fire with convenient bits of charcoal lying around, hence the adoption, I suspect, of the matches thing.

I will say in favour of matches that they light a chillum much better than lighters and two (or three) matches are better than one. However, do make sure the phosphorous is entirely burned off before you touch the flame to the substance. it spoils the taste of your primo resin.

5. how to smoke a chillum

A chillum should be smoked with at least two people, I think ideally 3. Sit in circle. ideally around a fire!

take long slow tokes from the diaphragm, as if you are singing
hold
exhale

DO NOT suck on a chillum using your throat or you will burn your throat very painfully (go on: try it, I dare you!)

when you have taken a good toke (the person lighting the chillum is permitted to take two, to get it properly lit)...

pass the chillum with your right hand to the person sitting on your right.

(right hands because in asia the left hand is what you use to wipe your backside with - no paper - and noone touches anything that goes near their (or anyone else's) mouth with their left hand.

if you are into the spirituality, only aghori sadhu and kali worshippers pass a chillum to the left, it is considered to be back luck and bad form.

some people like to mark the ignition of their chillum by calling out to Shiva, saying something along the lines of "Bom! Shiva!" "Bombolenath!". In the right place, it adds, at least, some atmosphere and authenticity. At the bottom of your mate's lawn, it probably makes you look (and sound) a bit silly.

when the chillum is finished (it will crackle and taste vile if you smoke the dregs), pass it to the owner of the chillum who will want to clean it when it is still hot. It is essential to clean a chillum very thoroughly when it has just been smoked - no leaving it till the morning.

When clean, start again. Until dawn.

hope that helps! I will take some photos of my pieces and post them here soon(ish)

peace, or should I say "shanti"

Limey

Chillums are quite nice, I smoked them when I went to India

Quite the experience, it's a shame there is no quality resin like you put it, in america

there is, but it's quite expensive

I think it's the tobacco that made quite a mix, I would often just lie down lol
they called me smoke and sleep for a while

I really liked the chillum, it's nice to share it around

People told me it's bad to have a dirty chillum, you have to clean it -> by putting in a stick covered in cloth, to clean it, they say it's very important, something that has to do with respect

Here I contribute a picture

chillums are awesome!

Wow that was a very informative thread!!

I do have one question though... is it chillam or chillum?

Just kiddin dood! Nice work.

Thanks, everyone, for your replies and support

whiterabbit9 said:

People told me it's bad to have a dirty chillum, you have to clean it -> by putting in a stick covered in cloth, to clean it, they say it's very important, something that has to do with respect

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Yes, Whiterabbit, I guess I should add in a post script:

Cleaning your chillum

Of the three elements of the chillum, the saphi is discarded (it will be dirty and smelly).

The stone is gently knocked out of the chillum. Much inspection of the ash/residue follows to check:
i. if the chillum was fully smoked (it's bad form to "break the circle" either by people leaving the circle while the chillum is being smoked: no wussing out!! ; it is also bad form not to finish smoking a chillum once it has been lit. A chillum should not be relit - it tends to taste a bit nasty if you relight it)
ii. the quality of the ash. quality resin should leave a pure white ash. Grit in the ash suggests adulteration

The stone is wiped clean when it is still hot, often with the discarded saphi. It should be rubbed thoroughtly to remove any tar, oils etc. the stone is set aside, somewhere safe (they are very easy to lose). It's usually the person sitting to the left of the person cleaning the chillum who cleans the stone

There are two acknowledged ways of cleaning your chillum pipe and fashion seems to have changed since I first smoked one

Both methods require a "string" (it probably has a sanskrit name... any suggestions welcome) but, essentially it is a piece of cloth about an inch/3cm wide and 18inches-2ft long (45-50cm).

The string is usually made from the same type of cloth used for the saphi, though I dont know if there is any tradition that it ought to be.

A good alternative is to use a thick flat bootlace but I suspect a few purists would frown at this (items associated with the feet are regarded as spiritually unclean in most asian cultures)

The string is used to scrub the inside of the hot, just-smoked chillum. But how?

Method one: taut string

The cloth is stretched and twisted to form a crude fabric rope.

The cleaner (usually the owner of the chillum) carefully lowers the twisted string into the wide end of the chillum and, when it jams in the narrower end, a few twists of string are pushed into the bowl

here's the tricky bit...

the cleaner blows through the wide end of the chillum, blowing the end of the string that is jammed in the narrow end of the chillum such that it pops out of the narrow end. This requires a short sharp puff and, if you pull it off first time, looks a bit flash.

So the string now passes down the bore of the chillum pipe, with plenty to spare at each end.

The cleaner grasps one end of the string

the person sitting to the left of the cleaner grasps the other end of the string (the left: the chillum is now "unclean")

the string is pulled taut between the cleaner and their buddy forming, if you like, a washing line onto which the chillum has been threaded.

it is possible for the cleaner to do this on their own, by grasping one end of the string and wrapping the other round something handy, often their big toe. But it doesn't work as well as using two people.

The cleaner pulls the chillum forcefully and rapidly back and forth along the taut string, twisting as they go, for a minute or two. thus the dirty inside of the chillum is rubbed along the string and any grime in the bore of the chillum is rubbed off. Again, if you are practised at this, it looks slightly cool. It's surprising how much work is involved but this is a very good way of cleaning the chillum and helps to keep the group dynamic of the chillum smoking going as (if there are three of you), one person is dealing with making the mix for the next chillum (one hopes) and two people are involved in the cleaning of the pipe.

Method two:
This still requires a cloth string as described above

It also requires an absolutely straight rod, very often, as they are the right size and shape, a chop stick (of the kind used to eat with). I have heard these referred to as chillum sticks.

The string is wrapped around the stick, starting at the thin end of the stick, round and round in a spiral along the stick

the cleaner pushes the wrapped stick down the bore of the chillum pipe and rubs the string/cloth along the walls of the inside of the chillum, hopefully removing any tar and oil inside.

The above "method two" seems to be in fashion at present. It's sole advantage as I see it is that one person can clean a chillum on their own this way.

I prefer method one. It's more work but I reckon it gets the chillum cleaner than method two (unless you are very diligent) and it is more sociable.

With either method, it's easier and quicker and more effective if you clean the chillum as soon as you have smoked it, while it is still hot and the oils and tars are still liquid.

There are two checks for a clean chillum:
hold it up to the light/moon (not the sun!!) like a telescope and look down the bore. There should be no visible marks in the chillum, it should look clean. If it isn't, repeat the above.
place a finger into the bowl of the chillum and rub it up and down. No dirt should come off on your finger. if it does... (I think you can guess)

Dont clean a clay, wood or even a stone chillum with soap and water as the taste of the soap will stick to the chillum for the next smoke (yuk!)

So, what was the person to the right of the chillum cleaners doing while the cleaner and the other guy (the person to their left) were cleaning the chillum and stone? Making the mix for the next chillum of course!!

When the chillum is clean, the cleaner passes it to the person on their right (right: it's now clean, not "unclean"..) who should prepare the next chillum. If there are more than 3 of you, then the chillum should be filled in turn by the people in the circle, always travelling to the right (anticlockwise).

What alot of ritual, huh!? but is all good fun and keeps everyone busy..

so what if the chillum isn't cleaned?

well, immediately, of course, the chillum will taste nasty. And it's remarkable how nasty tasting a chillum can get very quickly. they will not bear an evening's smoking without cleaning, unlike a bong.

But eventually your chillum will get grubby, however diligent you are at cleaning it.

And this is why real chillum fanatics only smoke clay chillums (preferably terracotta or another hard clay)... you may find it tricky to do this with chillums made from other materials, to a greater of lesser extent.

When your chillum gets dirty you need a fire. Preferably a wood fire though a charcoal BBQ does a fabulous job of this.

You bury the chillum in the coals of the fire and leave it there til it's red hot.

You carefully remove the chillum and leave it to cool.

When it is cool, you rinse the chillum with freshly drawn water and clean it as described above, with a string. Don't rinse a hot chillum with water or it will break!!!

If you have a clay chillum this refiring process will change the colour of the chillum. This way you can always tell if a clay chillum has been refired.

Eventually a chillum can be refired no more and will break in the fire. There's nothing sadder than a much loved chillum breaking (well... maybe not. But you know what I mean!). This is why people clean their chillums with a string everytime they use them as otherwise they would only last a few sessions (and good clay chillums are often expensive).

So, there you are: clean chillums all round!!

Limey

I love my chillum!! ..it was a gift from a very good friend and I'll cherish it forever

We used to throw our used chillum in the hot ashes from the fire and in the morning they'd be spotless .... after a few goes in the hot ash they become like porcelain .... then you drop it and the cycle starts again

I am going to try and get some illustrative photos up here over the next week or so, as promised. To kick things off, here are two chillums from my collection:


The lovely item on the left is a three and half inch green agate chillum with a carved relief of the god Ganesh. Ganesh isn't normally associated with cannabis, as far as I know, but is a very popular deity and I suppose can claim family links with smoking through his father, Shiva, being an inveterate pot hed and his mum, Parvatti, having one of the most productive ganja growing valleys in the Indian himalaya named after her. Provenance of this chillum unknown, though it is definitely Indian and probably 20th century. I bought it from a hippy at the Glastonbury festival in 1995

The chillum on the right is a relatively recent purchase. It's a 19th century chillum in, I think, brass (certainly has a copper content) and it's obviously hand-tooled. A really nice and unusual piece.

Both of these chillums are really one-two man jobs and are too small really to be ideal for smoking - they smoke fairly hot as the chiilum pipes are quite short. However, they are both very unusual designs and are, IMO, rather pretty, so I thought I'd kick things off with these.

Soon come... my classic Pushkar chillum

Limey

Very nice write up limey you really got the hole essens off indian chillum practies

i totaly agree with you abouth the mathces when lighting the chillum and 10 years ago many pepol would get very angry with you if you light the chillum with a lighter and as a young stoner with a back pack full off joints papers and good quality lighters i felt the wrate off my fellow smokers when i insistet on lighting the chillum with a ligther.

One important thing you forgot to add was the verbal, tribute to the gods and announcement to fellow smokers that a chillum is litten. The louder the better but due to more police paranoia around pepol tend to make a less loud bom shiva

And with this super write up off how a chillum should be cleaned i hope no more ill tasting dirty ass chillums are passed around

I would also like to add abouth the toasting off the cigarat, that it could not be burned but gently toasted over a ligther. When toasting dont move the lighter move the cigarat. After some 30 secs off toasting then blow in the cigarat, do that 3 times until the tobacco smells like baked.

Bom shiva and long live the chillum

Hi Dk, nice to see you here.

More chillums to come soon, I promise!!

Limey

One important thing you forgot to add was the verbal, tribute to the gods and announcement to fellow smokers that a chillum is litten. The louder the better but due to more police paranoia around pepol tend to make a less loud bom shiva

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About the police...

how is it ?
because I know in goa the police like to bust for bribes, and I heard stories of people paying police to get their passport back, and they pay, and don't get it back.

how is it over there?
and how is it towards white people ?

whiterabbit9 said:

About the police...

how is it ?
because I know in goa the police like to bust for bribes, and I heard stories of people paying police to get their passport back, and they pay, and don't get it back.

how is it over there?
and how is it towards white people ?

Click to expand...

Goa has had that reputation for a long time. Goa though "is not India" (even if it's in India), it's very much a special case.

Occasionally in other places (Delhi, Pushkar etc) then hoteliers and police work together to shop people. The police often have quotas to fill. This is very rare though.

I always advise travellers to be discrete, whereever they are. My own rule of thumb is that if you wouldn't do it at home, don't do it overseas.

How is it over there? fantastic.

Is there any hostility towards white people? yes, of course, but it is rare and unusual. Being clean and respectful and considerate will mean the vast majority of people are friednly and helpful.

If you have any doubts, put them out of your mind. India is a fabulous place. As is Nepal. Nepal is particularly nice and the Nepalese are lovely people, by and large.

Go and check it out!

Bush Dr said:

We used to throw our used chillum in the hot ashes from the fire and in the morning they'd be spotless .... after a few goes in the hot ash they become like porcelain .... then you drop it and the cycle starts again

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So here you are, Bush Dr and others. My Pushkar chillum, which has been refired in the ashes a couple of times.



So this is an absolute classic.

A Pushkar chillum bought in 1994 in Pushkar, India. A very simple, classic design with a nicely worked "OM" motif.

This pipe is 5inches or a little bit more long.

It is made from clay taken from the sacred lake in Pushkar.

First firing, these Pushkar chillums come out near-black. With subsequent refirings the colour of the clay has marbled, as you can see. The clay also hardens - making this a better smoke as it keeps cleaner as it gets harder BUT it gets more brittle with each refiring.

The chillum bag came free with the chillum.

If I remember rightly, the chillum cost me Indian32rs - at the time, about $0.50!! Moral of the story is - you can spend alot of money on a chillum but if you hunt for long enough (couple of days to find this piece) you can find a near perfect clay chillum for next to nothing.

More soon...

I remember smoking chillums with travellers in the mid 90's, each had their own rituals and customs.

One girl would touch the chillum to her forehead and say Bom Shiva before each toke and expected everyone else to as well.

And another guy stood in a night club kitchen and passed it around, he believed religion should never get in the way of a good buzz.

But both would only smoke charas/ tobacco mix, no green. Great things to toke on around a fire with a group of friends for sure.

basscadet said:

One girl would touch the chillum to her forehead and say Bom Shiva before each toke and expected everyone else to as well.

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Yep! Sounds familiar! I dont mind conforming to other people's ways when they own the chillum ; find it a bit rich when they start telling me how to smoke my own!

Limey


ps. basscadet - like your moniker. Coincidentally bought the basscadet ep CD the other day and loving the Basscadubmx mix (always loved the tune, have loved incunabula for years: stunning album).

my chillum.... heavy solid wood... not pictured is the small om motif on the back

Uh don't we have a bong, pipe, vape thread?

Mr. Tony said:

Uh don't we have a bong, pipe, vape thread?

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Yes we do Mr Tony (we have met there before) but it is so dominated by discussions of glassware...

... and I rather thought chillums deserve their own thread, don't you?

Limey

opt1c said:

my chillum.... heavy solid wood... not pictured is the small om motif on the back

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Thanks, opt1c!!

Know the cobras would be charmed out of their chillum bag sooner or later!

For the chillum-uninitiated, these photos helpfully show how a saphi is tied....

More from my collection tomorrow....!!

best wishes

Limey

limey said:

Yes we do Mr Tony (we have met there before) but it is so dominated by discussions of glassware...

... and I rather thought chillums deserve their own thread, don't you?

Limey

Click to expand...

a chillum is a piece, the other thread is post you piece, bong vape.



I tried to have a heady glass thread made but after some guys didn't like it it was removed, I believe all smoking piece and or discussion should be in the main thread.