[billycw]

Portrait of an unidentified man about 40 years of age and a somewhat younger woman, both in Oriental costume, between them is a hookah, the stem of which both are holding
[between 1850 and 1860], by Mathew Brady’s studio

Daguerreotype

[billycw]

Surma tribe by anthony pappone



Drinking Smoke

The origins of the water pipe have long thought to originate in the middle east or in Asia, but a water pipe technique from Africa may date far earlier…

Before the Europeans arrived in Africa, the locals were already “drinking smoke”. This term was changed to just ‘smoking’ in the 18th century almost erasing the trail to history…

The possible origins could begin in India where the term was first written in the Ayurveda Texts referring to “dhumrapana” dated 600-200 BC. ‘Dhumrapana’ literally translates to “drinking smoke” and gives possibilities dating to around 2000 years old although this practice was lost to history with the invention of the hookah.

Another possibility could be right in Africa where the ancient technique continued to be practiced and observed even in the 1900’s.. Before the first gourd water pipes showed up on the continent in Ethiopia between the 12th and 13th century’s, Tribes had another method to ‘drink smoke’…

Le Meschacébé, Louisiana newspaper, October 15, 1921

"He scoops a hole out of the hard ground three to four inches deap by three inches wide. A foot or so away from this he scoops another hole, and he then bores a small channel underground from one to the other. There is thus a free air passage connecting the two little excavations.

He places some dried dagga leaves in the first hole, lights them and covers them over with moist clay. He pierces this clay with a sharpened piece of wood to allow a draught through.

Into the other hole he inserts a small hollow reed -this is the pipe stem- squeezes moist clay round it and on his knees begins to smoke."

Zulu tribesmen smoking Dagga (cannabis) using “The Earth Pipe”, South Africa


There seems to be at least 2 techniques to use the water in the pipe’s from these early stories. One like from the story above, uses water kept right in the mouth of the smoker almost like a human bubbler…

The other technique for the water is right in the second hole in the ground with another reed buried between the two making sure the tube in under the water line.




The Daggas Smoker by Anton van Wouw



We may never know the true origins of the earth bong with little surviving evidence besides a story or a straw. But from these early tales we have the evidence from history of ‘drinking smoke’ straight from the earth!

Who’s digging a hole today?



‘Drinking smoke’ in the Calahari desert

[billycw]

Also a great example in the tribal ground bong technique can be found in this bronze sculpture by Anton van Wouw


The Daggas Smoker by Anton van Wouw

[billycw]

Another earlier example of the ground bong of Africa from a Hawaii traveler stopover in 1898!

Evening bulletin, Hawaiian newspaper
July 12, 1898
Titled: Down in South Africa

Interesting this version had water in one of the holes...




The power of the written word, story told in 1898 and this morning, 118 years later, I lost my coffee over this gem...

"I once wakened a Bushman from his stupor by throwing a little gunpowder into his lighted dagga. Holes and Bushman disappeared."

All I can think of is that poor dude from "The Gods Must be Crazy" movie disappearing into the bushes, funny stuff have to watch that one again now.

[billycw]

A story from a few years ago but the practice dates back and I've yet to find much on the practice. Can't imagine it not passing on a bit of a metallic taste



A hashish seller shows off his best-quality product, preserved in goatskin.


https://www.rferl.mobi/a/pakistan-has.../24601598.html


"Pakistan's Goat-Grown Hashish
June 02, 2012
by Abubakar Siddique


For Noor Muhammad Afridi, dealing in "Awal Namber Garda" is more than just his life's work.

By providing the black, sticky hashish that keeps his customers very happy, he's keeping up a long family tradition.

Just like his forefathers in the Afridi clan, the 32-year-old from Pakistan's tribal areas along the Pakistan-Afghan border has become a connoisseur of the local delicacy, aged to perfection with a centuries-old technique.

"If you put [freshly prepared] hash resin into a goatskin or a sheepskin, it matures into something very good," he says. "It is well-preserved inside the skin, which also adds oil to it."

The technique is believed to greatly enhance the hashish's quality and, more importantly for its users, its effect.

If the end product makes the cut, it earns the right to join the prize sheepskins hanging from the rafters of Afridi's hash shop in Jamrud, gateway to the Khyber Pass.

'Top-Grade Dust'

Hashish is illegal in Pakistan. But it's easily available and widely consumed in the country's largely lawless northern tribal region.

To obtain Awal Namber Garda, Pashto for "top-grade dust," Afridi must travel from the plains of Jamrud to his clan's ancestral lands in the nearby mountains of Tirah Maidan.

There, a moderate climate, red soil, and locals skilled in the craft of cannabis combine to produce what is renowned as the region's best hashish.

It is an arduous journey made by way of rides in open pickup trucks and steep hikes, but it can yield huge revenues.

Every gram guarantees profit -- Afridi can fetch up to $500 a kilogram for Awal Namber Garda -- and, if all goes well, Afridi has plenty to stock his shop.

The process begins once carefully cultivated marijuana plants have been cut and hung upside down.

After they have dried, a thin cloth is used to carefully thresh the plants to collect the glistening, hairlike resin glands protruding from the buds and upper leaves.

The residue is crushed into a fine, malleable powder -- the main ingredient for making what, for Afridi, is black gold.

The next step involves goats and sheep that locals slaughter in celebration of a good cannabis harvest.

The longer the hashish is kept inside the skin of a freshly slaughtered animal, the better -- three months at least, says Afridi. The process works best during the hot summer months, but direct sunlight must be avoided.

Shah Mahmud, 55, is the type of farmer who Afridi has watched since childhood tending to cannabis on the tiny terraced fields of the Tirah Maidan.

Mahmud says the resin powder is stitched into the skins, which each hold six to 10 kilograms of hashish.

'Not A Bad Addiction'

Drawing on his experience of decades of hash use, Mahmud claims that when the process is completed, Awal Namber Garda is beyond compare.

"Its outstanding quality is that the oil has enhanced its effect," he says. "If it's dry, it loses its effect and smoking it even causes headaches. The [summer] heat is like an enemy of Garda. If you protect it from the heat properly, nothing can harm it."

While hashish available outside Khyber is often adulterated with henna, chewing gum, or even chemicals, Mahmud maintains that the hashish prepared in the Tirah Maidan is the real deal.

"Hashish is not a bad addiction even if you smoke it for 50 or 60 years," he says. "Cigarettes are more dangerous because each one you smoke reduces your age by a minute. Garda doesn't dry out your mind. A charsi (hashish smoker) is always straightforward."

Afridi seconds the notion and says that locals use hashish to treat many diseases.

He insists that few of his regular customers ever get sick.

"Awal Namber Garda is very good," he says. "The second- and third-rate hashish is considered very bad because its effect is similar to your brain being squeezed very hard.""


A Pakistani hashish seller shows off his "black gold" in the country's northern tribal region

[billycw]

Basalt Journal, Colorado newspaper
September 7, 1901
In the local's section

The art of talking shit to your buddy publicly, turn of the century style!

[rod58]

from the connoisseur's handbook of marijuana .

[billycw]

Love that one rod58, believe that one is part of the 1937 propaganda release, posters usually attached to a B movie like the infamous reefer madness. Looking back I really kind of dig the artwork

Assassins of Youth,1937 poster

[billycw]

The Ottawa free trader, Illinois newspaper
July 22, 1865
Hasheesh candy ad, page 3

Sold! Funny I remember people losing their shit when the first batches of the lolly pops started to go around

The Ottawa free trader, July 22, 1865


Then after reading the companies name "Gunjah Wallah" company, all I can sing in my head for the last couple hours is that Nas song, too late for royalties

QB Finest Ft Nas & Braveheart- Oochie Wally
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pExykbeytVk

[billycw]

Northampton Mercury –
Northamptonshire, England
Saturday 23 July 1808
Titled: Novel Duel

I read through a lot of duel stories in the old papers, all of them pretty crazy. This one might take the cake in 1808!


Northampton Mercury – Saturday 23 July 1808


So in 1808 Monsieur de Grandpré was dating a famous opera singer by the name of Mademoiselle Tirevit, she even lived with him.

He comes home to catch Monsieur Le Pique giving it to his girl, duel slap!

They decide to duel but unique individuals calls for unique ideas. They agree to meet at the famous Tuileries Gardens in Paris to duel...



If the story stopped there, this would just be a early duel in a beautiful famous place. Not so, they decide the duel will be from Gas filled Balloons in the air above the park!




Guns of choice for this dueling battle? The blunderbuss! unique weapons in the unique battle...



A blunderbuss gun


Imagine families having picnics non the wiser to the duel, seeing the awe stunning sight of 2 huge balloons. Everyone gathering looking on in amazement...

Then these 2 jump in take off, crowd oohhhing and aaahhhhing...

Above the crowd...

Boooom... couple seconds... Boooom...

Monsieur Le Pique balloon falls from the sky killing both inside...