Vintage News Articles & Finds

[Bud Green]

Man that makes me wonder if you can really be convicted of possessing drug paraphernalia if the hookah is made out of a fake mayo jar.

It was so bad in the early 70's, that if you had been caught smoking pot out of a dead rat's ass, the prosecutor would find a way to show the court that it was a marijuana pipe....

 

[Bud Green]

Reminds me of the story Howard Marks told of smoking out of a water pipe made from a peanut butter jar in Jamaica.

Edit...also, in that same case with the hemostats is a type of pipe I remember, the brass one about 1 o’clock. Had a chamber in the middle that you’d fill with weed to saturate it with the resins from what you smoked. Always thought that stuff tasted like crap.

Are you talking about one of these?

..

 

[Jhhnn]

It was so bad in the early 70's, that if you got caught smoking pot out of a dead rat's ass, the prosecutor would find a way to show the court that it was a marijuana pipe....

Joints were the answer. Cigarette papers weren't paraphernalia.

I think that's how Europeans came to mixing hash with tobacco. They didn't get bud, just hash, & you can't really roll it into joints.

 

[Jellyfish]

Are you talking about one of these?

..

Everybody had one of those pipes. The stuff in the chamber tasted like crap, but it would get you soooo high. That was back when weed could be scarce and nobody wasted 1/4 gram.

 

[TychoMonolyth]

Usually, if you go to a museum, you can buy some stuff featured in the museum. Didn't they have any bongs or pipes for sale? lol

 

[TychoMonolyth]

Everybody had one of those pipes. The stuff in the chamber tasted like crap, but it would get you soooo high. That was back when weed could be scarce and nobody wasted 1/4 gram.

Just gave me a monster headache.

 

[Jellyfish]

Musta been shit weed to begin with.

 

[billycw]

Victorian meerschaum chamber pot pipe


Shitty Pipe

Oh that dry Victorian humor, I can picture the scene in my head...

A group of properly suited gentlemen retire to the smoking room to share a puff. The sneaky friend, fighting back his emotions to keep a straight face, loads the pipe for the group handing it to the mark.

As the mark puts the pipe up to his lips to spark the bowl the room erupts, yup its the Shitty Pipe!

Victorian meerschaum chamber pot pipe


Look they didn't have TV...

From the woman's leg pipe to the spread eagle show girl, novelty pipes found a market with the otherwise stuffy Victorian crowd.

But nothing beats the whimsical curiosity of the Chamber pot pipes...

Victorian meerschaum chamber pot pipe


Taking the humor to the next level, they throw in another scene all pet owners know all too well...

You sit down on the pot for 2 seconds and your dog (or cat) butts open the door and proceeds to just stare at you...

Grabbing an empty paper towel roll you throw it over there shoulder hoping for them to chase it away from you but now... Its a game...

And here you thought you closed the door!

Victorian meerschaum chamber pot pipe


Brings phrases like pot to piss in, shit faced or lets get pissed to a whole new level.

What a shitty pipe!

Victorian meerschaum chamber pot pipe

 

[billycw]

Reminds me of the story Howard Marks told of smoking out of a water pipe made from a peanut butter jar in Jamaica.

Stoner ingenuity, use what you got. Reminded me of this dude using a Jam Jar I posted earlier in the thread from WW1



Jam Jar Hookah "wounded Indian smoking through a jam jar", Brighton, England August 1915

Man that makes me wonder if you can really be convicted of possessing drug paraphernalia if the hookah is made out of a fake mayo jar.

It was so bad in the early 70's, that if you had been caught smoking pot out of a dead rat's ass, the prosecutor would find a way to show the court that it was a marijuana pipe....

Yup, if they can they will!

Seeing all that 70's paraphernalia, reminds me of a class we were all required to take, circa 72-75. It was Drug and Alcohol Awareness class. They showed us pipes and papers, pills, all kinds of stuff. I really learned a lot in that class, especially from the kids sitting behind me laughing.

Anybody else take the Drug and Alcohol Awareness class?

I was a early D.A.R.E and Just Say No kid, but I have some photographs coming up for you on those D&A class's.

That awkward moment when the officer asks a bunch of elementary kids, have any of you see your parents or your friends parents using drugs, its ok to tell someone....

It's like fishing lures. Some are designed to catch fish, others are just designed to catch fishermen.

I like that

also, in that same case with the hemostats is a type of pipe I remember, the brass one about 1 o’clock. Had a chamber in the middle that you’d fill with weed to saturate it with the resins from what you smoked. Always thought that stuff tasted like crap.

Are you talking about one of these?

..

Everybody had one of those pipes. The stuff in the chamber tasted like crap, but it would get you soooo high. That was back when weed could be scarce and nobody wasted 1/4 gram.

Ahhh I remember those! Yours looks like a nice one Bud Green, mine was just all brass.

Sure it tasted like shit and was pretty gross looking back but the logic behind it still makes stoner sense...

Nothing beats that day when you run out of weed and you remember you've had the resin egg chilling for a couple months of black tar'y goodness lol

Beats scrapping the bowl for resin



Even Jerry makes a appearance in the DEA Museum...

 

[Jellyfish]

Joints were the answer. Cigarette papers weren't paraphernalia.

Joints are still the best way to carry in a car, in my opinion. I believe I could eat two or three J's before Office Friendly tapped on my window. Can't say the same for any pipe or one hitter.

 

[Jellyfish]

Anyway, to get back on topic- those chamber pot pipes are the shit!

 

[billycw]

'Odalisque and Slave' Painted by Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres in 1839

 

[billycw]

East African warrior/soldier smoking a pipe. Africa 1919

 

[Jellyfish]

Looks like a super hero outfit. Got his cape, and horned helmet, utility belt and weird things around his legs. Or Don Quixote with his spear. Fantastic photo!

 

[billycw]

Looks like a super hero outfit. Got his cape, and horned helmet, utility belt and weird things around his legs. Or Don Quixote with his spear. Fantastic photo!

Found him fascinating too, was buried in a set of negatives labeled 'East Africa' mixed with more from a 'British Crown Colony'. Guessing it was taken near Kenya since it became a 'Crown colony' in 1920?

Early reports say that many African tribes would smoke 'diamba'/cannabis before going into battle, so its a pretty interesting pose.


Here's another one from the same series.

Africa 1919

 

[billycw]

Female workers carding and spinning hemp on a machine at Craddocks Wire Rope Factory in Wakefield, 23rd August 1916.

 

[billycw]

Keep off the Grass, undated

 

[billycw]

La Corroirie estate near Loches, France (this Hemp oven also served as a prison for misbehaving monks when not in use)



Getting Baked With Hemp

All across France ruins of hemp history decay. The structures loom on the farm lands awaiting that day they can all get baked again!

Restored Hemp Oven in Auvers under Montfaucon (an old French commune) in France dating to at least around 1826


All across France, ruins of a technique for processing hemp can be found dominating farmland. Large stone silo's, almost always 2 story's high dot the landscape. These ruins hold a key step into our history of hemp.

After soaking the hemp in water or known as the process called 'retting', farmers needed to dry the hemp out. This step could be accomplished by laying the hemp out in the field for the sun to work its magic over time. But for the elite hemp farmers of France this just wasn't fast and efficient enough...

The solution? 'Four à chanvre' or Hemp Ovens!

Hemp Oven in Le Perche in southern Normandy, France turned into a guest room (notice the original stone steps leading to 2nd story room)


The design was simple but elegant. A 2 story stone building usually round like a silo would be separated into a top and bottom room. The first floor would hold the oven, often designed as a bread oven serving the farm with a duel purpose.

The second story would have a separate entrance from the oven floor and be an empty room where the wet hemp was placed to dry in the ambient heat created by the oven below.

diagram of a Hemp Oven


The Hemp Ovens would also keep the hemp inside dry from the rainy seasons that usually followed the harvest season further expediting the drying process while keeping it controlled from issues like mold.

The structures would often be placed away from the main house for fear of the fire danger they presented.

A hemp oven in Sarthe, France

 

[billycw]

Getting Baked With Hemp Continued...

Outside view of a square Four à Chanvre/Hemp Oven in Teloche (Sarthe), France


Mostly round in shape, the hemp ovens were also built in a square design for added room accommodating the larger farms.

This Hemp oven from Teloche in Sarthe, France shows the size obtained by building in the square shape including a look inside the oven room.

Inside view of a square Four à Chanvre/Hemp Oven in Teloche (Sarthe), France


In a old farming neighborhood right in the heart of a present day city a little piece of Hemp history is preserved. At a city park, a nearby farmhouse's old Hemp Oven dominates the space.

Located at 3 Rue du Petit Closeau, in the city of Coulaines, France, is a city park called Madonna Park. Tucked away next to an old farmhouse is the parks centerpiece, 'Hemp Oven Square'.

The nearby farms old hemp oven has been restored allowing park visitors to peak into the hemp history that surrounds them!

Hemp Oven Square in Madonna Park, Coulaines, France


If you ever find yourself overlooking ruin's in the French countryside remember, it just could be a Hemp Oven waiting to get baked again!

Old Hemp Oven ruin's near Neuville, France

 

[billycw]

'New York police officers examine confiscated marijuana plants', New York City early 1950's