When I was in high school I spent spring break in NYC with a couple family members (this was in 2014) and we stayed in a nice hotel in Manhattan. I met a journalist from Egypt in the elevator and he was really cool and offered to smoke some hash with me in his hotel room that he managed to smuggle over on the plane (journalist privilege I guess?) He said the police in Egypt are corrupt and his cop friend confiscated it from someone and gave it to him LOL.
This stuff was a black cube in the shape of a rectangle, maybe a couple inches long and maybe a half inch thick, I can't remember exactly. He melted a piece with a lighter and mixed it in with some tobacco in a joint. I swear the effect was not unlike certain prescription pain medications.....with a psychedelic twist. I literally was nodding off like that from the joint and he had to wake me up to leave or I would've passed out in his room. Awesome smoke. Imagine a really good Purple Kush but like at least 5x more intense.
My question is what kind of hash does that sound like? I could only guess traditional north african/middle eastern hash but I don't know much of anything about hash
Hmmm. After careful consideration, my considered opinion is that it was
good hash.
You kids today seldom get to know what good hash is like. There's never been a huge market for hashish here because Mexico had no real hash culture, so we got weed.
I am reminded of a story related to me by Fluffy. Fluffy was a roadie for Thrill Kill Cult (Go, go, Devil Bunny) in England at the time. One of the locals was given a bag of cannabis products by an appreciative fan but tossed it over their shoulder because it was just flower. An appreciative Fluffy immediately scooped it up and was very happy.
You see, the Brit was judging it based on hundreds of years of traditional trade routes that had given their underground market access to the hash making world, North Africa, the Middle East and Asia. But Fluffy, despite his elation, had grown up with a more or less flower centric cultcha. Not to say that he did not have access to hash when he was a lad in the 70s: he did. But his appreciation for the art form of hash making had waned to the point of becoming vestigial.
Somewhere there are hash historians that could venture a guess as to its true origins. I am not one of them. My experience suggests that these dark, soft hash was not from Eygpt. To me it sounds like Asian hash from an indica landrace. I have always been partial to black hash. Nepal is my fave. Most North African hash is more blond or brown and usually quite hard.
In the 90s, my friend Alex brought a Russian matchbox of Kyrghiz hash in a diplomatic pouch (extra points for flair) but it was still hard until heated and darker brown. But it was quite good.
I could go on. But my main point is that you experienced a rung of a centuries old ladder of fine, traditional hash. Don't worry about how your butthole felt - it was probably worth it. Remember that hashish is the root word for hashashin, or "assassin" as the brotherhood of assassins were known to ingest balls of soft dark hash.
America no longer knows fuck-all about hash. Too much science, not enough magic.
I have said this before, but traditional hashish is like enjoying a fine bottle of wine of exceptional vintage - American hash is like shoving a grain alcohol soaked tampon up yer ass.
Treasure the experience.
#hashtag