The Museum of Cannabis History

09/17/2019

TWO giants of science were huge pot heads, an expert has revealed.

09/10/2019

A Kentucky h**p field, back in the day.

**phistory

08/03/2019

H**p in the Himalayas (1840)

Cannabis cultivation has a long history in the Indian Himalayas, where it has been grown for centuries. In an 1840 report to the Agri-Horticultural Society of Calcutta, Captain H. Huddleston observed that virtually all parts of the plant were used in the British Gurhwal area and that "the lower classes of the Gurhwal population dress themselves in the cloth manufactured from the H**p."

He continued, writing that "dooms (or the lowest class of the agricultural community) are the chief cultivators of the plant" and it was so closely associated with them that among Brahmins (the priestly caste) it is "reckoned a term of severe reproach and abuse to be told that he cultivates it - or that it is found close to his own door."

Male plants, called "Phoolbhang", were prized for their "stronger and superior fibre" and were harvested 4-6 weeks earlier than the females. The females, called "Goolbhanga", were also used for fibre; however, they additionally produced seeds which were "extracted by rubbing between the hands, which produces the 'Churrus,' and this is scraped off and made into rolls for sale. The leaves are also pounded, from which 'Ganjah' and 'Subzee' are manufactured in small quantities." Between the fibre, oil and resin, the return was "amply remunerating to the grower" - each acre produced 6 lb. of churrus (i.e. hashish), 320 lb. of h**p fibre, and 60-70 lb. of seed which yielded around 10 lb. of oil.

Captain Huddleston saw potential for an export market, suggesting that arrangements could be made to "ship the H**p into boats on the Ganges or Ram Gunga for transit to Calcutta." In the past, because of contracts with the East India Company, "the cultivation of H**p was very considerable indeed in this district; and in case of any demand again being created, immense tracts would no doubt be sown with it." However, he was skeptical of his own plan because of "the well-known dislike from which the Hill people have to extra labour."

Regardless of colonial ambitions, Gurhwal h**p continued to clothe the poor and "supply the wants of the population for sackcloth, bags and ropes, nearly the whole of which, in considerable quantities, is consumed in the district."

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Source: The fibrous plants of India, fitted for cordage, clothing, and paper. With an account of the cultivation and preparation of flax, h**p, and their substitutes (by J. Forbes Royle, 1855) -> https://archive.org/details/cu31924003319468/page/n337 )

Image: Plate 5 from the Report of the Indian H**p Drugs Commission (1894-1895)
-> https://digital.nls.uk/indiapapers/browse/archive/74574138

**pHistory

08/02/2019

Some villagers, high in the Himalayas, maintain centuries old tradition of growing charas, Indian cannabis.

07/25/2019

06/12/2019

Traces of potent pot were identified in 2,500-year-old wooden artifacts buried with people who lived along the Silk Road in China.

04/30/2019

This collection contains 10 postcards from the early 1900’s. H**p flourished in the Bluegrass region of Kentucky and was grown primarily for bailing cotton. Henry Clay encouraged the US Navy to use Kentucky h**p over Russian h**p for cordage used on sailing ships. Scenes include cutting h**p by ha...

04/30/2019

THE GARDEN PORTRAIT (Paris, c. 1910)



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Source: The Casas-Rodríguez Postcard Collection
https://www.flickr.com/photos/postaletrice/

Copyright © Casas-Rodríguez Collection, 2009. Some rights reserved. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/

04/09/2019

Much of our early history of h**p use has been lost, but we still find echoes of it in old folk songs & poems that have survived the passage of time.