WHY HASHISH

As a trained physicist and practicing philosopher, I often ask myself the tough questions that need answers—not just for my curiosity, but for all humanity’s sake. After all, aren’t we all here participating in the great adventure called life, and above all, survive the experience as long as possible? 

I have learned one important concept in the great game of life—and it takes Darwin’s sense of evolution to a new level. Survival of the species is no longer just governed by big ideas like food and procreation. Now, in a technical world of our own making, survival of the unique individual becomes more important than simple survival of the species. Put simply, it’s no longer just the fittest that survives to make the next generation of babies, but the one with scientific and technical knowledge that guarantees there will be a tomorrow for babies to be born in. If you don’t understand technology, then you will most certainly be a victim.

With that thought in mind, let’s look at the ancient human activity of getting high, or more politely, ingesting substances that alter our normal, boring awareness. In scientific terms, some complex organic chemicals found in nature, when ingested by eating or smoking, cause the person to have an altered condition of awareness that is no longer simply the product of our normal bodily senses. The mind opens, the thoughts become profuse, and feelings become enhanced or amplified. We get high.

We are genetically descended from a few million years of being monkeys in a forest 

of trees. We traveled from tree to tree, living primarily on fruit and the occasional celebratory eating of the bad monkey who trespassed in our tree. But we were sometimes late in our rounds of favored fruit trees and the fruit might be a little too ripe. Hence, the stupid monkey syndrome emerges: those that ate too much fruit (with naturally occurring alcohol) got dizzy or caused a fight and fell out of the tree and into the waiting jaws of the nearest predator. Only the ones who imbibed responsibly survived.

Humanity moved on, came down out of the trees, and started walking upright—but still having a penchant for the rotten fruit, and bravely sampling all the leaves and plants of their new world. They were curious, thinking all the time, watching nature all around them and learning from what they saw. They shaped rocks with other rocks so new helpful devices came into being, like the knife and the ax. Success was no longer subject to Darwin’s laws of survival, but rather those who thought, reflected, shared information, and made innovations. It’s no longer survival of the physically fittest, but survival of the most technically adept.

It was the uniquely human element of sharing and using technical information that created a surplus of time on our hands. Instead of spending 100 percent of one’s time struggling to find food and maybe a little action on the side, like Darwinian ecology, humans now had the luxury of spending significant hours not involved with eating or procreating. We started spending longer amounts of our time interacting with the tribal society in a non-productive manner. In the tribal society, everybody knows your name. Here, we gather securely around a fire every night where we share our daily experiences and retell the stories of our ancestors who made it all possible. Music, dancing, and general partying became a daily routine.

Hence drugs. Humans have been ingesting substances (might as well call them drugs, or more politely, herbs) since before we were even humans, by modern DNA standards. They have been with us since the advent of tool making, and as we expanded our diet with protein to build bigger and better brains, mostly from the constant need to get smarter than our enemies. Humans don’t have time for old-fashioned DNA evolution: eat or be eaten. Now we succeed by out-thinking the animal trying to eat us, or the one we have chosen for our dinner. We don’t wait for a bigger brain, we make one.

Over ages of human progress, life became defined by much more than mere survival of the species, or even the purely selfish genetic race. Now what’s important is an individual’s success, not at just surviving, but living a life of higher awareness, requiring the experiencing of a complete and full-spectrum life, worthy of living through all of our senses and perceptions. We use cannabis to calm our over-active minds, making our awareness a thing of calm beauty, reflecting on not only the fragility of life, but how immensely important it is to the universe. 

Why hash? My answer is simple. I want to have the best cannabis experience possible, with as few harmful side effects as possible. As a scientist, it’s simple to define the desirable product as the “fruit” of the frustrated female cannabis plant, the tiny microscopic rosin pod containing the psycho-active molecule THC, all of its various chemical cousins, and many other related compounds such as CBDs and terpenes. Deprived female plants generate an abundance of these cannabinoid chemicals when no male plants are around for pollination. In ancient times, it was quickly recognized how to cultivate the female plant and use only this part, which was responsible for the psycho-active effect from smoking. Harvesting soon focused on this sparkly substance peppering the empty seed pods, and was accomplished by manually crushing the female flower buds, collecting the complex, sticky rosin paste and scraping it off one’s warm hands into “hashish” balls with few contaminates, such as leaves and stems.

These balls (or sometimes, bricks) of hash are pressed tightly and allowed to cure in dark cool places, where the internal chemicals can mix and fuse into concoctions containing the full spectrum of molecular diversity provided by the rosin pods and their associated stalks and hairs. A dark patina usually forms on the outside, protecting against further loss of the highly volatile chemicals trapped inside. After a few months to a year, the hash is ready to be carved up into smaller chunks and smoked in large multi-hose hookahs, where friends and family might gather around in the cool evenings celebrating the end of another successful day of individual survival. 

The contaminates of the cannabis plant that should not be smoked are basically the hemp parts. Besides providing healing and mental awareness qualities in its female rosin, the cannabis plant, especially the male plant, provides an exceptional source of plant fiber for products such as cloth, paper, and cellulose, a natural nontoxic substitute for plastics. One does not smoke rope, and that is precisely what one does when smoking the whole flower.

Picking the fruit, the rosin pods, and smoking it only—without the associated contaminates—makes a hell of a lot of sense. Use an ice-cooled bong, or some kind of vaporization pan combined with a water bong, and most of the harmful tars and asphalts, the dangerous by-products of burning hydrocarbons, are condensed out. Only the light, volatile, and low-temperature organic compounds, like THC and terpenes, make it through the pipe and into the lungs, where they are either absorbed into the bloodstream or coat the inside of the bronchial tubes, which then clean themselves by psyllium action. 

Think of it this way…. Do you prefer to drink wine, or drink grape juice with a little grain alcohol added? I not only prefer the natural pure wine, and want it made with the natural fermentation of good grapes processed into well-aged, tasteful wine. Like good craft wine, good craft hash is an experience to be relished and enjoyed for its complex presentation, flavors, and effects. That’s why we, at Yeti Scat Trails, lovingly and fervently stick to the traditional methods of making classic hash, only updating the technology of the machinery, not the ultimate results. We take pride in producing a quality crafted, handmade hash that excels in flavor, taste, and experience…the likes of which you probably have not seen in a long while.