Legends say that charas is so good that even the god Shiva himself would smoke it when he would go to the mountains to meditate. Charas – meaning hand-extracted hash – is one of the greatest treasures of the Himalayas. It is made with the enormous sativas which grow on the mountains of this range which crosses through the Indian subcontinent.

This hash goes through a different process than most traditional production - such as Moroccan hash which is made by thrashing the plants against a sieve – but rather, is made of very pure and sticky resin, extracted from the still growing plant, which is pressed and moulded into small, black, gummy pieces. It is almost completely devoid of any impurities, but making it isn't easy.

Harvesters wear leather suits and walk through the large plantations which line rivers below the glaciers, and rub themselves continually against the plants and press the buds, a craft honed over generations, to extract their essence.

Above all, “Don't mix the resin with anything!” – this command is taken very seriously: no plant matter – to create a perfect, red-and-amber coloured treacle which, once pressed, will make some of the best hash in the world. Once the sun sets, the harvesters will remove the resin from the leather and their bodies and shape it into small balls or sticks, of only 10 or so grams, which they call “tolas”.

The charas's purity, along with the sativa from which it is made, make it an authentic “psychoactive delicacy” which can produce transcendental and slightly euphoric feelings, and if it is of the highest quality, you may experience a heightening of the senses and a sense of communion with your environment. It isn't surprising that many Hindu yogis and ascetics will travel with nothing but some tolas of charas and a traditional ceramic pipe which is used to smoke it, the chillum, in the hopes that it will allow them to visit other planes of consciousness or help them better concentrate during long meditation sessions.

But it isn't all good news: it is pretty difficult to find charas in the streets of western cities. If you want to go and make your own – and hope it will be as good as the real stuff – you will have to do your best to create an environment similar to that of the Himalayas. It will be difficult, but if you succeed, you'll get to smoke one of the best hashes in the world. If not the best.

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