Introduction
Afghani
Charas (India)
Kashmiri
Lebanese
Manali
Morrocan
Morrocan Hash Oil
Nepalese
Netherlands
Oils
Pakistani
Turkish

Introduction

Selecting the "best" cannabis can be a difficult task What one person might enjoy, another might not.

Quality control is particularly easy to ensure if you follow this guide. After all, a block of resin can contain any number of nasties - including henna and tarmac!

Morrocan hash - which is hard and sold under names like "slate", "soap", "rocky" and "pollen" encompasses a whole range of types in itself from the very best resin to the lowest quality which often contains almost no cannabis at all. Soap bar, slate and rocky - particularly the really brittle stuff can contain a variety of things like henna, tarmac, and can even include sand and tar extracts : Beware of soap bar; don't buy it and don't sell it. Asian hash - which is sold under names like "squidy black", "red/gold/silver seal", "black", "charas", "bombay" etc etc can contain coconut oils and palm oils. Personally, I would recommend buying the Asian stuff since it is easier to know what additives might have been used. That said, good quality Morrocan is probably easier to get hold of now than Asian of the same standard.

Effect is the most difficult criterion to judge especially if you aren't smoking a particular 'brand' for more than a little while, or haven't had the chance to check out more than a limited selection of types.

Preliminary Tips

There is a huge variety of hashish in Amsterdam. In England, there are two basic varieties available - the Morrocan and the Asian hash, though as mentioned above these two categories open up a pandoras box of many hundreds of types.

Morrocan hash is harder usually lighter coloured, and more of a herbal aroma. It is a highly cerebral smoke. Morrocan hash almost always takes a long time to become maleable in the hand though some types of pollem like Ketama and hash that can only be described as crystal heads (seen once only by ZZ) can be soft. Upon heating good quality Moroccan usually expands and fluffs up; some types can be quite sticky but on the whole the hash is not sticky on heating. Pollen or polm is sieved hashish from Morocco and is pressed there; Soap bars, rocky, slate - whatever you want to call it - is apparently repressed in Spain or other parts of Southern Europe, with the reasonable quality pollen thrown into machines that heat them up - plastic wrappers and all - and allow gangsters to add things like barbituates, sand, plastic, vinyl, ketamine - anything they fancy.

Asian is black, soft and a more mellow (sleepier smoke). Brands include Gold Seal/Red Seal/Charas/Nepalese (if you're extremely lucky). Hand-rubbed charas from India and 'temple balls' from Nepal are that common in England; ZZ managed to get some real Charas once in England - it was green in the middle and was the strongest smoke ZZ has ever had. This quality Charas wasn't available in Amsterdam. In Amsterdam you can always get a variety of types. However, just because a brand is sold as "Nepalese" or whatever, doesn't mean that the hash is good, or even if the gear is from the country as-advertised. Beware in Amsterdam or anywhere else of hash sold as nepalese when instead it is Afghani.

Dutch-made hash is called Nederhash when pressed into pieces and is sold unpressed in a few places as trichomes. We haven't ever seen this in England. The stuff we got in the Dam included "skuff" which wasn't particularly special, and "Sensi-Skunk" which most certainly was.

More Advanced Tactics concerning Hash *AND* Herbal Cannabis

APPEARANCE:    •Is there a thick coating of shining, white or light-golden crystals?
                              •Under a jeweler's magnifying glass, are there stalked glands topped with fat, round balls of resin?
                              •Lots of leaf or just a little?
                              •Signs that there was a lot of leaf but it was trimmed off?
                              •If so, was the job well done or are there a lot of stems lingering?
                              •Are the buds tight or wispy? •Big bracts?
                              •Lots of red hairs? They are not psychoactive.

SMELL:            •Green, cured, or chemical? Watch out the the over-fertilised shit. Some growers even spray their crop with fertilisers (foliar feeding). Make sure you don't buy stuff thats been overly fertilised since these chemicals will do you more harm that a couple of kilos of herb itself.
                                •Musty or moldy? If so, that's also very bad.
                                •Acrid and skunk like?
                                •Piney?
                                •Something else?

TASTE:            •Does the dry-toke have memorable flavors?
                               •Spicy, sweet, industrial, radioactive?
                               •Does it break up and roll easily, without being overly dry and dusty, and does it burn without constant relighting?
                               •Is it harsh on the throat?
                               •Is it flavourful and inviting, or does it leave a bad after-taste?
                               •Do you want to finish the joint, or move on after a few tokes?

Links: Of interest to UK smokers of 'Soap Bar' and cheap hashes - http://www.orpheus2.co.uk/badpot.htm - a research project in UK about this 'form' of 'hash'.

• What color is it after a piece is pressed in your hand?

Higher-quality resin powders turn darker much faster than lower-quality powders.

• How pliable is the hash?

Hashish should be hard at room temperature and become pliable after hand warming. Hold the piece in your hand for a few minutes. The higher the percentage of resin, the faster it will soften enough to be kneaded. Really hard gear can be strong, but it is usually older and harsher on the throat and lungs.

• How fast does it burn?

The rate at which a piece burns is determined by its density, which is determined by the ratio of resin to plant  matter. Fluffy or spongy hash (avoid slate) is predominantly plant matter. Denser, purer hashish burns slowly and completely. The speed of the burn clearly does not indicate strength, but it does indicate if a tiny piece of hash sold to you as a gram is really a grammes worth.

• What does the hashish taste like?

If a small piece of high-quality hash is put in the mouth and chewed, it  often produces a peppery sensation. If hashish tastes like vegetable matter or contains gritty/sandy dirt, it is contaminated.

• How does the smoke smell and taste?

When pure cannabis resin burns it produces  a pungent, spicy aroma, like fine quality incense. Good hashish always  smells rich and sweet.

• What colour is the smoke?

When high-quality hashish burns it gives off milky-white to slightly blue-gray smoke. If the embers give off a  brown smoke it is a sign of contaminants. If the smoke from the embers is very dark brown or black, the hash is highly adulterated with substances which might be hazardous to your health, and the hash is likely of exceptionally low quality.

In England Hashish is officially known as Cannabis Resin. It accounts for roughly two thirds of this countries consumption of cannabis. The largest proportion of cannabis in England originates from North Africa and most of this from the country of Morocco. Morrocan cananbis includes the well known (and hated) Soap Bar and Pollen. The second largest source is Southern Asia - the Indian Sub-continent. This Hash is softer, darker and is popularly known as "Red/Gold/Silver Seal". In the 1980s Lebanese hash was the most commonly found type, but various UN crop substitution programmes stopped the extensive farming of the crop. Incidentaly, the crop substitution programes have been completely underfunded as you can expect from developed world assistance to thrid world nations - the Lebanese are busy making hash again which is good for smokers and the Lebanese population in general though the government and police do their best to stop it.

Harder types of resin - mostly from Morocco and Lebanon are made by sifting mature cannabis flowers through a series of sieves until only a resinous powder remains. This powder is compressed and heated to allow the resins to melt and stick together forming blocks. The resin is then compressed into blocks and sealed with cellophane or cloth. The result is a hard, brittle hash, usually light yellow to brown and sometimes even reddish brown. Generally, the really hard and yellow stuff which is old Lebanese on the whole - and has rather celebral effects -, the slightly darker brown hash is usually Moroccan. Apparently, new Lebanese is often also maleable.

The method used in Southern Asia involves rubbing the living flowers of the cannabis plants with hands, a leather apron or other impliments. The aim is to get the soft and sticky resins to stick to a surface which can be taken somewhere to be processed and collated. These are then scraped off the skin or leather and rolled into lumps of various sizes and compressed into blocks. The colour is usually dark-brown to black on the surface and lighter on the interior - air contact makes this hash go darker in colour. The consistency is normally soft and a lump can usually be moulded into various shapes or "sausages".

Usually, the potency of seized hash varies from under 1% THC to 26% THC. Typically the strength is 3% to 8% THC, with the rest being vegetable matter. Remember that THC is not the only drug in cannabis - there are various others such as CBD and CBN which all add to a boucet of effect.

The following information is generalised, and the THC content particularly should be taken with a pinch of salt. If there are any omissions or corrections (or even additions!) then please email ZeroZero.

Cultivation: Hashish is produced practically everywhere in and around Afghanistan. The best kinds of Hash originate from the Northern provinces between Hindu Kush and the Russian border (Balkh, Mazar-i-Sharif). As tourist in Afghanistan it will be very difficult to be allowed to see Cannabis-Fields or Hash Production.

Production: The plants which are used for Hash production are very small and bushy Indicas. In Afghanistan Haschisch is pressed by hand under addition of a small quantity of tea or water. The Haschisch is worked on until it becomes highly elastic and has a strong aromatic smell. In Afghanistan the product is stored in the form of Hash-Balls (because a round ball has the less contact with air), however, before being shipped, the Hash is pressed in 100g slabs. Good qualities of Afghani are "signed" with the stem of the producing family. Sometimes Hash of this kind is sold as "Royal Afghani".

Colour: Black on the outside, dark greenish or brown inside. Can sometimes look kind of greyish on the outside when left in contact with the air.

Smell: Spicy to very spicy.

Taste: Very spicy, somewhat harsh on the throat. Afghani can induce lots of caughing in inexperienced users.

Consistency: Soft, can be kneaded very easily.

Effect: Almost narcotic, produces a very physical and stony high.

Potency: Potent, sometimes very potent. It's easy to underestimate the potency of Afghani since the high takes about 5 minutes to reach it's full potential. (1.7%-6.5% THC)

Availability: Quite rare, especially good qualities. Beside Moroccan Hash Afghani is the most common kind of Hash on the European market. The price is usually higher than Moroccan but quality differs greatly. If I have the choice of Moroccan or Afhgani then I would go for the stonier and more narcotic Afghani.

Various: During the 1980s, a type of hashish was produced with a gold seal stamped on the top. These came in 1kg blocks and were normal hashish made from higher quality plants with no additives. This type was seen right up to the late 1990s in reduced quantities. Gold Seal was Afghani black and can be dated primarily to the mid 1980's particularly around 1984-1987. After the mid 1980s, a hash with a red seal imprinted, was produced, which was of a much lower quality. Nowadays, 'red seal' is the very softest black hash, and is probably Pakistani in origin rather than Afghan. Beware of the very softest Afghani as it it likely to have coconut or other oils added, either in Afghanistan, or elsewhere. There is also some Hash-Oil which is being produced from Afghani, usually the quality is excellent.

Most people get bored of Afghani if they smoke it for a long time, other people might love it due to its distinctive 'stone'. Beware of Turkish Hash offered under the name of "Red Afghani".

The Taliban rule in Afghanistan made the production of any drug more difficult and led to reduced production. The new government is unlikely to enforce these rules considering they didn't stop opium farming like the Taliban did. As a result we can expect far more Afghan hashish to turn up in Europe over the next couple of years, and a bunch of heroin as well unfortunately.

Links: Pictures of Afghani hash.

Cultivation: Cannabis is cultivated nearly everywhere in and around India. Although smoking is illegal, it is widespread and traditional. Production Himachal Pradesh and even in parts of Uttar Pradesh farmers are now cultivating cannabis.

Production: In India Hash is produced by carefully rubbing the female buds between the hands. The resin is rolled in Hash-Balls, before shipment it's pressed in the usual slabs.

Color: Black on the outside, dark greenish/brown inside. Older charas loses its darker green shades and looks brown.

Smell: Spicy to very spicy. Distinctive aroma.

Taste: Very spicy, can be harsh on the throat but definitively less so than Afghani.

Consistency: Very soft, can be kneaded easily like Afghani. Sometimes quite powdery though always dense. Older charas is harder and possibly crumbly.

Effect: Very stony and physical high. Cerebral.

Potency: Potent to very potent. Like Nepali, Charas is almost always good smoke. (10-26% THC)

Availability: Very rare, from time to time very small quantities become available. Most Hash of this kind is imported by private travellers to India. As expected the price is very high, in the range of Nepali. Charas is usually sold as a 'finger', which is a sausage shaped piece of hash. What is usually sold as Charas fingers in England is actually quite poor quality.

Links: Pictures of Charas
 

Cultivation: Kashmir, by-all available accounts, is a jump or two ahead of India and Pakistan in terms of growth in cannabis production - at least over the last two decades. Much of this produce finds its way to Bombay and Kathmandu. Apparently much of the money generated from the crop goes to various militant groups. Hashish cultivation now extends from theSalur-Bijbehara sector to Pulwama; conservative estimates put the area under hashish cultivation in the two districts at over 20,000 acres involving over 50,000 people.

Production: Kashmiri hash is often produced by hand, like in Nepal and Afghanistan but equally often, the producers in Kashmir aren't able to press the slabs decently.

Colour: Black on the outside, brown-greenish inside.

Smell: Very spicy and aromatic.

Taste: Quite an aquired taste, however not harsh on the throat.

Consistency: Somewhat harder than Afghani with less resin content. Natural oils are often added to render the Hash soft.

Effect: Physical and stony high.

Potency: Potent to very potent. (10-12% THC)

Availability: Very rare, though Kashmiri has been seen and tried in coffeeshops in Amsterdam, it was quite harsh and seemed a little 'gritty'.

Various: According to an email we received, the most common form of hash is 'Kashmiri Twist'. This is dark to sandy brown hash, made from 'pollum' packed and twisted in corn husks before being buried & lightly heated by a fire above ground. The resulting hash is hard & twisted with silky strands of corn husk embedded in it. Apparently it expands and fluffs up nicely upon heating and the effect is as strong as any form of 'Royal Pollum'.

Cultivation: The most important Cannabis-Fields are located in the valley of Baalbek. The fields are cultivated on very large scale, many of them using modern machinery. The production is very industrially oriented, tradition is not very involved in the Hash-Business.

Production: The Cannabis-Plants are left on the field until they are nearly dry. By this time they will have aquired a brown-reddish color (some Chlorophyll is destroyed by the UV-Rays of the Sun). Finally the plants are brought in a barn to be dried completely. Haschisch is produced in the same way as in Morocco, basically the buds are carefully rubbed over a fine silk-cloth, the resulting powder can be pressed together. Than finer the mesh used, than better the resulting Haschisch. The Hash-Powder is stored inside 35kg plastic bags, in this form it can be kept for a long time without losing much potency (because the resin glands are still closed). In the winter months the pressing begins. Hash-Powder is filled in linen or cotton bag and pressed under great pressure. On the surface of the Haschisch the structure of the tissue which was used can be clearly seen. Usually the Hash is pressed in slabs of 100g, 200g (usually) or 1000g (1kg). There is some Hash which is pressed by hand like in Afghanistan, unfortunately it's usually not exported; indeed, the very best hash is kept by the producers themselves. Approximately 100 pounds of weed yields one prime pound of hash.

Colour: There are two kinds of Lebanese-Hash: Yellow Lebanese, which is yellowish and Red Lebanese which is reddish-brown (very similar to standard Morocco in color). The Red-Lebanese is made from riper plants. Most Lebanese is yellow/gold in colour (blone Leb). Other sources of information point to there being three types of Lebanese hash: Gold (blond in colour) Red (red in colour) and Brown (brown in colour) - these colour will vary on the maturity of the plants used to produce the hash.

Smell: Spicy to very spicy, refreshing smell.

Taste: Very spicy, harsher than Turk or Morocco. Some Lebanese-Hash is harsher than Afghani, especially when smoked in a Bong. Lebanese is quite an aquired taste.

Consistency: Usually the slabs are very thick (about 2-3cm) and not elastic. However when you cut it, you can clearly see that it contains big quantities of resin and that it can be cut easily. Some kinds of Lebanese, like Afghani have the family stem on them. Very good Lebanese can be re-pressed by hand like Afghani due to it's high resin-content.

Effect: Compared to most other Hash varieties the High is quite cerebral, however more stony than Morocco or Turk. Of course, the yellow kind produces a more cerebral high than the red kind (which is riper and contains more CBN than THC).

Potency: Usually not very strong, somewhat stronger than Morocco. However there are also very good varieties of Lebanon which are very strong. As already mentioned the high resin content of the better varieties can be clearly seen and it can be re-pressed by hand. (1.0%-18% THC)

Availability: Quite rare, good qualities are very rare. However Lebanese is the third most common kind of Hash in Europe (after Morocco and Afghani). Unfortunately most of the Lebenese which is sold is quite old and dry, fresh and resinous Lebanese is very rare in the last years. Usually the price-range can be compared to that of Afghani. I noticed that Yellow-Lebanese is somewhat rarer than the red.

Various: Apparently the best Lebanese-Hash is called "Zahret el Kolch"; with the best you can break a piece oof hash apart and if you look closely, can usually see the small resin glands; this goes for most hash made by using the sieve process. With most Lebanese, if you break a piece off and look closely, you can usually see the small resin glands. This goes for most hash made by using the sieve process.

During the mid 1980s, a type of Lebanese was available known as "London Electricity Board" or "Lebanese Gold". This Bekaa Valley product had a high pollen content (like some moroccan hash) and was visibly granular in appearance, packed in oval muslin-wrapped blocks, sometimes these had a motive printed on the outside.

The availability of Lebanese is likely to increase since the crop substitution programs run by the UN have been severely underfunded, and farmers are returning to more traditional crops to make a living.

Links: Pictures of how Lebanese is produced.

Production: The Hash is produced by hand like in Afghanistan and Nepal. From what I heard the Hash production is organized by Europeans.

Colour: Black on the outside, greenish-brown inside.

Smell: Reminds somewhat of Weed.

Taste: Reminds somewhat of Weed.

Consistency: Hard to very hard (when older).

Effect: Not as physical and stony as the other black kinds.

Potency: Medium to potent.

Availability: Very rare. When available usually in the form of sticks, unfortunately often quite old.

Various: Pieces of stems and seeds can sometimes be found in the dope. This was tried by ZZ in Amsterdam, and was the most dissapointing of the gear we got. High quality varieties are probably available though - watch out for the really old stuff.

Cultivation: Cannabis is cultivated in the Northern regions, especially in the province of Ketama. In 1992 Morocco cultivated at least 30,000 acres of Cannabis. This produced about 15,000 tons of Haschisch, which are exported to Europe (especially Spain, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Switzerland, Italy and Britain).

Colour: Light to dark brown. Sometimes has a greenish tinge. Due to the relatively short growing season the plants retain a quite green color at harvest, though most cannabis from Morocco undergoes extensive alteration to create an exportable (or profitable) product : colour usually is light/dark brown.

Smell: Lightly aromatic, not spicy. Quite distinctive. The stronger the smell the stronger the hash is. The very strongest pollen should be detectable by smell from a distance away, sealed in a plastic bag.

Taste: Compared to other kinds of Hash the taste is very mild - soft on the throat (especially in good varieties like Pollen or Zero-Zero) and reminds of Weed.

Consistency: Quite variable, however generally quite hard. Pollen, sold in 0.5 - 1.5cm thick slabs, is high quality cannabis such as pollen (Zero-Zero, Sputnik etc). Pollen is less pressed than normal Moroccan. Zero-Zero is very soft, almost like Afghani and is the first press of weed through the smallest screens (known not surprisingly as 00) - very little of this is actually exported from Morocco so beware. Sputnik is very sticky on heating. Ketama, lower quality Moroccan but probably sold as pollen in England expands greatly on heating. Most pollen will quickly expand on heating and crumbling, and some of the best forms seen are very light green in colour and crumble into a flour-like consistence with little pressure.

The most commonly found form of Moroccan, particularly in Britain (and also found in France, Italy and Spain) is the 'Soap Bar' which comes in an slabs of 1.5-2cm thick slabs, is hard, and has a dark edge to it. This hash has to be heated for it to be smoked and will not really 'fluff' up when heated and crumbled. (Incidentally, Soap Bar is considered a bit of a joke by Moroccans, who don't actually produce the stuff. Trafickers and mafia gangs produce the 'soap bar' by adding all sorts of crap to otherwise good cannabis in Spain!)

Incidentally, slate as found years ago (early/mid 1990s) seems to be making a comeback, but in a slightly stronger form - it is still however shit : it comes in slabs of perhaps 1cm thick, expands greatly on heating, but is very poor quality and mostly vegetable matter; not to be confused with pollen.

Effect: Compared to other kinds of Hash it produces a quite cerebral and active high.

Potency: Light to medium, only rarely potent. Even very good Morocco can't be called particularely strong. (0.9%-10% THC)

Availability: Moroccan is the most common kind of Hash on the European market, only recently it became possible for the avarage consumer to  find other kinds of Hash on the street. Morocco is sold under many names: Standard, Melange, Premier, Zero, Zero-Zero, Sputnik, Pollen, Chocolate and probably many others. Unfortunately these names aren't very useful, dealers sell everything which is slightly better than Standard under a variety of names. Real Pollen is light-brown (sometimes light green) in color, sold in lightly compressed slabs. When heated it expands much more than other Moroccan's. It should be added that botanically speaking the definition "Pollen" is completely wrong. Of course the Hash is produced from Female resin glands and not from male pollens (which contain virtually no THC).

Various: Even though the locals will offer you hash at very, very good prices, be very careful. Don't tell them where you're staying, don't let the hotel staff catch you with a spliff unless they're billin' up themselves. Paranoia is a useful tool when it saves you from a five year prison sentence!!! Use your intuition before lighting up a big one - many excellent stories of mashup-sessions abound about Morocco, with people staying on cannabis farms and the like; there are also many Western people languishing in Morrocan prisons for possession and attempted export.

Links: Pictures of various types of Moroccan Hash.
 

Cultivation: Moroccan hash oil is made from unpressed resin.

Production(Self instruction): Use the smallest alcohol molecule, methanol, to perform a cold solvent extraction. the resin needs only to be soaked for an hour or two with a stir or three; wash the resin three times with at least a 4:1 ratio of methanol to resin, condensing the methanol driven off by heat from the filtered mixture each time. Boil down to a 1:1 ratio and after the third wash set fire to it, immediately give this a final methanol wash, fire it again; the flames will subside on their own, if your resin was pure, and your filter papers were fine, and then it will bubble up to the top of your pressure cooker; it is now super-hot (close all the windows) will cool slowly but needs to be poured to easily separate the crust which can be recycled. Big warnings: methanol will rot your brain and send you blind if you regularly inhale (luckily good hash oil contains none) and methanol fires are deceptively fierce, you need good practical chemistry lab habits. Incidentally, the washed residue looks exactly like hash still, but will not get you stoned at all (guess what happens to that!)

Colour: Dark brown as unwarmed solid, yellow and brown on rizla paper.

Smell: Very little, slightly toasted; if it smells strongly of anything, just say no.

Taste: Slightly acrid, not pleasant unless disguised.

Consistency: When frozen will shatter; at room temperature is solid but sticky; will drip from spatula when heated gently, quickly solidifies to sticky solid again.

Effect: Same as the hash you made it from, but will not deteriorate as quickly with time.

Potency: Again, same as the resin you used, though the oil is clearly more concentrated so less equivalent oil is needed than the original hash.

Availability: there's always resin in Morocco, but users need to love it to handle it with total success. this is the combustible that will be used in medical inhalers because it contains at least 75% less vegetable matter.

Cultivation: There are small Cannabis cultivations everywhere in the Highlands of Nepal.

Production: The resin is collected by carefully rubbing the buds between both hands. Later the collected resin is pressed to homogenous Hash-Balls (Temple Balls). Before shipment these balls are pressed in slabs.

Colour: Black on the outside, dark-brown inside; Some of the best may be dark green on the inside, like the very highest quality Charas.

Smell: The aroma is very spicy, heavy and quite sweet. It is particularely potent if a piece of Hash is broken-up.

Taste: Highly aromatic and sweet, moreso than Afghani but still less harsh on the throat.

Consistency: Usually somewhat harder than Afghani but still soft enough to be kneaded at body temperature.

Effect: Very physical and stony high. Even experienced smokers can be surprised by the strength of stadard or good quality Nepalese.

Potency: Potent to very potent.(11%-15% THC)

Availability: Very rare. Not reportedly seen in England, but most Amsterdam coffeeshops sell hash they term 'Nepalese' but make sure you inspect it first, and don't be surprised if it is actually black and sticky (usually higher quality) Indian, Afghani or Pakistani hash instead.

Various:  The best Hash comes from Nepal. This stuff is simply the best - if it really is Nepalese and not some Afghani sold as Nepalese. Usually Nepalese is very expensive, in Amsterdam the best Hash in many Coffee-Shops is nothing else than Nepalese. Some Nepalese - like 'Nepalese Creme' can be devastating to quite experienced smokers; it produces a very stony high. Nepalese has been very rare in recent years.

Links: Pictures of Nepalese hash & Pictures of how Nepalese hash is made.
 

Cultivation: This Hash is produced from Cannabis plants grown in the Netherlands. Plants are usually cultivated Indoors but there are also small Outdoors and Greenhouse cultivations.

Production: The manufacture method varies with the producer. Most of the Hash is produced thru screening like in Morocco, however there is also a small quantity of hand-rubbed Hash produced using the Afghani method (which of course is much better). However only a very small quantity of the weed produced is transformed into hash for obvious reasons.

Colour: Often quite green, however this varies with the kind of Weed used and the producer. Brown types are also common.

Smell: Usually quite like te grass or skunk - like, but depends from the kind of Weed(s) used.

Taste: Same as above.

Consistency: A lot of the Dutch Haschish is not pressed correctly (that's an art) and usually breakes apart too easily. However, the consistency is improving, and the failure to press is probably due to the plants they use - skunk plants rather than plants bred for sticky resin content. The above of course doesn't refer to hand-rubbed Hash which is very soft like Afghani - the Netherlands presumably does not have large enough plantations or the right strains (Indicas) to produce this oily hash. Nederhash is simply the female heads crushed and pressed under huge weights to form a solid lump which very easily powders up.

Effect: The kind of High depends from the strain of Weed which was used, however usually the high is quite active and cerebral. Often the hash is felt as a very 'clean' high - quite different from the full on assualt of darker hashes.

Potency: Potent to very potent, this stuff is bether than any other kind of Hash available to the avarage user. It even beats most Nepali's and nearly every kind Afghan. (Up to 59% THC)

Availability: Very, very rare outside the Netherlands and surrounding countries. I wouldn't hold your breath waiting for this stuff to appear on the British market.

Various: The quality varies widely however the price is always high. There isn't any standard denomination for the Dutch Hash, the only "Standard" name seems to be "skuff" which is Hash produced from Skunk Plants - this was quite dissapointing when ZZ went to Amsterdam (dark colour and nasty smoke - probably mostly vegetable matter)). High quality powder came under the name Sensi-Hash which was simply highly compressed THC crystals - convenient skunk.

Links: Pictures of Nederhash.
 

Cultivation: Hash-Oil can be (and is) produced from any kind of Hash, so the cultivation method varies with the origin country.

Production: Hash-Oil is very simple to make: the dried and powdered Buds are soaked in a (preferably Non-Polar) solvent for a couple of weeks, then the solvent is evaporated and what remains is Hash oil.

Colour: Extremely dark green to nearly black.

Smell: Highly aromatic and spicy.

Taste: Highly aromatic and spicy, taste however varies considerably with the source material.

Consistency: Hash-Oil (even a highly pure one) is quite thick and hard at room temperature. At body temperature it becomes extremely sticky, when heated it becomes a liquid.

Effect: Very physical and stony high. Most stony and physical high you can find.

Potency: Potent to very potent.

Availability: Quite rare but becomes available from time to time, probably a  lot is produced in someones kitchen.

Various: I should add something about the solvents, nearly always some form of Alcohol is used as solvent. While this works quite well (especially if the source material is already good) there is a lot of Chlorophyll and other inactive substances in the product. A purer form of Hash-Oil, usually called "Honey-Oil", is produced by extracting the material with Petroleum-Ether (or some other non-polar solvent) and separating the water soluble substances from the insolubles. Unfortunately in the origin country usually low quality Dope is used in the production of Oil. It is also quite easy to be ripped off when buying oil since it's very easy to adulterate.

Cultivation: Cannabis is especially cultivated in the North-west frontier province which isn't under government control. This region is considered tribal area. Drugs of every kind are produced, as well as weapons. Every man is permitted (and should) bear a firearm. The best Haschisch is produced in the regions of Citral, Swat and Khaibar; this production may be alternatved through the seasons with opium to increase profits and productivity. In Swat, the best hash is called 'mud'.

Production: The hash is produced quite exactly like in Afghanistan.

Colour: Black on the outside, dark-brown inside. Sometimes even kinds of greenish color can be found.

Smell: Spicy to very spicy.

Taste: Very spicy, quite harsh on the throat (like Afghani).

Consistency: Soft, like Afghani.

Effect: Very physical, somewhat stonier than Afghani.

Potency: Medium to potent (2.4%-15% THC)

Availability: Rare/Medium availability.

Various: Until 1979, when the "Islamic Rule" (of life) was introduved - also known as CIA and Drugs Enforcement Agency mis-rule - one could purchase Opium (but not Hash!) in the so called "Government Opium Shops". Beer required a registration stamp for non-Muslims and and every purchase was recorded!

Available regularly in England, and probably much of the rest of Europe is a Pakistani/Afghani border product which had a gold motive in a round stamp in the middle of a rectangular block; this is understood to be from the Chitral region.

Cultivation: Cannabis is produced in the rural regions like Anatolia.

Production: The manufacture method (and the resulting product) is very similar to Morocco, the Haschisch is pressed from Resin-Powder.

Color: Greenish-brown.

Smell: Slightly spicy.

Taste: Not especially aromatic or spicy, very soft on the throat.

Consistency: When pressed correctly Turk is hard like a rock. Sometimes it can look like overaged Moroccan Hash. Sometimes Turkish hash is encountered as brittle thin wafers which crumble and powder easily.

Effect: Highly cerebral compared to other kinds of Hash. Probably the most cerebral high of any kind of Hash.

Potency: Light to medium, rarely potent.(3.5%-8.8% THC)

Availability: Very rare.

Various: Turk can be recognized by the typical crack sound it makes when a slab is broken. Haschisch use isn't very common in Turkey, Hash is available but you need to have contacts and be very careful. ZeroZero has never seen Turkish hash for sale, buyers would probably not recognise it for what it was.

Links: Pictures of Turkish Hash.