The Charas Thread

[Think Green]

The Charas Thread

Ok, So I've been inspired by the GreenHouse Strainhunter series. I plan to try this. I want to smoke the "Cream". Here in the states we are more familiar with Bubble Hash or Dry Sift. For those who don't know, Charas is the product of using live buds to produce a hash like substance by gently rubbing mature buds around & around in your hands & continuing to do so until the palms of your hands are nearly black with resin, then collecting the resin & rolling it into a ball. I would also like to encourage all you IcMaggers to show your Charas pics with our community. I hope to make a gram or 2 in the near future. And I'm also looking forward to all you stoners out there putting up some sick pic's of your cream.

Toke On

TG

 

[Think Green]

 

[mugenbao]

I saw that in the India video, and thought it looked pretty cool. I'd love to try that some day

 

[supermanlives]

mmmm nothing like burning some dead skin cells

 

[Psuper]

Here's a pic of an authentic, cheaply made Indian clay chillum like someone mentioned above. Found this in a smoke shop for only $2.99.

 

[Gray Wolf]

Here's a pic of an authentic, cheaply made Indian clay chillum like someone mentioned above. Found this in a smoke shop for only $2.99.

Oops! No pictures.

 

[Hazeo]

...yeah thats nice to smoke

 

[Gray Wolf]

...yeah thats nice to smoke

It reminds me of the first pipe that I ever owned (~1969), which was a chillum turned out of soapstone. I dropped and broke it and after replacing it once, moved on. I haven't seem a similar chellum since then.

 

[Dimajones-AICC-]

Great Thread buddys! I have a chair here and keep reading.

 

[Gray Wolf]

Thanks or all ya'll have shared on this thread? I will have to go back and read it in its entirety, but just skimming it can see that it chock full of information that I just spent all morning summarizing from Hashish, by Robert Connell Clark, so as to get some conversation stirred up on the subject.

Imagine my surprise and delight to see this thread that I had forgotten about, bumped to the top, even as I was set to post my summary and try and get some discussion stirred up. I've modified to better fit this thread, and for it is worth, here it is:

My experience is limited to finger and scissor hash, but since it has been added as a subject of interest on our list, I dug out my Hashish book, by Robert Connell Clarke, and read what he had to say on the subject. I will relay what I learned in my own words, but for any of ya'll that have actually performed this operation, I'm all ears!

He notes that hand rubbed Charas dates to Neolithic times and is believed to be the oldest form of hashish manufacturer. It is also the slowest method of collection, with the lowest yield, but is the best option in circumstances where there are a lot of plants, and the conditions or opportunity is not there to dry and sieve the material.

Hand rubbing works best when the plants are at the right state of maturity, so that the resin is of the correct viscosity and stickiness, so that it adheres to the hands better than the leaves.

The first step is to remove any dead leaves, so that fragments of plant material sticking to your sticky hands is minimized.

Rubbing is easier early in the morning when there is still dew on the plant, but that also adds water, which must be dealt with later, to prevent spoilage.

Clarke opines that the most important factor in hand rubbing is the correct hand pressure and says novice collectors usually don't press hard enough. If there is visible damage to the leaves or flowers afterwards, you have pressed too hard.

The highest quality Charas is produced when the mature flowers are rubbed lightly, but thoroughly, so that only the mature capitate glands break off and stick to the hands. Press too hard and plant juices are included in the Charas, which lowers its quality.

Excess shaking will also dislodge the mature capitate heads and they will be lost.

To gather the resin, he suggests rubbing each flowering branch firmly back and forth between the palms and fingers, using an action similar to rolling a long rope out of modeling clay. He describes it as starting with your hands at the base of the flowers and working your way up, allowing your fingers and palms to intimately contact the most floral clusters possible. When you reach the top, start back down when you reach the bottom, move back up again, until each branch has been rubbed about 20 seconds.

The resin that accumulates on your hands should start out clear and build up to darkening brown hue. The inclusion of plant juices means you are rubbing to hard or the plant is immature.

When the resin has built to sufficient thickness on your hands and finger, he suggests rubbing them together lightly to remove any leaf fragments and then picking off any remaining debris.

He says to then rub them together more firmly to cause the resin to ball up so that it can be lightly brushed off into a waiting container.

He says removal is easier if you first plunge your hands into ice water, but also notes that adds water, which must then be dealt with.

He notes that rubbing professionals shave their arms to save some removal pain and Charas contamination with hair.

Once you are through rubbing and your hands are relatively clean, Clarke says the next step is hand pressing, where the balls are pressed together into thin pancakes, folded over, and pressed again between the thumb of one hand and the palm of the other, as well as between the two palms repeatedly until it forms a soft dough. Cannabis is non water soluble, so this kneading action forces the water out of the collected resin.

Per Clarke, quality Charas remains pliable enough to imprint with your finger. Failure to completely remove the water will result in a dryer, more brittle product, with less potency and taste, that will spoil more rapidly.

He says that most high quality Charas is consumed locally by connoisseurs, as it doesn't export well. Because the capitate glands were ruptured in the collection process, it loses potency through oxidation more rapidly.

OK, that is what I read, but have no practical experience with. Are there any more of ya'll who have and would share with us?

 

[Gray Wolf]

Charas, a substance that is hand-rubbed directly from the cannabis plant,… (wiki)

The only method using adhesiveness of a resin.

Finger hash and scissors hash seems to be the same. And sticky debris that covers inner side of mason jar after buds are gone. Usually it comes to me as a small concomitant benefit prize to any hand work on resinous buds.

The idea is to catch a resin onto a flat glass instead of fingers and to scrape it off instead of traumatic and incomplete hand-rubbing.

The test device is made from inox cooltube fitting (L 10cm/ 4” Dia 15 cm / 6”) as a speeding-up chamber and two flat glass covers as a catchers. I fixed details by hands while using.

I decomposed two fresh mid buds harvested this morning into clasters with scissors and loaded.

Shake hard trying to provide a strong clashes of a loaded stuff against a glass catcher cover.
Fresh doesn’t dust. After 1-2 mins we have a print on a glass.

Resin prints of smeared glands and some whole ones..

A pile, a chunk and a pivot.

Second run gives less smeared glands but more whole ones and more garbage as green particles, pistils and even a little wing.

Second run pile finger pressed to glass and a chunk.

Third run is the most hairy and small

At this moment two first chunks were test-smoked and I decided to make quick (3 mins + 3 mins) amber from a bud debris and mix it with 3d charas chunk.
First (3 mins) run of ethanol extraction is always good looking. I suppose the amber color bleeds from dry red pistils into light yellow virgin resin.

Second (3 mins) is also stone but smaller and darker. Mix of amber and 3d charas.

It's boiling while heated by fire.

jump!

Hee, hee, hee, stelar experiment and post bro!

 

[Psuper]

Only ever had finger hash from trimming:

The longer article that I linked to in your other thread mentions some workers wearing leather garments while collecting charras:

During the manipulations to which the plant is subjected in preparing the drug, a certain quantity of the resin is separated; it is collected and forms the drug known as "charas" (Churrus). Charas is also prepared by rubbing ganjah between the hands or by men in leather garments brushing against the growing plants....

 

[Gray Wolf]

May I shake your hand?

 

[GreenBlade]

nice thread
cheers all

 

[ElRubio]

lovely thread guys! thanks a lot for bump it again!
another charras lover here!!

Nepal

Parvati Valley, India

Charras + chai = super taste and relaxed all that afternoon watching the snow in the Himalayas!!! I need to plan a new trip soon again...

Best vibes for this thread! awesome!
please keep it comin!

PS: Mr Jump! astonishing experiment and pics as usual. thx

 

[Gray Wolf]

Nepal


Parvati Valley, India

Goes perfect with morning orange juice!

 

[TheNamesCYRUS]

Could I make charras out of 9 auto fem plants and still use the left over bud for BHO?

 

[Gray Wolf]

Could I make charras out of 9 auto fem plants and still use the left over bud for BHO?

Should work well. We kif ~10% by weigth and extract the other ten or 12% using solvents.

 

[azad]

garam chai and charas

garam chai and charas

Yep its hard to beat the charas with chai tea combo..

 

[mr.haze420]

nepal and malana charas from a friend who just came back from the mountains..: tiphat: