Hashish: Inside A Trichome's Head

I was domesticated by humans during the Neolithic Revolution around 10,000 BC. For thousands of years, I thrived in Central Asia, Pakistan, Lebanon, Afghanistan, India and Nepal. Over the last several hundred years, I was taken through Europe and the Americas and now call most of our earth home.Growing up with my two younger siblings, Bulbous and Capitate Sessile, I was always proud of my name. I am taller, bigger, stronger, pack the most complete punch of cannabinoids and terpenes, and am the most desired in our Trichome family. I am Capitate Stalked.When my genes have been respected by caretakers who have deep relationships with my ancestors, I am at my best. My peak performance is between 70 and 100 days of age and at 45 to 160 microns in size. My hue transforms from transparent to milky and at my ripest I am amber. It is then that I have powerful resin to pollinate, propagate and protect. My memory is epigenetic, don’t weaken me with chemicals. I prefer to fend for myself, it makes me stronger.Since I have been domesticated, humans have developed various methods to separate me from my siblings. I am dry sieved on a drum-like tool in Morocco, via multiple sized sieves in Lebanon, and via hand-rubbing at the feet of the Himalayas. I experience an immaculate separation when I am washed away with cold, clean, filtered water, and after 10-12 rinses I am at my collective strongest. While water is my friend as it is both powerful and gentle, humidity is my enemy with the power to transform my sticky texture into a waxy consistency and to host mold.I still contain a CO2 molecule and can’t enter the human bloodstream with it, though I can shed this via decarboxylation when pressed against a heat source. This is reminiscent of the partial decarb my parent plants experienced as they were dried for 10-15 hours at 60 degrees in an environment with less than 65% humidity before being cured for 6-9 months. It is only now that I am ready to undergo my metamorphosis, and offer very little by way of smell before heat is applied to me if my caretaker has dried me correctly to preserve my membranes.At my ripest I prefer to be hand-pressed in the sun though I also appreciate a massage with a bottle filled with boiling water. As this massage takes hold, my membrane walls break, my cannabinoids shed their CO2 molecule, and some of my terpenes experience a transformation into as many as 50 new rare mono-terpenes. I am no longer Capitate Stalked, I am now Hashish. When I am then perfectly molded into a ball, I just ooze with resinous pride, my oily surface shining in its glory. I can now sit for years, with all my majestic and medicinal magic sealed inside.While my physical journey may have begun just a year prior when I was but a seed, my genetic journey began at the dawn of time and it remains important to me to preserve my family’s legacy. My intimate relationship with humans for all these years fills me with optimism and confidence that my integrity will be respected and preserved. I look forward to helping humans transition from the opioids, chemicals, and alcohol that are causing so much harm back to the gentle and age-old benefits that grow with me out of the ground.

“The eye of the beholder is the essence of diversity and it has never been as apparent to me as it is after reading this poetic synopsis of my workshop.I am filled with pride to have initiated an awareness of cannabis resin so profound that the mind of a student could share the life journey of a Capitate Stalked resin head.It may sound bizarre but because I believe that the true essence of a Hashishin’s expertise is an intrinsic knowledge passed down generation after generation from a time when humanity was so in tune with all living organisms that our mind could share the life journey of plants and the secret bounty of the secondary metabolites they produce. I am thrilled to have imparted an awareness of Cannabis resin deeper than I ever thought possible.The teacher is a student and the student a teacher.”

– Frenchy Cannoli

Hashish may be a threat to your safety if you are a common thought