Hello!
I'm new here.
While checking this lovely platform, and this discussion as a part thereof, I stumbled upon some opium-related remarks which can benefit from rectification or clarification. So, as someone who has grown up where opium was, and is, really accessible, ridiculously cheap and quite potent, there are a couple of things I would like to share.
N.B. Some of the following statements are anecdotally stated and might be neither phytochemically nor neuropharmacologically recorded/backed-up - at least in English. That is mostly due to contradictory dichotomy of governmental and academic attitude towards issues of this nature.
1. Obviously, you should stop watering the plant for a certain period before lancing; additionally, you must avoid over-irrigation. Otherwise, the latex that comes out might be deceitfully abundant.
2. There is a preferred time for doing the lancing; some do it from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., although there are varieties due to climate, soil and the farmers strategy for how many times to lance the pod for best yield.
2.1. There are different methods for collecting the opium latex. Some collect it right after it slightly hardens and before it starts getting dark. But, there are also instances where the latex is left on the pod and collected before the next day's sun-up.
3. There is a preferred method for lancing, using a knife with three, extremely sharp parallel blades. Moreover, cutting too deep may result in undesirable secretions among other things.
4. The yield is not usually calculated per pod. Moreover, it is done after the initial drying. Workers who professionally do the lancing - due to whose strong arms and affinity for substance abuse they can be referred to as Lance Armstrong! - usually don't even dream of anything close to a 10-gram-per-pod yield as was mentioned in this thread.
4.1. There ARE pods as big as tennis balls. But, that MIGHT mean nothing as far as the eventual potency is concerned.
5. There are varieties in the percentage of the active and inactive ingredients. There are plants in Central Iran which - without any direct genetic modification and only due to proper breeding, climate, etc. - have a relatively lighter color and a dark caramel-like hue even long after being fully dried. Those are considerably more potent and more scarce and at times contain a far greater concentration of morphine and codeine.
6. Regarding consumption, there are certain local mixtures where a percentage of non-, or less, effective plant parts are processed (in glass jars by old women) and combined with the opium latex to cuase extra synergy.
6.1. Using the Sookhteh (Sooqteh/ Soktah), which literally means "burnt", is great, both by itself and as a complementary measure. Sookhteh is formed some of the smoke passes through, and sticks to, the ceramic part of the opium pipe, creating a rather precious sediment which is then scraped.
6.2. The easiest and the most ubiquitous method of purification is using hot water. You dissolve the opium latex in hot water, making a solution that must be too thin. After a while, you pass it through a cloth. Then bring the filtered solution back to a very low simmer and let it reduce until there's a thick substance left. At this point, you can either pour it on a rather cold and proper surface to get solid and then cut it into peices; or you can mix it with some alcohol (which what we used was 70% raisin alcohol) and consume for non-smoking purposes.
6.2.1. But, there are subtleties to this seemingly simple method, to such an extent that I remember the only person who was trusted to do it was my grandpa. I genuinely don't know if that was due to his age, his experience or his medical and pharmacological background.
7. There are certain, although nowadays rare, instances where an overly long opium pipe - called Negārī - is used. You must always be sitting or lying down when using Negārī as it hits way too hard. The word Negārī comes from Negār which in this context means a beautiful woman. Usually Negār holds the Negārī while one smokes it. Using Negārī or other forms thereof - such as Vāfoor/Bāfoor/Vāpoor - in combination with a freshly brewed tea made with saffaron, black tea leaves, a tiny amount of Echium Amoenum petals, and rosewater - and sweetened with honey or saffron rock candy - might be one of the most euphoric experiences in this category.
7.1. I do know that there have been many of such tools in opium dens across the world; but, in Iran and its surrounding areas, such practices date back to Ancient Persia and thus have different cultural and sociolinguistic profile ever since the advent and advancement of words like Afioon (Opium), Teryāq (Antidote/Opium), and Nārcock (which some etymologists believe to be the root for [narkē] or [nerq-] which are per se the proposed roots for Narcotic).
All in all, as Rumi puts it,
"The wine glass is drunken by us, not us by it."
