here are the details of a crazy dream i had last night:
600g of poppy seeds were placed in an empty, 3L bottle. i filled the bottle with enough water to cover the seeds, and two capfulls of white vinegar. i alternated between vigorous shaking and light agitation for about 10 minutes, and then unscrewed the cap a bit, and strained the liquid into a saucepan. i then put a similar amount of water back into the bottle with the seeds, and did a second wash, again straining the solution into the saucepan. the solution was a milky/brownish color with a suspension of fine, light brown particles.
i turned the heat up to medium-high and let the solution boil vigorously. soon after it started boiling, a brownish scum was visible on the surface of the liquid. precipitate formed on the sides of the pan, and i scraped it off, back into the liquid, every 5-10 minutes. after 30 minutes, all the liquid had evaporated, and i scraped the remaining dark brownish putty off the pan, and squished it into a ball. the consistency was somewhere between gummy and crumbly.
i took a marble sized chunk--about 1/3 of the total product--and tossed it in my bubbler (small waterpipe, but with all the water drained out). it didn't light well, and the only way i could get smoke was by holding the flame on the material the entire time i was inhaling. even then, i only got small amounts of smoke. but, i persevered, and over the course of about 20 minutes, i had converted the "opium" to ash.
the act of smoking this stuff was very unpleasant. it tasted awful, was pretty harsh, and was just plain difficult to smoke. however, i did get a definite, undeniable high. on the few times when i got a decent sized hit, i felt a substantial relaxed/euphoric buzz, similar, but not identical to being very stoned. the strong buzz lingered for 5 minutes or so, and then faded gradually over the next hour, at which time i went to sleep.
the bottom line: the high, while tangible and enjoyable, is just not good enough to justify the difficulty and general grossness of smoking the stuff, especially when drinking the alkaloids in tea is an easy alternative. no regrets about trying it though.