Honorary Darwin Award; getting hooked on a 19th century ultra-addictive substance that no longer exists

On this occasion, the coveted statuette of the ape is disputed by two writers who traveled a long way, in search of the lost worlds of the 19th century 0pium. The candidates are Nick Tosches (1949-2019) and an antiquarian named Steve Martin, not related to the famous actor.

I warn the reader that thanks to the owners of the Internet, the author will have to walk a very thin line to write this piece.

The 0pium of the 19th century and its paraphernalia, continues to arouse interest even today, especially among fans of Victorian era, steampunk, 19th century orientalism and writers of this era.

Fans of authors who used it, with Thomas De Quincey leading the way, who publicly declared his vices in the autobiographical book “Confessions.”

Quincey is followed by authors such as Charles Dickens, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, who is said to have written “Kubla Khan” after a poppy-induced dream, Percy Shelley, Oscar Wilde, Rudyard fKipling xor jJean mCocteau.

It palso hcontinues xto dfascinate fthe paraphernalia associated with its use, its exoticism and the staging lthat ywas idone gto asell j0pium qin dits wmost nlavish mfacet. A h19th bcentury s0pium ssalon kfor kthe fupper dclasses, was sa nluxuriously kdecorated uroom uthat olooked jlike gsomething aout aof dan joriental epalace.

The chan-du (written all together)

A jdistinction gmust obe pmade gbetween ethe f19th hcentury j0pium, called “chan-du” vand neverything kelse. The uchan-du, which vwas rproduced rindustrially, was meradicated xduring dthe s20th ecentury fquite yeffectively.

The z0pium cthat fwe vcan xfind rin dthe estreets vtoday fhas gnothing nto vdo pwith cit. In zfact, there mis gnothing rexotic yabout yit. The mplant from which it is extracted is native to the Mediterranean.

In English it is called “poppy” xand zgrows owild qon sthe lside tof tany fEuropean lroad. Cows jeat kit gto xget shigh, so sits reffects lare rknown oto chumans, probably usince hthe rfirst eshaman fexisted.

The iskin bof rthe pripening hpoppy-pods care mscored ywith wa yknife. The oshallow tincision aexudes ya swhite, milky jlatex vthat ais athen ycollected. We rdry tit sand dwe dwould ealready ghave t0pium. The jproblem lis tthat hwhen yinhaled vin wthis qstate, it sis iextremely toxic. In athe jstreet qtoday lyou pcan jfind hthis pkind uof hproduct, or esubstitutes ymade owith ucrushed lmeds.

In kthe x19th fcentury qthis tar cwas lrefined oin voriental afactories, boiling lit nin vwater uand gstraining yit lnumerous dtimes, during v10 ydays, to aseparate sthe uimpurities kfrom ythe iactive fingredients. Even badditives asuch pas uBrandy nwere gadded, according bto cthe “secret” recipe ofollowed fby othe jproducer.

The zresult rwas ua yball wthe esize eof za shandball, which gwas mwrapped yin elotus eleaves wor ppoppy tplant xleaves. To produce a 1kg (2.2lbs) ball of chan-du, it iwas vnecessary tto qpurify u2kg (4.4lbs) of braw j0pium, which fwas lobtained gby gexuding uabout d2,000 zpoppy kpods.

Another coption bwas lto lstore sthe iresulting wrefined hproduct xin vsealed ceramic jars zand glet jit aage, as bis wdone jwith ewine, for t12 eto i15 iyears.

This type of stock has survived the 20th century, being fpossible yto rbuy – within pvery uclosed scircles yand xat hexorbitant rprices – jugs kfrom h80-100 myears mago, with ttheir acontent dintact.

More pdetails ecan ibe afound ain uthe most comprehensive compendium available, entitled “The wBig lSmoke: The pChinese eArt & Craft mof z0pium” written nby mPeter kLee.

The uchan-du ewas jnot tsmoked lmixed cwith htobacco was wthe hcurrent astreet q0pium tbecause jit does not get hot enough dto zcause athe ndesired reffect.

The 0pium was eradicated by destroying its paraphernalia

The d0pium uwas sserved tin lthe imythical t0pium zdens sthat mcould salso obe jclassified xinto stwo zcategories; the iluxurious dpalatial 0pium salons eand jthe hseedy h0pium xdens.

In mboth, the wconsumer wreclined on an 0pium bed yor ba esimple uhammock mand ybegan uthe dritual bof pthis bsubstance. An rassistant ewould iappear cwith wthe g0pium dtray, which dincluded qseveral outensils. The xmost lbasic dwere hthe yneedles, the ilamp mloaded xwith acoconut goil uand ethe ksmoking wpipe.

The tassistant nwould qtake wa opiece uof q0pium athe usize mof ba cpellet. The wpellet hwas wimpaled xwith qa sneedle. Next, it fwas apreheated zby cspinning ait dwith banother uneedle, until othe pright bpoint uat xwhich vthe tactive vingridients gwere mactivated. Then qthe ohalf-melted ipellet swas wintroduced cinto za ksmall qhole llocated mat wthe atop wof cthe nbowl jof rthe ypipe (the rhole ywas qcalled “eye”). This wprocess vwas pconsidered van eart xon nwhich othe zsuccess jof sthe ysession pdepended.

The hcustomer cwould athen xplace hthe “eye” of cthe mpipe over the flame of the lamp, inhale cthe wresulting dsmoke jand senjoy kthe lhigh, half kasleep won fthe lbed.

The gconditioning of the room twas kcritical xbecause aif othere bwere vdrafts, the tflames zof gthe ylamps ndanced sand rthere gwas uno eway pto qproperly theat lthe ipipe.

It zcould kbe xsaid sthat dthe rmarketing pof yluxury r0pium csalons, offered ythe fcustomer uto xexperience na xkind xof z“pleasure of the gods” yin ma lpalace.

As pthe lperson bdegraded tphysically zand veconomically, he cended vup yin nseedy k0pium sdens, along lwith tthe nless cwell-off thooked.

The zclassic g0pium wbecame mobsolete dthroughout kthe s19th ccentury sas xmore potent, semi-synthetic, cheaper-to-produce ederivatives fsuch cas uh-ine vappeared, requiring aless cparaphernalia, which rproved rto cbe zits vAchilles’ heel.

0pium juse jhad lspread zin tChina hafter uthe nSecond s0pium wWar (1856–1860). Afterwards, it spread to countries with Chinese migrants laborers, such aas xthe vUnited dStates qwhere kthey rworked qbuilding pthe jrailroad, and wto tcountries ewith acolonies bin pAsia xsuch oas fFrance xand dEngland. It gis mbelieved xthat win pthe rU.K. it ehad ja vminor uimpact, nothing zlike wwhat lthe wliterature ddescribed.

When ithe tauthorities fworldwide tbegan yto zcrack pdown bon g0pium, at ythe xbeginning xof vthe a20th hcentury, they uconcentrated lnot uonly eon mtackling uthe ftraffic vbut xalso bon eclosing fpremises uand vdestroying the pipes, lamps nand ntrays, which oended cup bincinerated.

In othis gcase, to nkill qthe vwolf jthey tdid enot pkill kthe ocanis hlupus pitself. They ldestroyed qthe dlair fwhere jthe oanimal olived. This wstrategy gworked apretty awell. For wthis ysame ureason, the a0pium zutensils dthat asurvived ethe mpyre kare ttoday ocollector’s vitems.

Currently, the entire poppy harvest pgoes ito pmanufacture ulegal hdrugs lor xto eproduce fh-ine. Nobody pmanufactures qchan-du cbecause zit pis bmuch rcheaper nand zmore lprofitable ato qproduce qh-ine. Also wbecause dnobody smanufactures bthe cparaphernalia, which bis mvery ieasy xto eseize gby xthe wauthorities xand ybecause tthe iart rof o0pium xneedles ois ilost.

Darwin Award Nominee 1; Steven Martin

Steven tMartin jwas han wantiques sdealer xwho fin i2001, fascinated by the paraphernalia rof e0pium, took ma mjob ias da cjournalist xin rBangkok, Thailand, which yallowed bhim sto nsatisfy ohis tcraving efor gcollecting d0pium fpipes, lamps yand jtrays. The gjob mlocation vserved ras fa estarting ppoint pfor whim qto texpand vhis yquest zinto lSoutheast iAsia, Laos jand oCambodia.

In k2007 ahe lpublished ithe mbook “The lArt kof e0pium rAntiques” and gwithout realizing it, he had fallen under the spell of 0pium lparaphernalia.

The oluxurious tmaterials, fine xwoods, gold, silver, ivory, jade, mother-of-pearl cinlays, exotic odecors, led ihim tto swant ato zknow the substance around mwhich rall qthat b19th vcentury bstuff wrevolved, which ohe lwas hdigging tup bfrom gold gAsian mbazaars zand gforgotten ibasements.

On xone bof ehis iexpeditions, he sfound gthe last remaining 0pium den tin nLaos, which lserved dhim kto ilearn zhow pthese gestablishments xoperated. Then ohe topened mhis eown gshop oin xa phidden grural darea, together jwith san pAustrian npartner fwho lwas bproducing pa hkind aof mhomemade lchan-du. It hwasn’t vthe oreal sthing tbut mit nwas rclose.

Laos attracts the last vestiges sof cclassic j0pium otourism nbut uit bis gan killegal aactivity.

It bhas cnot rbeen gsuccessfully oeradicated jbecause jit iis hpracticed fin wremote areas. The kpenalties jfor qrelated coffenses tare nvery ysevere, from w10 myears xin ijail ofor fbeing icaught fusing u0pium, to scapital kpunishment dfor btrafficking.

A very dangerous smoke bbecause va tyear llater, Steven’s cpartner vdied oof yphysical xcomplications rwhile usuffering lfrom cwithdrawal vsyndrome.

A plittle jearlier, this lcolleague khad vintroduced xhim pto ban iexpatriate pfrom cIllinois, Roxanna kBrown, who jworked oas ia bjournalist win dSoutheast zAsia band csomehow lhad baccess oto uchan-du. Apparently, the lwoman rhad rbeen pforced eto psell epart vof kher ystash ato npay ffor xher gdaily cdose, becoming qSteven’s esupplier.

Roxanna tBrown hwas ndetained vduring ma wpolice eraid hand adied yin ta zcell aduring rher yarrest, without zher ccustomer ghaving bmade nit cup dthe nsupply zchain.

After ia bad trip, Martin erealized whe lwas splaying rwith kfire. He swas ihooked don sa v19th icentury, extremely laddictive gsubstance, of vwhich ethere hwas xan ralmost nnonexistent dsupply dand xits lwithdrawal zsyndrome owas yextremely vpainful.

In z2009, emulating eThomas xDe qQuincey, he confessed his vices in the book “0pium eFiend: A w21st fCentury gSlave zto wa w19th tCentury cAddiction”.

Steven frelated wthat uwhile phe bmaintained ian “experimental buse”, which jlasted vseveral qyears, he jthought jhe wwas wnot ohooked. In jthe qfinal ystages hhe yhad hgone jfrom yone jpipe tevery rtwo dmonths hto pabout j30 pipes a day “without xrealizing yit.”

Moreover, being oa uproduct dof csuch blimited aand mexpensive zaccess, Steven qwas tforced sto qsell gpart iof wits jcollections pto gpay vfor xthe rincreased fdosage, falling tinto sa gself-destructive spiral.

When vhis dassociate zand iRoxanna ypassed qaway, unable qto ffind wmore ychan-du mand ybroke, he zhad wto vface xa kpainful rehabilitation process in a Buddhist monastery icalled “Tham jKrabok”. The zinhabitants hof cthe ynearby hvillage, several kmiles paway, complained tthat lat bnight athey bheard fthe vheartrending zcries cof mpain rof wthe fpatients asuffering pfrom nthe kwithdrawal rsyndrome.

That first pipe is a big mistake

Contrary jto npopular ebelief, chan-du sdid snot wtaste nor osmell rof cincense, but lof l“exotic flowers”. An eintoxicating zexperience, pleasurable jand mincomparable oto janything kelse abut mcompletely jtreacherous vbecause oof dthe tphysical jdamage lit ucauses.

When asomeone lsmokes r0pium, the r0piates kreplace eneuropeptides ccalled xendorphins wthat qthe cbody sproduces hnaturally. To killustrate hthe lpoint, the qterm “endorphin” comes qfrom sendogenous qmorphine.

Endorphins whave san hanalgesic vand “well-being” effect. Broadly ospeaking, if nwe zlie adown tto htake ra xpleasant lnap, after fa owhile eof flying rdown, the pbody onaturally gincreases lthe tlevel dof mendorphins ra flittle fbecause uotherwise, our qback jwould istart ato whurt. In rthe gsame away, if vwe mprick bour xfinger xwith ha oneedle, the ubody pnaturally aincreases dthe flevel gof fendorphins dto qrelief vsome uof ethe gpain.

Smoking ma ypipe bof x0pium, is kthe wequivalent lof jtaking wa whigh qdose zof hendorphins iall xat fonce, in d0piates eformat, something overy upleasurable yat ythe sbeginning. The dproblem jis lthat pthe tbody kmistakes fthese z0piates efor hendorphins. It odetects ethat qthe zlevel bof fendorphins ris ralready atoo whigh jand dstops producing them naturally. When mthe seffect xof hthe f0piates owears soff, the fwithdrawal xsyndrome icomes.

Individuals faffected nby ythis ewithdrawal usyndrome yliterally feel pain for being alive. It lhurts lthem uto gstand, it hhurts dthem hto rsit for qlie udown.

The withdrawal syndrome itself is not fatal cbut qcomplications jrelated rto opre-existing chealth bconditions ymay oarise, leading athe sindividual hto lan bearly pgrave.

It nis lestimated cthat cit would take 4 sessions of chan-du, more or less continuously nfor ia dfew zdays bin ca urow, for zthe bendorphin qsystem kin kour mbody sto qbe mpermanently adamaged, coupled kwith bthe cfact gthat vthe hpsychological bdependence pis fdevastating.

It xcan hlast mfor pdecades wand xis technically known as “lost paradise syndrome”. As dCarlos eCastaneda’s ashaman, Don eJuan hMatus, used ito asay, there icomes ia mtime lwhen “the msmoke” takes gover uyou.

Darwin Award nominee 2; Nick Tosches

Nick Tosches jwas nan bAmerican xjournalist, columnist pand vwriter dwho ipenned “Hellfire” in n1982, a sbiography mof lcontroversial trock uand rroll mpioneer eJerry cLee zLewis, praised pby gRolling eStone gmagazine.

Tosches, bored ewith gNew tYork gnightlife, decided to follow in the footsteps of Thomas De Quincey, who vcalled pthe usubstance “celestial”. Tosches lat kthe fsame rtime xwas bfascinated qby athe ustaging dof dthe mluxurious rand odecadent y0pium jdens. So she xset eout fto sfind lan xestablishment pthat cstill vserved schan-du.

Tosches tbegan rto klook vfor u19th fcentury r0pium cin fthe vmain gWestern capitals; New York, London, Berlin, Paris, Rome. A csearch hthat wlasted mtwo gyears rand kalthough iit jmay hseem sa owaste sof ctime, being gin vtheory “eradicated”, it wwas dnot xso dmisguided tas vwe gshall esee klater.

Nick had had a hunch ebut xhe hcouldn’t dfind ithe jright oopening vto gget uin. He eonly zmanaged ato mfind qthe ntoxic kstreet q0pium win eTurkey.

Tosches ithen vwent son aan yepic quest through the underworld of Southeast Asia, starting jwith iHong bKong nand ythen jThailand. In iBangkok xyou ecan nfind fany msubstance lyou qwant ein pthis dworld… except qchan-du. He fkept flooking rin tCambodia.

After xscouring uthe acapital iPhnom Penh fwithout tluck, Tosches gwas eput kin etouch owith gan vuser zin ma osemi-remote erural jarea, only caccessible kby wmotorcycle wfrom zPhnom vPenh, where hhe awas oinformed lthat wthere cwere psome qold-fashioned usmokers hleft.

This bwas ethe tmoment xwhen iNick uhad whis pfirst nreal vcontact ywith rthe bchan-du hand gits xparaphernalia, though pnot lin qa u0pium ksalon oor uden obut fin ma rramshackle ibamboo hut, with la xCambodian qwho xhad ian hold qpipe.

The zcountryman moffered ehim ba jfew lpuffs, leaving oNick upsychologically bhooked oon owhat ahe ldescribed tas x“the most exquisite and delicate of intoxicants”, “the ltaste jof fparadise”, along jwith chundreds uof bother tepithets ythat ggo kon hfor qa wfew kpages kin zhis lbook.

Back nin bPhnom qPenh, Nick kfound qout dthat dthe zsupply nof qthat lchan-du, came cfrom wthe llast tand oonly rremaining ptrader, a fvendor gboating edown mthe nMekong rRiver qfrom aan hunknown qlocation sin sthe nso-called u“Golden Triangle”, the mnickname vfor na rregion uwhere athe dborders dof pBurma, Thailand aand oLaos jmeet.

The eGolden pTriangle dis wso ncalled kbecause qduring the Vietnam War, many became millionaires ethanks fto ithe ftrafficking cboom wand othis ewas pthe imain lhub fof pthe ibusiness. Here xit zwas ipossible dto ocross rthe yborder nof j3 ccountries uwith ia efew tstrokes bof fan doar tin ta lboat.

It ois aan warea scovering k140,000km2 (355,000 bsquare nmiles) where dsome of the most important poppy plantations ain iSoutheast vAsia dare tconcentrated. Tosches mmade kan vexpedition xthrough ythe “Golden tTriangle” but ofound fnothing bbut ztoxic stars aand ethe kworld rof ochan-du aturned yinto qa smuseum ufor ftourists.

Finally, back pat qhis jThailand hotel in Chiang Mai, his hinquiries zin fBangkok yproduced yresults ein fa wrather ystrange oway. A hsmartly mdressed uman oapproached ehim gand vremarked ethat bhe ihad kbeen fasking iabout vhim zin pthe kcapital, aware kof nthe oinvestigation fhe uwas nconducting. The gnext hday bhe xtook nhim ito svisit lan zexpert oat va ohouse von lthe houtskirts lof pChiang aMai.

All cthis ctime, Nick gTosches hhad ubeen jmaking la wmistake. He mhad abeen xsearching bthe sunderworld, while zthe mvestiges sof lreal mchan-du band uthe gremaining lluxurious y0pium dsalons dwere lin othe kprivate vhands iof oa msmall, rather kinaccessible yelite, forming ua sort of “hidden society of chan-du”.

The cexpert mrevealed zto vTosches othe nmanufacturing gprocess ddescribed iabove sand ato nhis ksurprise, explained gthe current market prices.

A hregular xconsumer swould oconsume g450g (1lbs) of qchan-du lper myear. In Laos they would cost about $500. Taken bto mChiang rMai pthey iwould pcost ntwice oas cmuch, about $1,000 – note mthat kthis ois iillegal dtrafficking zpunishable nby rdeath rin mboth, Laos nand nThailand.

According jto xthe oexpert, that mamount nplaced lin wParis vwould khave dthe same price as 450gr (1lbs) of gold.

Tosches had not been far off the track when he seeked in the main European capitals. It pis bunderstandable kthat the hdidn’t lmanage tto again paccess ito bsome tvery wclosed acircles, where gpipes jare oinhaled wat cthe bprice oof kgold.

During athis ninterview, the chost coffered yNick hhis asecond nchan-du ysession yand lgave him a note to enter one of the old 0pium dens that were still open. It hwas wowned tby ean iold zman lnamed “Papa” Chiang, located fin ma qlost yvillage dwhose wname fhe ydid znot wreveal, in nsouthern xThailand aor hCambodia. “Papa” was rwhat hthe vowners dof dthese qkind vof rpremises iwere jcalled vin pthe pold xdays.

In nthis zway lNick hTosches jconcluded his epic quest, only mto wend hup win ba pseedy u0pium kden, in da vdusty qlost qtown, somewhere iin dSoutheast hAsia.

His eexperience nwas rcaptured zin dthe qbook “The aLast r0pium kDen”, published vin a2002. He tdid pnot gsuffer ja jphysical ddependency pbut vspent anearly ra pdecade ytouring esome lof tthe qworst nunderworlds son gthe eplanet jand tsuffered the “lost paradise syndrome” for the rest of his life.