Juliet Afghan Hash

Juliet Afghan Hash, sold as Afghan hash, comes in 1 g, 1/8 oz, 1/4 oz, 1/2 oz and 1 oz amounts. In the Balkh area of northern Afghanistan, UNODC’s 2009 cannabis survey found traditional hash made by warming sifted resin powder over a match and rolling it by hand.

Where the Mazari variety grows

The UNODC survey found Mazari, also called Balkhi, to be the variety farmers named most often (58%) and the main one grown in the north, and says Balkh province used to have a bad name because of it. It is also processed differently from other varieties in the north and east, UNODC notes. In the survey, the north’s traditionally processed first garda, known as Jooshi or Balkhi garda, is considered the best: it holds more resin and has no leaf mixed in, where central and eastern regions mix leaves in.

For another classic with an Afghan name, see our Afghan Habibi review.

Two farmers and a lit match

To make Jooshi hashish, UNODC says, one farmer holds a handful of the powder in his palm while a match burns and a second sprinkles more powder over the flame. Done again and again, this softens the powder until it is sticky and solid, and it is then pressed and rolled by hand into a greenish-brown mass, also called Balkhi hashish or Sherak-i-Mazar, a name UNODC translates as “milk of Mazar”.

Sensi Seeds’ Afghanistan page gives a shorter version, in which hash-makers who have bought garda soften a palmful over a lit match and roll it into a dark, sticky ball.

Charas, chars and the hookah

UNODC’s survey says the finished product is called hashish or charas locally, with names that change with the processing method, and Sensi Seeds says dry-sift hash goes by chars in Afghanistan and nearby areas. Age shapes the habit in rural districts, by Sensi Seeds’ account: the hookah, with its water filter, belongs to older men in public hash dens, and the private cigarette to younger smokers. Our guide to smoking hash covers pipes and bongs as well as joints.

Six hours before driving

Health Canada includes hash among the high-THC extracts it suggests new or occasional users avoid, and its lower-risk use guidelines ask people to leave at least 6 hours between using cannabis and driving.