IMPORTED HASH - is it hygienic?

[Medical Marijuana]

Durung my travels in Kashmir I came across a mountain village where the annual harvest was about to commence. I watched in fascination as people from the village went into the fields, massaging each and every plant before coming back to a central point to scrape the accumulated resins off their hands. A ball off black hash slowly grew in size and it was not long before a kilo of the sticky stuff had been accumulated. I asked the village elder about the process and he told me the plants were rubbed about three times before harvest. The plants were then cut down, dried and then manicured, then sold to traders who took both the hash and the dried buds to Srinagar for sale.
When I saw the process of handrubbing I bacame a bit cautious as the village people used both hands in the process. Bear in mind that the left hand is the primary tool in daily ablutions and is rarely washed. People who have travelled in this region will know that the left hand is NEVER used for eating.
My question is - is imported black hash a risk of infection or do the resins have a natural disinfective quality. Since Kashmir, I have always washed my hands after handling black hash and am very careful not to ingest any. Does anyone have any feedback on this issue?

[Gorillabuds]

Originally Posted by smokin.*****

Durung my travels in Kashmir I came across a mountain village where the annual harvest was about to commence. I watched in fascination as people from the village went into the fields, massaging each and every plant before coming back to a central point to scrape the accumulated resins off their hands. A ball off black hash slowly grew in size and it was not long before a kilo of the sticky stuff had been accumulated. I asked the village elder about the process and he told me the plants were rubbed about three times before harvest. The plants were then cut down, dried and then manicured, then sold to traders who took both the hash and the dried buds to Srinagar for sale.
When I saw the process of handrubbing I bacame a bit cautious as the village people used both hands in the process. Bear in mind that the left hand is the primary tool in daily ablutions and is rarely washed. People who have travelled in this region will know that the left hand is NEVER used for eating.
My question is - is imported black hash a risk of infection or do the resins have a natural disinfective quality. Since Kashmir, I have always washed my hands after handling black hash and am very careful not to ingest any. Does anyone have any feedback on this issue?

You raise questions I've always had about MJ and hashish. If they're coming from third world countries, you simply do not know what the harvester has touched or actually you DO know what they've touched but don't want to think about it. I don't know anyone that has contracted dysentery or hepatitis from weed or hash so I think it's fairly safe. It still just makes me ill to think that every harvester is wiping their butt with their left hand using whatever is available (there's no toilet paper there) and then they don't wash their hands because they don't have a great supply of running water. They then rub their hands al over that product you so love to toke on....UGH!!! I will stick to growing my own. At least if I scratch my own butt, well..it's my own! I think time is the key here. any E-coli bacteria or hepatitis virii are killed off simply because they can't survive being exposed for long periods of time. By the time you break off chunks of hash or buds to smoke, weeks or months since it was harvested have gone by and any of those cruddies that could have made you sick are now dead.

[grasspixie]

I assume you know that natives wipe their ass with their left hand. But burning the hash would definitely kill any microorganisms (e- coli) in the hash. After reading this i wouldnt vape imported hash since the temperature isnt as high.

[Gorillabuds]

Lol stoner..it's always best to err on the side of safety. At least when you make your own, you KNOW it's clean except for the dog, cat or occasional pubic hair

[Medical Marijuana]

The guy I was travelling with in Kashmir swallowed the last two grams of our hash when we flew out of Srinegar. Later that night while still zoned out, he got really sick and was venting from both ends of his body. I still don't know to this day whether he got sick from the hash or something we ate just before leaving (we had a goat curry). Either way my friend was feeling no pain.
However you consume imported hash, I think the safest option is to thoroughly wash your hands after preparation. The caution re the vaporiser sure makes sense!
I would still like to know if the resins have any natural disinfective qualities. I can then let my friend know that after all these years it was probably the curry, not the hash, that made him so sick.

[Andrew86]

Haha, that's what I was thinkin' Cherry.

[StonerGrower]

i dont think he was "sick" i think he was just hella fuckin stoned man
well when people rubbed the trichomes off the plants with their hand to make hash..usually they use rubber gloves..they might not do this in thrid world countries

[Medical Marijuana]

I decided to do some checking on this issue and came up with this.

In a 1959 publication of Pharmacie, Krejci stated: From the flowering leaves and tips of hemp, Cannabis sativa var indica bred in Middle Europe, were extracted a phenol and an acid fraction.
From the acid fraction, two acids were obtained, of which one preserved its antibiotic properties. In another Czech publication, Krejci referred to two additional samples with antibiotic activity.
The results of tests lead us to conclude that the antibacterial action of Cannabis sativa is not identical to the hashish effect found, for example, in tetrahydracannabinol. However, it was established that Cannabis sativa is effective as an antibiotic for local infections.
Proof could be established that the cannabis extracts produce a very satisfactory antibacterial effect upon the following microbes: staphylococcus pyogenes aureus, staphylococcus alphahaemolyticus, streptococcus beta haemolyticus, enterococcus, diplococcus pneumonia, B. anthracis, and corynebacterium diptheriae i.e., all of them gram positive organisms.
Noteworthy is the effect upon staphylococcus aureus (golden staph) strains, which are resistant to penicillin and to most other antibiotics.
However, it does go on to say that cannabis has no noticeable effect on e-coli!
This seems to indicate that imported hash may, in an odd way, be somewhat hygienic, unless ingested (yuk)
It will not change my caution about imported hash as I will always have that image of the wayward left hand and its part in daily ablutions.

[ZedRules]

Originally Posted by smokin.*****

I decided to do some checking on this issue and came up with this.

In a 1959 publication of Pharmacie, Krejci stated: From the flowering leaves and tips of hemp, Cannabis sativa var indica bred in Middle Europe, were extracted a phenol and an acid fraction.
From the acid fraction, two acids were obtained, of which one preserved its antibiotic properties. In another Czech publication, Krejci referred to two additional samples with antibiotic activity.
The results of tests lead us to conclude that the antibacterial action of Cannabis sativa is not identical to the hashish effect found, for example, in tetrahydracannabinol. However, it was established that Cannabis sativa is effective as an antibiotic for local infections.
Proof could be established that the cannabis extracts produce a very satisfactory antibacterial effect upon the following microbes: staphylococcus pyogenes aureus, staphylococcus alphahaemolyticus, streptococcus beta haemolyticus, enterococcus, diplococcus pneumonia, B. anthracis, and corynebacterium diptheriae i.e., all of them gram positive organisms.
Noteworthy is the effect upon staphylococcus aureus (golden staph) strains, which are resistant to penicillin and to most other antibiotics.
However, it does go on to say that cannabis has no noticeable effect on e-coli!
This seems to indicate that imported hash may, in an odd way, be somewhat hygienic, unless ingested (yuk)
It will not change my caution about imported hash as I will always have that image of the wayward left hand and its part in daily ablutions.

Excellent work researching this subject...more evidence for us about the qualities of MJ! *****...not bad for a pothead gardener...

[m4i2k0e]

it seems to me that maybe when you burn the hash it kills all of the germs on it seeing how heat is one of the best ways to kill germs. but i am not 100% sure to be honest.