Opium

A great read on an unusual subject -- from Collectors Weekly:

How Collecting Opium Antiques Turned Me Into an Opium Addict
You really have to work hard to get hooked on smoking opium. The Victorian-era form of the drug, known as chandu, is rare, and the people who know how to use it aren�t exactly forthcoming. But leave it to an obsessive antiques collector to figure out how to get to addicted to a 19th-century drug.

Recently, Steven Martin�no relation to the actor�came by the Collectors Weekly office and told me all about his harrowing journey from collecting to substance abuse. He started out collecting innocuous things; at first, it was seashells and stones, then it was currency and Asian antiques like textiles. Eventually the Navy veteran found his way to Bangkok, Thailand, where he worked as a journalist and travel writer, covering Southeast Asia.

There, he also discovered the beauty of antique opium pipes, bowls, and lamps, as well as opium trays and the hundreds of little implements that went with the ritual. Because opium smoking had been so thoroughly eradicated around the globe in the early 20th century, Martin realized very little had been written about these objects. After years of intense research, he produced the first opium-smoking antiques guide, The Art of Opium Antiques, in 2007.

The level of detail on these pieces is exquisite. A bit more:

Pipes are adorned with things like tortoiseshell and shagreen, not only to make them pretty but also to give them texture. All sorts of opium paraphernalia was made to excite the fingertips because it heightens the senses. On opium, touching things that are of a strange texture is actually enjoyable, so they designed paraphernalia with this in mind. When it comes to the decorative aspects, the ornate and intricate little designs would hold your attention so you could just get lost in them.

And:

The Chinese went all out when it came to decorations on the lamps, the Vietnamese, too. In an opium den, your oil lamp is usually your only light source. All paraphernalia was made with lots of little facets and angles to reflect this lamp light. It all seems so magical. In fact, that�s the thing you really miss after you�ve quit smoking�the damn lamp, it�s just so beautiful. When you�re in a dim, quiet room curled up around your lamp, it just makes all your problems go away.

I had hip replacement surgery in 2008 and they gave me opiates for pain relief for the first two days. I remember waking up the second evening with a most amazing dream. The blanket had a very rough texture and I had been fingering it and dreaming a Hieronymus Bosch landscape (in a very good sense) -- a fantastic vision. Glad that I don't have an addictive personality as I would be very much into this stuff...