The methods of kif smoking are quite different in Morocco from the way in which marihuana is used in the U.S. in the United States use patterns, described by Becker and Walton, are based on fear of discovery and avoiding waste of this scarce commodity. Small quantities of “green vegetable material” are brought out form hiding places after the shades are lowered. Tightly rolled marihuana cigarettes (called joints) or small brass bowled pipes are passed quickly among the participants to prevent any waste. Some users smoke the “joints” down to butts less than a quarter of an inch long and may even eat this remainder, called a “roach”. The North American user holds his breath lest he allow any of the precious smoke to escape. He gulps small “catch” breathes of air and speaks in strained, clipped phrases to prolong holding his breath. The neophyte that cannot stifle a cough receives unfavorable glances from his fellow smokers.
By contrast, the Moroccan user is not concerned with waste, because kif is cheaper than tobacco. It is the custom to have the person who offers a supsi pipe load it, light it and wipe the mouthpiece before handling it to recipient. The recipient inhales the smoke deeply, but promptly exhales. He does not pass the half-smoked pipe to another, but continues to smoke leisurely until the first crackle is heard, as the heated ash approaches the bottom of the bow. He then expels the remaining burning plug by blowing into the pipe. He either cleans, refills, relights, and passes the pipe to the next person, or passes the cleaned pipe and allows the recipient to use his own supply. In a group, often more than one pipe is used.
A similarity between the practices of U.S. marihuana smokers and the Moroccan kif smokers is the physical arrangement of the groups. Both groups ten to sit in circles, either around a table or else lounging about on the floor on cushions. This circular configuration may be to facitate the passing on of the pipe from one to another, or speculating wildly, or perhaps is a surviving vestige of the archetypal tribe around on low cushions in a circle is usual practice in the Moroccan household.
Also familiar was the content of conversation during sessions of kif smoking. As with the U.S. user, his Moroccan counterpart frequently spins stories of legendary types and preparations of kif that he has sampled, seen, or heard about. There were tales of oral preparations of cannabis combined with other substances purportedly given to children of mountain tribes to assuage the cold of the night and help sedate them for the evening. A potent substance for eating called Amber was described. A recipe for a special kif sweetmeat, majoun, described. Majoun is usually compounded from powdered blossoms, sugar, honey, cinnamon and almonds. It is baked in the hot sun until it reaches the consistency of moist fudge. It is then eaten by the “fingers full”. The use of oral preparations was not observed.
Hashish, a more concentrated preparation, is much less common, but nevertheless widely known. Unfortunately, there was no opportunity to observe its manufacture during my short stay. One man in a village seems to be the local expert in its manufacture. Such a man exists in Ketama, the town in the middle of the growth area, but he was out of town attending his wife who expected to give birth to a child shortly when I was there. From descriptions of the local residents, hashish is made form the blossoms and the leaves of the plant and takes at least two days to make with many stages of cooking. This process, of course, would differ from Norman Taylor’s description of the manufacture of Charas by harvesting pollen and resin by beating the blossoms on leather aprons.(4)
Terminologies for effects and use of cannabis seemed to be relatively simple considering the high incidence of use and long history of consumption. Hashashut means to feel the full effects of the cannabis. This term also appears to mean over-dosage. Moroccan users recognize both pleasurable and unpleasant effects of cannabis. Ferhan denotes having a pleasurable result, a good trip in contemporary U.S. terms. Teirala means an unpleasant result or side effects or bad trip. Unpleasant effects are described as related to over-dosage. Nashat is a group of kif smokers. Few solitary kif users were seen. Its use appears to be primarily of a social nature, as it is in the United States. Nashatu refers to such a group lasting about 24 hours. Dou-ach means to become intoxicated with kif or turn on.
The complexity of attitudes toward kif were illustrated by the behavior of my host and guide. This man, of some local importance in the rural province of AL Huceimas, showed quite varying responses to the topic in different circumstances. When with men who were his social inferiors but no his subordinates he would smile and affably speak of kif as if it were a fine wine, an experience that all should enjoy. He would refer to himself as a heavy user and the pleasure he derived. By contrast, when he was with people of like or superior station, he would minimize, though not deny, his use of kif. He would then portray himself as a light or intermittent user. One of his friends, a caid (mayor or chief) of a small village, showed a similar “selective” attitude. During lunch with him and the lesser officials of the town, the lesser officials smilingly admitted to regular smoking of kif, but the caid denied any use at all. After lunch as we drove over the winding mountain roads to the next town, the caid, who accepted the proffered ride, volunteered that he used it at home regularly. He said that it would no be proper to speak of such things in front of his employees. A parallel might be seen in he attitudes in contemporary America toward alcohol.
DISCUSSION:
The chief differences in the use of cannabis between the U.S. and Morocco are smoking technique, pharmacology and formality. Although kif is more readily available and cheaper in Morocco, it appeared from “sessions” with the Moroccan users that much more kif is smoked than in the U.S. but that much less is actually ingested. The practice of inhaling but not holding the breath might decrease significantly the amount of active principle absorbed. Combination of kif with tobacco would also decrease the amount of cannabis actually ingested. These differences in techniques makes comparison of dosage difficult.
Tobacco, itself, seems to play an important role in the smoking of kif. In several of the kif sessions, I would substitute pure kif blossoms for the standard mixture when the pipe passed my way. The response was fairly uniform. The recipient would take a few puffs, wait until he felt that I wasn’t looking, discreetly discard the contents and reload the pipe from his supply. His responses to my “naïve” query as to why he didn’t like the pure kif were unproductive. The respondent indicated only that he preferred kif-tobacco. It is hard to know whether or not it was the taste or the psychic effects that determined his preference more. It is certainly possible that the kif tobacco mixture has different psychic effects from pure kif, as the pharmacologic effects of nicotine are not without consequence.
Use of kif in Morocco is certainly much less formal than “pot parties” in contemporary U.S. In the back of any café or shop, the ubiquitous smoking supsi pipe can be seen. The Moroccan does not suffer from the fear of discovery and prosecution, as does his American counterpart. Although commonly confined to non-European settings, the musicians and dancers in an expensive restaurant for tourists on “packaged” tours would pass the supsi pipe between each number. They made no effort to conceal their activity from the audience. The audience was oblivious to this performing “nashat”. The proprietor, when asked about this practice, first acted as if he could not understand the question. Persistence yielded the reply that the musicians were Berbers, but that “none of the people around here do that.
Several small cafes were observed that sold only the familiar heavily sugared green mint tea, local cakes and sweets. The patrons devoted themselves to smoking Kif and participating in instrumental vocal renditions of familiar songs. The atmosphere was relaxed and congenial, but not lethargic, in contrast with the noisy ebb and surge of an average U.S. neighborhood bar.
REFERENCES:
1. Benabud, a. Psycho-patholocigal Aspects of the Cannabis situation in Morocco:
Statistical Data for 1956 Bull. On Narcotics Vol. IX, No. 4, Oct.-Dec. 1957, pp. 1-16.
2. Becker, H., Ousiders, Studies in Social Deviance, The Free Press of Glencoe,
1963, p. 47-48
3. Walton, R.P., Marihuana: America’s New Drug Problem, Philadelphia, J.B.
Lippincott 1938, p. 47-48.
4. Taylor, N., Narcotics: Nature’s Dangerous Gifts, New York, Dell Publishing Co.
1963, p. 14.
Tod H. Mikuriya, M.D.
source:
420 Magazine 
The use of Kif 
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