Forbidden Pleasures: Smoking Opium - Victorian Fashion Vice

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Today, smoking opium is illegal, and during the Victorian era it was a very common hobby. Specialists in the preparation of chandu, a smoking concentrate of opium, were in great demand, and opium pipes, lamps, bowls and other devices used during smoking were sometimes real objects of art.

In the 20th century, the civilized world began to fight the addiction of smoking opium, and the objects of the opium cult were ruthlessly destroyed. Therefore, today you can see them only in museums or in the collections of antique dealers.

Researchers claim that opium began its triumphant march across the planet from the Celestial Empire. True, the British contributed to the massive spread of opium in China. Trading with China tea, they preferred to pay for it not with silver, but with a popular drug.

And if until that time smoking opium in China was a very rare phenomenon and only very rich people could afford this kind of weakness, then the British did not flood the Chinese market with opium to such an extent that almost everyone smoked opium. The Chinese government tried to ban the substance, which led to the Opium Wars of 1839-1860.

From China, opium began to spread throughout the world. For example, the Chinese who arrived in the United States during the Gold Rush brought with them the habit of smoking opium. Therefore, in Chinatowns it was often possible to meet non-Chinese people who were attracted by a dangerous potion.

Curiously, the Germans started selling heroin in 1898 as a cough suppressant. It has also been used as a drug for opium addiction. This is why most opium smokers have switched to heroin.

The only place in Europe where opium smoking became popular was France. Unlike America, opium was not imported by foreigners. The French themselves adopted this habit from their colony in Indochina.

Opium pipes were made from different materials - sugar cane, bamboo, or ivory. The tubes were sometimes given a shagreen-like texture to make them feel good to the touch. Most of the pipe cups were earthenware or ceramic. Interestingly, the Chinese also used these cups as teapots.

The Chinese and Vietnamese have exquisitely decorated opium lamps. In drug hangouts, the oil lamp was usually the only source of light. All the paraphernalia necessary for smoking were made with many small edges and corners to reflect the light of this lamp. It gave the impression of something magical and unreal.

Still, there was a special cult of opium in Asia. Rich people rented so-called "flower boats" for the night (or even for several days), where they indulged in forbidden pleasure. At the same time, the women from the brothel satisfied all the whims of the client.

Over time, smoking opium has lost its popularity. And this happened not only because of the prohibitions. The fact is that the paraphernalia of this procedure is very cumbersome, and you just can't put it in your jacket pocket, and the skill of making chandu - opium, which was specially prepared for smoking, was lost over time. Today, antique accessories for smoking opium are considered a rarity among collectors: there are only about 10 serious collections of opium paraphernalia all over the world.

The fact is that at the beginning of the 20th century, in the midst of a campaign to combat opium, pipes, lamps and other opium paraphernalia were mercilessly destroyed. Some devices miraculously survived, and information about smoking can be obtained only from old books before 1920.

Opium pipes were made from different materials - sugar cane, bamboo, or ivory. The tubes were sometimes given a shagreen-like texture to make them feel good to the touch. Most of the pipe cups were earthenware or ceramic. Interestingly, the Chinese also used these cups as teapots.

The Chinese and Vietnamese have exquisitely decorated opium lamps. In drug hangouts, the oil lamp was usually the only source of light. All the paraphernalia necessary for smoking were made with many small edges and corners to reflect the light of this lamp. It gave the impression of something magical and unreal.

In the early 2000s, the only country in the world where you could see opium smoking in the traditional Chinese manner - using a tube that needs to be heated with a lamp - was Laos. This fact attracted many tourists to the country who strove to the small town of Vang Vieng, located north of the capital of Laos, Vientiane.

The town, where the opium dens operated, was included in almost every tourist route. To date, one can get acquainted with the culture of opium smoking only in rural areas of Southeast Asia, but even there opium dens are illegal.

There were other forbidden pleasures in Europe at that time - women in Paris preferred tea and morphine.