DOSE:

0.5 g

smoked

Heroin

(tar / resin)

BODY WEIGHT:

140 lb

I live in the suburbs of Los Angeles, and lately it seems black tar heroin has been getting more and more popular amongst the youth here. It's commonly called 'cheeb' and it's sold in $30 (about 0.25g), $60 (0.5g) and $110 (gram) wax-paper-wrapped chunks covered with tin foil and tied into a small balloon. Because of the sticky, toffee like consistency of the drug, it's not really practical to sniff it, and not many of my friends shoot it. Most of the people I know prefer to smoke it.

I open up the balloon and unwrap the $60 sack. It's about the size of a marble and it has a dark brown, shimmery look to it. Using my thumb and forefinger, I pinch off a small amount of the cheeb and press it down onto the shiny side of a small 4x4 inch square of foil. It is much like a piece of hard candy: sticky, but prone to break up into a sort of coarse dust, it sticks to the foil quite well. I hold the foil and lighter in each hand, and a purple plastic drinking straw cut down to about 3 inches in my mouth. Holding the lighter beneath the foil under the small chunk of heroin, also called a 'dot,' I begin to inhale through the straw which is held directly above so as to catch the smoke. Almost instantly, the dot melts into a small, boiling pool of reddish, dark brown liquid and a plume of smoke funnels up the straw. The taste and smell of the cheeb smoke is very distinctive: I would describe it as a burnt-barbecue sauce odor with a very bitter, almost vinegar-like taste. It is not a pleasant aroma.

I let off the lighter and top off my lungs with a short inhalation of fresh air. I hold the smoke for as long as possible, and then exhale. Very little visible smoke is seen upon exhalation, but the bitter taste intensifies on my tongue. Almost instantly after blowing out the hit, I begin to feel its effects. It's possible to get 4-5 hits from an average sized dot. It’s a typical opiate high with typical opiate side effects. Relaxation, a mild tingle in the extremities, and a relief of anxiety are all some of the positive effects. The taste is quite bothersome, so I take a sip of some Gatorade which is pretty good at rinsing it out. It takes about 3-4 hours of casual smoking for me to kill a $60 sack, if I allow about 15-30 minutes between dots.

There are some shitty things about this drug however, not including addiction, the shittiest of all. First off, the nausea and vomiting can really sneak up on me. One minute I can be feeling high and calm and the next I can be hit with an overwhelming wave of nausea. Vomiting provides temporary relief of the nausea, but if I smoke more, I am dry-heaving later on. Secondly, I personally get very, very itchy. One night I became so itchy the next day I had many visible scratch marks all over my chest and arms. Lastly, it's possible to become strung out on the cheeb, that is, I feel like I'm not high and continue to smoke despite the fact that I am greatly impaired. Balance is affected and driving becomes difficult and dangerous: It is possible to 'nod out' or fall into a sort of daydream in which I am not asleep but my eyes close and I enter a state of limited responsiveness.

I am not addicted to cheeb, I only smoke it maybe once or twice a month and I have never experienced withdrawals of any kind, physical or psychological. Some of my friends unfortunately, have made smoking cheeb into a daily habit. They are constantly low on cash and generally in a crappy mood: After taking their first hit of the day however, they suddenly become Mr. Friendly and begin to behave energetically and sociably. In the absence of the drug, they experience negative physical effects such as vomiting, diarrhea, and malaise/discomfort. Some continuously call their dealer when he doesn't answer in hopes of scoring a sack despite the dealer's vehement requests not to do so.

In conclusion, smoked heroin is a powerful method of ingestion, although less common than injection or insufflation. It can produce a strong opiate high lasting about 20-30 minutes followed by a period of drowsiness and lassitude. It is an expensive way to get high, considering the inherent wastefulness of the smoking process, but probably safer than iv use. Addiction potential is very real and the agony of withdrawal has been described as extremely uncomfortable. The high is very nice though, no way around that.

Exp Year: 2007	ExpID: 61979
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: Not Given
Published: Oct 27, 2007	Views: 250,723
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Heroin (27) : Retrospective / Summary (11), General (1), Unknown Context (20)