Malana Cream

I knew a guy, who’s passed over now (RIP Brent), who cut off the ends of a chair’s legs and stuffed the insides with hash. He then screwed them back shut and shipped this along with other furniture back to Canada. In those chairs was the infamous Malana (or Manali) Cream Hashish.

Native to Malana in Himachal Pradesh, India’s northern Himalayan region with roads that close often in the winter from landslides, this hash occasionally makes its way to foreign travelers if they know who to ask.

Plenty of high quality cannabis products come from this northern region, but Malana Cream is the most coveted. It offers a gentle balance of euphoric head highs and bodily relaxation with a cerebral buzz that’s still sociable. Some even say that in higher doses it creates psychedelic effects.

It is rich in oil content with an intense aroma (reminiscent of ripe fruit) because it’s a strain accompanied by exquisite aromatic resins. Growing over four metres tall, it’s produced from the Himalayan charas plant with thorough care.

To get the treasured hashish, you don’t need to trek through Parvati Valley to obscure mountain villages. It’s somehow trickled down to Delhi and other southern regions via mules and residents carrying loads for hours until eventually they reach tourist markets.

And to the benefit of the smoker (you) and the seller, the police don’t really care. It is illegal, but cannabis is so well incorporated into Indian culture and the northern Himalayan area is so large, that it is nearly impossible to do anything about cultivation of the plant. Though don’t go toking up in the middle of Mumbai or Delhi.

In major cities you can expect to pay upwards of $30-40 per gram because of the rarity and difficulty growers face in the black market business. But once you do get some, buy a chillum, pack it with tobacco and hash and enjoy every sweet, smooth puff of heaven in your body.