Gathering the Ganja Crop, Naogaon, India – February 16, 1894
Grading Ganja
In 1893 the British undertook an extensive study in India to look at all things Indian Hemp. The study looked at all aspects of the plant using accounts from all over India revealing a wealth of old world knowledge.
One report from the study found “The preparation of the finest sort of ganja is a somewhat laborious process, and requires skill and knowledge.” These old world preparations were found to produced three different cannabis products, all of them would still be recognized by today’s seasoned stoner.
These grades of ganja would have been known as flat or chapta, round and chur ganja.
Just like today, everyone had their favorite!
‘Group of women pressing and flattening ganja’ to make flat or chapta ganja. Siraha, Nepal 1969
Flat or Chapta Ganja
Most seasoned smokers would instantly recognize the first Indian ganja product produced in the study as brick weed. The hard compressed sometimes brownish herb that can be a pain in the ass to break up is typically only bricked up today for smuggling purposes. But in the old days it wasn’t just a way to jam a bale of cannabis into a small space, it was a old world technique to make a special ganja product known and loved as flat or chapta ganja.
In a multi day event, trim crews would sit, walk and even dance party on the ganja to compress the flowers while separating some of the leaf, seed and stems. This left them with a finished pressed product that could be stored to smoke at your convenience.
“The manufacture of flat ganja takes three days, and is carried out on a piece of ground near the field which has been specially leveled for the purpose, and is called the chator or khola. The number of plants handled in each three-days’ operations is usually about fifty or sixty. The first day the plants are cut in the morning, brought to the manufacturing ground, and spread out in the sun till the afternoon. They are then cut up one by one into lengths of about one or two feet. Those having flower spikes upon them are retained, and the rest is thrown away. The portions selected are spread out in the dew for the night.
The work of the second day begins at noon. It consists in alternately pressing and drying the crop and getting rid of useless leaf and seed. The branches are piled by bundles of five or ten, flower spikes inwards and overlapping, in a circular heap about four feet in diameter. The workmen tread this down, moving round upon it and supporting one another. Bundles are added from time to time till the heap is about two feet high. A mat is then placed over the heap, and the men sit or place weights upon it. After half an hour of the pressure the pile is unstacked, the bundles are taken off and beaten together over a mat to shake out seeds and leaf. The heap is again built exactly as before, the upper layers of the previous heap being put at the bottom of this, and the processes of treading, pressing, unstacking, and beating are repeated. The bundles are now laid out side by side on mats and trodden individually, the workman holding the stem ends with one foot while he passes the other foot downwards over the flower. The bundles are turned and beaten against the mat during this process. When it is complete, they have been reduced in size, and consist of four or five twigs each. They are then laid in slanting position over a pole on the ground, and left for the night.
The third day’s work begins in the early morning. The twigs are separated, and again piled in bundles in the same circular form as before, trodden for a short while, and covered up. Work is resumed at 10A.M. The Heap is unstacked and the bundles are carefully handled to remove leaf. They are then laid out in rows and trodden. During this process they are turned over, and at intervals the sun is allowed to play upon them. They are then handled again and gently beaten, and spread out more completely than before. Those that have retained an undue quantity of leaf are stood up in the sun. The last process is to press the twigs individually with the feet in the way already described. The manufacture is now complete. The flower spikes have been pressed into flat masses, and the leaf and seeds have been as far as possible removed. In the larger specimens the branches stand out from the stem and one another, the whole being quite flattened. The twigs are gathered into bundles of two standard sizes – a certain quantity of large twigs in the one and of small twigs in the other. This is called flat or chapta ganja.”
– Flat or Chapta ganja from the Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission done in 1893-1895
Flat or Chapta ganja from Bengal, Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission done in 1893-1895
Preparing Flat or Chapta Ganja, Naogaon, India Febuary 16, 1894
Round Ganja
For the true old world connoisseur, there was round ganja. You can think of this cannabis like the head stash sacks handled with care, well kind of…
In this process, trim crews would handle the plants with more care. Instead of squishing, standing and dancing on the bud like with the flat ganja, trim crew would delicately roll the buds back and forth to remove the leaf and seeds. This would leave the sacks looking fairly unmolested depending on crew.
The interesting part of this old world practice, it was done with their feet… Toe hash, yum!
“The manufacture of round ganja is not completed till the fourth day after the plants are cut. The plants are gathered some what later in the day and laid out under the open sky for the night. The sorting is done the next morning, a great deal more of the woody portion being rejected than in the case of flat ganja. The twigs are laid out in the sun till noon, when the men return to the chator and rolling is begun. A horizontal bar is lashed on to uprights about four feet from the ground, and mats are placed on the ground on each side of it. Bundles of twigs, either tied together by the stem ends or not, according to the skill of the treader, are set out on the mats. The men range themselves on each side of the bar, and, holding on to it for support, proceed to roll the bundles with their feet. One foot is used to hold the bundle and the other to roll it, working down from the stems to the flower heads. This process goes on for about ten minutes, and during it the bundles are taken up and shaken from time to time to get rid of leaf. The bundles are then broken up and the twigs exposed to the sun. A second but shorter course of rolling by foot follows, and then the twigs are hand-pressed, four of five together. After this the twigs are opened up and exposed to the sun again. Towards evening the twigs are made into bundles of about one hundred, and placed on mats and covered up for the night.
The next morning the bundles are untied and the twigs again exposed to the sun. If they are sufficiently dry by midday, they only require a little handling and rolling to complete the manufacture. If they are not dry enough, the first course of rolling has to be repeated, after which the useless leaves fall off with a very little manipulation. The twigs are next sorted according to length and tied into bundles of three descriptions – short, medium, and long. In this process all useless twigs and sticks are eliminated. The bundles are placed in rows under a mat which is kept down by a bamboo, and left for the night. The manufacture is completed the next day by exposing the bundles to the sun, heads upwards, till the afternoon, and then searching them with hands and bits of stick for any leaves that may have remained in them. These are shaken out, and with them pieces of the compressed flower heads, which have been accidentally broken off, fall onto the mats.”
– Round ganja from Bengal, Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission done in 1893-1895
Round ganja from Bengal, from the Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission done in 1893-1895
Chur Ganja
If you smoke cannabis you most likely know what chur ganja is, it just goes by a different name today. Chur ganja is just shake, the seconds while making either flat or round ganja. In some cases this chur shake sack even included some popcorn buds.
Like modern day markets, there will always be those that swear by the shake sacks or even those dirty little prerolls… One mans trash is another mans trea-chur!
“Chur is broken ganja; and ganja may be broken either purposely or accidentally. In many parts and by many witnesses chur is regarded as the broken or refuse ganja which becomes separated in the process of preparation or transport, and which “even the poor with not buy.” A second class of witnesses know chur as the best parts of the ganja heads, separated carefully from the woody matter or stalks, and therefore stronger, bulk for bulk, than the ordinary artiel. A third set of witnesses point out that before being smoked ganja must be broken; it must become chur before being used. These insist, therefore, that there is no real difference between chur and other ganja.”
– Chur ganja, Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission done in 1893-1895
Chur ganja, from the Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission done in 1893-1895
Treading Ganja, Ahmednagar, India November 27, 1893
The Treading Floor
The process to manufacture these 3 types of cannabis all called for a special area to some degree or another, the treading floor. Sometimes called the chator or khola, the treading floor would usually be a open dirt area that would be somewhat prepared for the harvest event.
At the very least, some sweeping of the loose dirt away was done to prevent dust. Sometimes a soft layer was then spread even using cow shit to soften the treading step. Then a mat would be laid out to place the cannabis on before the trim crew would deleaf, walk and press the ganja.
In a best case scenario, the crew would make a party of it whipping out instruments, singing and even dancing on the bud. Now that’s a harvest party!
“The process of turning and treading is repeated at intervals of three or four days, with local variations of treatment in the intervals. In some places it is heaped in round heaps called chakis, and weighted at top till midnight, and then opened up and scattered and ventilated till dawn, when it is again laid out and trodden; and so on till it is judged to be ready, when it is packed in bags, and as a rule it is speedily removed by the wholesale purchaser.
“The treading floor is sometimes prepared like an ordinary threshing floor with clay and cowdung. I have lately witnessed the operation of treading, and in that case the floor was simple moorum soil on a nalla bank, and had undergone no preparation beyond cleaning and sweeping. The ganja was spread in squares of fifteen or twenty feet wide and about six inches thick. A line of eight or ten men danced on it to the music of a tom-tom. Treading began in the outer edge of the heap, and was continued in a spiral until the center was approached, when the men fell out one by one as the space grew smaller. They followed close on one another, dancing sideways in the leader’s footsteps. The tom-tom appeared to be highly necessary, and kept them at it.”
– Treading floor, Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission done in 1893-1895
Treading floor, from the Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission done in 1893-1895
Treading Ganja, Ahmednagar, India November 27, 1893