The origins of vaporization

[Egzoset]

So far my incomplete readings tell me the hookah (smoking) originates from somewhere between India and Egypt, all i can find on vaporization doesn't go back in time beyond the seventies. Is it known if vaporization was used in ancient societies or is it only some relatively recent occidental invention?

 

[DevoTheStrange]

There are ancients cultures that used to vaporize. They would basically create something similar to a Sweat Lodge and would throw buds onto the hot rocks. I believe it may have been the Scythians. 600bc

 

[stinkmeaner]

They had an episode of the HBO Series 'Rome' which had some form of smoking or vaporizing on coals, to be precise a slave girl was holding a hot coal on a metal spoon/spatula, the weed on top of the hot coal and they would inhale through a small tube.

 

[Hippie Dickie]

The designer of the Eterra wrote (the first info i ever found on the internet about vaporizing marijuana) that he got the idea from learning about the pyrolysis plant in Baltimore.

 

[stonemonkey55]

Not sure if this is the first example but hookahs where you put the coal on top of the flavored tobacco can be looked at as a form of conductive vaporization.

 

[Egzoset]

I've found that searching on Google leads to confusing results, there's a lot of referal to water pipe smoking relatively to the hookah out there. Anyway, lets forget the specifics for a brief moment. The sweat lodge annecdote sounds appealing enough as i can easily imagine one didn't necessarily need to be a shaman or a king to have access to large quantities of weed in the late bronze age... His sweat lodge could very well have happened to work like an immense vaporization chamber, one where fellow inhalers could sit right inside since abundance was no real issue for those lucky people i presume!

Hummm...

But i'm under the impression this only produced a mix of fumes and vapor where vapor would go totally unnoticed: i mean, if somebody had realized what vaporization really is then my guess is this practice should have left us some refined hookahs clearly designed to avoid smoking. Are there such hookahs, i don't know.

 

[Pappy]

And friends, somewhere in Washington enshrined in some little folder, is a
study in black and white of my fingerprints. And the only reason I'm
singing you this song now is cause you may know somebody in a similar
situation, or you may be in a similar situation, and if your in a
situation like that there's only one thing you can do and that's walk into
the shrink wherever you are ,just walk in say "Shrink, You can get
anything you want, at Alice's restaurant.". And walk out.

 

[luchiano]

Vaporization in general terms was used since the biblical days. In the story of moses when he stated that when he wanted to talk to god he would put on holy oil and go int the tent and light "incense" which was most likely a term for inhaling hash fumes as far as it being cannabis there are debated on that.

As far as modern day types of vaporization the earliest known come from the rastas of jamaica who been doing it since the 1950's. They used a bamboo bong and coconut charcoal to vaporize the herb like we do now.

I think I read Sam Skunkman saying he or someone else went there in the '70's and saw it being done and returned back to the states trying improve on it but I could be wrong because this was a while ago I read this.

Here's articles on moses in the tent:
http://www.cannabisculture.com/articles/1090.html

"The shamanistic Ashera priestesses of pre-reformation Jerusalem mixed cannabis resins with those from myrrh, balsam, frankincense, and perfumes, and then anointed their skins with the mixture as well as burned it.'"

Here's about the original jamaican vaporizer:

http://www.cannabisculture.com/v2/articles/4281.html
"The steam pipe is an organic vaporizer made from bamboo, using a small saw, a granite rock surface for a sander, and candle wax to seal the connections and to ensure air-tightness."

 

[Qbit]

Steam pipe as used by Jamaican rasta, 'Thunder':

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXNkzzRBWKE

 

[herbgirl]

i would say that the modern day (or old fashioned non electric) sauna with it's pine branches and cedar lining could also be considered a form of vaporization.
essential oils can also be added to the water that is being splashed on the hot rocks, that's also technically vaporization.