The Opium Den on the End of your Street

The reflection and archane ritual of a single smoke filled room


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Opium Smoking in Popular Film

Here a couple of films which took pains to represent opium smoking in the Chinese manner with careful attention and reverence.

The Lover:

The footage is a bit blurry, but it attempts to represent opium smoking with composed grace.

Apocalypse Now Redux:

A stunning scene, however I take issue with the absence of a chimney on the lamp used. The purpose of the chimney is twofold–it directs heat onto a particular, consistent point so as to better and more evenly vaporize the pill. The second purpose is highly practical: air movements caused by drafts or opening and closing doors cause the flame to wave and, correspondingly, the hotspot to move. This more often than not results in burnt, half finished pipes.


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Video of Classical Opium Smoking

Film of Old Hong Kong and opium smoking after the turn of the century:

Opium smoking in French Indochina