Dried Poppy Laudanum  
Posted by Tappuck -- December 29, 2000
Being a big fan of opiates (in moderation), but also feeling that poppy tea is the single most vile and heinous liquid to ever pass my lips (no, I have not yet tried the CountryTime lemonade mix yet, but I will ;-)), I decided to try my hand at poppy laudanum, so to speak.
Ingredients and Tools
- Small scale
- Coffee Grinder
- 20 or so Giganthemum dried poppies
- Stroh 160 proof Rum (80% alcohol) 750ml
- 2 Liter Tupperware Container
- Cheesecloth or orther filtering substance
The Process
I used only the poppy heads, saving the stems for tea another time. I ground them up in the coffee grinder into a very fine powder, approx. 80 grams worth which I then mixed with all 750ml of the Stroh rum in the 2 liter tupperware container. I had a few recipes and I kind of split the difference between all of them. I was concerned that there might not be enough alcohol to hold all the opium in 80 grams of poppy heads (as no doubt somebody would point out if I didn't in this write up), but I have a lot of extra dried poppies, so I could afford to err on the wasteful side.
 
I then put the mixture in the fridge, shaking once or twice every day for 12 days. I was initially planning on only 10, but I got busy and didn't have time to finish until the 12th day. I filtered the liquid a few times through about 6 layers of cheesecloth.
I ended up with about 575 ml of the poppy rum. Most of the sediment was removed, but not all.
 
I took half of the liquid and put it over a low burner. When I say low, I mean low. The burner has a setting where it automatically turns itself on and off and is usually used for melting chocolate without burning it. I wanted to try evaporating some of the alcohol out to see if that helped with the potency.
After all, this is an experiment. The other half of the liquid I left as is. I stored both liquids in separate brown glass containers.
The Results
I put two tablespoons of the unevaporated poppy rum in a glass of coke. I had a nice, very mild, euphoria for about an hour. Another time, I tried two tablespoons of the evaporated poppy rum in a glass of coke and the effects were similar but lasted much longer and I had a very deep sleep that night. Warning, the poppy rum tastes awful. It's barely drinkable in coke as it is.
Summary
It's a lot of work for not much results, in my opinion. It'd be easier just to make tea and I think the tea has a stronger overall effect. I was definitely disappointed and probably won't do another batch. Of course, I'm a little disappointed in the whole dried poppy experience anyway. In the summer, I might try another Laudanum experiment using fresh poppy heads from my garden.
Stay tuned.
Tappuck
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