Oral History

Chimtal is located at the west of Balkh province, and a highly regarded place for agriculture, since it's situated between the mountainous terrains and the Sholgar river. The river provides an abundance of minerals and valuable water for irrigation, which ends the dependency for water through melting snowcaps, that cascades down into the valley every year. Today the increasing unpredictability of the climate has left a lot of farmers stranded without a viable option for irrigation in many regions of Afghanistan who depend on seasonal glacial water. Chimtal receives the hot summer - Mediterranean weather, while the surrounding mountain tops during winter gets covered in snow, the valleys remain very cold with occasional subzero Nights. Cannabis is a very important cash crop for farmers in this district, as they produce a very consistent/high-grade hashish which has a distinct foul/skunky flavour with earthy notes that compliments a narcotic stoney high. There isn't many wild/unfarmed plant varieties to be found in this district since the land has been judiciously used for systematic farming in the wake of an abundant supply of water. And that in turn gives way for collecting Afghani inbred heirlooms, which have been maintained by native farmer families over the generations. In simpler words, these farmed/maintained varieties provide us a remarkable insight into the sought after gene pool by the natives of Afghanistan themselves. The plants grow with subtle to negligible variations in characteristics amongst the local population, and thus produces a consistent End -product for the chillum house shelves, where hashish lovers can recognize it with one good whiff. (collected Oct 2017 at Chimtal District, Northern Afghanistan. From domesticated population)