A method that's been a tradition amongst Jamaicans and members of the Rastafarian culture since the early 1970s, the “steam chalice” is another way to consume cannabis you may have never heard of before.
Learn more about this method and its cultural significance, and understand how to honor the tradition of the steam chalice.
What is a steam chalice?
A steam chalice is a type of cannabis consumption device. It acts like a vaporizer in that it heats (steams) your weed to activate the cannabis compounds versus burning them through combustion with a flame.
The steam chalice uses no electricity and only organic components. It plays a central role in Jamaican/Rastafarian culture.
Rastafari is a religious movement of Jamaican origin holding that Black people are the chosen people, that Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia was the Messiah, and that Black people will eventually return to their African roots.
Rastafarians follow strict codes of ethics and conduct that include wearing dreadlocks, smoking cannabis, rejecting Western medicine, and adhering to a diet that excludes pork, shellfish, and milk.
How to make a steam chalice
A steam chalice's four main components are the base (coconut), stem (bamboo tube), cutchie (bowl), and gritty (bowl screen).
You'll need a few other materials or tools to use the steam chalice. This video by TaiJah Unique offers tips on using a steam chalice, and this video by IrieChalice offers a visual guide on making one.
Materials
- One coconut
- Bamboo stick (or a hose)
- Clay cutchie
- Clay gritty
- Beeswax
- Drill and drill bits
- Screwdriver
Step 1: Drill three holes in the coconut
Drill three holes in the coconut:
- One is the largest for your bamboo mouthpiece to inhale steam/vapor located at the top of the coconut
- One for the cutchie (bowl), where you'll hold your herbs
- One acts as a carb for manipulating airflow and clearing your coconut
The base of a steam chalice is the coconut, and the name of the base is called the chalice.
Step 2: Dig out the coconut fruit from the holes
You can do this with a screwdriver or drill bit. Be careful not to break the coconut.
Step 3: Insert the cutchie and downstem into the holes
You'll need to buy a cutchie, which can be found on Etsy.
Once you have a hole for the cutchie, add it to the coconut. You can seal it with beeswax to make it permanent or leave it a bit loose to remove the cutchie and clean it after each use.
Once you've inserted the cutchie, do the same with the bamboo downstem or plastic hose. Go the bamboo route if you want to keep it classic.
Step 4: Insert the gritty into your cutchie
You will also need to purchase a gritty (bowl screen).
Insert your gritty into the middle of your cutchie to prevent the herbs from being sucked into the chalice. It acts the same way as a bowl screen.
How to use a steam chalice
Now that you've created your steam chalice, here's how to use it.
Materials
- A steam chalice
- Cannabis flower
- Optional herbs
- Hot coals
- Small torch
Step 1: Fill coconut with water
Fill your coconut with water — about halfway.
Step 2: Load up the cutchie with herb
You can grind the flower or put a whole nug into the cutchie. It's your world, squirrel.
Note that you don't have to fill it completely and can use a little herb for a quick and easy sesh. Add non-cannabis herbs to boost flavor and experience; orange peels, rosemary, and rose petals are great steamable additives.
Remove the cutchie from your chalice to insert herbs unless it's permanently connected to the base.
Step 3: Add coals on top of the herb
Add unheated coals at the top of your herbs, then take your small torch and hit the coals until they're burning red hot.
You can also hold the coals with clamps and use the torch to heat them (like a hookah). Torch them in a circular motion to distribute the heat evenly, then blow on the coals to get them up to temperature. Avoid hitting the sides of your cutchie with direct flame as you don't want to crack it.
Once the coals are cooking, insert the cutchie back into the chalice.
Step 5: Inhale
Inhale the vapor from the bamboo mouthpiece/hose. Hit it a few times slowly to get the steam rolling.
As a custom, Rastafarians usually wrap a hand around the top of the mouthpiece to inhale vapor through their “fist tunnel.”
Step 6: Clean out the cutchie
When done with a chalice session, clean the device after every use.
- Pour the water out
- Blow air through the downstem/mouthpiece to loosen the herbs
- Wipe all vaporized herbs out of the cutchie
- Sit all the device's parts aside separately to dry since you don't want moisture building in the components and generating fungi
Pros and cons of using a steam chalice
Using a steam chalice is a Rastafarian practice, and any consumption with the device needs to consider that respect.
Pros
The pros of using a steam chalice include:
- Health consciousness due to the inhalation of steam over smoke
- It gets you really high
- It doesn't burn off cannabis compounds
- Comes with cultural and historical context in terms of cannabis consumption
Whatever pros you associate with vaporizing weed through methods like using a Volcano or hitting a G-Pen Dash+ also apply to using a steam chalice.
Cons
There aren't many cons to using a steam chalice — the biggest is that you simply have to make or buy the device. Outside of that, you aren't going to deal with many negatives. It's considered a healthier way of smoking weed.
Bottom line
With cannabis consumption in Jamaican culture, it's all about a “health is wealth" type of lifestyle. Using a steam chalice versus methods like smoking pipes, joints, and blunts is considered the healthiest and most natural consumption method.
Featured image courtesy of Louis Hansel on Unsplash
