There are some interesting posts about hasheesh use in Twain's day in the searchable logs of H-Net: Humanities and Social Sciences Online: http://www.h-net.org/ Here's part of a post by Matt Schoenbachler to the Scholars of the History of the Early American Republic list on "purposes of cultivating hemp": >> As to Dane Hartgrove's question concerning the consumption of hemp: yes, there is in fact a good deal of evidence that cannabis was consumed in antebellum America, especially in the mid/late 1850s, when there seems to have been a bit of a hash-eating craze. (Apparently, smoking cannabis was relatively rare; most commonly, people consumed hash orally.) Articles typically entitled "My Experience with Hashish" were relatively common in mid-19th century magazines such as Harpers or Putnams. In 1857, one of the more famous accounts of hash usage was published, Fitzhugh Ludlow's _The Hasheesh Eater_. Furthermore, scattered references to hash consumption can be found in letters and journals.... << The magazines he mentions are online at the Making of America site at Cornell. A search for "hashish" turns up "163 matches in 48 journal articles." A search for "hasheesh" turns up "280 matches in 94 journal articles." Here's one from a notable source: "During all the long conversation that had followed, he had been conscious of a sort of dual operation of his mind, like that familiar to the eaters of hasheesh." -- John Hay, "The Bread-Winners" (Oct 1883) The Making of America site at the University of Michigan also has early books and magaines that contain references to "hasheesh": http://www.hti.umich.edu/m/moagrp/ The New York Times archive lists a Nov. 10, 1871, article on "The New Hasheesh" that begins, "A London paper, usually distinguished for the temperateness of its statements on practical subjects, has made an astounding discovery. The strange drug, which has been reported of late to be a kind of universal panacea, which cures corns and headaches,..." Sounds like something Twain would invest in. :-) Jim Zwick