weird mixture

Did it make you get the munchies?

yes it did! "> Did it make you get the munchies?

When I was in Moscow a month ago I went to a restaurant with some fancy bankers. They did not have really good tea (usually they do, unless the management is foreign - Lipton bags is all the Marriott Grand Hotel had and it is considered "The Hotel" in Moscow I was told that that was because of the Canadian management). As usual in these circumstances I asked for a teapot of hot water, reached into my pocket and took out a plastic bag with some green puerh that I always carry with me. You should have seen the look on these guys faces - they had no doubt that this was pot and they started to tell me how dangerous it is to smoke these things in Moscow nowadays. After I was able to convince them that this was tea they said that it does not matter - the police would arrest me just seeing the stuff and later to justify my arrest they would actually put real pot into the bag.The site of greenish-brown stuff in a plastic bag just leaves no doubt in the cops minds there. After that I started asking myself if carrying puerh with me in a plastic bag is so safe here in the US. Anyone?

Sasha.

Alex ChaihorskyQJUXd.15876$ snipped-for-privacy@newssvr13.news.prodigy.com3/10/05

Absolutely dangerous. You are lucky to be walking our streets. BTW, tell us more about your Russian prison adventures, please, especially about Russian prison tea.

Michael

American cops know what pot smells like.

/Lew

%$#@&^%(*&)ing Google. All I see are the echoes. Carry less than ounce for personal use even if law enforcement thinks pot comes in crack form and can be brewed. If you're a minority in the US traffic stops are the preferred form of harassment. Oh look what I found under the driver's seat. A couple of weeks ago I got pulled over for failing to come to a complete stop before making a right hand turn at an allway stop. I could tell he was shaking down motorists probably from a report of suspicious activity in the neighborhood. He ran the plates and let me go without even a warning. I'm glad my skin color wasn't different than his.

Jim

Michael Plant wrote:

ChaihorskyQJUXd.15876$ snipped-for-privacy@newssvr13.news.prodigy.com3/10/05

matter - the

greenish-brown

I would not be so sure, especially since Michael said that it IS dangerous (see his message). And he KNOWS police. BTW, since green puerh smells anyting but "normal" tea...

Cowboy is right - it will all boil down to your looks and an accent. So, with my mug I better use these things in silk teabags or something. But how am I gonna live witht a piece of puerh in my pocket??!! I think we need an Amedment - "The right of the people to keep and carry tea should not be infringed".

Sasha.

I was never imprisoned, just jailed several times, once for three days for sending Reagan a congratulatory telegram in 1980. But when I worked as a geologist in Siberia and Kamchatka we worked with prisoners. Russian prison tea is called "chifir" and it is a 125 gramm "small" black tea package that is brewed in a single cup of water. It is a very private, single man process, where things are happening slowly, with gusto. To interrupt someone's chifir ceremony is like interrupt a person who reads a letter from a far away lover. You may get a blade below your ribcage for that. The chifir brewing is different from normal process - it is usually boiled for quite some time. Resulting liquid is very bitter, completely black and gives you special narco-like experience. Needs to get used to. Terrible for your heart. I am not a specialist but my favourite Russian tea site has tonns of materials on chifir and chifir adepts (and addicts). If you like I can summarize it for you.

Sasha (Just a poor boy, and my story seldom told... :)

I'm not sure he was being completely serious.

Right. If I get busted for sheng pu, I won't call a lawyer; I'll call him. I just hope he'll have his cell phone turned on for once.

Seriously, I think he has a point there.

If all else fails, your defense is "Look, officer, you can see I really use green Puerh by checking Google Groups."

/Lew

A few years ago, this state passed a law that cops have to note your race when they give you any kind of citation or warning.

A year later, the results were tabulated, and it was heralded from the rooftops that our cops are most certainly not racists because the numbers were strictly in line with demographics.

I used to work with this guy, we'll just call him Blue. Blue was a black man. A very large black man. A great guy (Some of my best friends . . . ) but had the look of a person you really wouldn't want to meet in a dark alley.

He said, "Yeah, I get pulled over just as often as i used to, but now, they just let me go."

Lewis snipped-for-privacy@panix1.panix.com3/10/05 10: snipped-for-privacy@panix.com

Is that why getting yourself arrested for criminal possession of oregano was a participatory sport in the New York City '60's? You might find this hard to believe, but American cops, brilliant and professional as we all know them to be, are not necessarily the brightest lights on the Christmas tree.

Michael

Lewis snipped-for-privacy@panix1.panix.com3/10/05 17: snipped-for-privacy@panix.com

Nor is he. In fact....

You have intuited the reason why I keep it off.

I am in full agreement with Jim, Sasha, and Lew here. When we're done training the Iraqi police force.....but from our main purpose we digress.

Oh, good. Another right ripe for abridgement and anniliation.

That's what I always say.

Michael

And that is good, IMHO. When your brightest ones dream of becoming cops you know its time to start learning another language.

Sasha

Alex ChaihorskyPNPYd.17242$ snipped-for-privacy@newssvr21.news.prodigy.com3/13/05

Good pernt. I concur wholeheartedly. (And for what it's worth, I *am* learning another language.)

Michael