BETEL, FOR SOME REASON

Last night I remembered betel quids. A slice of areca nut (buah pinang), enfolded in betel leaf (daun sirih) with a small dab of slaked lime (kapor; too much and your mouth hurts, trust me). The effect is an euphoria with a heightened sense of alertness, that maintains for a good two or three hours followed by a gradual mild torporific after glow. Basically a feeling of wellbeing coupled with increased mental vagueness.
Contra-indicated, I would say, for anything requiring mathematics.
This is based on personal experience.

There's also gobs of bright red spit.
And staining of the teeth.
Plus oral cancer.

Nowadays it's consider a bit gauche and country bumpkin to chew betel quids, but up till the nineteen hundreds it was very common in certain cultures, and offering betel to a visitor was considered the height of hospitable behaviour.

Spittoons were more common then.

POHON PINANG

It surprises me that young Americans, always keen to find something new to get them high, haven't started chewing betel en masse. They've already discovered qat, medwakh, yerba maté, kratom, and toad-licking. Or maybe they have, and that accounts for why they're so horrendously bad at math.


It would probably be too weak and mild for older Americans, though. Those seem to prefer vodka, methamphetamine, crack cocaine, and fentanyl. These help them get through their work week at the high tech companies or the steel mills, in addition to being considerably cheaper and easier to find than medical insurance or therapy.

I myself indulge in caffeine, nicotine, and highly refined sugar.
In addition to bucket loads of chili paste.
I am a rank amateur.


==========================================================================
NOTE: Readers may contact me directly:
LETTER BOX.
All correspondence will be kept in confidence.
==========================================================================