From: Ilya Personne <[t--r--n] at [ccnet.com]>
Newsgroups: rec.drugs.psychedelic
Subject: Re: odd highs????
Date: Mon, 01 Dec 1997 11:13:54 -0800

No spam wrote:
> Has anyone ever heard of beetle nut?
I believe you mean "betel" (pronounced bay-tell). If you have an Indian
grocer (that's "East Indian" if you have the misfortune to live in
Amerika) in your town, ask there. They will call it "paan" and may have
ready-made "betel morsels" for sale. In which case I recommend you try
one. A "betel morsel" consists of grated betel nut, lime (the chemical,
not the fruit), candied fennel seeds, and various aromatic admixtures
such as rose-water all wrapped in the leaf of a species of pepper. The
assembled "morsel" is triangular in shape and may be pinned together
with a clove. Because of the liquid nature of some of the contents, paan
which is prepared for sale, rather than immediate consumption, is
usually wrapped in aluminum foil.

To enjoy, remove the foil wrapper and stuff the whole thing into the
side of your mouth, between the cheek and teeth. Just suck on it for a
while, enjoying the sweet, aromatic flavors. If there is a good amount
of betel it should have an underlying bitterness, too. You will salivate
freely. It is customary to swill this saliva around your mouth for a
while (to effect the sublingual absorption of the arecoline) then spit
it out. Don't be alarmed by the color of your saliva. No, you aren't
bleeding to death, betel always turns saliva bright red. When you seem
to be deriving no more satisfaction/salivation from the paan, spit the
whole thing out. (I like to chew mine a bit first but this is not
recommended for newbies).

Hmm... all this talking about paan... I think I have one left in the
fridge... Yes!... yum... slurp...

                Ilya