This is a smoking implement. The chillum is a graded cylinder of baked clay that is typically approximately six inches long and has a diameter of about an inch at the top and half an inch at the bottom.
To reduce airflow, a pyramid-shaped piece of clay is jammed point-down in the cylinder.
Tobacco, cannabis, or a combination of tobacco and hashish fills the upper portion of the cylinder (charas).
Smoking is a social pastime in which people transfer the chillum from one person to the next.
The bottom of the chillum is covered with a safai, which is frequently passed down from generation to generation and dipped in water to soften the smoke.
According to Chillum etiquette, one should not put one's lips directly on the bottom of the instrument, since this would make it unclean.
As a result, the chillum is usually held between the fingers, sometimes in very symbolic and ornate ways.
Smoking the chillum is a component of many ascetics' daily lives, a communal activity, and a way of imitating the deity Shiva, the archetypal ascetic, who is well-known for his drug addiction.
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