6. Iq'mik

~~I tried iq'mik for the first and last time today. It's a mixture of tobacco leaves and "powdered punk" that's commonly chewed throughout the Yukon Delta. I've heard of it before, so I asked the guy at the store about it. His face lit up... "You're a teacher and you want iq'mik?" he asked. I told him I was just curious, and he told me to come back today. When I went, it seemed sort of shady- the guy pulling out a clump of it wrapped in foil- but it wasn't really shady. Iq'mik is completely legal, though it is a serious health hazard to people here for a number of reasons. He warned me that it is much stronger than Copenhagen snuff. When I got home, I mixed it with some water like he told me to and put it in the side of my mouth. About 15 minutes of this stuff and it was the weirdest and most powerful tobacco rush I've ever felt- like putting a whole tin of Skoal in your mouth and smoking about five camel nonfilters at once. I hurled.