Opium Smokers



An adolescent boy smoking opium in San Francisco's Chinatown in the 1880s. 

Opium Smokers, Java 

Two Labourers Smoking Opium 

Opium smoking in Denver, Colorado, in the late 19th century. A reclining smoker watches while another decorates the walls with scrolls. Walls of opium dens were usually covered to prevent drafts from causing the lamp to flicker. 

Opium smoking on a mat and with simple accoutrements. The man on the left is smoking tobacco with a water pipe. 

Man and Woman smoking opium ca. 1950s 

Public opium den for working-class smokers of Chinese and Thai ethnicity in Bangkok's Chinatown in the 1950s. 

This photograph of a Chinese man smoking opium with his cat in San Francisco became a best-selling souvenir postcard of that city. 

This Vietnamese smoker's elaborate layout included a hardwood tray with mother-of-pearl inlay and miniature, spittoon-shaped pots on which to rest pipe-bowls. 

Two opium smokers in Shanghai, China in the early 20th century. 

Two Vietnamese in a private smoking room furnished with an opium bed. 

While one waits, one is smoking, and the other uses a tool to clean the inside of a pipe-bowl. 

Woman smoking opium, said to be Shanghai in the 1920s. 

Confiscated opium pipes are laid out on display for journalists to view during the Shanghai Opium Conference in 1909. 

Burning Opium Pipes, Hawaii 

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Thank you to Opium Museum