Hotel Cocaine Stars Answer Our Burning Q: How Do You Fake-Snort All That Powder?

Now that we’re a few episodes into MGM+‘s Hotel Cocaine, it’s time to answer the question: How do the members of the 1970s drama fake-snort all that prop powder?

Answer, according to Mark Feuerstein and Michael Chiklis: They don’t.

“The special stagecraft of inhaling fake cocaine is that you go right in, and you actually just inhale nut powder — or lactose powder, which is what we use,” Feuerstein tells TVLine. The Royal Pains alum plays Mutiny Hotel owner Burton Greenberg in the series; the character’s hippie nature and enthusiasm for expanding his horizons, shall we say, means he’s willing to dabble in a variety of substances. Therefore, Feuerstein spent a lot of filming time with his face in a mountain of bogus blow.

“And then later, at your hotel, after 17 hours of shooting,” he continues, laughing, “you feel something in your mouth and nose. And you’re like, ‘Am I stuffed up? Do I have a cold? Oh no, that’s just the nut powder, congealing in my sinuses.’ Good times.”

As Drug Enforcement Administration Agent Zulio, Chiklis has far fewer reasons to inhale. But he remembers other jobs — such as the 1989 film Wired, in which he played John Belushi — where the fictitious flake was made of harsher stuff.

“It’s better, nut powder, I guess, because we used to use Vitamin B and insolitol—” he says.

Feuerstein’s jaw drops. “Oh my God!”

“— Which is a baby laxative,” Chiklis continues. “So at the end of a long day of shooting, I ended up in the toilet.”

As Feuerstein laughs loudly, Chiklis adds: “How we’ve progressed. You see how far we’ve come?”

Hotel Cocaine airs Sundays at 10/9c on MGM+.