Does Mia mistake Vincent's heroin for cocaine because it's in a baggie rather than a balloon?

Question

In Pulp Fiction, when Vincent buys heroin from Lance, he informs Vincent that he only has baggies to hold his heroin:

I'm outta balloons. Is a baggie all right?

Later, Mia mistakes the heroin for cocaine and immediately over doses.

We see Mia use cocaine in two separate scenes and it is implied that she is a regular user due to the ease and familiarity that she cuts and snorts it...as if she does it all of the time.

How could a regular cocaine user such as Mia not know that she wasn't snorting cocaine?
I am assuming that heroin is normally stored in balloons due to Lance's earlier dialogue. Mia looked quite excited when she saw the baggie and had no reservations about snorting it.

Did Mia just assume that it was cocaine due to the fact that it was in a baggie rather than a balloon?

Answer 1

Yes, what Vince buys is absolutely heroin. Yes, Mia absolutely believes what Vince has is cocaine.

But wait. Do they really look the same? I thought heroin was brown (as in, "Mr. Brownstone", the Guns And Roses classic), and coke was white?

Well, low-grade heroin (from the Middle East) is brown. It'as ideal for smoking because it's not very soluble and burns at a lower temperature.

High-grade heroin (from the Far East) is white. Much more pure. Ideal for injecting or snorting. Yes, you can snort heroin. In small amounts.

Vince, if you recall, asked for the high-grade stuff. Unless you have specific tools at your disposal (like a microscope or a burner), it's very difficult to tell high-grade heroin and cocaine apart. So, usually, you put heroin in a balloon and coke in a bag. Most drug users will know the distinction. However, if it's not your stash it's always best to ask or do a small taste test, because they have distinctive tastes. Mia, likely, just saw the bag and assumed it was coke.

Answer 2

It seems so.

The script indicates that she thinks it's cocaine...

But wait, her fingers touch something else. Those fingers bring out a plastic bag with white powder inside, the madman that Vincent bought earlier from Lance. Wearing a big smile, Mia brings the bag of heroin up to her face.

MIA: Disco! Vince, you little cola nut, you've been holding out on me.

Mia has the unbeknownst-to-her heroin cut up into big lines on her glass top coffee table. Taking her trusty hundred dollar bill like a human Dust-Buster, she quickly snorts the fat line.

CLOSEUP – MIA

Her head JERKS back. Her hands go to her nose (which feels like it's on fucking fire), something is terribly wrong.

Then... the rush hits...

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How could a regular cocaine user such as Mia not know that she wasn't snorting cocaine?

Obviously, this is somewhat opinion based but if you see something that looks like what you're expecting, familiarity/confirmation bias would lead to you ignore any possible misidentification issues.

We tend to see what we want to see!

Answer 3

I agree that the scene was probably inaccurate.

Good cocaine, usually referred to as 'fishscale', looks like the picture on the left; White colored heroin, often referred to as 'china white' looks like the one on the right. (click to enlarge)

They're both white powders, but they have different textures from different flake/grain sizes, and cocaine is shiny, while heroin is not. Both have clumping properties, and the type of clumps they form are similarly different.

Furthermore, the two have different smells. In my limited experience, and confirmed by poking around google, white colored heroin has no smell or a faint vinegar smell¹, whereas cocaine has a chemical-ly smell, sometimes compared to rocks or gasoline². The format of both will, of course, change depending upon how badly they are cut, and with what.

I would assume, given her status, that Mia had access to excellent cocaine. However, the theory I have come up with that best makes the movie make sense is that she's used to cocaine that is greatly cut. 'Fishscale' cocaine is usually of high purity, and is expected to come in a rocked form. When cut, fishscale cocaine it will be cut just slightly with something numbing like lidocaine, in order to keep it numbing if you test it by skin or gum absorption, and then 're-rocked' to make it back into a solid chunk, instead of powder. This is where all the jibberjabber about cocaine users requiring razor blades comes from - they have to chop their rock into a powder to snort it. However, highly and badly cut cocaine by a dealer that is not concerned with the appearance of good cocaine may be cut to the point where it becomes a straight white powder.

Thus, the situation that makes the scene make most sense to me is that Mia is used to terribly cut cocaine, and thus mistakes the white powdered heroin for the low quality white powder cocaine she is used to.

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^{1, 2}: Source links removed as I don't have enough rep to post multiple links. Google "china white smell" and "fishscale cocaine smell".

Answer 4

I think the scene was just inaccurate.

From experts on the subject, I have heard that Cocaine usually has a distinct, smoky smell that any regular cocaine user would recognize. Even if they look alike, high grade heroin does not smell right.

If she were desperate or intoxicated, she might not notice, but she would have to be very, very careless.