We used to break off pieces of them and smoke them when I was a kid. It was a pretty harsh smoke, so you had to take care not to tear your throat out.

We broke then up and used them for play logs and built forts in the dirt.

One Christmas my husband and I were so broke we could not afford a tree, so I decorated a tumbleweed with Chinaberries [link to rangeplants.tamu.edu] which looked like little golden balls. And some other stuff too. But it make a cool looking tree.