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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 10 of 10. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Quintal on June 7, 2007, at 23:06:02
The Absinthe I ordered arrived on Tuesday so I decided to indulge myself a bit. Smells and tastes like aniseed balls (I hate aniseed) but somehow it's bearable, not syrupy and cloying like I imagined it might be. It's a lighter intoxication than with regular alcohol - the so called 'clarity high' produced by the thujone in wormwood, a GABA-A receptor antagonist which can block some of the effects of alcohol. Most sources seem to claim Absinthe doesn't cause hallucinations and that's probably true for occasional drinkers. I think some of the party-poopers go a bit to far in debunking the myth though because in small amounts Absinthe can produce a state of mellow introspection not too dissimilar to marijuana.
How to louche absinthe properly using a fountain:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tWyDxiOz70
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ax11vjdzC78&mode=related&search=The history of Absinthe:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wqW1IgSKmIhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absinthe
Q
Posted by Phillipa on June 8, 2007, at 12:38:03
In reply to Absinthe - Dancing With The Green Fairy, posted by Quintal on June 7, 2007, at 23:06:02
82% alchohol? What are you taking it for? Love Phillipa
Posted by Quintal on June 8, 2007, at 14:18:44
In reply to Re: Absinthe - Dancing With The Green Fairy » Quintal, posted by Phillipa on June 8, 2007, at 12:38:03
Absinthe's an alcoholic beverage like whisky, rum or gin Phillipa, I don't think I said I was using it to treat a medical condition. The one I ordered seems to be 72% alcohol (I assume that's what 'abv' means?) with a high thujone content.
http://www.eabsinthe.com/p55/Abisinthe-Amer-72abv-70cl/product_info.html
Q
Posted by Sigismund on June 8, 2007, at 22:30:23
In reply to Re: Absinthe - Dancing With The Green Fairy » Phillipa, posted by Quintal on June 8, 2007, at 14:18:44
Well, I'd like to treat my medical condition with this...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vin_Mariani
It was good enough for the Pope and it was developed in the C19.
Posted by Phillipa on June 8, 2007, at 23:07:09
In reply to Re: Absinthe - Dancing With The Green Fairy, posted by Sigismund on June 8, 2007, at 22:30:23
So the real oldies where using cocaine. Something to think about. Love PJ
Posted by Sigismund on June 9, 2007, at 1:00:37
In reply to Re: Absinthe - Dancing With The Green Fairy » Sigismund, posted by Phillipa on June 8, 2007, at 23:07:09
Queen Victoria too.
Wretched C21.
Posted by Honore on June 9, 2007, at 1:30:36
In reply to Re: Absinthe - Dancing With The Green Fairy » Phillipa, posted by Quintal on June 8, 2007, at 14:18:44
Yet according to the Wiki article you cite, or possibly the one on thujone, there's actually very little thujone in absinthe-- despite the claims of manufacturers to the contrary.
Even a bottle from the 1890's, which contained more thujone than bottles made in recent attempts to synthesize mixtures like that of 19th c. absinthe, only had a fairly small amount. I inferred from some things in the article that modern absinthe tends to have less thujone than that available during the heyday of absinthe.
How much does your absinthe claim to have?
Honore
Posted by Quintal on June 9, 2007, at 14:05:56
In reply to Re: Absinthe - Dancing With The Green Fairy » Quintal, posted by Honore on June 9, 2007, at 1:30:36
The amount of wormwood used (and hence thujone content) varies greatly between Absinthe manufacturers and the traditional French recipes were indeed lower in thujone than most of the modern Czech Absinthes. Also the sugar burning ritual popular in the Czech republic is said to be a largely modern invention becoming popular in the late 1980s and early nineties. In the 1970s it seems some researchers came up with theories and estimates of the thujone content of Absinthe which later proved excessive, and by a sort of backwards logic some seem to have taken this as proof that Absinthe has no psychoactive effect. It's usually claimed that the mild psychoactive effects of Absinthe are due to the blend of herbs used and not purely down to the thujone/wormwood content. I think most people familiar with it must always have known the claims that Absinthe causes open-eye hallucinations and frank psychosis after a casual tipple were untrue.
According to the label, the Absinthe I ordered contains approx. 30mg/l thujone making it one of the most thujone-rich French Absinthes on the market. I chose it for that reason, and also because it's produced according to one of the traditional French Lemercier recipes.
Here is a list of thujone content analysis according to brand:
http://www.absinthe-dealer.com/assets/own/absinthe-ranking.htm
Q
Posted by Quintal on June 9, 2007, at 14:21:10
In reply to Re: Absinthe - Dancing With The Green Fairy, posted by Sigismund on June 8, 2007, at 22:30:23
Sounds like it would sharpen the mind and invigorate the spirit the Siggy? There was a section on Vin Mariani in "The Pursuit of Oblivion, a Global History of Narcotics". Queen Victoria was a fan and she was also partial to hemp so I believe. As you said elsewhere, all of the most effective antidepressants have been and gone.
Q
Posted by Quintal on June 9, 2007, at 20:10:40
In reply to Re: Absinthe - Dancing With The Green Fairy » Quintal, posted by Honore on June 9, 2007, at 1:30:36
I've just re-read your post Honore. It seems you were saying that modern Absinthes have less thujone than the original? The reverse seems to be true - according to the Wiki article on thujone the highest concentration found in a vintage Absinthe was 6mg/l. Most modern Absinthes contain at least 10mg/l and some as much as 35mg/l. Also the Wiki article seems to imply that thujone does not cause hallucinations because it acts on GABA receptors. One of the active ingredients in Amantia Muscarina 'magic mushrooms' called muscimol is a potent GABA-A receptor agonist and definitely causes hallucinations. Obviously thujone is an antagonist while muscimol is an agonist, but it seems likely that thujone is capable of having some psychoactive effect, especially when combined with alcohol and other substances. It would be interesting to know the pharmacology of alkaloids in the other herbs used to flavour Absinthe.
I sometimes feel the debunkers (as is often the case) are a little overzealous.
Q
This is the end of the thread.
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