Absinthe - The Green Fairy

 

THE ABSINTHE EFFECT

 

This topic is a bit fuzzy to me, but the best description that I’ve found of what the absinthe effect really is explains it as a kind of lucid intoxication. This would be the reason why absinthe was the liquor of choice for so many artists during the Belle Epoque, so they could still work even though they were drunk. Some people think that the absinthe effect means that you are hallucinating or getting a high like from cannabis, but that is not so. Absinthe isn´t, and never was a drug or a hallucinogenic.

 

 

 

The formost (and maybe most plausible) explanation is that the thujone acts like a stimulant (strengthens sensory input to the brain) at the same time as the alcohol acts as a depressant (weakens sensory input to the brain). The combination of these two could even each other out and result in the clear minded intoxication that is called the absinthe effect. Beside the effect of the thujone and alcohol we have other herbs (foremost anise and fennel) which also have a stimulating effect, and others that have a relaxing effect. I´ve never heard of any specific chemicals though, if you know anything about this then leave a comment! If, however, this is true then it´s not unthinkable that some absinthes will give you a ”better absinthe effect” than others, depending on the recipe.

 

 

 

My own little hypothesis is that, in addition to the reasons mentioned above, to sit down with good friends and something good to drink gets you in a good mood, and since the French ritual takes some time to preform you are forced to relax and have a good time. Not totally unlike having a beer, a cup of tea or coffee with some friends. This could contribute to the cozy feeling many experience while drinking absinthe. Then, of course, we shouldn’t forget the powerful effect of the placebo-effect and absinthes mystical reputation, I’m sure those do their part as well. 

 

 

 

 

 

ABSINTHISM

 

Absinthism is the disorder that the anti-absinthe-movement made up and referred to in the early 20th century to get absinthe banned. Symptoms of absinthism could be hallucinations, aggression and violence, vomiting, dementia, tremors, blindness, problem sleeping, convulsions and mental deterioration, not totally unlike bad TV today. Many of these symptoms could be explained by the alcohol, alcohol withdrawal (among alcoholics) or they were just made up. The term was coined by dr. Valentine Magnan and thought mainly to be caused by the thujone that can be found in wormwood (read more about that here). It was proclaimed that absinthe contained massive amounts of the stuff which thereby made absinthe into a dangerous poison! Dr. Magnan made very flawed studies on wormwood oil (contains about 50-60% thujone) but no research on absinthe itself. What people didn’t know at the time is that thujone doesn´t distill well and most of it is left in the still (or so I’m told). Ted Breoux (more about him later) have a theory that it might even evaporate from the plant while it is dried. Dr. Magnan is said to have given the following description of absinthism:

 

“In absinthism, the hallucinating delirium is most active, most terrifying, sometimes provoking reactions of an extremely violent and dangerous nature… the absinthist cries out, pales, loses consciousness and falls; the features contract, the jaws clench, the pupils dilate, the eyes roll up, the limbs stiffen, a jet of urine escapes, gas and waste material are brusquely expulsed.”

 

 

 

In the products which brags with a very high thujone content, an extra large amount of wormwood is needed, and if it´s is a crapsinthe (which it probably is) I’m guessing that they might even have added wormwood oil. But let’s not forget that the highest level of thujone allowed is 35 mg/l, and in the U.S 10 mg/l is considered thujone free, so even a ”maximum thujone content will be a very small amount of thujone, very far from ever effecting you in any way. I´m guessing that the producers knows that, but your regular Joe probably doen´t and so it can be used to sell colored vodka to him to make more money, while he probably think it will make him trip and hallucinate.

 

 

 

As was mentioned in an earlier post (Absinthe 101 - Part 2) some distillers during the late 19th century used poisonous chemicals to make a absinthe-like product which of course would contribute to the conviction that this disorder was real, and we must not forget about the simultaneous use of different drugs, like opium for example. It was said that the thujone from the wormwood was the main cause for absinthism, and of course absinthe contained ridiculous amounts of it and hence made the drink poisonous beyond compare to ingest. A few studies were conducted on pure wormwood oil (about 50-60% of it is thujone). These studies showed that the thujone-rich oil WAS harmful, but no studies was conducted on actual absinthe (and there is a crucial difference there, let me tell you).You see, thujone has a hard time dissolving during the production process and so the finished product contains a very small dose of thujone. There have been studies done on absinthes which are promoting themselves to have a very high thujone content (35 mg/l), and in several cases they don’t contain any thujone at all. It doesn’t even matter if they contain 35 mg/l, or even 100 mg/l, you wouldn’t feel any effect from the thujone what so ever. But the producers want to tell you that they have a high thujone content so you will fall victim for the placebo effect and imagine you can feel it’s effect, or even get high off of it. You can read more about thujone here, should you be interested.