Absinthe (WormWood) Making a comeback in US and Europe - linked to convulsions, madness, and death.

California Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs ^

[chance33_98]

Absinthe

After a long absence, the liqueur absinthe is making a comeback. A recent news report noted that the

wormwood-based liqueur, long declared illegal in most countries, has become popular in underground

circles in Europe and the United States. The drink was popular among artists and writers at the end of

the 19th century and has been linked to convulsions, madness, and death.

Absinthe is an anise-flavored liqueur distilled with oil of wormwood, a leafy herb. Absinthe also

contains flavorful herbs such as hyssop, lemon balm, and angelica. Wormwood is

Artemisia

absinthum

. The active ingredient is thujone, a neurotoxin. The drink is distinguished by its blue-

green clarity, due to its chlorophyll content. It was traditionally served with water and a cube of

sugar; the sugar cube was placed on an "absinthe spoon" and the liquor was drizzled over the

sugar into the glass of water. The sugar helped take the bitter edge from the absinthe; when

poured into the water, the liquor turned milky white.

Wormwood had been used medicinally since the Middle Ages, to exterminate tapeworms in

the abdomen while leaving the human host uninjured and even rejuvenated by the experience.

At the end of the 18th century, the herb became recreational as people discovered they could

get high from it. However, it was unacceptably bitter.

An undocumented distiller found a solution by inventing absinthe, which delivered both the

herb and alcohol in a beverage with a flavor resembling licorice. The most well-known maker of

absinthe was distiller Henri-Louis Pernod. Absinthe became popular among the cultural

community in 1890s Paris, with Vincent Van Gogh, Paul Verlaine, and Oscar Wilde among its

most ardent imbibers.

Side effects from consumption of wormwood include renal failure, convulsions, involuntary

evacuations, abnormal respiration, and foaming at the mouth. Patients hospitalized in Paris for

absinthe intoxication were noted to suffer from seizures, chest effusion, reddish urine, and

kidney congestion.

Around the turn of the century, it was noted that heavy absinthe users had a propensity toward

madness and suicide. By the 1910s absinthe became banned in the Western world, along with

opiates, cocaine, and cannabis. In the United States, it became banned in 1912. Interestingly,

however, the current U.S. Customs restrictions on the importation of absinthe only date to

1958. Absinthe is still available in Spain, Portugal, and the Czech Republic, where it is quite

trendy among patrons of bars and coffeehouses. It is also legal in Britain and reportedly is

available in Andorra and Denmark.

After absinthe was banned, imitations containing anise and other legal herbs in place of

wormwood, appeared. The most well known is Pernod, which is very much like absinthe but

without the wormwood. The similarity is only in color and taste; Pernod is without the mind-

numbing characteristics of absinthe. The practice of adding aromatic bitters to cocktails also

derives from a nostalgia for contraband wormwood.

Source:

WHAT IS ABSINTHE? And what does it have to do with New Orleans?

by Vicki Richman

and Chuck Taggart

---

Page 3

2

Facts About Absinthe

The word absinthe is derived from the Greek absinthion, meaning "undrinkable."

Wormwood is mentioned in the bible a dozen times, including the Revelation of St. John:

"And the third part of the waters became wormwood, and many men died of the waters

because they became bitter."

The Russian word for absinthe is chernobyl.

Leaves of the absinthe plant are an effective deterrent to vermin. Thomas Tusser, in his

1577 book

July's Husbandry

, notes "Where chamber is sweeped, and wormwood is strown,

no flea for his life dare abide to be known."

Pliny the Elder reported that the champions of Roman chariot races were given a cup of

absinthe soaked in wine as a reminder that even victory has its bitter side.

The "Purl" of Tudor England was a drink composed of hot ale and wormwood. Samuel

Pepys mentions drinking it in his diaries.

At the turn of the century, the Pernod Fils distillery in Pontarlier, France produced 30,000

liters of absinthe a day and shipped it around the world.

The Pernod plant was struck by lightning in 1901, causing an alcohol fire that raged out of

control for four days. Hundreds of thousands of gallons of burning absinthe were discharged

into the Doubs River, flavoring it with anise for miles downstream.

Celebrated absinthe drinkers included the painters Lautrec, Gauguin, Manet, Van Gogh and

Picasso, along with the writers Rimbaud, Verlaine, Oscar Wilde, Edgar Allen Poe and Jack

London.

Thujone, the principal active ingredient in absinthe, is chemically similar to THC, and is

thought to attach to the same receptors in the brain.

Source:

Absinthe, History in a Bottle

, by Barnaby Conrad III (1988, Chronicle Books)

[Wm Bach]

I can't believe it...40 posts and nobody said it:
Drinking it makes you absinthe minded.

Freepers have better self control than I realized.

[weegee]

To me, the case against absinthe was always WOD. Other substances were banned in subsequent decades but I am unaware of anything banned for consumption earlier.

This isn't to justify legalization (of Absinthe or other drugs/attitude execting chemicals) but just my perception.

I have a brewing encyclopedia from the middle of the 19th century and it had a recipe for absinthe. The brewing process was 2 years and I doubt that the novices that are home brewing are letting it go that long. Czech Republic and some other nations have commercial brand bottled Absinthe.

I seem to recall that the brewing book said that recipes vary and that several of the ingredients were supposed to be toxic. No mention was made of hallucinagenic properties (or dillusional visions). There was also a recipe for fermented milk (although I think that it is supposed to distill to a clear alcohol).

Brewing/fermentation is a simple technology. The technology has been lost and regained several times. Fermentation is part of the natural decay breakdown of fruits but it must be distilled in order to collect the concentrated essence for human consumption.

[Age of Reason]

The stuff tastes like turpentine

So does gin.

[weegee]

You guys could make a drug thread out of dog show.

Now that would be entertainment!

Man, that's good "labrador"!

[wardaddy]

I am pretty adept at fermentation myself. Buck is easy to make with some fruits...citrus kicks off quickest...or oddly tomatoes....a little bread or yeast and lots of sugar and a fair amount of water....then just place it in a fairly warm place and wait 4-7 days. Be sure to let the air out daily or it can explode from the fermentation gas build-up. I have never distilled any buck but I think you basically just heat it up and then filter the steam and collect the condensation essentially.

When consumed be prepared for stomach gas. It's quite yeasty.

[Publius]

Absinthe makes the heart grow fonder.

[cicero's_son]

The articles in there are leftie urban fluff written by Sex In The City types who wish they were men and celebrate the right to abortion...

I'd agree, though I would add that the very point of these magazines (and a good deal of our popular culture) is to mold women into homosexual men. And don't think for a moment that they won't succeed.

In the new universal homo-aesthetic, the ideal female body type is a lean-hipped, muscled "mini-man" with a couple of silicone mounds in place of the honking pecs. The important skills these magazines impart to young women include selecting the right lube for anal sex, improving one's fellating technique, getting away with adultery, and coasting through life for as long as possible without any meaningful human commitments.

Not that men have fared any better. As askel5 has pointed out on another thread, male tourists from "flyover country" who come to places like New Orleans or New York generally dress themselves (unknowingly) in the clothes that the urban gay elite were wearing 2 seasons ago.

It's pitiful.

Two virtues that were once essential to our civilization have become nearly impossible to sustain: chastity in women and dignity in men.

[wardaddy]

I am one of those rare folks who actually likes the juniper taste of gin...with olives.

[2Trievers]

LOL ... Isn't it a GREAT painting?

And don't forget corks while we're at it ... after all they keep the absinthe from evaporating! &;-)

[Wm Bach]

Absinthe of evidence is not evidence of absinthe.

[discostu]

I had absinthe once (taking the 5th on the obvious questions). It has got to be the most foul tasting stuff I ever had. Could bairly manage to choke it down quick enough to get a buzz. And since the basic ingredients are THC and booze the buzz you get is pretty much the same as smoking a joint and doing a shot. Not really sure what the big deal is.

[wardaddy]

I have much more clarity about the chastity issue when it comes to own daughters. I once long ago viewed chastity as a conquest (ashamedly). Most women's mags purport to be all about the new independent woman but they exist strictly from advertising that is designed to sell things which will make them more attractive to men and thus in the end dependent on us to varying degrees.

The teen versions of these rags are incredibly offensive. They design these rags for tawdry women and market them to post pubescent teen girls. There is not even a pretense of dignity anymore.

[Tribune7]

Pernod was the drink of choice for the French Foreign Legion.

[weegee]

The book on Absinthe indicates that an active ingredient is chemically similar to THC, but it is not THC.

[weegee]

What does the modern French army drink? What ever it is seems to make them quick to propose surrendering...

[Delbert]

involuntary evacuations does not sound like fun to me.
ooops I crapped my pants is not a good way to cap off the evening!

[wardaddy]

I have a hard time taking anyone's comments on absinthe who thinks there's such a thing as absinthe without wormwood seriously.

Pernod is basically absinthe without the wormwood. It is named after Henri-Louis Pernod, an individual who ran an absinthe factory in France in the early 1800s. As a substitute for wormwood, the modern drink Pernod uses increased amounts of aniseed. Ricard is the name of another modern wormwood-less absinthe.

The above second paragraph was taken from an Absinthe FAQ on the net. Just do like I did AJ. Go to Google.com and type in in "modern absinthe" and hit the "enter" key on your keyboard. It's not hard.

[wardaddy]

Are you stating that Thujone is the same as tetrahydrocannabinol delta 8 or delta 9? Hmmmm.

[Billthedrill]

ooops I crapped my pants is not a good way to cap off the evening!

Admit it - you never tried it.

[truenospinzone]

You beat me to it...I love that painting.