["The Absinthe Drinker" by the Czech painter Viktor Oliva, 1861 - 1928. Picture Source]
Absinthe Is Highly Toxic And Hallucinogenic - The Myth
Absinthe, the famous green-coloured drink for last 100 years has gained a bad reputation of being highly toxic and hallucinogenic and even being blamed for causing the illness called "absinthe madness". Production was banned in most of Europe and United States since the beginning of 20th century. Only few years ago all these bans have been lifted (just in U.S. the ban existed until 2007) after throughout scientific peer-reviewed studies debunked many urban myths that haunted this beverage. Now it is having its revival.
[The Absinthe bottle. Picture Source]
This bitter tasting drink was very popular in European bohemian circles in the end of 19th century, where it was named "The Green Fairy". Many famous artists used to indulge themselves drinking it, such as Pablo Picasso, James Joyce, Charles Baudelaire, Ernest Hemingway, Arthur Rimbaud, Vincent van Gogh, Oscar Wilde, Aleister Crowley, Edgar Allan Poe and Lord Byron. The unique ritual of drinking was developed that included specially crafted glassware and utensils. The absinthe was poured into specifically designed glass, then cool water was poured into the glass through perforated spoon that included a sugar cube - this diluted the beverage and turned its colour into yellowish.
[Old absinthe spoons. Picture Source]
Scientific analysis of samples of century old absinthe, that have survived in old sealed bottles, found out that it did contain psychoactive ingredient called thujone but the amounts of it were in such small quantities that they were very unlikely to have any effect on the drinker - you would need to drink dozens of bottles of absinthe for thujone to have intoxicating effect. Thujone is found in wormwood (Artemisia absinthium) which was one of the herbs added during production of absinthe. Wormwood has been also added in to other popular alcoholic drinks such as Vermouth or Pelinkovac. The intoxicating effects blamed on absinthe were rather caused by alcoholism than thujone, as absinthe contains between 45 to 74% of ethanol (to compare, vodka contains between 37.5% to 40% of ethanol). Also, some 19th century low quality absinthe distillers tried to skip traditional method of colouring during production by adding artificial ingredients such as harmful copper salts, which could be the reason for its toxicity.
[Traditional, old ritual of serving absinthe. Picture Source]
References:
"Absinthe", Wikipedia article.
"Thujone", Wikipedia article.
"Myth, reality and absinthe", absintheonline.com article, 2002.
"Does absinthe really cause hallucinations", howstuffworks.com article.
"a-Thujone (the active component of absinthe): ?-Aminobutyric acid type A receptor modulation and metabolic detoxification", Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2000.
"Chemical Composition of Vintage Preban Absinthe with Special Reference to Thujone, Fenchone, Pinocamphone, Methanol, Copper, and Antimony Concentrations", Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 2008.
-logic
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Very interesting. I have never heard of this. It is interesting what gets banned and what doesn't. I guess fireball is banned in a lot of countries because there is anti freeze in it. But it is legal in the United States.
Of course. It is The States lol
I've never tried it but I've just read that the sale was resumed in EU after "The recalled batches were replaced with a compliant product".
I must try it. Seems tasty
Yeah I have really gotten messed up on it several times. It was fun and you don't really need a chaser for it but it can mess you up pretty hard!
Awesome! Sounds like fun. Seems like a kind of spirit I would enjoy.
Drinking without being messup up is a drinking session being wasted (not literally) :P
Yeah that's a serious kick in the heard that stuff.
We've got it in Canada as well. I found it tasty.
The mickey was gone far too soon...never again!
I'll never learn to chew on it...slowly...like tequila. ;p
The copper would explain a lot...so would the paints et al artists were exposed to on a regular basis. Alcoholism takes on many forms as well. };-)>
Speaking of forms, Victor Oliva's expression of the curvaceous Green Fairy gives this old greenman a strong urge to try this Absinthe a time or two during the upcoming psilocybin season.
Great article @logic...UVed and following!
logyx
Good point! The paint could possibly have an influence too!
(No problem. Followed.)
Last time when I was in Prague (in June), we tried absinthe. The best place in Prague should be a small Absintherei in the city center. A really cool place to see with walls covered with old bottles. We ordered a traditional serving. The preparation is really nice to watch. But the taste of it? It's absolutely horrific for me. It's like swallowing a really sweat strong menthol flavored fire. It burns first in your mouth because of the strong menthol and second in your throat because of the high alcohol volume. The best thing there is, is to drink that glass of water you get with absinthe to wash it down :)
But anyway ... you are not in Prague every day and i would still recommend this experience to everyone visiting it. At least you can check drinking absinthe from your to do in life list :)
Sounds like a perfect place to drink it.
I will make sure that I have plenty of water around when I drink it :-)
Thanks for advice and the vote.
I lived in Germany for a few years and everywhere I went I tried to find a bottle of absinthe, especially in Eastern Europe. Through extensive research, I determined Absinthe just gets you drunk, and the only way to get that god awful taste out of your mouth is by eating pickles. Also, the sugar cube trick doesn't help with the taste at all.
Yeah, it is quite nasty :-)
Worse than gin :-)
It tastes like the Devil's taint.
I see, The Green Fairy contained Thujone.. interesting post, though i dont use alcohol..
This beverage has such a nasty taste that you do not miss anything anyway ;-)
haha
But... the floating green women...
:-)
I guess you've already been at Marsella bar: https://goo.gl/ZqeUWt
Not yet. On the list then :-)
Once I was at home eating a bread and avocado sandwich. I ate nearly half when I realized that the green on the bread was mold and not avocado smudges. It felt so disgusted that I nearly threw up. I quickly opened the freezer to find some strong alcohol to kill the fungi :p I found out that my housemate had absinthe, the strong kind. I had a shot but still felt I had to have another one to get "cleaned" properly. I ended up drunk from two shots of absent :D
I really love the special spoons by the way. I didn't know about it!
The amount of the mould you accidently consumed would be very unlikely to cause any harm to you and toxication :-)
I am not sure about 2 shots of absinthe though lol They certainly intoxicated you :-)
Thank you for this post.
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