Huerta88, I agree with you there. At 1:45 this morning, I wasn’t sure what you were trying to say.
A recent study indicates that patients who were told they were receiving expensive pain medication reported a greater effect than those who were told they were receiving a cheaper drug, although both groups received identical sugar pills. In other words, higher cost equaled higher effectiveness. I wouldn’t be surprised if there were a similar placebo effect with absinthe.
I had read a lot of absinthe, both here, and on the web, and had breifly considered buying some from overseas, but since the stuff is now available in the US… So I have some of this: http://www.drinklucid.com/
Several interesting tidbits after drinking down three glasses, plus a shot:
The taste is NOT nasty at all, despite what people say. It is a licorice-y, minty, slightly sweet (with the sugar cube) concoction that I like better than both Sambuca and Pernod. definitely way better than Jaeger IMHO.
A straight shot is eye-opening, literally. It reminds me sort of licorice schnapps. There is a bright burst of heat from the alcohol, and then a rich, lingering licorice flavor.
I am not sure if it is thujone or the alcohol (124 proof!) but the effects of the quanity I had were definitely different than other alcohol experiences I’ve had, and I have a had a lot. I did not feel drunk at all, but had the curious sensation that my head was detached from my body. I could concentrate, would not slur, and had organized throughs, but it was all from a point about three feet above my body.
All in all, I like this stuff a lot, and will have more. Well, I’d better like it: $70 for 750ml.
Hmmm. Absinthe of proof is not proof of absinthe. It could just be that drinking a significant amount of something that alcoholic in a short burst contributes most of the effect?
Just curious, have you or anybody else done a “blind control” test to see if it’s a psychosomatic reaction to taking absinthe? For that though you’d have to have something that tastes the same but didn’t have the thujones, not sure what you could do for that.
It would be pretty nice to be able to convince myself that I was not drunk, and have it be so. 
I have had experiences with lots and lots of alcohol, and can’t remember ever having one like this, but I am not going to write it up to the thujone just yet. It may be psychosomatic, it may be the alcohol itself (distilled from beets), it may even be the blood sugar rush from the sugar cubes. But the feeling was lightheaded during, and decidedly queasy afterwards.
I suggest urinating into the radiator of a '74 Buick LeSabre, then strain and enjoy.
Vinyl Turnip, what kind of absinthe did you drink? And do not like licorice? That would explain your distaste for the stuff…
I’ve never understood the vile reactions to the taste, either. Not everyone likes licorice, but it’s no worse than Sambuca.
You skeptics out there need to cool it. If it were mere drunkedness we were after, we’d save our money and drink Bacardi 151. Thujone makes a BIG difference. One friend compared it to cocaine. Haven’t bothered with the latter, and I can still promise that this is not your daddy’s drink.
I work at liquor store somewhere in NYC and it is possible to order the stuff. We just have to wait a while as supplies seem to run out pretty fast.
I don’t know the brand, but it is around $45 a bottle.
When we do manage to get in a shipment I’ll be sure to try a bottle. Got to know what I’m selling right?
There are two kinds of Absinthe going round Europe the genuine article which is supposed to contain wormwood and is made in France and possibly Switzerland I believe and the stuff made in E.Europe which doesn’t contain WW.
I have drank the real stuff on several occassions but have never hallucinated.
Any further discussion on this subject? I saw something called Lucid selling for 56 bucks a bottle.
Your opinions are so divergent that it’s tough to know if the buzz one gets from drinking this stuff is more like the one one gets from cough medicine with codeine or like the buzz from Everclear - which is just a very mean drunk, IMHO.
Q
Not even one Green Fairy?!
There’s really not much else to say. I used to get a ocuple bottles a year and share them with friends and the experiences ranged from just a normal drunkeness to people saying they were high like on marijuana.
For me personally I just felt drunk albeit a little more clear-headed than I would have thought for that alcohol content.
I haven’t tried Lucid yet, I just found out about it, but I say go ahead and get a bottle and try it out. Get a couple of buddies to go in with you and make a night out of it. At the very least you’ll have a fun night with friends.
And to Brainglutton, no, not even one single little green Tinkerbell even from the guys claiming they were high like if they were smoking the green buds.
If this is true, then why isn’t every hippie in the US growing wormwood and ingesting it in some way. After, all, it is an herb and it is legal to cultivate.
When you’re talking about booze and its effects, the setting in which you imbibe has a huge impact on how it makes you feel. Having a few with your friends - you feel great. Have the exact same few (note the word “few”) after the death of a loved one, and I guarentee you won’t feel the same…
PharmBoy, you make very good points, and I have no idea why people all over aren’t growing it, except that maybe the distillation process is difficult.
For what its worth, my friends and I have lots of…experience…with many things, and we really can tell the difference between…induced feelings. The friend who compared absinthe to cocaine (again, I don’t personally know about coke) did NOT know that absinthe was different; he was simply offered it as “really good liqueur.” I myself will not hesitate to call b******t if a high doesn’t live up to its promotion.
So, I guess my testimony re absinthe is subjective, but I’m not alone.
Now you’ve made me think. Perhaps wormwood isn’t more popular because it’s too easy to be poisoned? There are other psychoactive things that are widely avoided for that reason, like datura. shrugs shoulders
Thanks for an excellent post.