Thujone Booster for Lucid Absinthe?

Hello, I heard that the herb Sage has a very high amount of Thujone. Is it possible to mix Sage and Absinthe together to increase the Thujone level of the drink?

Qwazar | (removed)@aol.com
Jul 9, 10:05 PM

A week ago, a poster posed the above question on a Lucid thread and it got me thinking. To start with, the question sounded like the classic line from one of those thujone is irrelevant campaigners – the guys whose line echoes the mantra of the new era of media-crazed absinthe entrepreneurs (aka. historians, chemists, etc). The script these posters use online tries to suggest that if you can’t get high from a Thanksgiving Dinner with sage stuffing, how come you can from absinthe?

Cute, huh?

This is, of course, a real turkey as it fails to acknowledge the purity of the terpene in alcohol (i), but it’s a simple argument and it delivers their message. A message that has helped absinthe – or as some say a thujone-lite faux absinthe – onto US soil.

Then I thought again. Maybe this was a real question. A quick scout round the web reveals that infusing real Artemisia Absinthium (Grande Wormwood) in Absente – the original thujone-free, USA legal absinthe – was common years before Lucid was even dreamed up! Folks have long been using original absinthe herbs as a kind of thujone booster!

I also see that many people are also using absinthe herbal preparations to make thujone rich-absinthe drink in the comfort of their own homes out of high proof alcohol – see, for example, sites like Absolutely Absinthe

… or Green Devil:

I wonder what it tastes like? Anyone got any experience? Perhaps adding one of these preparations to Lucid Absinthe will just make the drink more delightfully bitter? After all, we know that Lucid’s manufacturer (coincidentally the leading anti-thujone “researcher”) has not only dumbed down the thujone, but also the traditional anise to suit US standards.

Can’t help but wonder. Also, don’t forget the next time you meet an online persona who talks about sage, turkey dinners and thujone, ask yourself this: is this some guy reading from a prepared script, or just a guy who simply wants thujone in his absinthe…. Not an unreasonable request… but one that I’m afraid the USA won’t agree to.

(i) Kurt Hostettmann est professeur à l’école de pharmacie de Genève-Lausanne. Pour lui, l’absinthe est avant tout une plante médicinale excellente pour la digestion. C’est seulement lorsqu’elle est mélangée à de l’alcool qu’elle laisse vraiment échapper cette fameuse thuyone.

Mansinthe, Mugs & Underwear

It seems that the long awaited Mansinthe, inspired by tasteful US celebrity Marilyn Manson, is now available:

There are two pricey prereleases: a limited edition for 300 euros and a special signed edition with a different label available from Gallery Schenk in Cologne that sells for 500 euros.

http://www.luxist.com/2007/07/13/are-you-ready-for-mansinthe/

Manson is coming out with the real stuff, Mansinthe. Of course, it will not be available in the states due to another set of antiquated laws.

http://tambulounge.com/2007/07/15/mansinthe-the-official-absinthe-of-marilyn-manson/

We all know that Marilyn Manson is something of an absinthe fan just like so many others:

 

 

The world of absinthe is full of weird and wonderful things of course – we’ve commented before on the zoomorphic absinthe pitchers, but here’s something which surprised me – as well as a cute coffee mug, the Wormwood Society also sell absinthe underwear. Whatever next? Absinthe flavoured condoms? As Kenny Everrett’s character Cupid Stunt used to say: “It’s all done in the best possible taste.”

Here’s something from the opposite end of the taste spectrum, An Absinthe Votive Candle, available from Barney’s in New York,  made with star anise and grand wormwood:

Emil Filla – Still Life with Absinthe & Fan?

Zátiší s kytarou

A new exhibition of the work of Czech Cubist master Emil Filla is due to open at Prague Castle Riding School. Whether or not his Still Life with Absinthe & Fan (1914) will be exhibited remains to be seen. I have never seen it, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

In the meantime absinthe art lovers migh care to look at this beautiful modern piece, painted by the author of an interesting new absinthe blog:

http://www.absinthedrinkers.org/labels/art.html

Absinthe Hallucinations?

Žižkov Television Tower

They say the famous crawling babies – on the Prague televsion tower – will start to move if you drink too much Czech absinth! Prague is full of summertime revellers right now, and the strong Czech absinth is flowing like mountain streams during the spring melt.

“After the first glass, you see things as you wish they were. After the second, you see things as they are not. Finally, you see things as they really are, and that is the most horrible thing in the world.”

– Oscar Wilde on Absinthe

A word of caution from Auckland film maker James Blick

The hostel I am staying in, however, is neither magnificent nor regal. I went for the cheap dorm option, along with teams of drunk Irishmen on some sort of alcohol-fuelled “weekend-getaway” package. I seem to be the only one in my dorm who is not in Prague for the cheap beer or absinthe, and so sleeping has not been easy as highly intoxicated Irishmen stumble in at all hours, laughing and knocking over heavy things. The guy who sleeps above me came in at six this morning so drunk on absinthe that he was hallucinating and rolling around all morning.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/4120055a20517.html

The tale ends with the sight of Italian handcuffed to his bunk and a nine-millimeter revolver! The spirit of Alfred Jarry lives on 😉

Update: Apparently the Green Fairy takes her summer vacations in Portugal:

From Stuart Cullen <stuartcullen.hotmail.com>

Just a little extra info from an experienced Absinthe drinker. I have drunk three different types of absinthe (two Portugese [50% and 58% alcohol by volume] and One Czech [55% by volume]) on innumerable occasions — usually 4+ European shots a night.

In Portugal, to get its most extreme effect I was told to add sugar to the shot, light the absinthe, blow it out, drink it through a straw, cup my hand over the glass and inhale as much of the fumes as I could. I am sure this would be potent with any alcoholic drink. I have drunk stronger vodka [63% by volume] yet it has never had the effect of absinthe.

I have experienced one ‘hallucination’ — I was once positively sure that a girl was dancing beside me for several minutes when there was no-one there.