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[18 Mar 2005|02:14pm] abraxas The Wormwood Society LJ Community is now closed. For accurate information about absinthe please go to our web site at www.wormwoodsociety.org. We have a discussion forum set up there to take over where we left off here. Remember: Friends Don't Let Friends Burn Absinthe. The Short Form FAQ: • Absinthe is not a narcotic.  It will not get you high or make you "trip", hallucinate, cut your ear off, or anything else you wouldn't ordinarily do when intoxicated with alcohol. These often-repeated legends are based on misinformation, exaggeration, marketing and media hype.  Real absintheurs will laugh at you (and not always behind your back) if you insist otherwise. It's in your mind. It's a myth, get over it. Absinthe is not a narcotic. • Thujone is not a narcotic either. Thujone, the primary volatile oil in wormwood, is present in only in very small amounts in absinthe and is negligible in its effects. The current "high-thujone" and "strong" hype on many sites selling absinthe (usually absinth) is merely a marketing ploy aimed at the gullible in search of a new high. Thujone's role in the so-called "secondary effect" is greatly exaggerated, as are the secondaries themselves. Thujone is not a narcotic either. • You can't make real absinthe at home any more than you can make real whisky at home. Absinthe must be distilled. Soaking wormwood in vodka or Everclear™ to make absinthe is like soaking corn in vodka to make Bourbon.  It's like adding vodka to grape juice to make wine.  Or grinding up No-Doz™ and adding it to burnt bean water and calling it coffee. You can pretend, but people who drink absinthe won't believe you. • Burning sugar or flaming absinthe has never been an absinthe tradition - not in France, the Czech Republic or anywhere else prior to the 1990's. • Authentic absinthe is not horribly bitter; no more so than a Gin & Tonic. • Absinthe is legal in most of the European Union and was never banned in the UK, Spain or what is now the Czech Republic. • Pernod is not "absinthe without the wormwood." Neither is Absente. 4 comments|post comment

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