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Date: Tue, 2 Mar 93 14:14:57 CST
From: matthew john baggott <bagg@midway.uchicago.edu>
To: lamontg@byron.u.washington.edu (Lamont Granquist)
Subject: Absinthe FAQ
INTRODUCTION
This FAQ file was prepared by Matthew Baggott (bagg@ellis.uchicago.edu)
for distribution on the newsgroup alt.drugs. It may be freely reprinted
and distributed as long as it is properly credited. If you're reprinting
the file in a zine (e- or otherwise), I'd like to hear about it. Some uses
of the medline abstracts might be go beyond legal 'fair use' of that
intellectual property. If I determine this to be a problem, I'll replace
the abstracts with summaries written by myself. However, people reprinting
this file may wish to leave out that section of the FAQ if this issue is of
concern to them. Comments, questions, referenced information, and personally-
collected anecdotes relating to absinthe and wormwood are welcome. File last
updated on 3-FEB-93.
The following individuals contributed information or editorial skills to this
FAQ file: Michael Golden (mgolden@eecs.umich.edu) archived the recipies
which were posted to rec.food.drink by unknown parties; Laurent Hagimont
(hagimont@cnam.cnam.fr) and Johnny Svensson (svensson@ISI.edu)
supplied information about the current availability of absinthe; Johnny
Svensson also gave information about wormwood's use as a flavoring in
vodka. Myra Chachkin (cs_myra@gsbvax.uchcicago.edu) provided editorial
comments on an earlier draft of this FAQ file. These individuals
deserve much credit for helping to compile obscure data. Nonetheless,
the perspectives, arguments, and errors of this file are mine alone.
The file contains the following sections: What is absinthe?; What is the
active component in absinthe?; What plants contain thujone?; How was/is
absinthe made?; References; Recent references on absinthe/thujone culled
from medline; and Books on absinthe culled from the University of California
on-line card catalog. Each of these sections is separated by a partial line
of minus characters, allowing one to easily page through the document.
----------
WHAT IS ABSINTHE?
Absinthe is an alcoholic drink made with an extract from wormwood
(Artemisia absinthium). It is an emerald green drink which is very
bitter (due to the presence of absinthin) and is therefore traditionally
poured over a perforated spoonful of sugar into a glass of water. The
drink then turns into an opaque white as the essential oils
precipitate out of the alcoholic solution. Absinthe was once popular among
artists and writers and was used by Van Gogh, Baudelaire, and Verlaine,
to name a few. It appears to have been believed to stimulate creativity.
However, in the 1850's, there began to be concern about the results of
chronic use. Chronic use of absinthe was believed to produce a syndrome,
called absinthism, which was characterized by addiction, hyperexcitability,
and hallucinations. This concern over the health effects of absinthe was
amplified by the prevailing belief in Lamarckian theories of heredity.
In other words, it was believed that any traits acquired by absinthists
would be passed on to their children (1). Absinthe's association with
the bohemian lifestyle also worked to compound fears about its effects,
much as has happened with marijuana in America. Absinthe was subsequently
banned in many countries in the beginning of the 1900's.
----------
WHAT IS THE ACTIVE COMPONENT IN ABSINTHE?
This issue is not entirely resolved. Alcohol is definitely one main
component. However, another candidate is the monoterpene, thujone, which
which is considered a convulsant. Thujone's mechanism of
action is not known, although structural similarities between thujone
and tetrahydrocannabinol (the active component in marijuana) have led
some to hypothesize that both substances have the same site of action in
the brain. Thujone makes up 40 to 90% (by weight) of the essence of
wormwood, from which absinthe is made (2). Thus, thujone would appear to
be a good candidate for a second active component in absinthe. Indeed,
thujone has long been considered to be the neurotoxic cause of
absinthism.
However, the direct evidence to support this idea is scant. Absinthe
is 75% alcohol. Therefore, alcohol's effects will limit the amount of
thujone one can ingest. Quite simply, you can only drink a moderate amount
of absinthe before you become very drunk from the alcohol. Thujone would
have to be active at a very low dose or be present in high quantities in
order to have any appreciable effect. In the "This and That" column
in _Trends in the Pharmacological Sciences_, "B. Max" made the following
dose calculations:
How much thujone was present in absinthe? Steam distillation
of wormwood yields 0.27-0.40% of a bitter, dark-green oil (3)
In a typical recipe for absinthe, 2.5 kg of wormwood were used
in preparing 100 liters of absinthe (4). Typically, 1.5 oz was
consumed (diluted with water) per tipple (5). This is equivalent
to 4.4 mg wormwood oil per drink, or 2-4 mg thujone. This is
far below the level at which acute pharmacological effects are
observed. Even chronic administration of 10 mg/kg thujone to
rats does not alter spontaneous activity of conditioned
behavior (6). The literature on the pharmacology of thujone
is, to put it bluntly, second rate, and conclusions as to its
effects have been extrapolated far beyond the experimental
base (7).
Furthermore, the symptoms of absinthism do not appear to be that unlike
those of alcoholism. Hallucinations, sleeplessness, tremors, paralysis,
and convulsions can also be noted in cases of alcoholism. This suggests
that the syndrome "absinthism" mayy well have been caused by alcohol.
Because absinthe is no longer popular, little research has been done into
its effects on health. Reports on thujone's/absinthe's toxicity seem
to rely mostly on case reports from the beginning of the century or
earlier. Lacking more recent research, it seems most reasonable to take
reports of absinthe's toxicity with skepticism. Essentially, there is
little good data to suggest that absinthe's active components were anything
other than alcohol.
(In fairness, I should mention that several individuals who have taken
home-made absinthe or who have drunk it where it is legal have claimed
to me that it produced an intoxication unlike that of alcohol.)
In addition to alcohol and thujone, absinthe sometimes contained
methanol (wood alcohol), which could have contributed to the symptoms
of absinthism. Calamus (acorus calamus) and nutmeg (myristica fragrans)
were also sometimes used in making absinthe. Both plants have reputations
for being psychedelics, although to my best of knowledge only nutmeg's
psychedelic properties have been well established. However, it seems
unlikely that either plant would have been added in the quanitities
necessary to produce psychoactive effects.
For those of you who want to see the molecule thujone, the following is a
simple postscript routine which draws the molecule:
%!
/Times-Roman findfont 18 scalefont setfont
newpath
144 648 moveto
30 30 rlineto
30 -30 rlineto
0 -40 rlineto
-30 -30 rlineto
-30 30 rlineto
0 40 rlineto
30 30 rmoveto
0 40 rlineto
30 -70 rmoveto
30 30 rlineto
-4 4 rmoveto
-30 -30 rlineto
4 -4 rmoveto
-30 -70 rmoveto
0 -40 rlineto
-30 -30 rlineto
60 0 rmoveto
-30 30 rlineto
0 40 rmoveto
-30 70 rlineto
-8 -170 rmoveto
4 setlinewidth
(THUJONE)
show
15 204 rmoveto
(O)
show
stroke showpage
----------
WHAT MODERN ALCOHOLIC DRINKS ARE THERE WHICH ARE RELATED TO ABSINTHE?
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.
Also, vermouth, chartreuse, and benedictine all contain small amounts
of thujone. In fact, vermouth, which is made using the flower heads
from wormwood, takes its name from the german "wermuth" ("wormwood").
Absinthe (made with wormwood) is still available in Spain and reportedly
in Denmark and Portugal as well.
Wormwood is popular as a flavoring for vodka in Sweden.
It is also possible to buy oil of wormwood (produced by steam distillation)
from companies that sell essential oils. One such company is The Essential
Oil Co., PO Box 206, Lake Oswego, OR, 97034. 503-697-5992; FAX 503-697-0615;
Orders 1-800-729-5912. Catalog is free, but there is a $50 minimum order
(orders under $50 are accepted but charged an additional $5 service charge).
The company also sells other oils of interest to readers of this newsgroup.
Caution should be exercised with these oils since they can contain
significant amounts of pharmacologically active and/or toxic elements.
----------
WHAT PLANTS CONTAIN THUJONE?
According to W. N. Arnold's _Scientific American_ article:
Thujone occurs in a variety of plants, including tansy (Tanace-
tum vulgare) and sage (salvia officinalis), as well as in all
the trees of the arborvitae group, of which the thuja (Thuja
occidentalis), or white cedar, is one. It is also characteristic
of most species of Artemisia, a genus within the Compositae,
or daisy, family. Wormwood (Artemisia absinthium) and Roman
wormwood (Artemisia pontica) were the main sources of the thujone
in absinthe (4).
----------
HOW WAS/IS ABSINTHE MADE?
_Simon and Schulter's Guide to Herbs and Spices_ tells us that Henri-Louis
Pernod used aniseed, fennel, hyssop, and lemonbalm along with lesser
amounts of angelica, star anise, dittany, juniper, nutmeg, and veronica.
These ingredients were mascerated together with wormwood plants. After
leaving the mixture to sit, water was added and the mixture was
distilled. Dried herbs, including more wormwood, were added to the
distillate, which was then diluted with alcohol to give a concentration
of about 75% alcohol by volume (8). Different absinthe manufacturers
used slightly different ingredients, sometimes using calamus, which
has been purported to have psychoactive effects.
In addition to these ingredients, manufacturers sometimes added other
ingredients to produce the drink's emerald green color. Normally, this color
was due to the presence of chlorophyll from the plants. However, in
the event that the product was not properly colored, absinthe makers were
known to add things like copper sulfate, indigo, turmeric, and aniline
green. Antimony chloride was also used to help the drink become cloudy when
added to water. Presumably modern makers of Pernod and absinthe use safer
ingredients for their concoctions!
Here are some recipes for "absinthe" which were originally posted to
rec.food.drink. Absinthe is placed in quotes since only the last
recipe here will produce something resembling the traditional drink.
I have not personally tried these recipes and do not claim that they are safe
or even tasty.