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Absinthe FAQ
by Matthew Baggott (bagg@ellis.uchicago.edu)
February 3, 1993

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.

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 (Tanacetum 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.
** Absinthe #1 **

• 1 pint vodka

• 2 tsp crumbled wormwood (dried)

• 2tsp anise seed

• 1/2 tsp fennel seed

• 4 cardomom pods

• 1 tsp majoram

• 1/2 tsp ground coriander

• 2 tsp chopped angelica root

 • 1 2/3 cups sugar syrup

Place vodka in large jar with tight fitting lid. Add wormwood and shake well; steep 48
hrs and strain out. Crush seeds and pods in mortar. Add them and all remaining spices to
vodka and steep in a warm place 1 week. Filter and sweeten. (The sugar syrup mentioned
above is your standard simple syrup.)
** Absinthe #2 **

• 1 tsp crumbled wormwood

• 1 cup vodka

• 2 Tbsp chopped peppermint leaves

• 1 piece of lemon peel, 3/4"x2"

• 1/3-1/2 cup sugar syrup

Steep wormwood in vodka for 48 hours. Strain out and add peppermint leaves and lemon
peel. Steep for 8 days, strain and sweeten. Smells good but is more bitter than #1.
** Absinthe Wine **
All herbs are dried.

• 2 tsp peppermint

• 2tsp dried wormwood

• 2 tsp thyme

• 2 tsp lavender

• 2 tsp hyssop

• 2 tsp majoram

• 2 tsp sage

• 2 pints port

Steep herbs one week, filter and bottle. My notes describe this as "bitter, aromatic and
potent".
** Absinthe #3 ** >From Arnold's article in Scientific American: An 1855 recipe from
Pontarlier, France, gives the following instructions for making absinthe:
Macerate 2.5 kilograms of dried wormwood, 5 kilograms of anise and 5 kilograms of
fennel in 95 liters of 85 percent ethanol by volume. Let the mixture steep for at least 12
hours in the pot of a double boiler. Add 45 liters of water and apply heat; collect 95 liters
of distillate. To 40 liters of the distillate, add 1 kilogram of Roman wormwood, 1
kilogram of hyssop and 500 grams of lemon balm, all of which have been dried and
finely divided. Extract at a moderate temperature, then siphon off the liquor, filter, and
reunite it with the remaining 55 liters of distillate. Dilute with water to produce
approximately 100 liters of absinthe with a final alcohol concentration of 74 percent by
volume (4).

REFERENCES:
(1) Murphy, R. B. and Schneider, L. H. (1992) Soc. Neurosci. Abstr., Vol. 18, Part 1, p.
180.
(2) Simonsen, J. L. (1949) The Terpenes Vol. 2, Univ. Press.
(3) Guenther, E. (1952) The Essential Oils Vol. 5, Van Nostrand.
(4) Arnold, W. M. (1989) Scientific American 260 (June), 112-117.
(5) Vogt, D. D. and Montagne, M. (1982) Int. J. Addict 17, 1015- 1029.
(6) Pinto-Scognamiglio, W. (1968) Boll. Chim. Farm. 107, 780-791.
(7) Max, B. (1990) TiPS 11 (Feb), 58-60.
(8) Simonetti, Gualtiero (1990) Simon and Schuster's Guide to Herbs and Spices, Simon
and Schuster.

RECENT ARTICLES ON ABSINTHE AND THUJONE CULLED FROM MEDLINE:

1. Bonard EC.
[Absinthe and malaria].
Revue Medicale de la Suisse Romande, 1992 Oct, 112(10):907-8 Language: French.
(UI: 93067843)
2. Bonkovsky HL; Cable EE; Cable JW; Donohue SE; White EC; Greene YJ; Lambrecht
RW; Srivastava KK; Arnold WN.
Porphyrogenic properties of the terpenes camphor, pinene, and thujone Biochemical
Pharmacology, 1992 Jun 9, 43(11):2359-68.
(UI: 92304361) Pub type: Historical Article; Historical Biography; Journal Article.
Abstract: Camphor, alpha-pinene (the major component of turpentine), and thujone (a
constituent in the liqueur called absinthe) produced an increase in porphyrin production
in primary cultures of chick embryo liver cells. In the presence of desferrioxamine (an
iron chelator which inhibits heme synthesis and thereby mimics the effect of the block
associated with acute porphyria), the terpenes enhanced porphyrin accumulation 5- to 20-
fold. They also induced synthesis of the rate-controlling enzyme for the pathway, 5-
aminolevulinic acid synthase, which was monitored both spectrophotometrically and
immunochemically. These effects are shared by well-known porphyrogenic chemicals
such as phenobarbital and glutethimide. Camphor and glutethimide alone led to the
accumulation of mostly uro- and heptacarboxylporphyrins, whereas alpha-pinene and
thujone resulted in lesser accumulations of porphyrins which were predominantly copro-
and protoporphyrins. In the presence of desferrioxamine, plus any of the three erpenes,
the major product that accumulated was protoporphyrin. The present results indicate that
the terpenes tested are porphyrogenic and hazardous to patients with underlying defects
in hepatic heme synthesis. There are also implications for the illness of Vincent van Gogh
and the once popular, but now banned liqueur, called absinthe.
3. Arnold WN; Loftus LS.
Xanthopsia and van Gogh's yellow palette.
Eye, 1991, 5 ( Pt 5):503-10.
(UI: 92175120) Pub type: Historical Article; Historical Biography; Journal Article.
Abstract: A survey of van Gogh's work from 1886 to 1890 indicated that paintings with a
yellow dominance were numerous, episodic, and multi-regional. His underlying illness,
by his own admission, affected his life and work; furthermore, episodes of malnutrition,
substance abuse, environmental exposure, and drug experimentation (all evident from
correspondence) exacerbated his condition. Accordingly, we reviewed plausible agents
that might have modified the artist's colour perception. Xanthopsia due to overdosage of
digitalis or santonin is well documented elsewhere, but evidence of useage of either drug
by van Gogh cannot be substantiated. It is unlikely that ageing of the human lens was an
influence because of the artist's youth. Sunstroke is too restrictive to fit the multiplicity of
regions and motifs. Hallucinations induced by absinthe, the popular liqueur of the period,
may explain particular canvases but not the majority of 'high yellow' paintings. Van
Gogh's proclivity for exaggerated colours and his embrance of yellow in particular are
clear from his letters and, in contradistinction to chemical or physical insults modifying
perception, artistic preference is the best working hypothesis to explain the yellow
dominance in his palette.
4. Arnold WN.
Absinthe.
Scientific American, 1989 Jun, 260(6):112-7.
(UI: 89266842) Pub type: Historical Article; Journal Article.
Comment: As one would expect from _Sci Am_, this is a good general article written by
someone who has obviously written extensively on the subject. However, IMHO the
author is insufficiently critical of of his historical sources.
5. Arnold WN.
Vincent van Gogh and the thujone connection.
Jama, 1988 Nov 25, 260(20):3042-4.
(UI: 89037535) Pub type: Historical Article; Historical Biography; Journal Article.
Abstract: During his last two years Vincent van Gogh experienced fits with hallucinations
that have been attributed to a congenital psychosis. But the artist admitted to episodes of
heavy drinking that were amply confirmed by colleagues and there is good evidence to
indicate that addiction to absinthe exacerbated his illness. Absinthe was distilled from an
alcoholic steep of herbs. Wormwood (Artemisia absinthium) was the most significant
constituent because it contributed thujone. This terpene can cause excitation, convulsions
that mimic epilepsy, and even permanent brain damage. Statements in van Gogh's letters
and from his friends indicate that he had an affinity for substances with a chemical
connection to thujone; the documented examples are camphor and pinene. Perhaps he
developed an abnormal craving for terpenes, a sort of pica, that would explain his
attempts to eat paints and so on, which were previously regarded as unrelated absurdities.
6. Ishida T; Toyota M; Asakawa Y.
Terpenoid biotransformation in mammals. V. Metabolism of (+)-citronellal, (+-)-7-
hydroxycitronellal, citral, (-)-perillaldehyde, (-)-myrtenal, cuminaldehyde, thujone, and
(+-)-carvone in rabbits.
Xenobiotica, 1989 Aug, 19(8):843-55.
(UI: 90051443)

BOOKS ON ABSINTHE CULLED FROM THE

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA ON-LINE CARD
CATALOG:
1. Conrad, Barnaby, 1953-
Absinthe : history in a bottle / Barnaby Conrad III. San Francisco : Chronicle Books,
c1988.
2. Delahaye, Marie-Claude.
L'absinthe : histoire de la fee verte / Marie-Claude Delahaye. Paris : Berger-Levrault,
c1983. Series title: Arts et traditions populaires.
3. Sangle-Ferriere.
Nouvelle methode d'analyse des absinthes, par MM. Sangle-Ferriere ... & L. Cuniasse ...
Paris, Vve C. Dunod, 1902.