What is thujone and what are thujone effects? The wormwood plant has an active ingredient called thujone (thuyone in French), a monoterpene ketone, and absinthe drinkers have long noted the difference between low thujone and high thujone absinthes.
High thujone absinthes use more wormwood in the recipe and have less anise (licorice) flavour. Thujone is also found in herbs like tansy, sage and tarragon and these are also used in some absinthe recipes as well. Thujone effects may only be felt in combination with quality high proof alcohol, so forget about smoking it or making cakes
During the decadence of the late 1890’s thujone was all the rage in the brains of the patrons of literary cafes from Paris to Prague. The reason? Absinthe and the process known as “la louche” - a ritual, and an intrinsic part of the amazing absinthe experience.
This ritual involving water, a serrated spoon, and sugar truly liberated the strange powers of thujone from the wormwood in absinthe. Louche is the word used to describe the clouding when iced water hits the green concentrate, absinthe. The louche was originally a kind of yellow opalescence due to the wormwood oils held in suspension in the alcohol being released. It should be stressed that in real old absinthe this was mainly the wormwood oils being liberated and in modern copies this is unfortunately largely replaced by anise (licorice) just like with ouzo.
As the alcohol concentration drops, the terpenoids come out of solution to form a yellow opalescence. This louche effect is retained in modern absinthe substitutes (pastis, such as Pernod and Ricard), which are rich in anise but contain no thujone”
British Medical Journal
Professor John Strang, King’s College, London
The power of thujone had been recognised since the mists of time but in the smoky cafes loved by bohemian Parisians like Verlaine they reached their mystical peak. The Green Hour or “La Heure Verte” became a set fixture for early evening inebriation of a very special kind!
All manner of claims have been made for the inspiration that was found during La Heure Verte. It is probably true that writers like Rimbaud and Verlaine, who had a tumultuous affair with absinthe and each other, were inspired by their copious quantities of liquid alchemy. Thujone has a chemical structure which was once believed to be very similar to THC (Tetrahydrocannabinol is the active ingredient in cannabis), wormwood itself has even been prescribed to assist with perception, thinking and memory.
So does Absinthe really help great thinkers or great drinkers? Maybe both is the simple answer, with the stress on maybe.
Hang on! A 70% proof alcoholic drink that does what? Curious indeed as one does not normally associate alcohol with improved perception or thought - quite the contrary in fact!
Toxin in absinthe makes neurons run wild by Corinna Wu (Science News)
Drinkers of absinthe describe a clear headed form of inebriation and a form of thinking which seems at odd with any other experience they have had. Amazingly research in 2001 has suggested that wormwood and even certain other ingredients in Absinthe cause “CNS cholinergic receptor binding activity” and according to the scientists this improves cognitive functions. The secret of the Green Fairy and the tulips that blossomed from a café floor in front of Oscar Wilde’s absinthe bottle may be science fact rather than romantic fiction.
So here are two descriptions of the absinthe effect, one historic and one modern:
“The first stage is like ordinary drinking, the second when you begin to see monstrous and cruel things, but if you can persevere you will enter in upon the third stage where you see things that you want to see, wonderful curious things.”
Oscar Wilde (1890s)
“Thujone brightens colours and gives them a tendency to strobe, without transforming them into flames and snakes and other scary stuff. Plus you can still understand people when they are talking, only their voice is seriously out of sync with their lips and every gesture seems hyper-exaggerated. It’s kind of like watching an animated cartoon drawn by Picasso with dialogue by Frank Zappa. And that is why I dance with the Green Fairy”
The Free-Floating Hallucination
Lone Star Nirvarna by Richard Eugene
Please feel free to share your experiences and perhaps help to unlock the mystery of the absinthe effect.