Oh for fuck's sake, not with the absinthe again...
First of all, any of the so called "Czech absinths" are real absinthes, almost all of the authentic absinthes are made in France or Switzerland.
It's a long read, but read it anyway. These know-it-all absinthe experts piss me off.
From Wormwoodsociety.org:
"Czech "Absinth" (without the "e" at the end) gets a lot of bad press from absinthe enthusiasts; primarily, that's because it's not really absinthe, but a poor approximation.* Most of it is fake.
With very, very few exceptions, Czech absinth is a completely spurious product. Nearly all absinths are oil mixes. Flavoring oils of low-quality masked by too much mint, added to inferior industrial-grade alcohol and colored with artificial coloring; that's all it takes to swindle thousands of uninformed people with hopes of "dancing with the Green Fairy."
• Absinthe is not a narcotic. It will not make you "trip", hallucinate, cut your ear off, or anything else you wouldn't ordinarily do when intoxicated with liquor. These often-repeated legends are based on misinformation, exaggeration, 19th century politics 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 gimmick 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.
On Fire and Absinthe:
At no time in the history of absinthe, until the 1990's, has the spurious "Czech Method" of lighting absinthe-soaked sugar on fire ever been used. This is a modern innovation and a pointless abuse of good absinthe. It has no effect whatsoever except possibly that of introducing a charred-sugar taste to the absinthe - thus obscuring the delicate herbal nuances and ruining its flavor. No one who knows anything about absinthe and its history will use this method.
In extremely high quantities, thujone is known to be a dangerous neurotoxin, science has shown through chemical analysis of vintage absinthes and contemporary absinthes made strictly according to historical recipes, that previous estimates of thujone levels in pre-ban absinthe were greatly exaggerated. One would die of alcohol poisoning long before one could consume enough absinthe to get a substantial dose of thujone.
It has been repeated over and over that the thujone molecule is geometrically similar to the THC molecule. It was at one time (1975) conjectured that perhaps the thujone molecule interacts with the same receptor sites in the brain. Not surprisingly, this idea has remained popular in the drug subculture and among those who think absinthe will make them high, even though it was demonstrated in 1978 that this was an unsupported theory. It continues to get dragged out by credulous thrill seekers who have a deep personal need to see absinthe a drug with which they can accessorize themselves and pump up their "scene cred."
That means you posers.
Go and visit wormwoodsociety.org if you want to actually know something about absinthe an stop being an idiot.
