DOSE:

smoked

Wormwood

(extract)

BODY WEIGHT:

74 kg

This summer, I had become friends with an individual who had opened a small apothecary (a brilliant mixture of a culture/informational shop, headshop, and enthobotanical herb shop). After a number of visits and lengthy conversations discussion methods of distillation and extraction of a plethora of different plants, I noticed a smoking mixture he had for sale, which contained the 'Absinnthe Herb'. I had to double check a couple of times, just to be sure that he was indeed selling wormwood, and it was indeed smokable. He had discovered that one can smoke dried wormwood, obtaining the hallucinogenic qualities of the herb, without brewing or drinking Abinthe itself. I realised at that moment that, if thujone is smokable, and it can be made into an alcoholic drink, then thujone must be soluble in alcohol, which can then be reduced not unlike a solvent hash, and the yield would be, of course, a 'thujone hash'.

Quickly, I went home to search Erowid and related pages for information about this, and found nothing. I consulted with some close friends and fellow psychonauts to see if they had heard anything about this. Again, nothing. So, naturally, curiosity took its death grip on our minds, and we had to try it. The extraction was simple. We used one ounce (30 g) of dried wormwood to begin with. Putting that dried ounce in a large jar, we used just enough methyl hydrate (available in any hardware store, quite cheaply. Use methyl hydrate, which is suspended in .01% water, and not a bufering oil, like most other methyl alcohols) to cover the plant material, and let it sit for about 4 hours, shaking it occaisonally.

We then set up a pan, in a well ventillated area, and slowly reduced the substrate on an electric stove, till no alcohol was left. Then, we used some pure isopropynol (isopropynol can be purchased cheaply as 'rubbing alcohol', and the water can be removed by filtering it through salt, sodium and H2O bond, as any high school biology or chemistry student will tel you).

The resulting hash was suspended in the washed isopopynol, which was again reduced. We then put the hash through a water wash (acidifying the water with lemonjuice, which admittedly adds fructose to the hash, but the fructose can be converted to alcohol, and removed in the same fashion one would brew moonshine [add yeast, nutrients, allow sealed fermentation]) like the classic Chinese opium makers did with their opium. The yield from one ounce of plant material was a little over a gram of 'hash'.

The result of the experiment was a dough-like green hash (getting rid of the chlorophyl was something I'm still working on). The next step of the experiment was, of course, to 'Destroy it', as my compatriot Lance so eloquently put it. And thus, into the pipe it went. Now, as far as we knew, this was uncharted water. The owner of the apothecary had never done this, no reports on this could be found, no information was available. This was to be a new expidition for us, and for as far as we knew (mind you, this never having been done before is very unlikely), anyone.

We found the taste of the hash to be quite enjoyable, the hash burned and melted not unlike opium. The effects were felt in full in about 45 minutes from the point of injestion.

The first thing we discovered was that the high was very unlike absinthe the beverage. The second thing we discovered was that the high was very unlike anything we had ever done.

Now, we all felt identical results, but I can best describe them in relation to myself, and so I will.

The world around became crystal clear. Clear and real in a very surreal way, if that makes any sense. Everything appeared clean, and perfect, and I began to feel as if I were inside a doll house. We all went for a walk outside, and I realised that anything above my eyeline seemed incomprehensibly huge, dwarfing me. However, anything below my eyeline became ridiculously small, to the point were I felt as though I were a giant. My size was in constant flux, and I felt a bit like Alice must have when she changed in size during her adventures in wonderland. Now, it may seem like a cliche, but this high had a very 'Alice in Wonderland' type feel.

The world around me felt very, very warm, despite the actual tempertature (though summer nights in British Columbia are anything but cold). My body felt drunk, and moved acordingly, but I was more lucid than I had ever been before. As we continued to consume the entire gram, the world became clearer and cleared. When we were done, the occaisonal elf would peek out at me from behind a stop sign, or parking meter, but hallucinations of this kind were infrequent. The best thing that can be said about this high is that it was strage. Very strange, for all of us. We all had had some very strange hallucinogenic trips, and were anything but new to the experience, but this was definately strange. However, it was also anything but unpleasant. If fact, the perfect dollhouse world around me was often a source of amusement, and we all laughed about it for the duration of the high, which was about 4 to 4 1/2 hours. We all slept quite well that night, too.

Now, there are a few important notes about this thujone hash. One is that, even now, months afterward, I seem to get the thujone-hash high every time I smoke pot. It has yet to go away for any of us, though it has been seeming to be deminishing in potency over the months, so I believe that it will go away. Additionally, while we were on the substance, we felt as though we were moving quite slowly, but time checks proved that we were walking (most of the smoking, and the high, was done outside in the crisp summer night) distances that would normally take us anywhere from 30 to 45 minutes in about 15 minutes while high on thujone. We must have looked at least a little silly, but in a good way, not a scarey one. We also found that smoking pot was extremely condusive to the thujone high, and brought it to a new, but wonderful level.

We adopted the thujone hash, nicknamed it 'The Thuge', and brought it with us wherever we went. However, we would never indulge in the Thuge without his good friend pot. On average, we would consume 1-2 grams of the 'hashish' between three or four of us (all between 68-80 Kg, and ranging from 5'8' to 6'4' in height). To anyone intepid enough to try this, and willing to experience a definate shift in their pot highs for months (thus far) afterwards, I highly recommend trying this. The Thuge became a powerfull ally to be respected and cared for, and a great source of knowledge (the lucidity one experiences throws the mind into a very creative state) and a great deal of fun. No negative memory side effects were experienced by any of us.

Pardon the length of this entry, but I feel as though this was a special thing, and deserves a lentghy and accurate description, to the best of my abilities. One final note is that any pure alcohol should work in the reduction of the plant, from everclear, to white lightning, to isopropynol and beyond. There is perhaps one alcohol that is perfect for the creation of The Thuge, but I have yet to discover it.

Additionally, if anyone has any ideas or methods to eliminate the chlorophyl and other plant oils, I would be very interested in your techniques (please e-mail me at [email address removed]). Good luck to any of you who decide to try this, and please to it with as much respect and reverance to the plant as possible. When injested with love and respect, I'm sure you will find The Thuge will become just as much a friend to you as it has to each of us.

Sincerely, -LiHouLong

Exp Year: 2001	ExpID: 10100
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: Not Given
Published: Apr 19, 2002	Views: 96,957
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Wormwood (50) : Various (28), Glowing Experiences (4), Preparation / Recipes (30), Combinations (3)