DOSE:

150 ml

oral

Absinthe

(liquid)

BODY WEIGHT:

65 kg

My experience with Absinth was a lot better than expected (I actually expected that it might not do anything at all or that it would make me sick).

I prepared it as follows (very basic 'recipe'): 100grams of dried, finely cut wormwood, put it in 1 Liter of a strong alcoholic beverage (I used Greek anise liquor Ouzo with only 38%vol. of alcohol - I had nothing stronger and the anise flavor is supposed to make it taste better). Let it steep for at least 48 hours, then filter it.

I first tried one small shot of it (0.03l ) and did already feel a little effect, something like a euphoric warmth floating through my body - good enough to risk another shot. So I downed the next shot and almost immediately felt that this was not only more than alcohol, but something different. My mood suddenly brightened in absolute self-assured contentness. Feeling that good I wanted to know for sure and had another shot. From that moment on I knew that I loved this drink, although it tasted ultra-bitter: I stood in the middle of my room, looking out of the window knowing that no problem in this world could touch me now, I felt so 'cool' in a sense of fearless, self-assured, egocentric love for myself - I was amazed that a legal substance could produce such a strong feeling. I would describe the effect as having some qualities of really excellent hashish, some of opium and some of coke (columbian, not the soda!). It is this relaxed and 'everything's cool'-feeling of the hash and/or opium but without being lazy or sleepy, in contrary, it turned me on and made me want to go out. I might also describe it as 'being drunk without being drunk' - what means mood and ideas feel like being heavily drunk, but I’m still able to talk and able to move as smooth as a tiger (yeah really, and that is what I actually do!). This is the part that I compared to the feeling of coke: I feel like the king of the world - not that I think I’m better than other people, I don't care about them anymore, it's just me and I’m cool and I’m feeling good, nothing else matters!

Since this first try I experimented some more with it, especially what it would be like with other people around and during daytime.
I also tried a better method of drinking the absinth: Adding some sugar, lighting it briefly and drinking it hot - as my absinth only had 38% of alcohol I had to warm it in the microwave (only for a few seconds!) then it would burn: The effect was great, it tasted a lot better and the hot vapors shot more directly into my brain - it's addictive! All fears and bad feelings are blown away in seconds, it's divine (but also addictive, almost like a mild line of coke)!

About the drinkable amounts I found out the following:
If I’m having more than about 0.1 litres of it, my speech will begin to get slow, not like from alcohol, more like if I’mn heavily stoned and can't move my tongue quickly enough.

One day, I had eight of these little glasses, not in a row, but three in the early afternoon, three in the late afternoon and two in the evening (so it was about 0.24 Liters) when I found out that there are limits: I felt great until about 10 minutes after the last glass when I suddenly started feeling sick. I had to lie down, I was feeling cold and started shivering like I had heavy fevers or something. After about 20 minutes of feeling like I had to throw up, I more or less crawled to the toilet, but nothing happened, there were not enough drinks in my stomach to make me actually throw up, I just had the feeling that I had to and I felt sick to death. Fortunately the sickness went away after about 45 minutes and I began to feel normal again...

So my conclusion is: don't dose it too high or it actually is dangerous and not pleasant at all (it felt like 0.4 Litres or even less could knock my into coma!).

I don't compare it with the amounts of alcohol I would drink. If I wanted to get drunk from the Ouzo alone, I would surely start with about a real glass (0.25 Litres), perhaps waiting a while and then pouring another 0.25 L and during a whole day there would be room for more - but Absinth is not about the alcohol. I cannot get actually drunk from it because it knocks me out long before I reach my alcohol limit.

Most of the other reported Absinth experiences actually sound to me as if someone wanted to see what the effect of alcohol was, bought a bottle of everclear, drank the whole bottle, almost died and afterwards told his friends 'it tastes like shit and only makes you faint and throw up, so don't try it'.

Sorry, but if I don't know a substance, I rather start with real tiny amounts – I can always have some more if there's no effect, but the other way round it doesn't work...

Exp Year: 2001	ExpID: 4561
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: Not Given
Published: Dec 27, 2001	Views: 90,850
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Absinthe (4) : Various (28), Glowing Experiences (4), Preparation / Recipes (30), Retrospective / Summary (11)