[quote=plasticfantastic]Yup, classic way do drink Absinthe is to drip water over a sugar cube, which rests on a spoon over the glass. 5:1 water to absinthe.

Bastardized Czech method is to light a shot of it on fire and down it.

Thujon is the psychoactive ingredient (from Wormwood), but you’d have to drink an awful lot to get an effect, IMO. You’d be blind drunk by then anyway…

Stories of people going mad probably related to poor distilling techniques/contaminants

Kind of fun thing to do for a party, if one is so inclined, as there is a bit of ‘show’ involved.

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Yep, you’d die of alcohol poisoning long before you get even a slight effect from the thujone. (see http://recipes.howstuffworks.com/absinthe.htm). Even the original absinthe from the early 1900s had practically no thujone (as confirmed by gas chromography) The effects people saw were simply from being blind drunk.

Also, wormwood can be purchased at most nurseries (it is a pretty plant and smells nice).