the 'real' stuff is highly overrated. It contains VERY low doses of THC, get more effect from punching a cone and having a few beers. The mystique surrounding absinth has less to do with the wormwood (the THC ingredient) and EVERYTHING to do with the fact that when prepared the traditional way (sugar cube, fire, all that jazz)
Back in ye olde Paris, the sugar wasn't sugar but laudanum, a opium derrivative (about 10% opium, or roughly 2% morphine solution).
Opiates + alcohol + mild dose of THC = GOOD times.