Topic: Absinthe glasses? 19th century glasses - Absinthe Museum

[MarcT]

Bonjour,

My name is Marc T., curator of the Virtual Absinthe Museum in France (museeabsinthe.com).

I’m doing extensive researches on some very specific kind of 19th century drinking glasses that some collectors attribute to the absinthe ritual. I am very skeptical about this attribution, so I did my own researches online, in libraries, and also bought several books on antique glasses from all over Europe.

Unfortunately I can’t find any reference, picture or catalogue, showing these specific glasses.

Some are made of plain glass, some of crystal.

They are called “Bubble glasses” in the absinthe community, simply because of the bubble-shaped hollow knop which is believed to be the absinthe dose (3-4 cl) before cool water is added.

But here is my problem with those glasses: The hollow knop and the cup are both linked together by a very little hole (5-6 mm wide), which is not very appropriate to the absinthe ritual where ice-cold water is poured from a carafe (or a dripper or a specific water fountain) in a thin stream over the absinthe to create a cloud-like reaction called “louche”.

I’ve been doing researches on these glasses for 2 years and found 2 theories but no evidence yet, no picture or catalogue showing them:

1st theory: They are “Trick glasses”. When the drinker had finished his glass, the beverage still contained in the hollow knop was splashing in his face through the little hole.

2nd theory: in the early 19th century, before champagne - and similar drinks - were filtered, it was very common to use a glass with a hollow stem to retain the sediments at bottom. Unfortunately, no catalogue is showing a bubble-shaped stem for champagne.

I’m not sure any of these theories apply to the glasses shown here, I’m just having guesses from my researches.

One other theory suggested to me is that they could be for drinking ‘chasers’, the bottom part would contain a strong alcohol and the upper part would contain beer or a similar ‘light’ drink. Problem is that I tested this theory and both drinks mix together within a minute…

Thank you very much for your help.

[David E]

Hello Marc, and welcome to the GMB.

This is a very niche area of interest (news to me!), but perhaps someone like Ivo can help further. However, I'm not sure if you've tried Google Books, but here it provides a few links where the absinth glass is mentioned.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?tbm=bks&hl=en&q=absinthe+glasses&btnG=

But as we seem to have glasses for virtually all types of drink, I would not be surprised if one or more glass manufacturer made them.

[Ivo]

Bonjour and welcome to the Glass Message board.

Have you ever come across this information - it answers your question I think.

http://cloudsecurity.dk/TMP/Danish-absintglasses.pdf

[David E]

Right on the nail, I think! 

[MarcT]

Hello David and Ivo,

I know this Danish article as it was written by friends of mine who are also members of my Absinthe Museum message board.
Unfortunately, none of the glasses shown in this article are related to glasses I've shown here. The big difference being the tiny channel between the bubble-shaped hollow knop and the cup, it's only 5-6 mm wide.

I truly believe they're not absinthe glasses, that's why I'm looking for any other option.

The second photo I posted shows something really weird: a 25cm glass, very thick, next to a much smaller glass with a colored hollow knop. Was there something to hide in the knop?