Nicotine calculation and Juice mixer

[Mihai]

sorry for the delay

Sadly, there is no economic way to MEASURE the nicotine in-house. The usual way is using gas-solid chromatography. Another cheaper way could be using the methods that are now used for determining the protein content in foods - measuring the nitrogen content. Cheaper but still outside of hobby range

The table I made just try to calculate the nicotine content based on a set of (informed) presumptions.
The main one is that nicotine is very soluble in water and by just soaking the tobacco you can extract everything. You'll need to do a bit more than what you are doing now, but still easy.

The default figures I used in various places (modifiable) are kind of max values, the eventual errors will be most likely to give you less nicotine then you think, not more (I estimate the range to be +5% -20%). The much lower figures you'll get if you don't wash the tobacco enough.

The exact method is described I think in the document, if not I'll explain it later. I started writing it but then I started working on the tables and lost my initial document


For your mixing pleasure I added some tables so that you can see how much inert stuff you have in the mix so that you can find the right compromise between amount of vapour and convenience of using non-PG stuff (like kahlua and HM juice). They will also give you the final nicotine content of the mix.


I am sure not everything will be very clear at the beginning but if you see a use for these tables please ask and I'll try my best.

[Kit]

wow cool stuff mate well done to ya

[TropicalBob]

Outstanding! I'm going to print these out and digest them. You've earned your stripes, tiger. Thanks.

[CaSHMeRe]

Originally Posted by TropicalBob

Outstanding! I'm going to print these out and digest them. You've earned your stripes, tiger. Thanks.

Earned his stripes to say the least ... i printed this out an hour ago and still go over... the margins stink so its on like 3 different pages ... lol

[Mihai]

sorry for the messed up formatting

next revision will look better


Some clarifications about the mix calculators:

- you need to change only the white boxes (and the components name ofc)
- the sum on the row will always be F + H + J = 1000 mg = 1 ml. J column (inert stuff) is calculated automatically so if you see there a negative number you messed something up. The numbers you need to put in column F and H are basically 'how many mg of that stuff is in 1000 mg (1ml) of that component"
- column A-E are very useful - those numbers you paste here, for your successful mixes

- and finally, don't try the example mix


About the extraction process:

- the "water used' cell is not used in any calculations. that's just a reminder to use more water

- as you can see the extent of evaporation is very important, the percentage of nicotine is very small and you dilute the HM juice too much if you don't evaporate enough the water/nic solution.

- another place where you can increase the percentage of nic in the solution is by finding a very high nic tobacco. In all my searches I couldn't see stuff that had more than 35 mg/g. The highest nic content I read is in some cigars (the kind that numb your lips). I love king edwards but I think they are too processed to have a high content. I remember smoking them _almost_ like a cigarette, which can't be possible with a 30+ mg/g cigar.


About the normal nic intake:

The figures on the cigarette packs (like 0.7 mg/g on my Dunhills) are obtained in standard tests - like 10 sec inhalations every 30 sec (US) or 6 sec inhalations every 35 sec (Canada).
This means that even if you smoked lights your intake could have been much higher by puffing deeper and more often. When I run out of cigarettes and I pick my wife's 0.1 mg/g cigarettes I take out the cigarette from my mouth only to use the ashtray, I inhale much deeper and with almost no breaks between them.
My point is that this means the standard 24 mg/ml (2.4mg/g) e-liquid is not too strong, some ppl really get that much from a 1mg/g cigarette.

[Mihai]

here is a very good document about water extraction:

Dr. Jack Reid., Investigations Into the Extraction of Nicotine From Tobacco

google it and it should be the first result.


Now I'll try to find (from my father who's a chemical engineer) how safe would be to use h2so4 to get a faster extraction from all that water. 'safer' as in safer to inhale, because personally I don't worry too much about working with it, I managed to drink self made juice made from hcl when I was 10 and I'm still here

[TheEmperorOfIceCream]

I bet your chemistry set was excellent when you were a kid...

[toekuttr]

Great info Mihai, thanks for taking the time. The Google search you recommended had some good stuff on it too: Investigations Into the Extraction of Nicotine From Tobacco

[Spider]

Thanks Mihai, that's very interesting stuff. You won't get me playing with Sulfuric Acid or Hydrochloric Acid anytime soon! Especially not drinking it! Good on you!

[TropicalBob]

So we CAN get some decent nicotine from water extraction. Cool. And for those of you buying ultrasonic cleansers to keep your atomizers in top shape, note this:

"The use of ultrasonication for the release of nicotine into the water has been shown to expedite the extraction process -- rupturing "nicotine cells" within the tobacco matrix."

Put some burley tobacco in the ultrasonic tub, cover it with water and turn on the vibrator, baby. Instant nic liquid!

I found it interesting that burley tobacco was preferred and that it was filtered through cheeecloth after the processing. Burleys are Carter Hall and Prince Albert pipe tobaccos. Cheap, too.

Gotta get back to experimenting again. Wonder if a pressure cooker would expedite extraction in water processing? Before long, my place will look like a moonshine operation during Prohibition.