BEHOLD: The absolute perfect tobacco flavoring and nicotine extraction method.

[Faethe]

Originally Posted by duncantiv

Do tinctures have to be made with VG, or can the same method be used with PG? I only ask because my one experience with VG was somewhat unpleasant. (sour/rumbly stomach, some heartburn)

Either one works the same way. Propelyne Glycol gets a bad rap from cosmetics manufacturers for some reason. I think because it's processed and not organic. I don't know. It's thinner, though. People do like VG because it's sweet. Some tinctures are used for medicines and stuff. Grain alcohol is NASTY to taste. But yes - you can use PG or VG no worries. In fact I'm pretty sure PG handles heat better than VG so you may be able to boil it directly independent of a water bath.

[duncantiv]

@Faethe:
Thanks for the info. I'm not sure when I'll try it, but I'll feel a bit more confident about the whole thing when I do.

By the way, I tried the first method listed by the88thcrazy (with some tweaks), and as far as I'm concerned, it was a blazing success! The only tweaks consisted of how many Snus I used and the duration of soak. The Camel Snus they sell around here have a hint of honey, I was told, and after letting 3 soak for about 27 hours in a shotglass (I was shooting for 24 hours, but life got in the way), I can tell you that honey is definitely in there! I took one drag and was instantly in love. There was a small hint of tobacco flavour, which was nice, but it was seriously like smoking a honey-flavoured cigarette.

Recap: 1 2 oz. shotglass with 3 Camel Snus Mellows, filled almost to brim with PG, covered in cling wrap and left on top of the fridge for 27 hours. Approximately 1.5 oz. of juice was produced. I then poured into a bottle using a funnel with a coffee filter (just in case). No residue was left on the filter, which didn't surprise me, so I'll probably ditch the filters from now on. Nicotine level seemed a bit low, but I puff almost constantly on my 801, so I doubt that'll be a big issue. Flavour was predominately of the honey, with a hint of tobacco.

Next: Unflavoured Snus on the way from BuySnus, both Camel as well as the Oden high-nicotine stuff. Until they arrive, however, I'm going to experiment with "sun brewing" my juice to see if it gets a bit more kick. Oh, and a neighbour gave me one of those single-cup coffee pouches. I may play with soaking that too. :-)

Thanks to all for these great ideas!

[Deadmau5]

will this dirty up your atomizer D:

[Deadmau5]

i've read somewhere that chewing tobacco has molasses to enhance the flavor, and I wud think that snus would, too.

molasses on atomizer = nono

[duncantiv]

Originally Posted by Deadmau5

i've read somewhere that chewing tobacco has molasses to enhance the flavor, and I wud think that snus would, too.

molasses on atomizer = nono

The Swedish snus state that nothing is added to the tobacco, but currently I'm using the American, so I'm not sure about molasses but definitely honey. I'll have to do a residue test to see. It may take a day or two for me to get time to try it, but I'll post once I know for sure.

[duncantiv]

Hey, I have an odd question for the group. Looking at bottles on ebottles.com, they talk a lot about the resins the bottles are made from, and the different applications those resins are good for. Does anybody here have any idea what kind of plastic would be good for storing PG?

I'll be calling ebottles on monday to ask their opinion, but thought I'd try here first.

[duncantiv]

Damn it, I need an edit button. :-P

Ok, checked around, and discovered a handy guide to plastic bottle symbols. It turns out that my PG came in an HDPE bottle, indicated on the bottom by a 2 inside of the triangle-arrow symbol and the letters HDPE underneath the symbol. The 10mL bottles I have gotten from BestECig seem to be of the same type of material, but have no definite indicator.

HDPE does have a small amount of flex to it, so in combination with a dropper dispensing lid, I think it'll be good. I've requested some samples from containerandpackaging.com so once they arrive, I'll know for sure. I'm still going to call them and ebottles to check on the compatibility of LDPE, which is softer and therefore better for squeeze bottle application, but it probably won't be needed.

If anybody is interested, the part numbers at containerandpackaging.com are L500 for the dropper lid (25 cents ea) and B439 for the 0.5oz/14.8mL HDPE bottle (10 cents ea). Bulk discounts are available.

Hmmm, an edit button has now appeared. Odd, but very welcome given how my brain works.

[duncantiv]

Originally Posted by Deadmau5

will this dirty up your atomizer D:

Curse you and your "reality", Deadmau5! I did the residue test with three drops of my homemade stuff and three drops of RY4 from BestECig. The residue spot from the homemade was about 2-3 times bigger than the spot from the RY4!

Oddly enough, there was a tiny spot of syrupy liquid left from the RY4 that I couldn't get to evaporate in a reasonable amount of time, but that's a little beside the point.

So, what's the best way to clean an atomizer?

Edit: I am still going to try this with the Snus I have coming. They're up to the Swedish standard and should have less additives.

[Faethe]

Originally Posted by duncantiv

The Swedish snus state that nothing is added to the tobacco, but currently I'm using the American, so I'm not sure about molasses but definitely honey. I'll have to do a residue test to see. It may take a day or two for me to get time to try it, but I'll post once I know for sure.

I am really glad this is working out for you Yeah - the Oden Snus smell and appear to break down into what tastes like Tobacco Absolute. There is just nothing in there except Tobacco from what I can tell. I ordered the plain ones. You can get some with a hint of anise in it. What I am doing now is goofing around with essential oils as flavorings. This is *not* recommended because oil *appears* to make your atomizer run hotter. This is even after diluting it in vodka. I put one drop of Anise Essential oil in 10ml of snu juice and there is a difference.

However, I can not sufficiently rule out that this is because I am vaping my head off or because the oil is making that much of a difference. I am using a Janty Dura C for all this. My home brew has not had significant decrease in vapor production for about 3 days, so i am going to say it's not fouling the atomizer anymore than usual.

Note that I do clean my atomizers once a week. I cycle through 3 atomizers in total during the week and clean/boil them in coffee pot/espresso machine cleaner at the end of the week. I expected that snu juice would produce more 'dregs', but it hasn't. There are particles floating around in there but they are very tiny. All things being equal the finished product looks very much like very dark nic juice.

[Faethe]

Oh - I just noticed you wanted cleaning info

There are many threads with many methods. I settled on getting a small thing of this stuff:

Joe Glo

The shipping for that stuff is crazy. You can use any espresso/coffee machine cleaner. Different people like different ones.

With the Joe Glo I use a tablespoon of stuff in about 200ml of water in a 400ml pyrex beaker. I pop my atomizers in and boil them very gently for maybe two or three minutes, then let them cool. I blow them out, then rinse them out with clean water. Then I let them dry.

And that's it. Stuff does come out, but nothing weird. Not yet, anyway