All-natural flavors?

[Giraut]

I'm not into DIY liquids yet, but I'm thinking about it for two reasons:

- So far I'm unhappy with most of the juices I've tasted
- I'd like to try unusual flavors that appeal to me

I understand mostly what I put in my body when it comes to PG, VG and nicotine, and certain flavoring agents like menthol or vanilla. But most commercially available flavors seem to simply contain "artificial flavor", which could be anything from harmless food flavoring to possum urine for all I know, and I must say I'm a bit distrustful.

Out of curiosity, has anyone tried to make flavoring agents out of commonly available, natural products such as real fruit juice, veggies, nuts, spices, liquors... or even real tobacco for that matter?

For instance, I absolutely love the smell of basil. I always leave a basil plant in the kitchen so the place smell nice and fresh. I'd love to know what it'd taste like when vaping it.

 

[HeadInClouds]

I saw a relevant comment on a manufacturer's website, probably FlavourArt. Artificial flavorings are assembled with knowledge of the molecules included, and the formula can be duplicated exactly. With natural extracts, the molecules will vary with each batch, just as the source (say, apples) will in nature - and they can easily contain unknown, perhaps undesired, molecules. The gist of it was that lab-produced flavors are simpler formulas, easier to check the safety record of each ingredient, and will be more consistent batch-to-batch.

So if you want to know precisely what you're putting in your body, artificial is perhaps preferable. Just another way of looking at it. (By the way, possum urine would be more likely with an organic extract than artificial ;-)

 

[Crunktanium]

Lorann has a line of all natural. I use them for some things such as natural blue blueberry coloring. I find them to be weak however and not as yummy for vaping.

 

[Leothwyn]

There's a sub-forum here on 'natural extraction from tobacco'. It's full of info on doing just that... and extracting flavors from coffee, vanilla, and other things. Fruits won't be so easy - the sugars will clog coils up fast.

Also, Nature's Flavors has an all natural line and an organic line of flavors.

 

[cyndi]

I use natures flavors "organic for coffee and tea", and I haven't come across a bad flavor yet. The pitfall is the one month......minimum.....wait for it. Ecig express sells some in 10ml vials. A little pricier, but you get it in 3-4 days.

 

[savannah31411]

I have done several tobacco extractions using pipe tobacco soaked in p/g then adding nic. The flavors are great. There are many threads here on ecf about different methods of extraction. Maybe you can just soak fruit the same way?

 

[j3illy]

When you use natural flavorings, you usually have to use more cuz they're lighter like someone said. I ordered from Vapor Shots and a lot of their flavors are natural (blueberry I got for example), so they said to use 20% which is high. I probably used 25% on my 1st batch between blueberry & vanilla cream, and it definitely came out tasty. I plan on trying some other vendors' flavorings soon tho, and I assume they're gonna be stronger and require less.

 

[Aheadatime]

Just an FYI, possum urine can/would be labeled as a natural flavor. If you ever get vanilla coffee/bakery/ice cream/anything, one of the 'natural flavors' that makes vanilla so widely available and mass produced is "Castoreum". This is a natural flavoring derived from the anus of a beaver.

Beaver .... secretions a vanilla substitute in some foods | www.daytondailynews.com

I'm not saying the artificial flavorings are 'better for you', I'm just trying to point out that sometimes "natural" can be pretty unnatural and undesired.