On NETs and TRUE tobacco taste

Dustmight;13330303 said:

Yes! Some serious debate and conversation. This is why I love this thread…other than it's obvious focus on NETs.

Just a warning, this post is gonna get wordy...

I've been going through a dry spell with my desire for straight tobacco vapes. Maybe it's the gunk factor, which at some point all NET extractions will do to your coils, but as we all do I just needed an extended change of pace. Then this past weekend I visited with some of the guys from my old pipe club and *gasp* I broke my 11 month abstinence and smoked a few bowls in some of my favorite pipes. Part of that decision was to re-initiate my palette for what pipe tobacco is intended to taste like. After all, there is a pretty significant difference between the flavor experience of vaping and smoking. So much so that I was beginning to forget what TRUE tobacco tastes like. Once my senses recovered from the full on sensory assault that was my smoking session, I found myself yearning again to dive back into NET territory full force. Slightly bemused but with a renewed appreciation.

For some time now I've been contemplating the sensory experiences we need to understand and identify the true taste of tobacco. NOT the stuff found in many vendors liquids that reference or even hint to a tobacco experience, but a hand to God representation of the beloved cured leaf. At the risk of sounding arrogant or elitist, I believe there's no other way to understand these flavors than to have experienced them as they were intended, through combustion and smoke. An analogy often cited in conversation on the subject is this: How can you tell me what a jelly donut tastes like just from walking into a bakery and sniffing. Even hard labored sniffing. For an extended time. You can't really. You can get close…perhaps. But there's just no substitute for sinking your teeth into the real thing. I feel like I've been sniffing tobacco now for too long, and it was time to just shove it in my mouth and chew. (For the record, I hate chew)

Returning to liquid land, it must be noted that macerations for e-liquid inherently present a number of challenges in replicating an authentic tobacco experience. Essentially you're making a tea from the leaf that represents it's non-combusted state. Take Red Virginia for example. On the nose it's tangy and depending on the curing processes, slightly spicy with hints of plum and raisin. When a match is taken to it, a whole world of creamy sweetness is added to the mix. An element that just cannot be present in a maceration due to the absence of a key factor. Fire. I've desperately tried to find it in many of my own extractions as well as that of others, but it's extremely difficult to discern, if it all. I'm about 98% convinced that any sweetness coming from a NET liquid containing Virginia is actually VG. An acceptable proxy for sure, but an authentic Virginia sweetness it is not.

Another vexing issue for me is the separation of flavor in blended tobacco. Perique and Turkish/Oriental, which are often used as "spices" to add nuance to a mixture, tend to fall flat or even disappear as stronger flavors like Burley or Latakia (and moreover Cavendish, due to how it's prepared with added sugars) dominate a traditional soak. This is the primary reason I never read a tobacco description before trying a new NET liquid. For example, I smoked a few bowls of Hearth & Home Freight train this weekend before trying the liquid I whipped up from Bill's extract. The smoke was intense and rich with piquant spice and a robust, nutty burley that tasted of earth and forest floor. (No, I've never eaten forest floor, but you get my drift). The companion liquid, while expertly made and very enjoyable on it's own, completely fell on it's face by comparison. Bits of earthy notes were mostly dominated by a blanket of dried plum and parchment. Only after reading the blenders description did I know that Cavendish and Perique were added. Totally lost in the proverbial translation.

Am I suggesting we all go out and spark up a bowl or stick to have a voice in discussing tobacco macerations in e-liquid? Absolutely not. What I do hope we can understand is that NETs require an almost entirely different language and set of expectations if we are to do them any justice in discussion. If you've never smoked a pipe or cigar, then relying on blenders notes for taste will just cause confusion.

Virginia in e-liquid sure as hell don't taste like Virginia in the pipe. Not entirely at least. For that we need to toss what we know, or what we think we know and experience NETs for what they are.

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