Just wondering if the tobaccos you buy are treated with any chemical or treated in any way?
Depends on the tobacco. Most tobacco is first cured (
dried) using various combinations of heat and pressure. For pipe tobaccos and some cigars, much of the tobacco is then treated with what the industry calls "casings" which can include things like licorice, corn syrup, honey and molasses. That which is destined to become a "flavored" tobacco then receives "Top notes" which involves adding concentrated synthetic flavorings (
just like we use in DIY) such as vanilla, cherry, peach, caramel, blueberry etc.. Finally, PG or glycerin (
like we use in DIY) is applied as a humectant to help preserve moisture. Some extractors prefer to use organic whole leaf tobacco that has no casings, top notes or PG added. Cigarette tobacco is a
completely different story, many tobacco companies treat cigarette tobacco with a
wide range of industrial chemicals some of which, in my mind, are highly questionable in terms of toxicity. They even chemically modify the nicotine contained in cigarette tobacco to increase its potency and addictive qualities, scary stuff. Personally, I -avoid- using cigarette tobacco for flavor extraction just for those reasons. I extract pipe tobaccos, organic tobaccos and cigars exclusively.