Alternative to Tobacco Absolute?

[psycheval]

Cool. We'll avoid how beaver rumps and natural raspberry are related then.

Anything tastes better than cow au naturel with grain top notes and hay highlights. I do like off the wall places. I've gotten to where I start digging for ingredients when I load a page on a flavor on an off site. I'll go back on a TA hunt in a few I've got to make an order before long anyway.
Just to stay half on thread I don't know that there are any good TA subs that aren't synthetic. Capella? Don't know really how else you get tobacco flavor without synthesizing it and it's not a TA technically. Hoosier or some others can answer that I imagine. My range is not that broad yet. I don't extract either. Avoiding like the plague. I got enough habits.

 

[jb007gd]

Follow up: Hoosier your advice was golden. I let that bottle of juice steep for a few weeks and boy was I pleasantly surprised! The grassy/hay flavor diminished greatly and that juice is delicious! I'm currently waiting for my second batch to mature.
I also ordered some of the Rustica TA you referenced and plan on making the same recipe but swap in that TA, so I can compare the two. I'll post the results. Thanks for the great advice!

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 4 Beta

 

[Hoosier]

I'd be very interested in a direct comparison of the two from you jb007gb.

Now to insert "golden" into my resume...hmmm...

 

[jb007gd]

Absolutely! Just waiting on my EM to arrive, then I'll mix it up!

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 4 Beta

 

[eikon]

give TFA Red Oak a shot. around 10% with a little TA

 

[jb007gd]

Okay folks, here's what I've done.

Tonight I mixed up two quarter batches of Scubabatdan's well-known tobacco base recipe. I'm including the recipe at the bottom of this post. His original recipe makes 120ml of juice; I didn't want to use that much so I did two quarter batches of 30ml each.

The first batch I made using Perfumers Apprentice TA. The second batch has the Rustica TA that Hoosier mentioned in this thread.
For the sake of science I want to mention that the Perfumers Apprentice TA I have came distilled to 50% in PGA, while the Rustica was full strength and very thick. Since I don't have PGA laying around, I used 1.5 drops of the Rustica full strength and 3 drops of the diluted PA TA.

I don't want to wait, but my previous experience with Tobacco Absolute taught me that I really need to let those bottles steep for a few weeks, otherwise I'd likely report back to you that they both taste horrid. ;-) So now I play the waiting game... I'll report back in a few weeks when I sit down for a sampling session. I intend on mixing this base at 10% as recommended in a 50/50 PG/VG mix and adding no other flavorings.

Below is Scubabatdan's Tobacco Base recipe:


TA (Tobacco Absolute), and EM (Ethyl Maltol) is a great base. It allows to to add pretty much any other flavor to it. This is my tobbaco base concoction. Unfortunatly the seedmans darkens it up alittle, but it is fairly clear at 10%.

You will need the following:

Perfumers Apprentice - Cotton Candy 2 x 1oz

TOB506 Commercial Cigarette Concentrate 4 x 1/2oz

Perfumers Apprentice - Tobacco Absolute (1. Pure) 1 x 2.5ml

Now, the cotton candy from perfumer apprentice is ethyl maltol suspended in PG @ 10%, warm the cotton candy and the 2.5ml of TA (tobacco absolute) in a sink of HOT water.

Get a 4oz bottle to add everything into, uncap the cotton candy and pour it all into the 4oz bottle, then uncap the TA, it will not be thick now as the hot bath has made it thinner. Use a pipette (note the TA will stain the pipette so use this pipette only for TA) and put .3ml of TA into the cotton candy (About 6 drops). Now cap the cotton candy and shake until it is mixed. Now add the seedmans concentrate to the cotton candy and shake until mixed.

The result is a approx 120ml of tobacco base that is very satisfying IMO @ 10%, and you can add hazelnut or peanut flavor to your mix to give it a nutty flavor. Add vanilla, black cherry, or caramel to give it those notes.
When adding menthol use it at 3% to the 7% tobacco base.
Well hope this helps.
Dan

 

[jb007gd]

Well poo. I wrote this big review on my cell phone and Tapatalk gave me an error message after I clicked Submit. Of course my original review has helpfully been deleted. Take 2 on my laptop.

So, the results are in! To recap: I made two 30ml batches of Scubatadan's tobacco base recipe, one using Perfumers Apprentice Tobacco Absolute and the other using the less-common Rustica Tobacco Absolute. They steeped for two weeks.
Today I took two 5ml bottles - one got .5ml of the Tobacco Base with the Rustica TA, the other got .5ml of the Tobacco Base with the more common Perfumers Apprentice TA. I then added 4.5ml of 12% nic 50/50 PG/VG unflavored e-liquid to each and shook 'em up.

I think the best way to characterize the results is that they are similar, but the Rustica is smoother and with less of the distinct grassy or hay flavor that's found in a typical Tobacco Absolute. Both are very good and both give a nice tobacco flavor, but I'm finding the Rustica to be slightly richer and more enjoyable. Its got more of what I perceive tobacco to taste like. I suppose it's analogous to comparing cheddar cheese and sharp cheddar cheese. They both taste like cheddar cheese, but the sharp cheddar has some extra, more distinct flavors.

When I started this thread I was looking for an alternative to Tobacco Absolute, because I found the taste too distinct and overpowering. Since the original post, I learned steeping a juice is essential to mellow out that flavor. I would submit that using the Rustica Tobacco Absolute is an additional step to retaining the tobacco flavor but greatly reducing those overpowering flavor notes.

Personally, I am really enjoying the base made from the Rustica and am looking forward to spicing it up with additional flavors like caramel and vanilla butternut. I'd like to thank Hoosier for providing the info and a link to buy the Rustica. Good stuff!

If anyone has questions please feel free to hit me up.

 

[k3vin]

Great thread

 

[buffaloguy]

Jeez, I wish I saw threads like this more often lately. Ive used a TA version as a base for the majority of my eliquids for more than a year. The base recipe took me months to develop but once I was satisfied with it I began mixing all kinds of things with it.

Hoosier, Ive long wondered about searching for different Absolutes. Guess Ive been satisfied with the TA pure I get from TPA. Im definitely going to try that rustica now tho. If you have links to any more obscure absolutes please share if you dont mind?

TA is one of those unique tobacco vapes. Its not like using a super concentrate, or a dekang juice, or loranns... any of those. For those who are used to mixing with TA we learn that the juices made with it develop slowwwwwwly, change, blend, change some more but its always somehow the same... just different all the time, in a good way.

And yes, it can taste pretty gosh darn aweful when its fresh mixed depending how much is used. It does not stay that way, usually. jb007 you were absolutely dead on saying it takes a few weeks. TA based juices, even with heat steeping, do take a good while to mature. Once they do they are usually stellar.

I just wonder if we are in a minority of users these days by using TA. Everyone wants immediate gratification and their juices ripened yesterday. Sure, I use super concentrates and other flavorings too. But to me, the juices I make with TA are better than anything else.

Good stuff this thread. If anyone, esp Hoosier, has links to more absolutes Im in to try, if the wallet can handle it.

 

[Hoosier]

Hoosier, Ive long wondered about searching for different Absolutes. Guess Ive been satisfied with the TA pure I get from TPA. Im definitely going to try that rustica now tho. If you have links to any more obscure absolutes please share if you dont mind?

None come to mind, but I didn't realize that Rustica was so obscure in the first place...

Ya' know how it is locking yourself in the tower lab...you forget there is a village beyond the walls.

 

[k3vin]

Thanks for the heads up Hoosier. I dropped a few dimes on ordering the rustica... Can't wait. Fun,fun,fun