I bow to all here for these wonderful experiments and wish you much luck in your endeavors.
As a snus user, I would like to let you all know, if you are looking for a pure tobacco flavor, without any additional flavors added in, such as bergamot, citrus, juniper, anise, licorice, mint, etc, Tre Ankare snus is one you might wish to try for extraction.
For those working with roll your own (ryo) tobacco for your extractions, be aware of how the tax game is now played. The tax increases that hit on 4/1/09 placed a tax of $24.50 per pound on roll your own tobaccos. What many ryo tobacco companies have done to counter this, is to market ryo tobaccos as pipe cut tobaccos. What this means is, instead of paying $40 for a pound of ryo tobacco, you can now pay $17.95 for 12 oz. of 'pipe cut' tobacco, many of which provide a VERY smooth tobacco at that price. I HIGHLY recommend the Smoker's Outlet "Natural' pipe cut tobacco(
http://www.smokersoutletonline.com/smokers-outlet-pipe-tobacco-p-211.html), which is for sale at that price, although the 'robust' blend will most assuredly provide a higher nicotine level than the 'natural.' If you find the cut a bit 'rough' for extraction, run the tobacco through a food processor or coffee grinder prior to proceeding with your extraction experiments.
Additionally, the highly famed D & R has also made their exceedingly fine tobaccos available in pipe cut (
Trisha's Cafe-Premium Pipe Cut Tobacco-Pipes-Pipe Cleaners-Tampers-Pouches). If you wish to extract pure Virginia you can order either the Windsail (British Virginia) or Penhooker (Canadian Virginia). If you really wish to extract an optimal tobacco flavor, cut either of the above Virginias with a quarter to a third of the Ramback Turkish, although I would personally recommend 1/4 of the Ramback Turkish to 3/4 of either Virginia. The addition of the Turkish will lower the nicotine content of the final extraction. However, you will find the sacrifice will be well worth what the Turkish does for the final flavor. (Turkish is to tobacco as salt is to food, it improves the flavor of EVERY tobacco to which it is added.) Again, if you find these pipe cuts to be too rough, process or grind them prior to extraction. The D & R can be purchased in quantities as small as 3.5 ounce tins or 14 oz pouches and cost a bit more than the Smoker's Outlet brand, but far, far less than any of the sub standard ryo tobaccos at the new tax tier.
I do not work for either of the above companies. I have merely been in the ryo arena for almost two years and am fairly well aquainted with the available tobaccos and hope to provide information that will prove fruitful in future experiments, while hopefully, saving money for those who will be purchasing tobaccos for extraction, by helping those to escape the new extortionary taxes on the ryo tobaccos.