Extracting Vanilla beans for Vaping

[glassgal]

I'm not sure of which section to put this in, since I don't see a dedicated section for extracting other things than tobacco, and the other sub-forum is for DIY with flavor additives. Hope this is OK.

Has anyone extracted their own vanilla in glycerin for vaping yet?

I am testing this right now, I way upped the normal concentration of vanilla beans to what people typically use for extract... that is, 6 extra long beans in 4oz of glycerin. The liquid is getting darker and smelling lovely (I used 4 Tahitian beans, and 2 Bourbon beans. I like Tahitian beans best).

I have also already made some tobacco extract in VG and water.... sent some to a new forum friend today to help me test nicotine content (used directions originally posted by Kurt, but with a few of my own modifications). As I'm new, I'm really not sure what I should be looking for, so I'm not going to post method til I find out whether the result is good or not.

Typically, Vanilla extract is steeped over 6 weeks... was wondering if anyone pushed the time at all?

 

[michaelsil1]

I have failed at this!

 

[glassgal]

I have failed at this!

What do you mean, did you not get a good vape out of it, or you failed at the extract making itself? My extract smells amazing...at 4 days (it's not dense enough to be real extract yet tho). But I'm experienced at making extracts, tinctures, decoctions already, so I have all glass and stone tools/surfaces and containers to prevent contamination.

It is helpful not to use any metals (spoons, forks, pots and pans) in your preparation. Even for oral ingestion, metals can contaminate, it is that much potentially worse when inhaling. Think cast iron pans will increase iron in your diet. Metals sometimes shed microscopically and can very subtly alter flavors. This is no big deal in foods, but may make a difference in inhalation.

Plastics, when heated, may contain PCB... something banned in a lot of countries. So you should avoid plastics where possible in preparation, particularly where heat is involved.

Glass containers, glass stirers, pyrex bowls for heating, and boil for 30 minutes minimum filter material (organic cheesecloth best), plus latex free gloves that never touch the material. Also, distilled water if it's going in your extract (not for double boiling, distilled water doesn't boil well). I use super reverse osmosis water (3 filter tanks and a osmotic membrane) for boiling and washing tools/containers, which removes nearly all contaminants and metals.

Plus, immaculately clean preparation surfaces... preferably non-porous granite. Wipe all working surfaces with soap/water, rinse with distilled water, then wipe with isopropyl alcohol, then rinse again with distilled water before starting any work. This is really important, and if possible, have a HEPA air filter running nearby (skin dander, mold/yeast spores, bacteria travel in air).

Also, you should not leave anything in the 'open' for longer than a few minutes. If evaporation is needed, lightly cover. You are going to be breathing this stuff, and I go through all this for extracts I'm going to eat or apply to skin (breathing is a much bigger deal). Sounds like a lot, but its pretty easy to do, and should impact the purity/smell/taste of your results. Hope that helps for next time!

The vape taste... I dunno what concentration I'm shooting for yet, so that's my question.

 

[michaelsil1]

All the above is good, but I had problems with Plant Matter, it burns coils.

 

[glassgal]

I see... what type of filtration did you use?

The vanilla isn't done (going to steep for 6 weeks), but I already am vaping my tobacco extract (another clueless on how it compares to other tobaccos... but mine tastes good to me).

I'm going to do this with the vanilla as well.

I wore non-latex silicone gloves, using organic cotton cheesecloth in a double layer, tied a knot at the end. Loaded the material into the cheesecloth and pressed the liquid out til no more juice came out. Then threw away the plant matter.

I think coffee filters are too porous, plus... I am not sure what chemicals they used making coffee filters. You can eat a whole lot of things you can't inject into the bloodstream. So I:

1. boiled several organic cotton balls and a turkey injection baster for 1/2 an hour in Reversed Osmosis water, in a pyrex cup (no metals).
2. stuffed some cotton into the turkey baster after it cooled.
3. squished all the water out of the cotton.
4. poured (because there's no particles left in the already cheesecloth filtered juice) it into the top of the turkey baster, and squished through into clean glass jar.
5. when all the juice has been processed, I threw out the organic cotton ball in the baster, and grabbed a clean one out of the boiled water.
6. repeat steps 3-5 four times... 1 time more than the cotton ball in the bottom of the injector having not one speck of discoloration (not even a micro of visible contaminant). The tobacco extract was dark dark brown when held to light, and black in normal lighting after all the filtration, with no particles at the bottom, after set for 12 hours (to check for separation).

Put 2 drops straight tobacco concentrate into my 1.8 ml already full of blueberry juice iclear16 and got an instant head rush. 5 days ago, I was a pack a day (or more) smoker, and when stressed, I could chain smoke up to 4 packs a day... so can't really explain the head rush.

I sent some of my extract to a forum member with a nicotine test kit to determine nicotine concentration, he should get it tomorrow. I'm not comfortable posting my actual extraction method (it does differ a bit from any of the posted ones, because of my experience making extracts) without knowing exactly how much nicotine I got out, because it could be a dangerous level.

So, I made an 8% concentration of my tobacco extract, and have been happily vaping it 50/50 with some commercial pre-made Liberty Flights juice I ordered. It tastes great to me out of the bottle, but very different... 'smoother' and cleaner, than the Liberty Flights tobacco juices. But given my limited experience with juices (have only tried Liberty Flights tobaccos so far), I have no idea if this is good or bad compared to other tobaccos.

I had seen nothing about vanilla from real top quality beans, and I made a new batch because I'm going to be BREATHING it, so wanted to take extra care in the sterility and purity of my result. I only own 2 tanks right now, so I guess I'll try vaping it once one of them is empty. Was just curious if anyone else has made real vanilla for vaping, and how long it steeped for... I guess not.

 

[glassgal]

Oops. I do have a question... how can you tell your coils are gunked? Do you taste something burnt? I've been vaping like a fiend since I got my MVP 2 5 days ago, and I haven't even cleaned out either iclear16 yet. No burnt taste or discoloration that I can see.

How do you know if you need to clean it, and what happens when coils get gunked??

 

[michaelsil1]

You'll know if the coil is burnt. I'm not saying this won’t work I'm saying I've had problems.

 

[LucentShadow]

Oops. I do have a question... how can you tell your coils are gunked? Do you taste something burnt? I've been vaping like a fiend since I got my MVP 2 5 days ago, and I haven't even cleaned out either iclear16 yet. No burnt taste or discoloration that I can see.

How do you know if you need to clean it, and what happens when coils get gunked??

Hi. Easiest way to tell if the coil is collecting solids is to look at it. This would probably mean taking the silicone cap off of the head and looking inside for an iclear.

Other than that, as solids collect at the coil, they can impair the wicking and vaporization efficiency, leading to the coil running hotter. This can lead to heat decomposition products and smoke if it gets bad enough. You'll notice it at some point, definitely.

I like your methodology, but from my experience in similar endeavors, you'll still have a lot of very fine particles after such coarse filtration. Too much for my sensitive airways, as it turns out. I used a similar filtration method (cheesecloth instead of cotton balls, though) and tried some .45 micron syringe filters after the coarse filtration, on someone else's suggestion, and they instantly clogged. Apparently they were way too fine to use without some further filtration steps in between.

Some people seem to be quite fine with such a method, so just keep an eye on your coils, and how you feel.

 

[FinallyQuit]

I made coffee in vg and while it smelled heavenly, it vaped like thin air. I made really good scented hand cream! Hope your vanilla turns out tastier than my coffee.