Hard to Steep Tobaccos

[Exchaner]

I have had limited success using the crockpot to steep some tobaccos that are hard to develop. They still require a couple of additional weeks before the flavor fully develops. Am I likely to see better results with an Ultrasonic Cleaner? Or am I better off saving my money and working on my patience? Thanks everyone in advance for your input.

 

[Aheadatime]

There are threads about USC vs crockpot where people go into detail about their findings. Personally, I'm a fan of the good ole time. I let my mixes sit for 2 weeks minimum, and if they don't taste good after 20 days, I scrap them.

 

[Exchaner]

There are threads about USC vs crockpot where people go into detail about their findings. Personally, I'm a fan of the good ole time. I let my mixes sit for 2 weeks minimum, and if they don't taste good after 20 days, I scrap them.

I've read part of those threads, and the findings are inconclusive. I would give my mixes more than 20 days because some of them require more than 4 weeks to develop. At that point they taste wonderful.

 

[dannyv45]

I have had limited success using the crockpot to steep some tobaccos that are hard to develop. They still require a couple of additional weeks before the flavor fully develops. Am I likely to see better results with an Ultrasonic Cleaner? Or am I better off saving my money and working on my patience? Thanks everyone in advance for your input.

What are the tobacco flavors (Flavor and manufacture)?
How hot is the water? (Recommended temp is 150F)
How long are you letting them steep? (tobaccos require 3 - 5 hours)

Tobaccos can take 3 - 5 hours in a UC or crock pot depending on which tobacco it is. Maintaining a specific temperature is also very important.

If I'm correct in assuming the testing your referring to was the blind taste testing of UC and crock pot vs natural steeping I was one of the testers and we found the results were very conclusive. Results showed that crock pot and UC steeping were very effective and produced very similure results in the same short amount of time which if I remember correctly was 4 hours. It took between 4 and 5 weeks for the unsteeped control sample to mature where as It took only 4 hours in a crock pot and UC..

I have repeated that test several more times after that using a heated UC maintaining a constant temperature of 150F and arrived at the same conclusion each time.

 

[Exchaner]

Thanks Danny, you saved me some bucks by indicating the UC had no particular advantages over the crockpot. As to your question about blind taste, the answer is no, just my general impressions. I basically vape a few tobaccos by FA and Hangsen. The toughest ones to steep are those by FA - 7Leaves, Maxx Blend and Latakia in that order. The Hangsen's are a bit easier. I have used both a crockpot and a high quality thermos, but can't seem to keep the temp constant at 150 for 4 hours. The Crock pot sometimes goes up to 160, and the thermos loses 5 degrees each hour. They both help though by cutting the steeping period in half. They work perfectly on some tobaccos- RY4 double for one; no additional steeping needed. But 7 Leaves needs a couple of weeks additional steeping beyond the crockpot. Thanks again.

 

[1vapeatatime]

I do my own thing, and it is as follows:
Make my juice
Taste test by dripping into an LR atty(between 1.5 and 1.7 ohms) in a GLV mini Mod.
Steep in a bath over a commercial coffee warmer 170 degrees with cap off, but not the dropper for 2hours or more
Let sit overnight with the dropper off this time, cap it and off to my vape juice stand it goes.
Here's what I've found out....
I may be wrong, but more and more this seems to be the case with my mixtures; Juices that require a smaller% of flavoring e.g. Flavourart, and some Inawera juices require longer time and more shakes than those where the % are higher. I think this may be because a smaller dose of flavor has more ground to cover before it is well spread throughout the bottle, so if you ask me about steeping time in the coffee warmer I'd say anywhere from 2 hours to 4 hours depending on what I'm cooking up. I've been vaping for a while now but I have never let my juice steep longer than two weeks, and that was before I even started cooking my own stuff. Even my tobacco extractions steep for a week at most.
I am not saying that I'm right, probably far from it. But I'm impatient and kind of a busy-body and couldn't bear the thought of letting a juice I created sit there for a month untouched.
When the bath method of steeping was first mentioned in these threads, I jumped at it and embraced it immediately. It has worked for me ever since.
I agree that some tobaccos take longer than others to develop the target personality one seeks, but then again tobaccos in general take longer to develop than fruits, and desserts. Although I vape mostly tobaccos I occasionaly make fruity, and creamy juices for friends and family, and I noticed that when I do this for the most part I'm adding from 15% to 25% flavor, which being a larger portion of the mix requires less time to meld into the whole.
The most important part of my mixing is consistency of procedure. That way when things go wrong I can track down the source and if I can...correct the mistake.
But if I were to be brutally honest the main reason I don't steep is.....me. I want to know yesterday what I should wait to know tomorrow.
Thanks guys

 

[Blueser]

No amount of voodoo is going to make a crappy flavor taste good. Just because you buy a so-called tobacco flavor the likelihood of it tasting remotely like tobacco is very slim. I have a box full of so-called tobacco flavors that have been naturally ageing for months and/or been through the heated CP...they still taste horrid....and I've gone from one extreme to the other on percentages.

I'm more in the thought camp of "taste is psychological" vs "taste is subjective"...people have a propensity to over exaggerate taste/test results. I found this out when I first started vaping and and was gullible enough to buy in to juice reviews. There were no lack of superlatives of larges masses of people raving over this and that juice. I found 99% of the juice I bought based on rave reviews to be horrid...this is what drove me to start diy for I figured there could be NO WAY I could make something worse than I was buying.

Maybe I just take the word 'tobacco" to literally...seems every time tobacco is mentioned around here or anywhere...what is really being referred to is a candy flavor ie vanilla/caramel etc without one hint of tobacco flavor. I've not tried all the so-called tobacco flavors available but I have tried my fair share. At the moment I'm semi-averagely satisfied with Inawera S'Camel, Hangsen Indian/RY1 @ 3-5% W/ a little bit of DNB....at best I'll warm these an hour or two in my CP, shaking occasionally to mix the contents. I don't know that'll you'll ever find a flavor that comes truly close to replicating tobacco (that is if you're actually wanting a dry tobacco taste vs a candy flavor)...but you can get kinda/sorta/remotely close...

 

[cocacola31173]

I have tried to make some tobacco juice and for some reason the level keeps going down on it. Im not using it and I know that no one else bothers it.I don't understand how its happening.

The bottle is not leaking and the cap is on tight. Has anyone else had this trouble?

 

[dannyv45]

I have tried to make some tobacco juice and for some reason the level keeps going down on it. Im not using it and I know that no one else bothers it.I don't understand how its happening.

The bottle is not leaking and the cap is on tight. Has anyone else had this trouble?

Several people have had that experience. What helps is keeping those flavors that evaporate in glass viles that have polyseal caps..

 

[Digame]

Thanks Danny, you saved me some bucks by indicating the UC had no particular advantages over the crockpot. As to your question about blind taste, the answer is no, just my general impressions. I basically vape a few tobaccos by FA and Hangsen. The toughest ones to steep are those by FA - 7Leaves, Maxx Blend and Latakia in that order. The Hangsen's are a bit easier. I have used both a crockpot and a high quality thermos, but can't seem to keep the temp constant at 150 for 4 hours. The Crock pot sometimes goes up to 160, and the thermos loses 5 degrees each hour. They both help though by cutting the steeping period in half. They work perfectly on some tobaccos- RY4 double for one; no additional steeping needed. But 7 Leaves needs a couple of weeks additional steeping beyond the crockpot. Thanks again.

I wouldn't worry about the temp too much. I've had mine at higher temps even to boiling point and it came out the same. My CP hits 170 with the lid on at the low setting that way the boiled water trickles back in and I have to worry less about running low on water. I am yet to see a difference in flavor and I do the same flavors ALL THE TIME. In fact I use Flavourart tobacco flavors just like you and Ozone and Virginia take some time even after heat steeping to become more intense. Not that you cannot vape them still warm from the CP. BTW I am doing 5% flavor on all tobaccos except NETs.

 

[Exchaner]

Thanks Digame, it helps to know that higher temps are not actually too bad.

 

[Exchaner]

My crockpot is kind of bulky. Does anyone know of a mini-sized brand I could look into?

 

[cocacola31173]

Several people have had that experience. What helps is keeping those flavors that evaporate in glass viles that have polyseal caps..

I do use glass bottles...What are polyseal caps and where can I get them cheap?

 

[fredrikstad]

There are threads about USC vs crockpot where people go into detail about their findings. Personally, I'm a fan of the good ole time. I let my mixes sit for 2 weeks minimum, and if they don't taste good after 20 days, I scrap them.

Then what about Custards? I haer people say they steep their`s at least five weeks minimum and Tobaccos need at least four weeks to fully develop

 

[Mrdaputer]

My crockpot is kind of bulky. Does anyone know of a mini-sized brand I could look into?

You could look into a cheap soup thermos. That is what I use for all my juices. I hated to fire up the crock pot for only a bottle or 2. The thermos will keep the temp for hours.

 

[Exchaner]

Then what about Custards? I haer people say they steep their`s at least five weeks minimum and Tobaccos need at least four weeks to fully develop

That has been my experience as well, even with plain old vanilla.

 

[Exchaner]

At the moment I'm semi-averagely satisfied with Inawera S'Camel, Hangsen Indian/RY1 @ 3-5% W/ a little bit of DNB....at best I'll warm these an hour or two in my CP, shaking occasionally to mix the contents. I don't know that'll you'll ever find a flavor that comes truly close to replicating tobacco (that is if you're actually wanting a dry tobacco taste vs a candy flavor)...but you can get kinda/sorta/remotely close...

You're tempting me to try S'Camel just out of curiosity although I need another flavor like I need a hole in the head. If you're into plain tobacco taste I can suggest Latakia by FA. It's a no non-sense tobacco flavor without too many other ingredients. But for real tobacco goodness, you must try Patriot by Goodejuice. It's a natural extraction from several different tobacco leaves. Too bad it's kind of expensive, but hey, you only live once....

 

[Aheadatime]

Then what about Custards? I haer people say they steep their`s at least five weeks minimum and Tobaccos need at least four weeks to fully develop

I can only speak on my own behalf, but I've found this to be false. When I was vaping alot of custard (Caps V1), I would mix a recipe, wait 10 days, and vape it. Some of them were stored for future testing, and I got around to them about 2 months later. They tasted pretty much the exact same, but were darker and (if I recall correctly) a tad sweeter. I've found 15 days to be sufficient time for all of my recipes to steep at room temp. In fact, I'm vaping on a tobacco recipe that Danny sent me almost a year ago, and although its a bit smoother, it tastes the same as I remember it tasting a week after he first sent me it.

 

[dannyv45]

I do use glass bottles...What are polyseal caps and where can I get them cheap?

There also refered to as cone caps and I usually get all my bottling supplies here.

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