I started a batch of five pipe blend tobacco macerations today---one ounce of tobacco in each, with a solvent of 65pg/35vg. My intention is for a three-day heat-assisted steep in a warm water bath at 140° F. Ive done two-day heat-assisted steeps with pipe tobaccos, but never a three-day steep. I guess Im looking for the outer limits of good flavor extraction in moderately heated macerations.
Setting up the batch---getting the jars ready, making multiple sets of labels for the finished extract bottles so I can send out samples to my compatriots, mixing the tobacco and solvent (I stir only at the very beginning; once the tobacco slurry warms, I dont disturb it, so as discourage excess disintegration of particulates into the solvent), heating the big pot of water to the right temperature---brought to mind a subject that has come up on the thread fairly recently.
As my experience grows, both vicariously through reading about tobacco and literally through making extract, it seems more and more obvious to me that nearly everything related to the cultivating, curing, and processing of tobacco over the past four centuries is directly tied to smoking it. Every historical advance in the art and business of tobacco production has been designed largely maximize the human experience of inhaling the smoke from burning tobacco into our lungs. Most of the myriad characteristics of wholesale and retail tobacco are aimed at this end, from cultivation (regions, soils, watering, pest control, from seed to harvest), through processing (curing, cutting, shaping, casing, topping with flavorings or other chemical additives such as nicotine, etc.) to the manufacture of finished products (pipe tobaccos, cigars, cigarettes/ryo) are dedicated mainly to inhaling the smoke from burning tobacco. Smokeless tobacco products---primarily chewing tobacco, snuff, and snus---are exceptions, of course, but they constitute a minority segment of the commercial tobacco marketplace.
Enter vaping. Except for the small percentage of vapers who use zero nicotine in their eliquids, most of us are essentially using a smokeless tobacco product. Is this safe? We dont know. Most of us feel that vaping is safer than smoking or chewing tobacco, but vaping hasnt been around long enough to allow the research studies that should eventually demonstrate its long-term effects on our health. In the meantime, I consider vaping to be a form of self-medication, at least for me personally.
As a person who produces homemade macerated extract flavorings from natural tobacco, Im already aware that everything I read in descriptions of the various tobaccos I buy for extraction is connected to smoking. Traits such as burning (cool or hot), packing (loose or tight), and even flavorings (casings and toppings, room notes, designations such as aromatic, etc.) are all aimed directly at smoking and may not translate effectively or sometimes at all to the vaping experience.
I think its safe to say that tobacco producers, processors, and blenders are not thinking about vaping when they deal with tobacco as a consumer product. Flavoring companies are discovering that vaping is a potentially lucrative market, so progress is being made there, through eradication of substances used in flavorings (i.e., diketones like diacetyl) that may be harmful if inhaled. But even with the increase in smokeless tobacco products such as snus, tobacco itself remains largely a product designed for smoking.
If the vaping revolution continues at its current breakneck pace, perhaps this may change in the years ahead. Im not sure about tobacco growers, but tobacco processors and blenders seem to me likely to begin adapting their products to account for the vaping experience rather than tuning solely to smoking. What would this look like? I dont know, but I hope Im around to find out.
In the meantime, Im willing to put up with certain difficulties in translation or descriptions that dont really apply to our uses. Even at this relatively early stage in the game, NETs are already far beyond synthetic tobacco flavorings in the pleasures they provide. Imagine how wonderful it would be if eliquid tobacco flavors, performance, and the overall vaping experience of tobacco could be significantly improved.
One of the pipe tobaccos in the maceration batch I started today is Hearth & Home Berry Nice. This is a Black Cav blend with a bit of Latakia that's steamed with the essence of wild berries, black currant, and blackberries. Online reviews were mixed at best, as many pipe smokers felt that the sweet fruit overwhelmed the tobacco. One reviewer who liked it described Berry Nice as creamy berry cheesecake. Some said soapy aftertaste, like a scented candle. But thats based on smoking it, not vaping it. I bought an ounce knowing that I might not like the extract. But you can never tell beforehand with extractions. For four bucks shipped, it was worth a shot. Well see how it turns out.
