Natural Tobaccos - Part Deux

[AnthonyB]

Move to Australia. Then you will have everyone's sympathies

That is a heck of a haul. What do I need to do to get on his gift list?

 

[Dusty_D]

Move to Australia. Then you will have everyone's sympathies

Canada is closer.. but colder.

 

[Jerms]

For people who have vaped motor oil Organic #1 (moO#1), how would you rate it's gunkiness?

So far it's hinting at being gunky for a GeJ NET. I've only used it in one dripper so far that I changed the wick out once today, but the coil seemed to gunk up fairly quick both times. I don't totally trust the results from this particular set-up, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's a gunker because it's extremely dark in color. Seems to be performing about the same as an Ahl aro; not terrible but not great. Like the aros though, I'm willing to trade cleaner performance for great flavor.

 

[billherbst]

Maybe, if we all pitch in, Bill, Boomer, Johni, of MFT will extract one of these for us.
West End 1868 - Cigar.com

I get it that you're joking, but even the prospect of extracting a 144-year-old $450 cigar fills me with dread. I like extracting because it allows the possibility of terrific results on the cheap where nothing important is riding on the outcome. if I blow an extraction or the resulting juice is not so great, that's no big woof. A rare heirloom cigar changes the game from light-hearted fun to serious responsibility. Not that anyone's likely to offer for real, but I'd have to pass on that one. Maybe another intrepid home-extractor on our growing list would be willing.

My biggest fear is that a 144-year-old cigar would probably make lousy vaping extract. I think it's a good bet that recently-cured, relatively fresh tobacco is the best source for our purposes.

Nice find and a good joke, though.

 

[jefsview]

For people who have vaped motor oil Organic #1 (moO#1), how would you rate it's gunkiness?

So far it's hinting at being gunky for a GeJ NET. I've only used it in one dripper so far that I changed the wick out once today, but the coil seemed to gunk up fairly quick both times. I don't totally trust the results from this particular set-up, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's a gunker because it's extremely dark in color. Seems to be performing about the same as an Ahl aro; not terrible but not great. Like the aros though, I'm willing to trade cleaner performance for great flavor.

Personally, I don't think it gunks faster than any other GeJ NET. In fact, I vaped it in a T2/Triton tank on a Halo Triton battery for a few weeks before it destroyed the coils. GJ4 and Analog both gunk faster, IMO -- and Analog is much lighter in color. Those were 2.2 ohm coils running 4.2-3.7 volts.

Organic #1's smoky attributes masks some gunking; but it did char the dripper much more quickly than the old T2... but was running closer to 1 ohm on the RDA.

 

[boomerdude]

I wonder if you get a letter of provenance with it?

I myself would have to decline the offer. I wouldn't know where to get 100+ yr ol PG/VG Nic.

I bet that high-altitude wrapper leaf is tasty after an 125 yrs of aging.

Maybe, if we all pitch in, Bill, Boomer, Johni, of MFT will extract one of these for us.
West End 1868 - Cigar.com

 

[johni]

Maybe, if we all pitch in, Bill, Boomer, Johni, of MFT will extract one of these for us.
West End 1868 - Cigar.com

No problem! Just buy it and send it here.

 

[billherbst]

Today I sampled the newly-arrived and very fresh Vita Bella and The Godfather NETs that I ordered during GeJ’s recent 50% off sale. I used my typical method for sampling new juices---dripping into a standard 2.2 ohm Joyetech 510 atomizer powered by a VAMO set to 9.0 watts.

Both 30ml bottles of liquid are 12mg nic. Color of the liquids was close to identical---a medium-caramel transparency, with the Godfather being ever-so-slightly darker than the Vita Bella. Each strikes me as a well-made and professional retail NET, which is exactly what I expect from Nick at GeJ. No amateur shenanigans here, unlike certain vendors past and present who seem to be just trying their hands at natural tobacco liquids on a wing and a prayer. No, both bottles carry the aura of having been made by someone who knows his way around natural tobacco juices.

This is my third 30ml bottle of Vita Bella, and I recognized it as an old and dear friend right from the first inhale. Damn, that’s good! And yes, friends, I’m one of those vapers who likes his Vita Bella fresh, where the spiciness is a clear presence not overwhelmed by the tobacco, but dancing with it on an equal footing. Here the spice is mild but completely delicious.

My two previous bottles of VB were both purchased in December 2011. One of those I vaped straight; the other I Frankenjuiced 2:1 with some AltCig Vanilla Love. That proved to be a mistake in the long run, as I never finished that bottle and eventually threw it out after two years, when it had turned almost black in color and lost all its treble notes, with only blunt bass notes remaining.

I plan to leave this bottle pristine and enjoy the heck out of it.

I ordered The Godfather just to see what Nick would choose to offer in a cigar vape. Before I announce my reaction, let me state than any judgment I make today---positive or not---is probably premature. My experience with cigar NETs is that they need to steep for the flavors to develop and round out, and I presume The Godfather to be no exception.

My reaction to the fresh Godfather is to be unimpressed. I’ve extracted 11 cigars so far, with two more cold macerated cigars currently steeping, and four or five of those are among the very best extracts I’ve produced, with a Rocky Patel Vintage 1990 Churchill Maduro, Nub Cameroon, and Carlos Torano Exodus 1959 being the grand prize winners. Not to blow my own horn too loudly, but they are terrific, as are the majority of my cigar extracts. Sadly, the Godfather can’t touch those. Why? Because there’s nothing particularly special about its cigar-ness.

All my homemade cigar extracts virtually shout their heritage as cigars, and they do so proudly, with gusto and great flavor. By contrast, The Godfather can manage only to whisper that it’s a cigar. While it has more flavor out of the gate than any MVJ cigar NET I’ve vaped (and I have about 12 of those), the MVJs all carry the clear signature of CIGAR much more than The Godfather. The taste of The Godfather is OK, but not particularly noteworthy. I’d stop short of calling it nondescript, since the flavor is pleasant with some hints of complexity, but overall I find it disappointing.

All right, now that I’ve trashed The Godfather, please ignore my judgment. This juice needs to steep, and it’s possible that The Godfather will emerge from its cocoon after a couple months of transformative beauty sleep as an amazing butterfly, rather than the caterpillar cigar I’m tasting today.

One home run and one ground out, with the possibility that both might be hits in the long run.

 

[BaccyFiend]

Anyone have any experience extracting single varietals? I'm thinking the ones I have soaking might need to be heat-assisted. Unlike the pipe tobaccos I have soaking, which almost immediately started turning the PG brown, the PG that the Yenidje and organic Canadian flue-cured Virginia are soaking in is still almost perfectly clear after a few days.

 

[Jerms]

I'm the same way with VB Bill; it's ready to vape immediately after opening the mailing envelope. It stays great for a while, many months. Too well steeped though, it loses it's Bella-ness, the spicy and custardy notes.

Some people actually won't touch it until it's that old, and find it wonderful only after aging almost a year. I have some old VB, I think Mann sent it to me, not sure how old it is but my guess is.. very. It's vapable, but just kind of a run of the mill vanilla tobacco for me, not the wonderful unicorn milk of fresher Vita Bella. Some like baby Bella and others prefer geriatric Bella.

 

[EleanorR]

Someone in the Ahl thread mentioned a new Ahl NET hit the menu.. Caramel House Blend. The little bit of HB I vaped I found unimpressive, but it looks like they may have updated the tobacco? Either way, with Ahl's caramel involved I want to try it. Still want to see a caramel aro..

What the . . . ? I thought all the House Blends went away . . . and now here's a new one?

I think Wlad's getting bored and just messing with things now!

 

[Mr.Mann]

I'm the same way with VB Bill; it's ready to vape immediately after opening the mailing envelope. It stays great for a while, many months. Too well steeped though, it loses it's Bella-ness, the spicy and custardy notes.

Some people actually won't touch it until it's that old, and find it wonderful only after aging almost a year. I have some old VB, I think Mann sent it to me, not sure how old it is but my guess is.. very. It's vapable, but just kind of a run of the mill vanilla tobacco for me, not the wonderful unicorn milk of fresher Vita Bella. Some like baby Bella and others prefer geriatric Bella.

I haven't had it in forever, but I always loved it DIRECTLY from the mail. I think it was Bronze and GT that waited and waited on it as to them it was too much tobacco to begin with (or too much something). I never experienced too much tobacco in it, but it was definitely too good from jumpstreet! LOL

 

[EleanorR]

Attention A+ Aromatic Lovers:


All of the Aros are back on the online menu right now, including Sweet Georgia Peach and Maple Burley!!

BJ and Jerms, get yours now!!


(Now I know Wlad is messing with us . . . )

 

[boomerdude]

I have extracted almost every varietal P&C offers. I can tell you that you need to put a lot of tobacco in your jar. I use an ounce vs 80ml of PG. Maybe 10 mls more for a top off. That gets me a full 2 oz. of extract. I also let it stew for six weeks before decanting.

I have only tried two whole leaf extractions using the same method. Both were terrible and I threw them out.

Anyone have any experience extracting single varietals? I'm thinking the ones I have soaking might need to be heat-assisted. Unlike the pipe tobaccos I have soaking, which almost immediately started turning the PG brown, the PG that the Yenidje and organic Canadian flue-cured Virginia are soaking in is still almost perfectly clear after a few days.

 

[BaccyFiend]

I have only tried two whole leaf extractions using the same method. Both were terrible and I threw them out.

Eek, now I'm worried. These are whole leaf, and they seem pretty uncased. I hope I'm not wasting my time (and $) with them.

 

[regal55]

Well I pulled filtered and made a batch of Peter St 45 BlkCurrant Cav in 36 hrs (hot bath). Glad I did because this is a strong one. Vaping it right now without any steep and it betters the commercial Cav's I've had to date. You really get the Cavendish flavor. This makes my 4th DIY Net and all of them have been better than the commercial list. A lot of these are small mom & pop shops might be gone in 6 months. And I notice huge batch to batch variation.


DIY is the way to go mainly because you know what your getting. I wish the best to the commercial market but I think its turning into pot luck when it comes to nets. The only thing the commercial vendors have is better filtering and that will be overcome by the diy community.

 

[AnthonyB]

I hate to be contrary to the views of others, but I totally agree Brob.

I don't get much exposure to ahlusion because they don't deliver to Australia and when I sent an email to the site asking if they would consider a shipment, I didn't even get a reply email to courteously decline my request. It is the one site I have been forced to use a mule to get my order to me.

I am considering the feedback from others who have been regulars here throughout in the last 12 months who are telling me that the aros are not as popular as they once where. Granted.

I understand business is business but the e-cig industry as it is right now is in the handcrafted, customer service, community oriented domain. It is not heavily commercialised as yet for such aggressive bottom line considerations to dominate over good customer conscientious behaviour. BUT, it is becoming competitive and the decision to remove several liquids which would have been in my cart on future orders might be the difference between ordering and not ordering.

I would also feel that something has gone awry with a vendor that suddenly decides to pull a whole genre off the online site leaving gaps in the order menu where there was once juices. It would create uncertainty in the vendor and I would perhaps try not to love, or become too dependent on their liquids too much, because after all, if the aros line can be pulled off so quickly without so much as even an alert to the consumers, well if could happen with other liquids I order regularly.

My accounting and business brain, would be interested in knowing what is particular to the business model of ahlusion that they can no longer ship a product they are still able to sell in select brick and mortar stores. If it can still be sold, why can't it be shipped? That is a genuine question, not a rhetoric statement.

Great juice companies are like beautiful woman - they become snobby and exclusive lol

Short sighted triple bottom line business or astute business decision? I guess time will tell.

emphasis mine.

So they're still going to be making it, just not putting it online?

Devil Dog was, honestly, one of the only Ahlusion e-liquids I was looking to try besides SC and JC.

I wanted to see how it stacks up with GeJ's Patriot.

What's bothering me is that I don't see a Maple Burley anywhere on the site.

This can't be the Maple House Blend...

I'm also not seeing a lot of other liquids that have been extensively reviewed on this thread on their website.

However, that statement above implies that it's going to be in B&M only and just never available for sale on the website.

In regards to the McDonald's & Starbucks analogies...

If McDonalds decided to never carry a double cheeseburger ever again, and just switched to quarter pounders and big macs, with a new "Why have a double cheeseburger when you can get a double cheese salad?" marketing stint, you probably wouldn't see me there for a loooooooong while.

On that note, Vurley is gone. I'm seeing a lot of blanks where tobaccos should be.

If GeJ did this with Acadian Gold, Patriot and Vita Bella, they would permanently lose me as a customer, and I would sent a very long letter of complaint stating that a lot of people would be doing the same.

Don't get it twisted; I don't see Nick doing this anytime soon, but the fact of the matter is that this can happen with any vendor, at any time... if they don't care about losing customers who happened to think those were their favorite blends.

There is no consolation for customers, nor is there any compromise; example- those who have ordered those blends to be "Grandfathered in" or even an "Xpress" offering that's a fixed ratio.

However, pulling many of what most people considered favorites requires a re-review of Ahlusion's (I refuse to call them A+ at this point. Maybe A--. Yes, I went there.) standing in the vendor rankings.

Yes, I did just say that. How are we going to keep them in the A tier if they just up and decide to flip a large majority of their online customers the bird and say, "Too bad. We're not selling them online anymore. We don't care if you recommended us based on (insert favorite e-liquid here). Deal with it."?

I would consider their standing to be compromised at this point, unless a good explanation (which is not on the site) is offered.

Has anyone at all heard why they are doing this?


.....also, before anyone says, "But you've only ordered Vurley from Ahlusion, why would you care?"

-I'm trying to put myself in your shoes, Ahlusion-lovers: If one of my favorite vendors did this....well, like I said, without a good explanation; they would probably lose my business.

 

[Brobdingnagian]

PS: I have some cigar homebrews that were kindly gifted to me by MFToms.

I am currently going through them, one by one, to get a good feel of the differences between each one.

Gunk factor is lesser than the super-concentrated MvJ I ordered, though. I will say that much.

However, I'll be reviewing these one by one.

I'll try to get my (initial) impressions of a certain one up by tomorrow night (I'll be vaping it all day... for reference purposes, of course).

I'm currently vaping one of them, and enjoying the heck out of it.

I never knew cigars could be this freakin' good.

Sorry I haven't posted a review.

I have completely re-decided my setup is not revealing flavors properly, and have an adapter, airflow controller, and other supplies in the mail. AFC and 510-510 are inbound. Along with some kind of Maple RY4. I have no idea what it's going to taste like.

I just need some ....Tai Quon-Do cotton, or whatever you guys are calling it....

I'd prefer celluwick.

I have a bunch (100) of prebuilt coils on the way for use in the EVOD and T3S (yes, I am going to resurrect it. Assuming I can find the right bottom piece, which I was using to dry burn coils....I know it's around...somewhere.)

Also, a 100-pack of 4Ω NR-R-NR wire which I can twist into 2Ω (I figured, why not, since I can't run this VAMO at 1Ω but the Spinner doesn't really seem to care if I go below 1.2Ω).

In the mean-time, I ordered a stainless EVOD without a drip tip and a couple others with drip tips. Color-coding will probably work best for my needs, and this will mean less dry-burning/wick changing.

A plus in my books.

Additionally, I am looking forward to trying the SVM KFL clone on the Vamo.

I ordered a new pair of batteries, since I notice performance dropping once I get below 3.9v on these....

....these other ones I got off of Amazon that have "fire" in the name.

No, they haven't overheated while charging and generally get up to 4.2, but they should not be starting at 4.1 when I take them off of the Intellicharger.

So, I ordered Sony ones with a 30A max discharge, for a 5A max discharge device.

I think I'll enjoy the Vamo a lot more with a different wick type; save the ReadyXwick for ...I don't know... a dedicated dripper?

I mean, it's cool and all, but I'm tired of torching wick and dry burning separately. I'd rather just toss nasty wick and be done with it.

This is probably the main reason I haven't reviewed Toms' liquids; I don't feel my equipment is bringing out enough flavor, and it's really getting on my nerves because I know the first few drips on the KFL clone + Spinner were frigging' awesome. Now I need to step up my game and actually do it properly.

OFC, I won't be needing the prebuilt coil for the RBA. I'll just coil up several large pieces of double-twisted 32GA A-1 kanthal and wrap around a 1/16 or 5/32 bit. I think that and a better pair of tweezers ought to do it.

I'm going to try and find some locally, along with the cellucotton. I'll search the thread and see what others have located & where.

Until later...

 

[rdsok]

The batteries with "fire" in their name... aren't good... especially for a VV/VW mod. Intellicharger's are better than the cheapies, but not very good either. Efest and/or Xtar are good chargers... the Xtar's are considered better of the two.

 

[Mr.Mann]

The batteries with "fire" in their name... aren't good... especially for a VV/VW mod. Intellicharger's are better than the cheapies, but not very good either. Efest and/or Xtar are good chargers... the Xtar's are considered better of the two.

Love my Xtar!