I think you would be better off putting the money into a vacuum flask system for VG. I have an aeropress for coffee and with fine ground coffee and hot water it can take a bit of effort to press.
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Pipe tobacco and Cigar extraction
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I think you would be better off putting the money into a vacuum flask system for VG. I have an aeropress for coffee and with fine ground coffee and hot water it can take a bit of effort to press.
The poly filter will work very well. I went ahead and ordered some to use with my filter flask set up. I ordered a 60$ diaphram vacuum pump from elsewhere as well. I am going to hard pipe it to my work bench in the shop
I work in industrial maintenance, as to your question before on shipping from McMaster, yes, we typically just click buy and take the hit on shipping. I do anywhere between 1 and 100 orders from them a month. I get free shipping from McMaster on the company account. I went ahead and purchased this under my account though. Which does not get free shipping.
Hi
I also am macerating tobaccos. I have been working with whole leaf and love handling them.
I have found that they remind me of what cigs used to be like - pre-1975
I agree with your 110 F warm bath. I have cooked thin leaf Virginia to jam. Really tasty but different than cold steep but almost impossible to filter.
I just did a 14 day soak with a branded pure Perique .... I have to say that it is heavenly beyond my expectation.
I too find that vaping tobacco is a different than smoking it. I find that vaping the tobacco is better than smoking it as the burning masks the essence with many tobaccos.
If you wanna compare notes - I'm into it.
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So far Ive done the MW burst method ( several microwave heating sessions bringing the VG/tobacco mix up to 120-130F range)
also have tried the VG/tobacco in a crock pot at a max of 140F for 18 & 36 hour steep times
and lastly, a VG/PGA (50/50) heated in crock pot ( 130Fmax) session for 18 hrs
Since I have used a black cavendish/cherry tobacco in all methods ( to find the differences in steep methods) Im seeing a better flavor intensity in the MW method as far as the "drop on the finger taste test" compared to the other processes, but the flavor in vaping it is lackluster (flat).
The VG crockpot steeping seems to produce better flavors ( tobacco is more pronounced but the cherry is still muted in vape form).
The VG/PGA method produces strong cherry characteristics and a definate tobacco bite at the end of exhale but has a more bitter inhale.
The left over tobacco in the MW burst method and the straight VG/crockpot session left the tobacco "wet" and shiny. When using the VG/PGA method, the tobacco was "drier" after final fluid extraction ( wasnt "sticky" as with the VG methods)
one more thing to consider... the PGA/VG method produces a more calming effect when vaping and on a subtle note.... it makes my ears ring louder as if I smoked a ciggie
OK, I have an interim report on the 5-micron pore size polyester felt filter "paper" (more like upholstery fabric) I purchased from McMaster-Carr. It's a densely-fibered white felt, about 1/16" thick. For $20, I bought a 3' by 6' roll (the smallest amount that can be ordered). This should be enough to last me forever, given that the felt is reusable (a fact I can now confirm---after filtering a tobacco maceration, the felt washes out easily and apparently completely just by holding it under a strong stream of running water in the kitchen sink; the white color does darken to a light tan after filtering, so some residue must remain, but one 3" cut-out felt circle worked fine today to filter four macerations, with easy rinses between each).
I was concerned that the felt might not work in my French Press coffee pots, fearing that the circular felt wouldn't seal against the inside of the cylindrical glass (Melior) or plastic (Bodum)pots, allowing liquid to bypass the filter around the side as the plunger was pressed. This concern motivated me to research hand-vacuum filter kits online, which sell for $40-150 depending on size and vendor. I read tons of reviews on Amazon and elsewhere, and the negative reviews were always the same: cheap plastic hand-operated vacuum pumps were invariably the problem. Either they didn't work well, or they were flimsy and broke. All the kits on Amazon or eBay or school lab equipment sites seems to use these cheap plastic Chinese hand vacuum pumps.
I decided to put together my own "kit" from separate parts: 500ml Ehrlenmeyer borosilicate filter flask, 70mm Buchner ceramic funnel, and a Mityvac MV8510 Silverline Elite Hand Pump (far and away the most dependable, well-made, heavy-duty, all-metal hand vacuum pump available, even if it is made for automotive use on brake lines), plus hose and stopper. That kit would set me back around $150 total. I wasn't thrilled, however, about the prospect of spending that much on filtering equipment. Heck, that's more than I've spent in total for my 27 previous extractions.
Well, it turns out that I need not have worried. The 5µ poly felt filter works beautifully with my 3-cup, 12 oz. Bodum small French Press, which is the perfect size for the tobacco extractions I do. My big Melior French Press would work also, but the small Bodum is a better size, because it lets me press the tobacco solids to release most of the absorbed PG/VG.
This was my 9th batch of extractions---four different pipe tobaccos, three from the Hearth & Home Signature Series (Freight Train, Steamroller, and Stogie), and one from Milan (Chartwell, an English blend). I altered my pipe tobacco "formula" for these macerations, using 1 oz. of tobacco rather than half an ounce, covered with 125-150ml of 65PG/35VG, the amount of liquid depending on the volume needed to cover each tobacco, which varied from one to another. The sealed-jar macerations spent 24 hours in a warm water bath inside my large pasta pot, with the water temperature as controlled as I can make it using one of the 50-year-old Jenn-Air old-style electric-coil burners in my apartment's kitchen. I get a very nice 130° with the control set to "Lo" and the lid off the pasta pot. All I have to do over the 24 hours is top up the water in the pot from time to time, since it evaporates slowly.
I filtered the macerations while the liquids were still warm, using the small Bodum French Press outfitted with what is now a dual-filter---first the plunger forces the liquid through a wire mesh filter, then through the 5µ poly felt. It worked beautifully. One pass. Easy-peasy-Japanesey. Took about two minutes to filter each maceration. The great bulk of the 90 minutes I spent going from macerations ready to filter to finished extracts in labeled bottles was in preparation, filling the bottles, and clean-up after each filtering. Yield was from 60ml to 100ml of final extract for each tobacco blend.
I won't know for quite awhile the actual effects of this one-step filtering method on flavor and performance (coil/wick gunking), which is why this is just an interim report. Each extract needs to steep for a week or so, and then I'll want to log considerable time with the DIY NET juices made from the extracts to judge the flavor/performance factors.
For now, though, using the 5µ poly felt filter with the Bodum French Press for easy, single-pass filtering of natural tobacco extracts appears to be a big success.
I was concerned that the felt might not work in my French Press coffee pots, fearing that the circular felt wouldn't seal against the inside of the cylindrical glass (Melior) or plastic (Bodum)pots, allowing liquid to bypass the filter around the side as the plunger was pressed. This concern motivated me to research hand-vacuum filter kits online, which sell for $40-150 depending on size and vendor. I read tons of reviews on Amazon and elsewhere, and the negative reviews were always the same: cheap plastic hand-operated vacuum pumps were invariably the problem. Either they didn't work well, or they were flimsy and broke. All the kits on Amazon or eBay or school lab equipment sites seems to use these cheap plastic Chinese hand vacuum pumps.
I decided to put together my own "kit" from separate parts: 500ml Ehrlenmeyer borosilicate filter flask, 70mm Buchner ceramic funnel, and a Mityvac MV8510 Silverline Elite Hand Pump (far and away the most dependable, well-made, heavy-duty, all-metal hand vacuum pump available, even if it is made for automotive use on brake lines), plus hose and stopper. That kit would set me back around $150 total. I wasn't thrilled, however, about the prospect of spending that much on filtering equipment. Heck, that's more than I've spent in total for my 27 previous extractions.
Well, it turns out that I need not have worried. The 5µ poly felt filter works beautifully with my 3-cup, 12 oz. Bodum small French Press, which is the perfect size for the tobacco extractions I do. My big Melior French Press would work also, but the small Bodum is a better size, because it lets me press the tobacco solids to release most of the absorbed PG/VG.
This was my 9th batch of extractions---four different pipe tobaccos, three from the Hearth & Home Signature Series (Freight Train, Steamroller, and Stogie), and one from Milan (Chartwell, an English blend). I altered my pipe tobacco "formula" for these macerations, using 1 oz. of tobacco rather than half an ounce, covered with 125-150ml of 65PG/35VG, the amount of liquid depending on the volume needed to cover each tobacco, which varied from one to another. The sealed-jar macerations spent 24 hours in a warm water bath inside my large pasta pot, with the water temperature as controlled as I can make it using one of the 50-year-old Jenn-Air old-style electric-coil burners in my apartment's kitchen. I get a very nice 130° with the control set to "Lo" and the lid off the pasta pot. All I have to do over the 24 hours is top up the water in the pot from time to time, since it evaporates slowly.
I filtered the macerations while the liquids were still warm, using the small Bodum French Press outfitted with what is now a dual-filter---first the plunger forces the liquid through a wire mesh filter, then through the 5µ poly felt. It worked beautifully. One pass. Easy-peasy-Japanesey. Took about two minutes to filter each maceration. The great bulk of the 90 minutes I spent going from macerations ready to filter to finished extracts in labeled bottles was in preparation, filling the bottles, and clean-up after each filtering. Yield was from 60ml to 100ml of final extract for each tobacco blend.
I won't know for quite awhile the actual effects of this one-step filtering method on flavor and performance (coil/wick gunking), which is why this is just an interim report. Each extract needs to steep for a week or so, and then I'll want to log considerable time with the DIY NET juices made from the extracts to judge the flavor/performance factors.
For now, though, using the 5µ poly felt filter with the Bodum French Press for easy, single-pass filtering of natural tobacco extracts appears to be a big success.
Yesterday I made up 5ml sample bottles of my four new pipe blend extracts. Yeah, I know, that's premature, since they were fresh out of their macerations/filtering and haven't yet had time to steep. I like mixing up samples of my home-brewed NETs fresh, however, because that gives me a benchmark against which to compare the changes that steeping produces, both in the extracts and in the mixed DIY NET liquids. All four sample bottles were mixed using 15% extract at 18mg nic in an overall base ratio of 50/50. All four are transparent, with coloring that varies from golden caramel (Steamroller, Freight Train), through medium caramel (Stogie) to a deeper caramel (Chartwell).
My immediate reactions are typical. The blends all taste good, but they're mild (the tobacco punch strengthens over time) and sweeter now than they'll be later on (in part because of the 1/3 VG in the extract, but also just because they're infants---the sweetness will diminish as they age). Here on Day 2, I like three of the four pipe blends quite a bit, with the fourth being so-so and unlikely to become a favorite:
Hearth & Home Signature Steamroller---described as Aromatic/Non-Aromatic/English, whatever that means. Defies categorization, I suppose. Red Virginia, two dark Burleys, unflavored Cavendish, and just a bit of Latakia and Perique for spice. Very nice vape. I think I'd call it simply an Aromatic, although I can't identify any particular additional flavors.
Hearth & Home Signature Freight Train---Red Virginia, dark Burley, fire-cured Kentucky (whatever that is), plus a bit of unflavored Black Cavendish and Perique. Freight Train is a Non-Aromatic, so no cased flavorings in this one, and the most pure tobacco flavor of the four.
Both Steamroller and Freight Train are described on the pipes&cigars site as being the strongest, most kick-.... blends in the entire H&H Signature series. In my experience, simple-soak macerations can't produce that kind of impact (with the possible exception of certain English blends heavy on the Latakia). Especially now, when they're fresh, both extracts are milder in impact than the p&c description. I imagine that the tobacco flavor in both will deepen and intensity some with steeping time, but I doubt that my extraction method will ever produce a truly knock-your-socks-off tobacco. I do wonder what an extended "cook"--say, three days rather than one---would produce with a strong pipe blend. Maybe I'll do one of those extended cooks with the leftover 1/2 ounce of tobacco from an earlier extraction, an English blend perhaps, like Peter Stokkebye Proper English, and see how it compares.
Milan Chartwell---an English blend made from Latakia and sliced Burley, with plum on the finish. I'm surprised by this one; it's much better than I expected. In fact, it's yummy. Only mildly English (the Latakia is restrained), with a very pleasing Burley, and the cased/infused plum adds a delicious element.
Hearth & Home Signature Stogie---the least of the four, but I figured that would be the case when I ordered it. An oddity: a pipe blend designed to resemble a cigar by adding real cigarleaf to a blend of Burley, Cavendish, Latakia/Perique, Turkish, and Virginia tobaccos. Stogie does have a definite cigar taste, but the crossover effect is slightly confused, at least compared to the real cigars I'm extracting. Or maybe it's just the everything-but-the-kitchen-sink blend of tobaccos in this one. LOL.
My immediate reactions are typical. The blends all taste good, but they're mild (the tobacco punch strengthens over time) and sweeter now than they'll be later on (in part because of the 1/3 VG in the extract, but also just because they're infants---the sweetness will diminish as they age). Here on Day 2, I like three of the four pipe blends quite a bit, with the fourth being so-so and unlikely to become a favorite:
Hearth & Home Signature Steamroller---described as Aromatic/Non-Aromatic/English, whatever that means. Defies categorization, I suppose. Red Virginia, two dark Burleys, unflavored Cavendish, and just a bit of Latakia and Perique for spice. Very nice vape. I think I'd call it simply an Aromatic, although I can't identify any particular additional flavors.
Hearth & Home Signature Freight Train---Red Virginia, dark Burley, fire-cured Kentucky (whatever that is), plus a bit of unflavored Black Cavendish and Perique. Freight Train is a Non-Aromatic, so no cased flavorings in this one, and the most pure tobacco flavor of the four.
Both Steamroller and Freight Train are described on the pipes&cigars site as being the strongest, most kick-.... blends in the entire H&H Signature series. In my experience, simple-soak macerations can't produce that kind of impact (with the possible exception of certain English blends heavy on the Latakia). Especially now, when they're fresh, both extracts are milder in impact than the p&c description. I imagine that the tobacco flavor in both will deepen and intensity some with steeping time, but I doubt that my extraction method will ever produce a truly knock-your-socks-off tobacco. I do wonder what an extended "cook"--say, three days rather than one---would produce with a strong pipe blend. Maybe I'll do one of those extended cooks with the leftover 1/2 ounce of tobacco from an earlier extraction, an English blend perhaps, like Peter Stokkebye Proper English, and see how it compares.
Milan Chartwell---an English blend made from Latakia and sliced Burley, with plum on the finish. I'm surprised by this one; it's much better than I expected. In fact, it's yummy. Only mildly English (the Latakia is restrained), with a very pleasing Burley, and the cased/infused plum adds a delicious element.
Hearth & Home Signature Stogie---the least of the four, but I figured that would be the case when I ordered it. An oddity: a pipe blend designed to resemble a cigar by adding real cigarleaf to a blend of Burley, Cavendish, Latakia/Perique, Turkish, and Virginia tobaccos. Stogie does have a definite cigar taste, but the crossover effect is slightly confused, at least compared to the real cigars I'm extracting. Or maybe it's just the everything-but-the-kitchen-sink blend of tobaccos in this one. LOL.
Hey Bill,
After a frustrating weekend of failed juice experiments, I'm enjoying some of your Proper English. 'Tis fine just the way it is.
After a frustrating weekend of failed juice experiments, I'm enjoying some of your Proper English. 'Tis fine just the way it is.
I was wondering about the HEPA vaccuum cleaner paper discs.... possibly a good filter medium for our intent??
HEPA filters down to .3 microns. That seems like a devilishly low number. I don't know how well the extract would flow through that.
.3?? hmmm okay, didnt think it was that small. Might work with a straight PGA.... possibly..
.3?? hmmm okay, didnt think it was that small. Might work with a straight PGA.... possibly..
Many months ago, I tried some lab filters (leur-lock disks that attach to syringes) that had .2-micron pores. Pure water would go through them, but extract? Hardly any. Barely a drop or two, despite applying all the pressure I could to the syringe plunger. I gave up on those very quickly.
No, I'm happy with my 5-micron poly felt filters.
Hepa filters are designed to filter air, not liquids. Would they work? I doubt it at .3 micron retention.
Why not use lab filters designed to filter liquids? I ran my last batches through 2.5 micron qualitative lab filter paper and the extracts are very clean.
Bill, I may have to order some of that felt. Reusable filter media appeals to my frugal side.
Why not use lab filters designed to filter liquids? I ran my last batches through 2.5 micron qualitative lab filter paper and the extracts are very clean.
Bill, I may have to order some of that felt. Reusable filter media appeals to my frugal side.
Before you order any of the felt, check out the performance of at least one of the four extracts now winging their way to you through the mails. This is the first batch for which I used the single-step French Press dual-stage (wire mesh then 5-micron felt) filtering. I still haven't loaded up any of them into a clearo or RBA, so I have no way to confirm yet whether they're cleaner than my older two-step method using doubled paper coffee filters for the second step.
If you do get some of the 5µ poly felt, you'll have enough to last forever, since the most cost-effective order is a 3' x 6' rolled sheet (about $20 with shipping). 18 square feet of that stuff is theoretically enough to cut out 216 three-inch circles for a Buchner funnel (or my French Press)---maybe 150 in real life. Since they're reusable (a strong stream of running water is all it takes to clean them out, even though they do remain tan after one use rather than the pure white they start out as), 150 is way more than you or I will probably ever need.
I really hope this first batch of extracts turns out to be clean-performing. The single-pass French Press filtering method is so easy and convenient!
I have five more cigar macerations in the 130° water bath right now. I think I'll let these steep for four days rather than three, since the first four cigars turned out so amazingly great. An extra day in the water bath won't hurt them, since the low temp removes any danger of "over-cooking" the macerations, and it might make the flavors even richer. I'm happy to let Diane at MVJ corner the "lite-flavor, light-colored cigar NETs---I'm going for the want2vape full-tilt gusto, except with nice, clean performance.
Bill, your first batch of cigar extracts are absolutely great!
If it works out, you may have to patent the one step filtration. After a little steep, I'll try out your last batch.
If it works out, you may have to patent the one step filtration. After a little steep, I'll try out your last batch.
The irony is that after one day in the warm water bath, I thought those four cigar extracts were going to be a total loss. After that first 24 hours in the water bath steep, I siphoned off a dropperful of extract liquid from the Rocky Patel maceration and made up a sample test bottle. The extract color was medium caramel, but it had almost no flavor (it made MVJ's cigar NETs seem downright rich by comparison). I considered throwing out all four and giving up on cigars entirely. But I thought, "What the hell, I'll just let 'em steep in the warm water bath until the cows come home," which turned out to be three days, after which the solvent liquids had turned an extremely dark color, almost opaque. At that point, I worried that they might have been ruined by "overcooking" (even though my water bath is strictly maintained at only 130°, cool enough to put your hand in and not be jolted by the heat) or, at the very least, turned into horrible coil/wick gunkers because of particulate break-up from the effects of the long heat-assisted maceration on the tobacco, so I triple-filtered the liquid---one pass through the wire-mesh French Press, then two separate passes through doubled paper coffee filter "twisted balloons."
When I mixed up sample bottles and atty-dripped the Rocky Patel to taste-test it, I was shocked, taken completely by surprise, and totally unprepared for it to taste so darn good. Each one tasted different, but every one was yummy as all get-out. Now, after the extracts and initial DIY juices have had two months to steep, they're fantastic! Just goes to show that we never know for sure what we're going to get.
I know there are people looking for a cheap French press because of you! A big part of the fun in home extracting has been making some damn good juice with very little financial investment. I tend to keep my expectations low so most surprises are happy ones.
I'm one of those people! Just ordered some goodies from Pipes & Cigars.com, and a moderate sized Amazon order including French Press, little bottles, PG, VG, and filtering felt. I'm stoked to get started! It's gonna be rough because I think the tobacco's gonna arrive before the extraction supplies...
Okay, so I know I need filters, something for measuring liquid, base, PG, and nic. My question is, what else is missing from my supply list? I'm looking to get into cold and maybe microwave extractions.
2 x 120ml bottles
1 x 2" 2ml funnel
5 x 14ml plastic bottles with screw tops
2 x 1/3oz pipe tobacco
I'm trying to figure out if I need a bigger funnel, what size and quantity of bottles to make multi stage filtering easy, and just general things I'm missing.
I had it all planned out, but I lost the list, and I can't get it all together again. Is there a good beginner's kit.
2 x 120ml bottles
1 x 2" 2ml funnel
5 x 14ml plastic bottles with screw tops
2 x 1/3oz pipe tobacco
I'm trying to figure out if I need a bigger funnel, what size and quantity of bottles to make multi stage filtering easy, and just general things I'm missing.
I had it all planned out, but I lost the list, and I can't get it all together again. Is there a good beginner's kit.
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