Question regarding homemade extracts

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manc2000

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Mar 10, 2011
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About 6 months ago I made 1 litre each of vanilla, almond and lemon extract, using Smirnoff triple distilled vodka. I used vanilla beans, ground blanched almond nuts, and lemon zest (the scraped yellow part of the lemon peel). I shook each concoction daily for about 3 months, and then once a week up until to-day. All 3 extracts have turned out excellent. It must have been fate that lead me along this path because it was during my extract research that I first read the about ecigs, however, I had no idea what they were. I should mention that I gave up smoking 30 years ago, but my wife and son have been trying to quit for years without success. About a month ago my wife said she really wanted to stop smoking but was finding it impossible. It was then that I remembered the ecigs and I went ahead and read as much as I could on the subject, (mostly on ECF). I explained to my wife and son what ecigs were, and they both decided to give them a try. I went ahead and ordered 2 ego-T kits and some juices. After one month of vaping neither of them has touched an analog. They recently started having problems with the ego atties, so I followed the advice I received on this forum and purchased a load of Boge 510 cartomizers, and all is now well.
OK I know that was boring but I am slowly getting to my question. The juices being used are all the same strength (24mg nicotine) in many flavors, and they are using 100% VG. We do however have approx 150ml of nicotine free PG (which has not yet been used) and a large bottle of nicotine free VG. Here's my question (finally). They have been trying to reduce the nicotine by diluting with 50% VG, but have been losing too much flavor. I was wondering if my homemade extracts could be used in the experimental mix, and any advice will be most welcome. I have another question regarding the sweetness of flavored juices, and please forgive me if this is a stupid question, but what do the juice makers use to sweeten their product? The reason I am asking is that about 1 year ago I removed sugar from my diet, and started using (splenda) in my tea, coffee and baking, but since SPLENDA has other ingredient mixed with it I decided to make my own. I recently imported 2oz of pure sucralose from the USA. Sucralose is 600 times stronger than sugar and it is the main ingredient
in SPLENDA. I now mix my sucralose powder with distilled water, and I have mixed it so that one teaspoon of the sucralose mixture is equivalent to 1 cup of sugar. I only need 2 or 3 drops in my tea and coffee. My question is whether my sucralose mixture and extracts can be used to experiment with different mixes in order to sweeten the juice and increase the flavor (even at the risk of losing some of the original flavor)? I guess it goes without saying that the extract and (sucralose mix if used) will be filtered using coffee filters.
PS if you are not familiar with sucralose, I would appreciate any comments you can give on using my extracts................Sorry for the long post.
 

Zal42

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Jan 20, 2011
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I was wondering if my homemade extracts could be used in the experimental mix, and any advice will be most welcome

Flavorings used in vaping tend to be very concentrated, and you may or may not get adequate flavor from yours depending on their strength, but it's worth a try! Mix small tester batches so if it doesn't work for you, you haven't spoiled a lot of juice.

I have another question regarding the sweetness of flavored juices, and please forgive me if this is a stupid question, but what do the juice makers use to sweeten their product?

A lot of juice have no sweetener added, as pg is already sweet. When sweetener is used, it's typically sucralose. Lots of people use EZ-Sweet (a liquid sucralose) to sweeten. Also, you might look into ethyl maltol. It's not a sweetener as such, but it does add the flavor of sweet and can make juice flavors "blend" better. It can also greatly enhance many flavors.

I now mix my sucralose powder with distilled water, and I have mixed it so that one teaspoon of the sucralose mixture is equivalent to 1 cup of sugar. I only need 2 or 3 drops in my tea and coffee. My question is whether my sucralose mixture and extracts can be used to experiment with different mixes in order to sweeten the juice and increase the flavor (even at the risk of losing some of the original flavor)?

Yes, and a lot of people successfully do this. Check the ingredient list, though, because some sucralose powders contain other ingredients that could clog up your atty.
 

manc2000

Senior Member
ECF Veteran
Mar 10, 2011
89
9
Ontario, Canada
Wow, I'm now motivated to try something similar...

Six months of distillation will give an ready-made flavoring a run for its money, I'm sure. If you ever get bored and feel like shipping some samples to the states, well... :)

I retired 5 years ago so time is something I have lots of. Your putting ideas in my head regarding shipping some samples to the states. LOL. Actually, the extracts are very easy to make and recipes for vanilla are all over the internet. The lemon and almond were experimental, but turned out very good. I'm looking to make some batches of fruit extracts when they are in season. . (rather expensive right now here in Canada). The vanilla beans are available on ebay, and vodka is the only other ingredient, and there are lots of recipes on the web. As a side note, I quit drinking about 5 years ago so any leftover vodka will remain untouched until needed for my next batch of extracts. In my old drinking days it wouldn't have lasted very long. Zal42 mentioned in the above post that the extracts may be a little weak, (like me) so I will do some research to find a way to make them more concentrated. Suggestions are welcome.

Manc
 
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