Slow Cooker Extraction of Tobacco and Tea

[billherbst]

Nice job, but I predict it will be rough on your attys. I use a 0.45micron syringe filter on mine after the coffee filter. The clarity is awesome and its much easier on attys. I can't say if I'm filtering out any flavor, haven't tried any of the extract without filtering it. I'd say the resulting juice is more at the Halo end of atty friendly with W2V's NETs being at the other end.

You're probably right. At least it makes sense to me that my new extract should have a higher level of particulates or whatever other coil-unfriendly stuff might be in it. On the other hand, coil-gunking juices is one of a number of notorious problems in vaping that, for one reason or another, I seem either immune to or unconcerned about. I've vaped dark Want2Vape and VapeRite NETs without ever experiencing a problem. Doesn't mean that my atties/cartos/clearos weren't gunked up, simply that I didn't notice sufficient deterioration of performance (flavor diminishment, lack of vapor, early coil death) in a way that upset me. For instance, I've dry-burned a lot of atties along the way, but---in all honesty---I've never experienced any perceptible improvement in their performance after doing so. As a result, I've pretty much stopped doing dry burns.

I'm well aware that this is a huge issue and a PITA for many people. I've read hundreds, if not thousands, of posts about it. I'm just saying that so far, after two and a half years, that particular issue hasn't grabbed my personal attention or caused problems that I felt any need to address.

Similarly, I read that some people get only a week or two out of a carto/clearo before throwing it out, changing the head, or re-wicking and re-wiring the coil. I've had my share of duds with every kind of juice-atomizing device, but they were lousy from the get-go.

 

[scarf-ace]

Bill and TB, so glad you guys have had success. I have not made any extractions since February (before I went on my holiday) but I picked up two cans of pipe backy in NYC (Erinmore and Dunhill Early Morning) and plan to get back into it.

 

[MrPicC]

This method worked fantastic for constant comment tea from bigelow.. Thanks for the help scarfy! 50% tastes best and I'm fully confident I'll make some delicious extracts in the coming weeks thanks to this thread and of course your help. Not sure I'm gonna mess with anything but tea to be honest though..

 

[MrPicC]

Last night i tried herbal tea. Was very very thick and even before i started straining I had to add some PG to the sludge. I gave up and squeezed the filters by hand a little at a time. Overall a very big mess but still fun.
Think my problem was i should of used 4 ounces total with the amount of tea i used.

Flavor wise i haven't found the right percentage but still this is a very enjoyable way to get my DIY on. I did run out of PG so I'm awol for a couple days before i make some more batches.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Lavaca5]

OK - I talked and stalked and lurked and pored over the offerings of every online tobacconist I could find, and I'm finally ready to go. I wanted a straight up tobacco flavor that I could use on its own or mix with other flavors, so I settled on G.L. Pease Union Square. It's a mix of bright and red Virginias "without the added sugars and flavorings common to many Virginia flakes." It smells heavenly and looks a little like beef jerky. Getting ready to fire up the crock pot and set this puppy to boil. I'll report back with the results in a few days. I'm so excited!

 

[Koman]

I think you will be satisfied, Lavaca!

 

[Lavaca5]

I'm in need of some guidance. At the end of Day 2 in the cooker, my extract has gone soupy instead of sludgy. I have my tobacco mixture in an deep coffee mug, no cover or lid. The cup is about 2/3 submerged in water. I'm thinking I must have way too much water in the crock pot, which created a lot of condensation that dripped into the cup. Anybody else manage to muck up something this easy in this way, and is there any coming back from it, or should I just toss this batch and start over? Fortunately, I have plenty of tobacco left, so I have the luxury of starting from scratch if I must. Thoughts, anyone?

 

[TBinAZ]

I'm in need of some guidance. At the end of Day 2 in the cooker, my extract has gone soupy instead of sludgy. I have my tobacco mixture in an deep coffee mug, no cover or lid. The cup is about 2/3 submerged in water. I'm thinking I must have way too much water in the crock pot, which created a lot of condensation that dripped into the cup. Anybody else manage to muck up something this easy in this way, and is there any coming back from it, or should I just toss this batch and start over? Fortunately, I have plenty of tobacco left, so I have the luxury of starting from scratch if I must. Thoughts, anyone?

Kind of curious what your original recipe was. Not quite sure what you're expecting, but mine didn't turn out like "sludge". It's very dark and thick enough to coat the inside of a mason jar that I'm steeping it in. Cooked mine almost as long as you have, but if you remember me mentioning, I used a tiny earthenware crock pot kind of cooker and not a conventional crock pot. Curious to see what your beginning mix was.

 

[LucentShadow]

I'm in need of some guidance. At the end of Day 2 in the cooker, my extract has gone soupy instead of sludgy. I have my tobacco mixture in an deep coffee mug, no cover or lid. The cup is about 2/3 submerged in water. I'm thinking I must have way too much water in the crock pot, which created a lot of condensation that dripped into the cup. Anybody else manage to muck up something this easy in this way, and is there any coming back from it, or should I just toss this batch and start over? Fortunately, I have plenty of tobacco left, so I have the luxury of starting from scratch if I must. Thoughts, anyone?

Also sounds to me like the VG picked up a bunch of the water. It's pretty good at that.

The water in the extract should be distilled, so it shouldn't hurt anything. If you don't want it that thin, you could probably heat the water out of the extract later.

 

[Lavaca5]

Kind of curious what your original recipe was. Not quite sure what you're expecting, but mine didn't turn out like "sludge". It's very dark and thick enough to coat the inside of a mason jar that I'm steeping it in. Cooked mine almost as long as you have, but if you remember me mentioning, I used a tiny earthenware crock pot kind of cooker and not a conventional crock pot. Curious to see what your beginning mix was.

"Sludge" is an exaggeration of what I was expecting, which is pretty much what you described. And, I have to admit, "recipe" is an exaggeration of my process in putting the ingredients together. Basically, I put a small handful of chopped tobacco in the bottom of a cup and poured roughly equal amounts of vg and pg on it until it looked right. It was darker and much more syrupy at the end of yesterday's cook time; today, I put more water in the crock pot, and the extract is now the color and consistency of tea. I've obviously diluted it, and heavier condensation from the added water level is the only thing I can think of that would have caused it.

Also sounds to me like the VG picked up a bunch of the water. It's pretty good at that.

The water in the extract should be distilled, so it shouldn't hurt anything. If you don't want it that thin, you could probably heat the water out of the extract later.

Hadn't thought of that. Since I'm 2/3 done with this batch, I'll go ahead and give it another day, then see if I can heat it directly to thicken it up. On the upside, filtering will be a breeze

Thanks for your responses.

 

[TBinAZ]

Being a graduate of TSOHKs, I took the bull into the china shop to do some browsing. I wasn't getting much feedback, and I have like a ton of tobacco, so went for it. I can relate.

Sounds like this could be kind of a blessing in disguise for you at this point. I would say that you currently have an edge with the filtering process. I had to filter mine overnight, and that was done 5 times. Not quite sure why I have been steeping mine for so long now that I think about it. LOL. I think this weekend the mixing experiment will commence. Have yet to actually try it. Smells pretty good though.

 

[mecocina]

I'm really inspired by this thread. I did one quite awhile ago using snus, no heat and it came out just fine, just didn't do anything with it. I wanted to see if it would work LOL. Now to find it in my stash. I plan on making a cold process chamomile tea extract/concentrate for night time vapes.

 

[Koman]

I'm really inspired by this thread. I did one quite awhile ago using snus, no heat and it came out just fine, just didn't do anything with it. I wanted to see if it would work LOL. Now to find it in my stash. I plan on making a cold process chamomile tea extract/concentrate for night time vapes.

Yeah, it's really inspiring, isn't it ?

 

[Lavaca5]

Quick update: It looks like all may not be lost after all. The extract thickened quite a bit overnight. Haven't had a chance to look at it since I turned the heat off, but I'm more hopeful about the prospects of this batch than I was at this time yesterday. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

 

[StereoDreamer]

I finally got around to mixing up the Jasmine Tea extract I made a few weeks ago into vapable juice (20/80, 18mg). I let it steep overnight, and have been shaking the heck out of it...

Put it in a Smoketek RDA (1.9ohm) on my eVic at 6.5 watts, and I am VERY pleased with this extract!

I didn't add any other flavors except 1% EM and 1% Loranns Cotton Candy (both to sweeten it up a bit). It is smooth, has a subtle floral top note and an earthy bottom note. Very unique flavor, indeed, and I will be making more of this in the future.

I need to adjust the mix little to get it "dialed in" to perfection. The jasmine tea flavor is a little too light (only used 20%) so I may take the extract percentage up to 25% for the next batch, and it could be just a TAD sweeter ( few more drops of EM and Cotton Candy should fix that). But I will NOT be adding any additional flavorings to this one--it's fine all on it's own.

I was a little worried about this one--I was afraid it might be bitter or harsh, but it is actually quite unique, relaxing and subtly interesting.

It would be a perfect "evening vape" if I mixed it at 8-12mg instead of my usual 18mg, so I think the next batch will be lower nic too...

I love this thread... ;-)

 

[Lavaca5]

Well, first batch is on the second filtering and the second batch is on the second boil. Batch 1 is still thinner than I had expected - I thought it would be more syrupy, i.e., more vg-ish - but it's very dark and it smells really good, so I remain hopeful. For Batch 2, I went much heavier on the vg than the pg, but used less liquid altogether. That will give me a smaller yield, obviously, but perhaps closer in consistency to what I was expecting. At any rate, I'm having a great time. MY SO claims I've spent more time in the kitchen in the last 2 days than I have in the last 20 years. That is totally not true - it's been two and a half days.

 

[PipeMusic]

Subscribed. Love it! Keep up the great stuff!

 

[pinellaspete]

I've been using this method for over a year now. My original posts can be found in the thread "Impatient newbie strikes again...". Currently on page 2 of this Sub-Forum.

The key details that I have found to work the best using this process are as follows:

1. I use cut up cigars. I cut the cigars into grass sized pieces to fill a baby food bottle half way up.

2. Fill the bottle with PG until the tobacco is just submerged plus 1/4". Use only PG as the solvent liquid. We are trying to extract the flavor from the tobacco and PG works much better than VG or water for this purpose. Alcohol is much too strong to use for this.

3. Use small sealed bottles inside the covered slow cooker. I use baby food bottles and place a small dinner plate over the bottles to keep them from floating away when I fill the slow cooker with water to just under the bottle lids.

4. Cook on low for 8 to 12 hours. It seems that not much is gained to cook longer than 12 hours in my opinion.

5. Use coffee filters to filter the extract twice.

My thoughts:

My extracts are atty killers if vaped straight. I use the extract as a flavoring additive to my juices. I only use about 6 drops of extract in 10ml of juice. I use regular tobacco flavors to give the juice character.

I almost always add at least 2 drops of extract to every 10ml of juice I make. If it is a tobacco flavored juice I will use 6 drops per 10ml.

I have found that this was the missing ingredient I was searching for that I knew was missing from the juices I was making. I am almost positive that the high end vendors use a similar method when they make their juice.

For people trying to extract coffee flavor:

Look on the DIY forum for the coffee MICROWAVE METHOD.

The process for coffee flavors is much easier. You put the coffee in PG and microwave it and then let it steep overnight. Bingo! you have coffee flavoring! The whole process is spelled out in a thread in the DIY forum.

Good luck!

 

[DeadPerfect]

This thread is great! just got me some UnFlavored Nicotine Smoke Juice E-Liquid from myfreedomsmokes, and want to try this. but i want a flat tobacco flavor, so i dont want to use cigars. can someone tell me if its ok to just use, say Virginia Flue Cured from LEAF ONLY, or should i mix blends? lookin to end up with say a camel or pall mall type flavor.

also i dont see anyone using a pg/vg unflavored juice like i bought to mix with the tobbacco. is there a reason not to use a pg/vg that already has nic in it?
thanks

 

[billherbst]

This thread is great! just got me some UnFlavored Nicotine Smoke Juice E-Liquid from myfreedomsmokes, and want to try this. but i want a flat tobacco flavor, so i dont want to use cigars. can someone tell me if its ok to just use, say Virginia Flue Cured from LEAF ONLY, or should i mix blends? lookin to end up with say a camel or pall mall type flavor.

Yes, it's perfectly OK to use single-leaf tobaccos in a maceration. You'll get the "flat tobacco" taste that you mentioned wanting. The sacrifice is in loss of depth and/or complexity. Single-leaf extractions tend to be one-dimensional and a bit boring. Multi-leaf tobacco blends tend to be more interesting because of the different notes that will end up in the flavor of the extract.

also i dont see anyone using a pg/vg unflavored juice like i bought to mix with the tobbacco. is there a reason not to use a pg/vg that already has nic in it?

I can't answer definitively, but here's my best shot. Liquid nicotine in the PG/VG base of a maceration might be significantly diminished or even removed entirely in the last-stage filtering. Added nicotine might also be detrimental in some way to the extraction of flavor from the tobacco. Again, I don't know any of that for sure, just riffing on common-sense thoughts. On the other hand, the fact that no one does that doesn't mean that you can't or shouldn't give it a try.

Be aware, however, that if you start with 18mg/ml liquid nicotine PG/VG in your maceration, you won't know how much nicotine is in the filtered extract unless you test it with a kit. If you don't test it, you can't accurately determine how much liquid nic to add during the making of the juice to get to your desired nic level. Those problems would be good reasons not to do it, since it entails either more hassle---buying a kit and testing the extract---or the uncertainty of not knowing how much nic to add when making your finished NET-based DIY juice.