Uh-oh, now you've done it Str8vision, given me license to go off-topic!
.....
......I wonder if you'd care to elaborate a bit on your experience with vanilla?
My favorite NET is a vanilla tobacco hybrid with the tobacco up front, the star of the show. I lose the ability to "taste" vanilla after two dripper loads so I don't get to enjoy it very often, just once a week or so. The problem IMHO is that -all- concentrated vanilla flavorings fall short in flavor, most taste nothing like vanilla and the few that actually do lack any depth. I know this because in 2012-2013 I bought and tried every single concentrated vanilla flavoring that was available (
dozens). Disappointed, I experimented with making a DIY vanilla extract and found that "real" vanilla extract doesn't translate well into vaping, at least
not on its own. Smells and tastes wonderful and is outstanding for baking/drinks -
much- better than store bought. Unfortunately, real vanilla flavor is quite fragile and when atomized (
vaping) it loses its higher flavor notes due to the heat that's involved (
my best guess). It does however impart a deep earthy vanilla nuance that the artificial vanilla flavorings all lack, a flavor very similar to that found in Frenilla and NT's vanilla base.....
So far the best vanilla flavoring I've made (
what I currently use) is a "hybrid". Homemade vanilla glycerite (
dried) with "Holy vanilla" and/or "French vanilla" concentrated flavorings added in. When vaped the vanilla glycerite provides a deep earthy vanilla base while the Holy vanilla/French vanilla add the higher spicy notes, a winning combination for my taste preference.
Problem is vanilla glycerite isn't an ideal extract for vaping, it has far too much water in it. To make vanilla glycerite you cold extract vanilla beans for a few months in a 60/40 VG/water solvent. Unfortunately, you can't simply evaporate the water off because VG is hygroscopic. I ended up gently heating the vanilla glycerite (
~140F) while subjecting it to a high vacuum. This removed most of the water but it required a lot of specialized gear. The aroma was incredible, my shop smelled like fresh vanilla.
PG also works as an extraction solvent for vanilla beans but not nearly as well as VG/water does. I haven't extracted vanilla beans in ethanol yet but the alcohol based vanilla extracts I bought didn't impress me at all. I also haven't tried using pure VG without water. Chances are next time I'll try using a 70/30 PGA/VG blended solvent (
for the freeze filtering benefit) and just evaporate the ethanol off in the end leaving a 3-fold VG based vanilla extract. A lot of trouble to make but, for me, pursuit of the best is always worth the effort involved.
Worst case scenario, if all else fails I'll end up making another batch of vanilla glycerite and break the vacuum/distilling equipment out again. The last batch has lasted nearly three years so far and I still have some left in storage....
..........Prompted by less than satisfactory attempts at cloning NT's ACB (RIP), I had been poking around some forums and it was suggested that one reason that recipe might remain elusive is because Kent made his own vanilla....
I agree, you'd need an earthy vanilla nuance to make a good ACB clone. ACB also had a bit of tobacco extract in it, not sure many people knew that. NT
supposedly made their own tobacco extract but I suspect they just bought a commercial tobacco absolute and reconstituted it in-house, that's what it tasted like to me. Years ago I would make hybrid NET by adding tobacco extract to ACB. Ultimately, I replaced the ACB with a combination of Flavor West's "Caramel Candy", TFA's "Caramel Original" (
in equal amounts) and my hybrid vanilla flavoring. Sometimes I replace the "Caramel Original" with Medicine Flower's (
Lotus label) "Caramel" using it at around 1% since it's so highly concentrated. Caramel is my second favorite flavoring for making hybrid NETs.
