Would boiling the tobacco before you start remove or destroy any nicotine? If so would it also remove flavour? I'm asking because I would like a real 0% TE.
The reason I use VG, besides the fact that I cannot vape PG hardly at all, is it is more polar than PG or ethanol. I didn't want any nicotine or the TSNAs (carcinogenic, similar to nicotine in structure), or big biomolecules, to be extracted. I only wanted flavors to come out. So while I cannot say for sure that my PTE is 0-nic, it is most likely very very low. Even if it did come out with a VG extraction, this is a flavoring we are making, not a juice. I use mine at about 5-10%. So I would estimate the most a juice would be after making one from PTE would be 1-2 mg, and most likely far less than that. I've not done GC-MS on PTE, however, so I may be wrong, but the chemistry says very polar will not extract significant nicotine from tobacco. You need non-polar solvents for that.
PG or ethanol, I expect, will pull more large bio molecules out, maybe more nicotine (but still not much), and possibly more TSNAs (probably present since pipe tobacco is fermented). So if this is a concern for people, air-cured tobacco might be a good thing to try. Course ground would be best, I would think, or shag or navy cut. Not whole leaf.
My VG PTE is incredibly age-stable. I am thinking it might never go bad, as it is even better after 18 months than it was fresh, and it was pretty good fresh! Somewhat less flavor over all now, but deeper, more complex. reminds me of how a fine Bordeaux ages. I'm using Stanwell Malange, and now the cherry and vanillas have come forward. Fantastic!
