Any particular reason you jumped right into doing your own extractions? Do you already have experience with extractions? I stick to Seedmans tobaccos, as it guarantees some consistency, but that's just me. Will you be posting results when complete? Will you be testing nic levels after extracting?
The reason...man, good question, haha. At this point, I'm almost down to 0 nic juices, so I'm addicted to the hobby now more than I am to the drug. A couple months ago, when I discovered how much I liked NETs, I posted in /r/electronic_cigarette asking people what their favorite NETs were. One user suggested I do what he do- soak some leaf from leafonly.com in some VG for a month or two. I've been wanting to do that every since but only just recently ordered the tobacco.
No, I don't have prior experience with tobacco extractions, but I have been involved with other kinds of extractions using solvents and the like.
Are you doing your own NETs with the seedmans tobaccos? or is that an extract itself?
I won't be testing the nic levels since I don't expect them to be significant based on what I've read. I tend to mainly vape 6mg now but sometimes pull out the old 24mg, so I'm kinda all over the place and not overly concerned with my nic level in the extract. Do you think I should be? If I were going to add nicotine to my juice, I would definitely test.
I will post more results as soon as I get some. See one of my other comments on this thread to see how my first low temp extraction went. I have to say it went much better than I though. The didn't expect to like the first batch but I do.
I get the Seedmans stuff from WizardLabs, and they don't specify that they're MET's, just that they're flavorings, but they are STRONG. I use at 1-2% at most. http://wizardlabs.us/index.php?route=product/product&path=79&product_id=466
Seedman's site if you want to look for more info: http://www.seedman.com/
WL also sells an actual extract made by The Flavor Apprentice. http://wizardlabs.us/index.php?route=product/product&path=79&product_id=444
Besides the other chemicals posters have mentioned, I would just be wary about vaping any extract without knowing the nic level. I don't know much about tobacco extractions, how much nic typically gets extracted along with the flavor etc, but I know big tobacco removes the nic and then puts it back in, so the level can be regulated. Nic test kits are seriously cheap. It would be a really bad idea to not check. Thoroughly investigate the safety procedures for anything you're doing before starting. It's your life and well-being we're talking about after all. No juice is worth being hospitalized or dying for!
You'll get nothing but upvotes from me, man. You're blazing a trail that none of us have been down, and I commend you for it!
This is going well beyond basic DIY. I think there should be a separate sub or alt-flair for those interested in Naturally Extracted Tobacco flavoring and other potentially dangerous additives. Which is my long way of saying I downvoted because I think the title was misleading.
and other potentially dangerous additives
You mean like Nicotine??? To me it looks like OP's first venture into DIY juices was to order some leaf tobacco and VG. The title is utterly accurate. Upvote.
There was no VG in the picture. Nicotine is actually rather safe in comparison to many additives I have read of people trying. I'm not in a ranting mood right now though.
I hear you, actually. I think everyone's got a point. Everyone knows there are some inherent risks when you start messing with toxic chemicals and high wattages. But the wiser point might be the point that /u/someone3x7 is making. There is some dangerous amateur chemistry happening publicly (guilty) and it might take one person getting seriously hurt to ruin it all. This discussion has made me re-think the jump I've just made, as it appears I wasn't aware of every risk, and that scares me a little.
I see where you're coming from, and you might be right that it's not the most basic DIY, but there's no advanced DIY juice sub as you know. Even if there was, I think that the folks over at /r/electronic_cigarette still enjoy pics of RBAs even though there is a dedicated sub for RBAs which are beyond basic and can be potentially dangerous.
And, maybe I should have included more info with the original post, what I'm doing with this tobacco isn't without dangers, but I'm not using any solvents other than VG and will be using the utmost skepticism and caution when deciding which recipes to try. I don't think this is anywhere near as dangerous as playing with concentrated nicotine or .2 ohm coils.
Finally, I totally pulled the classic "get all bent out of shape at the first downvote" move. Sorry. That's dumb. I know.
I think it's neat. Are you going to heat the VG and leaves together and strain it? I would like to know more about the process like what temperatures and such. Do you have a way to test the nicotine level of the finished product?
I think so, too. Since I started vaping I have been pretty surprised that my favorite flavors are the NETs. I though I was gonna be all about cheesecakes and cupcakes but no.
Disclaimer: everything I am doing I am doing at my own risk. I understand that it is dangerous to follow recipes from the internet without fully understanding the chemistry involved. I have only a basic understanding of what is going on here, which adds to my risk. To minimize my risk, I have spend hours and hours going through the DIY forums and doing some minor external research when I need to.
I am trying a heat method and a non heat method for my first experiments. The non-heat method seems to be the safest and easiest. Put VG (some people swear that PG extracts flavors better) and tobacco in a jar and let it sit for a month or two. Filter the heck out it.
The heat method is just a sped up version of the above. One recipe I saw said to first bring 30 ml to a low boil. This is where it starts getting risky. Boiling points vary depending on the type of liquid and the air pressure (altitude). I'm in Albuquerque. I'm just over 1 mile above sea level. Water boils here at about 202F. Glycerol is another story. It has a boiling temp around 550F!!!
That means that any recipe that calls for boiling VG is very risky. When you throw dry plant matter into something that is 550F, it is going to burn immediately. Not only is that cloud of burning tobacco a hazard, but there is also a VERY toxic chemical called acrolein which is produced when VG is heated to around 530F. Yes, that's less than the boiling point, making that recipe absolutely stupid.
BE CAREFUL PEOPLE
Read as much as you can. Be safe. The media is waiting for one of us to screw up this year. That will make a very big story.
My biggest concern, and the pressing need for clarity, is that these subs have several anti-THR lurkers and trolls that are using minority casual posts against the community.
There are a number of concerns with using natural tobacco extracts though. One being the re-introduction of various compounds that can be cancerous if burnt. Another is control of nicotine concentration. Also, among the compounds reintroduced may be the couple MAOIs that trigger the addictive potential of nicotine. If you have a background in chemistry or have done significantly more research than I have then you might be aware of the proper techniques to potentially avoid issue with all but the MAOIs.