I got excited at the idea and went ahead and did it before checking to see if it was a good idea, so if anyone has any reason to shoot this down, I'd appreciate it before anyone else were to try it, or before I get any further through this batch.
Bought some VG locally, and ordered flavor concentrates from Capella, so I've been excited about the idea but bummed that I didn't have anything to vape. After figuring out that vaping pure VG in an RDA isn't so bad, I figured that light flavoring wouldn't be bad either.
Long story, wasted VG, and several dirty vials later, I finally got about 15ml of Teavanna dragonfruit tea flavored juice, essentially just by treating the VG like water. I learned a few things along the way, and I'll definitely be doing this again with other teas. It honestly tastes amazing, and gives the full density that max VG should. I'm trying to kick nicotine altogether, and having an incredibly satisfying tea flavor with dense vapor is going to be my best friend along the way :)
Ideas and criticisms are absolutely welcome. I'm not sure if this was the best way to go about it, but I've always been disappointed by the lack of herbal and tea flavors on the market, I'm just surprised by how easy it was to pull off.
So, if I understand correctly, you just put a tea bag in a bottle, filled it with VG, and let it steep? That's an interesting idea. How long did it take? I would have thought it would take forever, considering how thick VG is.
I actually just put the tea directly into the bottle, because I found that the thickness of the VG was prohibitive to steeping, even without anything between them. There was absolutely no color change at room temperature, so I just microwaved it until it looked like it was going to boil over, which took 12 seconds. From there, a dark red color bled healthily into the VG. From there, it was all trying to figure out how to get it out of the bottle in order to strain it, which turned out to be a lot harder than expected, and if I do this again it will be done in a cup instead of a bottle. I ended up getting all of the liquid out, but only about half of the leaves. Poured the mixture into a coffee filter that was inside a cup, then pressed a spoon onto the filter to force it to drain (another discovery about VG: doesn't like to be pressed through a filter). Just be smelling the remaining juice, I could tell that it was going to be a bit too strong, so I added 5ml vg to the existing 15ml, which seemed like a good dilution.
All in all, I probably put around 1tbsp tea into a 30ml container, then poured VG in until it was at about 28ml; shaking periodically because like I said, they don't like to mix at room temperature. Once I heated it up, it seemed to steep so quickly that I didn't want to let it sit overnight, which was my original plan. All in all, if I hadn't made it harder on myself due to lack of foresight, it could have probably only taken around 20 minutes.
I'm not sure what device you are using to vape, but I might have some advice for you! I use a Nautilus Mini, and 100% VG is too thick to wick properly and also challenging to infuse (as you have discovered). So, I followed in the footsteps of some of my favorite e juice vendors (Velvet Cloud Vapors and Virgin Vapors) and added a little bit of distilled water to thin out the VG. It wicks perfectly and is easier to infuse/strain/work with in general.
That all sounds like a really neat idea! Thanks for sharing your process.
I'll be honest, I never would have thought about making juice from tea, but I might have to try it now.
Oh I gotta try this. I've extracted coffee in PG, similar experience, messy filtering but great outcome. I never even considered just dropping a teabag into a bottle of PG/VG. Oh man. BRB!
Let us know how it comes out!
First attempt kinda failed. I just soaked a teabag in 50/50 PG/VG for a day sitting on a slightly warm radiator, the color came out great, but the flavor is much too weak. I'll try again in pure PG in a glass bottle in near boiling water for 10-20 minutes, that's how I did the coffee extract before. It's a very flavorful tea so I'm a bit surprised by this, but live and learn I suppose!
Well I did learn that I can now color some other juice very red without changing the flavor, should I be so inclined ;)
Actually, you might have a point in putting the tea directly in the base. The bag could certainly be interfering!
I actually used a metal "tea bag" which has large enough holes for the VG to get into, but small enough that my mix wasn't full of particles. I didn't even have to strain it (but I did anyway). I used this thing: http://www.crateandbarrel.com/tea-bag-shaped-tea-infuser/s344397?b=1&a=1552&campaignid=206278616&adgroupid=13795205936&targetid=pla-56128534817&adpos=1o1&creative=44761147496&device=c&matchtype=&network=g&gclid=CKeAy6y8u8kCFQuPHwod_z0B8g
my only criticism would be against using Teavana tea. I hate that company with a passion.
I hate the company itself, but for some of the flavors that they carry, it's difficult to find a decent substitute. I went through a tea phase almost a year ago, so I have a bunch of random mixtures laying around, which is what lead to wanting to get some use out of it by vaping it.
A lot of black teas are flavored using natural/artificial flavorings suspended in PG. Some of my favorites are passion fruit and cranberry. Black tea can be an overpowering flavor on its own, subtle fruit notes are what make the best iced tea flavors. Refreshing as all heck. Keep it up, would love to see if some of the older tea in my house could go to some good use!