Thanks to /u/chemicalburnvictim and some other helpful posters here, I've gotten into DIY and straight into NET's. I'm posting to share what I did (and how really easy it was) and also ask for some advice and recommendations.
I wasn't happy with 99% of the tobacco juices I had tried. Black Note was great, but too pricey for me considering how much I vape, so I began this adventure. Went to a local tobacco store and picked up a couple of tins, and some bulk tobacco. I think I paid ~40% or more over what I could have gotten the same products online, so moving forward I'll be going that route. $75 of tobacco netted me about 3 pints or 1,400 ML of finished flavor. Mixed at 10%, that's enough for 14,000 ML of finished juice. Yes... I way over bought and should have bought smaller quantities of the stuff I wasn't sure I'd like.
Bought an Aeropress from Amazon for ~$35. It came with the coffee filters I needed, and I also purchased some scientific 1.5 micron filters for $20. Picked up a dozen mason jars ($9) from my local farm supply store, along with a gallon of PG ($20) and I was ready to go.
Step by step
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Put ~1-1.75 oz tobacco in a mason jar.
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Totally cover with PG
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Tighten the lid, and place in a dark, cool place for ~30 days. I just put them in a cupboard.
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After 30 days, filter your extractions.
a) Run through the aeropress with the included coffee filters. This goes fairly quickly, be careful though not to push too hard.
b) Next, cut one of your micron filters to fit the press, and filter through that. This takes a long time because the filter is so fine. I rigged up my aeropress into a large bucket used for sunflower seeds, and placed a patio brick on top of it. Every so often, I'd apply a little manual pressure to it and it would go down. Even using this technique, some of the extracts took upwards of 12 hours. Good to have patience for this step.
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Finished flavors, ready to mix are kept in the mason jars.
These are the tobacco's I extracted, along with a brief thought on each:
Dunhill Elizabethan Mixture - 10% mix@12mg nic, - Very "dry" vape, very much like a light cigarette.
Dunhill Nightcap - 10% mix@12mg nic, - Kick ass. Heavy tobacco, very flavorful, awesome.
Samuel Gawith "Full Virginia Flake" 10% mix@12mg nic, light cigarette, less flavorful than Elizabethan or Molto Dolce.
Sutliff Private stock "Molto Dolce" 10% mix@12 nic, more flavorful than the Elizabethan NET, but overall just OK.
I am really, really enjoying the Nightcap. It's wonderful! So now my questions:
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Should I try bumping the flavor % of the ones I thought were "just OK", in the hopes I'll like them more?
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With or without the above, what about adding some flavor to any/all of them?
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Any recommendations for tobaccos that I'd like given that I'm in love with Nightcap?
Here's my list of flavors, if I could mix up something using what I've got on hand, I'd prefer that.
Banana Shisha (Inawera)
Bavarian Cream (TPA)
Biscuit (Inawera)
Blood Orange (Natural) (FW)
DX Whipped Cream (TPA)
Greek Yogurt (TPA)
Juicy Peach (Cap)
Milk and Honey (Flavorah)
Orange Cream (TPA)
Peach (INW)
Pineapple (Inawera)
Tobacco DNB (Inawera)
Vanilla Bean Ice Cream (TPA)
Vanilla Custard v2 (Cap)
Vanilla Shisha (Inawera)
Vanillian (TPA)
Thanks!
I still smoke a pipe occasionally and Nightcap is one of me all-time favorites. I happen to own an Aeropress so maybe I’ll experiment with PG extraction. Thanks for the tutorial!
I have a question. Do the NET’s actually contain nicotine ? And if so, how can you tell how much? Thanks
I'd allow the less-flavorful mixes an additional month of steeping before bumping up the concentration, just to be sure. If no improvement, I'd mix several testers in increasing percentages, such as 12, 15, 20%.
You can use a little FLV Lovage Root to reduce dryness; try 0.2-0.5%. I'd say it's worth buying if you happen to order other things from Gremlin, they have it for $2.50 per 5ml bottle.
I’m betting the Molto Dolce is just OK because it’s an aromatic Tobacco with a topping. The toppings they use don’t really transfer over to the NET all that well. I’d maybe mix that one up with maybe .5% INW Biscuit and 1% FLV Milk and Honey and 1% INW Shisha Vanilla. Might get it a little closer to how the Tobacco is supposed to smoke. From what I gather from some reviews, it’s basically like an RY4... but real. Funny how eliquids started with using real tobacco terms, and now I’m using eliquid terms to describe real tobacco. But I digress.
For the full Virginia Flake, the INW Peach and Shisha Vanilla jumped out at me. I actually ran downstairs to try it out myself. I’ve got a different Virginia NET that I’m working with, but I’m sure it won’t be completely different. I’ll probably do something like 1.5% Shisha Vanilla with 1% Peach.
Mixed up the Peach thing. It’s pretty fucking delicious. It was one of the first NETs I made, and I got a little mixed up. The brand is Virginia Gold, but the Blend is actually a Black Cavendish with Burley. It’s also topped with a whisky flavor, but that shit didn’t come through in the NET. But anyway, it might not be exactly the same, but I suspect that your Virginia would also get along quite nicely with the peach and vanilla. I did 3.5% NET, but I also do DTL, so percentages may vary to get a satisfying flavor for MTL.
Thanks! I'll give both of those a shot. I still can't believe how much flavor I've got from all that tobacco, amazing :)
You may find this of interest: Leaf Only
Cured tobacco leaf without casings; cigarette, pipe and cigar varieties.
I’d be willing to pay for some samples if you’ve got buttloads and feel like sharing.
I've never tried dabbling in NETs, but I've started to get tired of the various fruit/bakery/etc flavors that I mix. Are NETs difficult to get into (steep difficulty curve)? I'd like to start with them but I have no clue where to begin lol.
It's very easy. There is a ton of different techniques and opinions to be found out there, but what I did in the above steps worked for me. Then just use your NET extract like you use a normal flavor, 10% was what was recommended to me, so that's what I've been using and it works well! Let me know if you need any details and I'll try to help more.
I would recommend McClelland Pebble Cut. It has a great buttery, grassy Virginia with orientals underneath that add a nice dry earthy balance.
I gravity filter mine with 2.5 micron filters. So, your results may very. Otherwise we use the same method for making the extractions.
Thanks, I'll give that a go on my next attempt, appreciate it.