N.E.T. ~ Real Tobacco Flavor in a Vape Juice

Hey @Kinnikinnick,

That Aeropress looks good. If I like the taste of the NETs then I’ll buy one of those. I take it that it’s no good for coffee after using for NET stuff. But me I like extra flavor in my coffee maybe that would be a good thing.

As for measuring temp I’m good. Have accumulated all kinds of stuff over the years from other hobbies.

Oh… I wouldn’t say that! :wink: I’ve used my Aeropress plenty for both pleasures. Straight vinegar in a spray bottle is my favorite tool for ridding odors from just about anything. Some things require an overnight soaking to completely rid the odor from the item… but it’s great stuff!

Side note on the coil issue:

I’ve used both types of coils; compact and spaced. Both types are equally affected by how much natural dextrose and “top coatings” which might be in the leaf you’re macerating. It can also depend on your maceration process; Ethanol vs PG/VG.

Ethanol extractions tend to come out a bit “cleaner” than PG extractions, due to the winterization process of allowing precipitate matter to collect/fall to the bottom and sides of the glass jar used during the freezing process. The result of EA extractions is a bit less coil gunk, but loss of “low notes” in the extract. But, that thread already exsists on ELR:

Some folks do both types of extractions and mix them together to get the best of both worlds “flavor wise”.

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What he says :grin:

So someone explain to me why heat is better than time? I just do not see it.

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IMO it isn’t but some people lack patience so… :woman_shrugging:

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I get it. Time is best for me.

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The very short of it is that the “flavor components” are locked behind the cell wall of the tobacco plants structure, because that is the way mother nature solved many of the problems that confront a living plant: “the plant cell wall plays a wide range of physiological functions, which include the defense system against pathogens, translocation of nutrients (in this case ‘flavors’), and transduction of chemical signals within plants, and the mechanical physical structure or the plant itself.”

So you want to get those great tobacco flavors into your vape juice to enjoy? Well, then you have to beat mother nature at her own game. That is going to require disruptions of the cell wall. So things like Heat, mechanical destruction of the wall itself (ultrasonics are commonly used for this approach), and enzymatic chemicals, are all ways to work on the problem at hand. Time works, sort of, but without breaking through the cell wall you might have to outwait mother nature, which is always an ‘iffy’ proposition. Just ask any cat.

There are very good references to this subject all over the net . You can start on a background discussion of cell walls at Wikipedia, then move on to research paperss for tobacco plants with things like this: Cell Wall Dynamics in Tobacco

I want to add that the very clever insight that @Kinnikinnick saw with his “hot bump start” is that the initial heat shock to the cell wall provide sufficient disruption to maximize the effective use of the later ‘closet soak’ time. It works very well because of valid technical reasons.

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Early on in my NET days, I experimented with a freeze/thaw version of tobacco cell wall disruption. Using ethanol as the solvent, I performed 4 or 5 rounds of freeze/thaw with the maceration. Then allowed the maceration to sit, undisturbed, for a month or so prior to filtering.

The results were tolerable, but for my taste buds, the extract just didn’t have the full body goodness of a heat assisted maceration version.

In the end, it is all about finding ones preferred method; trial and error is our teacher. :grinning:

Hey @Kinnikinnick and @50YearsOfCigars I am giving it a go. As suggested, 200ml PG in a pint jar and the whole pouch of American Patriot. That stuff smells great! Was tempted to try smoking some but decided to not do that. I have it in my wife’s Instant Pot on the keep warm function which looks to be working at about 138°F. Hopefully this will not screw up my operation badly as you guys have told me to stay below 130°. For now I’m just turning it off occasionally. If I like the results then I will find something I can run lower.

Woot! :sunglasses: Your first of many! Soon, you’ll be buying the 12 pack flat of mason jars, getting ready for future macerations.

Nah…you’re good. :+1:

Now comes the hard part of ignoring that jar sitting in that dark cool cabinet for a month or two.

Naw man I plan on doing some tasting starting at 2 weeks! Looks like there will be plenty to go the distance of 1 month or more. Mr. 50 Years says I can get vapeable NET in 2 weeks with the American Patriot. No way I will able to wait a month to at least try it :):grin: