Pulled the trigger on my Leaf Only order. Picked up:
Ecuadorian Seco Binder
CT Havana Primed
Brazilian Arapiraca Filler
CT Broadleaf Filler
American Flue Cured Scraps
Izmir Turkish Oriental
Really excited to get these bad boys in some PG.
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I found a pot with a Dunhill Robusto cigar maceration that I also forgot about. Made February 2017. I did give it a heat start but I must say it still tastes a lot better with more time. I did draw out a sample before and it wasn’t as good as it is now.
Just going back in this thread I see that was December 2017
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Looks good ! I have about 6 jars going right now. It’s the ‘new frontier’ in NET for me. A huge new learning curve, but I think the rewards will be worth it.
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The time delays in doing pure leaf extractions is one of the issues of working with that type of feedstock.
I already use Ultra-Sonic start cycles with my extractions from Pipe Shop type commercial blends, but am experimenting with extended Ultra Sonic at 1 month intervals over the life of the extraction with single leaf feeds. . Your observation that “but I must say it still tastes a lot better with more time. I did draw out a sample before and it wasn’t as good as it is now.” is an important one. Those of us that are trying to work with single leafs must not underestimate the time frames involved. Anything that can shorten these times should be tried, and either proven to work or discarded as we then make the move to brain storming the next possible best method of approach.
Another issue is that getting to a complete vapable flavor profile will involve ‘blending’ which is a whole art and technique in itself. Also repeatability will be an issue as leaf stocks are highly variable from year to year as the crop and the fermenting from our suppliers change over time. Your Dunhill cigar extraction brought with it the skills of highly skilled professional blenders that rolled the original cigar. If you tried to get that flavor profile by blending individual single leaf extractions from scratch yourself then you are looking at a large mountain to climb. But that’s what makes it a goal worth approaching.
So it seems that it is the NET hobby taken to levels.
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I agree with that, especially for people who are just starting the whole NET journey and are impatient to try their concoction, I know I was.
Now it has become less important to me because I have so many NET’s that it would take me years to vape it all so I’m fine with the wait.
I can definitely agree with that. I discovered I like the cigar macerations the best and that they turn out cleaner than pipe is another bonus. I think for now I will just stick to buying a good cigar but you never know what the future will bring.
I’ve been doing quite a lot of things lately that I thought I would never do.
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Besides the longer maceration time, is there anything else I should be prepared for? I’m thinking I am going to get a cheap electric coffee/spice grinder to get the tobacco as fine as I can get it before I start the process. Other than that I was kind of planning to go business as usual.
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Humm… not sure i would do that. The physics of fluid motion driven by convective heat is really complex stuff, but just my guesstimate of what you would wind up with is a very fine ground solid plug forming on the bottom of the jar and poor transfer efficiency as a result of less fluid flow by the target.
. If you think about it this ‘plug’ will just sit on the bottom with very little fluid flow in or out, of what is effectively a barrier at the surface of the plug. The clear fluid will just sit on top, effective transfer will be, I would guess. very low. Unless, perhaps, you have a method that mechanically re-suspends the fine particles on a frequent basis.
If the tobacco is cut to some imaginary ideal length these pieces would (hopefully) arrange themselves in a ladder like fashion each of which is fully exposed to the fluid, and allow the solvent fluid, driven by convective heating and cooling from the environment to ‘drive’ the fluid around the surface of those particles. I think the ‘trick’ is to find this ‘ideal’ shape and size of the particles.
-But just a guesstimate on my part. Try it and see what results you get.
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I was hoping that the density difference between the tobacco “powder” and PG would help keep it in suspension. Though at this point it’ll probably be easier to play around with the idea rather than pen and paper it. Experiments are usually more fun than the book work, and then just winging it along the way until you get something that works. Just to be safe I’ll start with a small bit of some trashier tobacco to test it out. Don’t want to go and ruin my good stuff.
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Just sort of planning ahead for a possible fix, and thought about mounting a little motor like this on top of a Ball jar and fixing it up with something to keep it continuously stirring. Now it’s got me kind of wanting to give it a shot even if I don’t get a fine powder like I was wanting. It’s pretty cheap, so I think I’ll pick it up. My wife uses some app to track all of our spending habits. No idea how I haven’t gotten a stern talking to haha.
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@ChemicalBurnVictim … I know experimenting can be good for the brain matter, but after vaping your awesome sample of Solani Aged Burley Flake that just cold soaked for 90 days in PG… I don’t see how you could possibly improve on your maceration technique! 
But, have fun! 
I ordered and received my Solani ABF (x2 tins) yesterday and already have a jar sealed for a 3 month cool steep. 
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Since I’ve started testing all these NETs lately I haven’t really been mixing anything else, so I have all this leftover creative juice that I figure I’ll put in to some NET experiments 
I have one experiment going right now that might be completely off the wall and ruin a little bit of tobacco, but I suppose that comes with the territory.
I think the quality of that Solani NET says more about the tobacco than my technique 
The tin note on that stuff is lovely.
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I shred mine with a tobacco shredder that cuts the leaf into thin strips like used in roll your own cigarettes. After a 6 month steep the net is damn near opaque and full of flavor. It takes a lot of filtering as I do it, your way may be amazing worth a try.
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I will update once I get everything in and give it a go.
Here is the rig I ginned up to mix my finished recipes… Don’t see why this can not be scaled up to hold the 1 pint Mason jars. I would think 1 RPM would be more than enough. These syncronous motors run on 60HZ 120V so you could toggle it on and off a time or two in a 24hr period using something like this:
uxcell Output Speed Reduction Geared Box Synchronous Motor
by uxcell
Link: Amazon.com
Hydrofarm TM01715D Water Gardening Digital Timer, 7-Day Dual Outlet
by Hydrofarm
Link: http://a.co/d/dEHJNMX
Actually, I am going to put this project on the '2DO" list. I think it might have merit. As it is now, I walk by the closet once a week when the mood strikes and hand shake the jars. I know @Kinnikinnick does the same,… Humm, the motors are only $12 and I already have several of those timers kicking around.
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Just wanted to give a quick update. My order from Leaf Only arrived today:
Since I never got around to testing the coffee grinder, I just went full steam ahead… to failure. It wouldn’t catch the leaf chunks that I cut up and threw in there. No big deal, now I can make some fresh ass coffee.
Had another idea pop in my head the other day when I was making smoothies. I cut the tobacco up in to some more manageable pieces:
Then I threw them in my Magic Bullet with 150g of PG and blended it all up:
So far it seems to stay in suspension fine. A little worried about how long it is going to take to get the initial separation of the tobacco done since it’s probably going to squeeze right through my ricer. Have a couple ideas kicking around in my head, but that seems more like a problem that future me is going to have to deal with. Damn, I give that guy a hard time a lot.
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One of these looks like just the thing. 
https://www.amazon.com/Home-Premium-Food-Grade-Almond/dp/B00158U8DU
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Aaaaaand bought. Update in ~3 months!
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Good choice ! I do the same and chop to particle size 3~4mm on a side. I use one of these with excellent results:
Ninja QB900B Master Prep Quad-Blade 400W Blender Mixer & Food Processor
Link: Amazon.com
It’s only $35 bucks on Amazon and has a zillion other uses throughout the house. Best $35 I every spent. I am happy to see you didn’t go the fine powder coffee grind route, I really don’t think that would have been very successful, but you never know. Some day you might try a test jar of that method.
I am more and more a big fan of Ultra-Sonic to break the cell walls and speed the extraction. My next step for that jar you have there would be a 10 hour bath at 125F iwth 30 mins ON and 30 mins OFF in on of these:
iSonic P4810+BHK01A Commercial Ultrasonic Cleaner w/ Beaker Holder Set for DIY Liposomal Vitamin C
by iSonic
Link: http://a.co/d/edYxKL1
You can see that 4 pint Mason Jars fit perfectly on the tray This makes for a very efficient process. Every month I fire up the unit and run how ever many jars I have in process for a “monthly bump”, which need only be only 4 hours, not the original 10:
Please note that the mechanical action of the Ultra Sonic energy turns the cell wall into a translucent material, with much more porosity than how Mother Nature originally designed it. 
For a discussuion about extraction techniques using Ultra Sonic on a commercial scale see this manufacturer of Ultra Sonic gear: - I am scaling down this commercial method to kitchen levels with great success. Link follows here:
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OK here is my latest discovery: Tabac Manil
Use Case: If you are looking for a fast extracting minimally processed or pure leaf that will give you a vape that is as close to Cuban Cigar flavor profiles as you can get. Use as an ADV Cigar Vape or will serve you well as a Blender to add Cigar Flavor to various Hybrids.
Pros and Cons: The Pros are that this is a minimally processed pure leaf with, as a bonus, a fascinating historical background. It is a hand made boutique tobacco that is quite rare, so you get bragging rights that your are not extracting vin ordinare ! There are really no cons. This is a fast extracting tobacco, I used a 12hr Ultra-Sonic Bump Start of 28g/150ml PG and got excellent results immediately. I think a 3 to 6 month extended jar time will just make the extract better and better.
Credits: I want to thank @Kinnikinnick for turning me on to this one. He has a way of unearthing really special finds, and this one is at the top of his achievements.
Here is some fascinating information about this amazing boutique tobacco and a great read if you have a few minutes:
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Reporting on:
G.L. Pease ~ Haddo’s Delight
Here’s the vendor/sales write up:
Black Cavendish
Burley
Perique
Virginia
(Aromatic)
“Haddo’s Delight is a stout blend of several Virginia tobaccos with a generous measure of long-cut Perique. Unflavored Green River black Cavendish and a little air-cured white Burley ribbon provide fullness, body, and a bit of extra strength. Finally, an exclusive process darkens and marries the mixture, and gives the blend a subtle tin aroma of cocoa and dried fruit. The flavor is full on the palate, earthy, slightly sweet and intriguingly piquant, with overtones of figs and raisins. A wonderful blend for the Perique lover!”
My take… the above description pretty much says it all. This is a Perique lovers extraction! And IMO, if you like Va/Per blends in the least, you’re going to love this tobacco.
Back in the day, when I was mixing synth concentrates, I found my favorite mixes leaning towards a slightly sweet and hearty tobacco, with a rum and/or fig note. Since there was no concentrate on the market which provided a palitable raisin note, I was always out of luck in that department. Haddo’s Delight ticks all the boxes. As of late, a tobacco blend which carried any flavor other than straight up tobacco, was not held in high regards. This G.L. Pease blend breaks my cycle of Plain Jane tobacco blends. Delish!
As per usual… my maceration technique was a straight PG solvent, heat bumped at 125*F for 8hrs, cool steeped for around 4 months, and filtered down to 2.5 microns.
I don’t see this tobacco disappearing any time soon, but it might be worth throwing a tin on your next order for your cellared stock.
G. L. Pease Haddo’s Delight 2oz | Buy G. L. Pease Pipe Tobacco at Smokingpipes
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