N.E.T ~ Latakia Blend

E-liquids NET Creations and Reviews
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I’m pretty excited to create my own Latakia extract and being able to get the wonderful dark smokey flavor in a vape for which I’ve been yearning. So far, the Latakia flavoring which can be purchased from the major flavor vendors tastes like your sucking on the tailpipe of a diesel truck. I just get a gut feeling that a Latakia NET extract will not have that artificial cloying quality which I’m finding in manufactured Latakia flavoring; fingers crossed.

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Below is a good article on the origin and process by which Latakia is produced.

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Have you decided on a extraction method?

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I’m thinking cold ethanol extr. for the stronger tobaccos and a hybrid cold/hot extr. for the medium/smoother bodied tobaccos. The research continues however; much reading of trial and error of those before us. :smirk:

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I personally like certain pipe tobaccos that include a measure of Latakia. Some can be entirely too strong though and all will flavor a pipe for way longer than can be appreciated if you decided to take a latakia hiatus.

One of the things you may hear, if you aren’t already familiar, is the process by which Latakia is made. I’ve passed on this story a number of times myself just to get the reaction from people. But here’s a good article to point out the truth -

As with just about any subject, there are a lot of common fallacies about pipe tobaccos and how they’re made. It’s a shame, really, as, through the years there have been many good books and magazine articles that have addressed these inaccuracies, but most pipe smokers have never read them. So I will try to dispel some of the falsehoods about the noble weed.

  1. Latakia is made by hanging tobacco in a barn over a fire made with camel dung.
    This is probably the most common of all the old-wives’ tales about pipe tobacco. Looking at it from a logical viewpoint, it’s easy to understand where the rumor got started. Half of the statement is true. Latakia is made by hanging tobacco in a building. The tobacco used in Syria is Shek-el-Bint (var.), and in Cyprus, it is made from Smyrna. The leaves are hung and a fire is built, but that’s where the truth and fiction diverge. No camel dung is used in making Latakia. The fire usually uses oak (Syria) or aromatic woods like Juniper (Cyprus). That’s the reason for the “campfire” or “beef jerky” aroma. The rumor started because camel dung is used as heating fuel in the Middle East, just as buffalo chips were used by Native Americans. It doesn’t take much of a stretch to see where someone trying to be funny or attempting to be a know-it-all would make such a comment. To put it to rest once and for all, there is no poop-flavored tobacco currently made.

The rest of the article is pretty good too. http://pipesmagazine.com/blog/put-that-in-your-pipe/common-misconceptions-about-pipe-tobacco/

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Website bookmarked! :wink:

I’ve made some mixes that have tasted like camel poop! :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye: lesson learned…

Since heading down the NET rabbit hole, I have enjoyed reading about the different types of tobacco and just how they are processed. I’m finding hard to keep it all catalogued in my head…my bookmarks are growing by leaps and bounds! Further and repeated readings will help it to stay fresh in my little sieve of a brain. :slight_smile:️

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That’s the link I posted a few days ago. I plan on referencing pipe blending once I get my different flavor extracts.

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Ah, I missed that PV. Great minds think alike as they say.

I don’t want to get all out in the tobacco fields, but aside from learning some good information - I feel like there is some interesting reading in certain articles about pipe tobacco and cigars. I used t be a subsciber to Pipes and Tobaccos magazine. Exceptional publication imo. Here is a free digital copy of one of their issues. It only comes out about every 3 months, and aside from the quality articles and writing, they are very nice with glossy, thick covers worthy of keeping in a collection. Of course the internet if chock full of great reading on the subject as well.

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My problem is I have zero experience with pipe and cigar tobacco, so it’s all brand new to me. I’ll be listening closely to your comments and tips in an hope to gain knowledge. I first thought about blending leaves before I NET them. But my knowledge is too vague. I’m just going to extract tobacco types separately and blend flavors in my mixes. Hopefully within the next year I can learn enough to create some good tobacco vape. I’ve read of blends steeping for 3-6 months, so this is a long range project that will require a lot of patience.

Thanks for the copy… it’s bookmarked.

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I hear you. Learning about pipe and cigar tobacco isn’t a quick process either. I know tons more about pipe tobacco than cigars though, so I’m listening as well. If you read my concerns about additives (casing/humectants) in many pipe tobaccos you’ll know that I’m thinking those should be avoided.

As for blending tobacco before NET - that’s interesting and certainly worth some thought. Here’s a thought for you. Burley tobacco has relatively little flavor compared to many others. In fact, straight up Burley added to most other tobaccos is hardly noticeable. It does impart kind of a nutty aroma, particulalrly off the smoldering ash. But one of it’s characteristics is how it will pick up the flavors of other tobaccos. If you were to put some Burley into some Cavendish, let it sit a while and then pick out the Burley and smoke it, it would taste like Cavendish. But Bing Crosby would argue with my assertion Burley has little flavor. His favorite blend was cubed Burley with Deer Tongue. Still, it does present an interesting thought. Whereas pipe tobacco companies such as McClelland’s, GL Pease, Solani have been blending tobaccos for generations, the uninitiated doesn’t really have that knowledge and expertise. For that reason then I agree you should probably NET individual types of tobaccos then mix them as independent components. However, if you can nail down some of the blended brands…as I’ve mentioned Reiner Long Golden Flake…or any number of great tobaccos that are just tobacco and no additives, then you get the benefit of their experience and success. Sounds like common sense to me. But which brands?

Assuming there are no additives and knowing there are none are two different things. I can certainly share blends I have had and believe to be pure tobacco, but I think the companies themselves are the only ones qualified to confirm their ingredients. That said, here are some of my favorites that I would say may be quite amazing NET products.

As already mentioned before, Reiner Long Golden Flake

As Va and Perique blends go, this one is a virtual tie with Reiner - Solani Virginia Flake with Perique

Rounding out the VA/P blends is Cornell & Diehl’s Bayou Morning Flake

My all time favorite, straight Virginia - McClelland’s #22

Each of these I’m nearly 100% certain are just tobacco. Here are a couple I wish I could mimic in an e-liquid that I know contain casings/additives.

These are all specacular in both taste and aroma…big time crowd pleasers. But it’s that last one, the Caledonian Highland Cream I would just die for. I only ever had it one time and then it became unavailable in the US.

I better wrap this up. Looks like once again I’ve taken a thread in the wrong direction :frowning:

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I looked at quite a few the other day when I was purchasing my tobacco from my local tobacconist shop. They all read like a dream and I was very tempted to buy them…but a few…

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That’s a lot of good blending info from the labels alone.

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It was hard not to walk out with $150 worth of pipe tobacco! :confounded:

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I know it was torture for you. It appears that some of those had added flavors. That’s not good for extraction, Right?

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I haven’t found it written in stone, but if it is… I might just have to be a bad boy just once or twice!:pensive:

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Let me know how it go.

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I wonder how bad it is, and if there is a way to at least partially remove some casings, etc before extraction. Really, the pipe smoker burns these things but I think it’s pretty common practice not to inhale pipe smoke. I never did. Oh well, I too may just have to try it one day. That Da Vinci is utterly terrific.

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