A huge shout out and THANK YOU to @anon13011326 who generously supplied these samples in his offer in this previous post
EDIT: Sadly David5362 dropped his membership to this forum. So he is now listed as anon13011326.
EDIT: A number of us have wandered over to Private Blogs HERE
I took him up on the offer and here is the result.
Doing Single Varietal Leaf extraction is not for the faint of heart or for the person starting their first adventure in the world of NETS. It is for the die hard tobacco addict that has spent many years smoking premium hand rolled cigars, premium cigarettes (yes there is such a thing!), and premium pipe tobacco blended by old line expert blending houses.
The reason this is so is because the NET extractions you will wind up with are the core building materials of what the expert blenders use as their starting points. Without a sense memory frame of taste reference to previously expertly crafted finished products you will quickly get lost and be asking āwhat the hell is this stuff I made and what the hell am I supposed to do with it?ā -If you are just starting with tobacco NETs then extract pre blended tobaccos. There are many suggestions on this area of the forum for excellent places to start. Please see this thread for some suggestions on where and how the beginning NET adventurer might want to start.
The samples as provided by @anon13011326 were infused at a rate of 28g to 150ml PG.
The jars were ābump startedā at 115F in an UtraSonic water bath at a cycle rate of
30 minutes sonic / 30 minutes rest for a period of 10 hours.
The jars were then allowed to rest at room temperature averaging 68F.for an infusion
time of 6 months in a dark closet with a vigorous hand shake of the jars once every 7 days.
At the end of the infusion the samples were then centrifuged for 1 hour at 4500RPM.
No mechanical filtering was performed.
These were tested by mixing for SFT vaping at a rate of 50% VG
of the named extract then raised to7mg/ml Nicotine. I now use Nicotine in all my Single Varietal Leaf SFT Testing, as I feel it provides an essential component of the NET that must be added in order to locate and orient back the tobacco experience to the way Mother Nature intended it to be when she grew the plant. Tobacco without Nicotine is like love without lust, somethings missing.
In the following notes I include a brief "Descriptor from LO: ā which is from LeafOnly who is the sales provider of the sample. Of course they are making their notes from the standpoint of eventual combustable tobacco sampling, and actually they are only really giving you information on the traditional intended use, the growing region, and noting other mostly non taste facts about the samples. My Notes obviously provide my impressions of the samples after doing what we do, that is converting this stuff for eventual vaping enjoyment.
Dominican Seco Criollo 98
Descriptor from LO:
Our Aged Dominican Seco Long Filler is a premium cigar filler that is used in many
hand-rolled premium cigar factories. Being a leaf from the fourth or fifth priming,
our Criollo 98 Dominican Seco tobacco leaf is thinner than the ligero tobacco leaf.
My Notes:
A robust cigar filler with much more flavor body than the usual Single Varietal Filler and all seems to be condensed at a sweet spot at a very rich mid tone location in the profile. Amazingly enough this single leaf encompasses far more of the entire flavor profile of a finished cigar including notes from wrapper and binder. And it is distinctly Dominican, a trip down memory lane ! If you are old enough to remember the Jamaican Cigars before the hurricane, or if you recall the hay-day of the real Dominicans like Montecristo before the Altadis /Consolidated Cigar Holdings take over ruined everything then you will remember the absolute distinctive taste and aroma of these cigars. This extract is spot on with that flavor profile. Of the four samples tested here, this one has top honors, no question about it.
Aged Nicaraguan Seco Jalapa
Descriptor from LO: Our Nicaraguan Seco Long Filler is a premium cigar filler that is used in many
hand-rolled premium cigars. Being a leaf from the fourth or fifth priming, this Seco
tobacco leaf is thinner than its ligero tobacco leaf counterpart, yet grown from the
same Criollo 98 seed. This leaf also comes from the region of Jalapa.
My Notes:
An Excellent SFT ADV by itself. A pure pre embargo Cuban style Cigar filler type with light body, and a wonderful Almond like top note that carries a very light sweet cane sugar tone and a slightly green lawn grassy toneā¦ I would hesitate to use this as a blender component for fear of loosing these very delicate top notes, Although if very carefully mixed with Flue Cured Sweet Bright-leaf Virginia it might turn into an excellent Cavendish mix pipe tobacco work-a-like
EDIT: Additional Notes: I A/B Davids Aged Nicaraguan Seco Jalapa Sample against a similar Sample sent to me by @Kinnikinnick that was labeled **Nicaraguan Ligero Cigar Filler and If ind that one slightly more robust, a little more woodsy with a very slight top note of Walnut Shell, Whereas davids Sample of Aged Nicaraguan Seco Jalapa is a little lighter, slightly sweeter, and lacks the Walnut shell top notes but replaces them with a slightly green lawn grassy tone. Both are very similar, very high quality, excellent example vapes of the breed.
Indonesian Sumatra Seco
Descriptor from LO: Our Aged Indonesian Sumatra Long Filler is a very unique, sweet spicy cigar filler that is used in many premium cigar blends.
My Notes:
An Excellent SFT ADV by itself. A pure Cigar filler type with medium to slightly rich body, a medium rounded mouth feel with slight Walnut shell aromatics and flavor component. Might be interesting to try as a very small addition percentage to Pure Virginia or Burley Base when heading toward cigarette work-a-likes. But it could be just enjoyed it as a SFT ADV.
Paraguayan Criollo Ligero Filler
Descriptor from LO:
An incredibly rare tobacco, this Paraguayan Ligero Cigar Filler has a unique flavor
unlike any other, even other South American tobacco. A dark, red-brown leaf,
this tobacco comes frog-legged like many other long fillers, although this leaf is much
longer, and thinner than other fillers of this type.
My Notes:
Straight cigar filler intended for serious premium cigar filler blending applications perhaps to make
vape work-a-likes to original post embargo Cuban Imitations that were prevalent during that period. It is a single monochromatic filler profile, very high quality for what it is. This sample extracted as very light bodied which actually is a blessing in disguise as the eventual use will be blending only and it will be easier to handle it in that duty with the light body.
I hold this in reserve as a blender only, not a SFT ADV. when working towards serious cigar blending efforts. It is an all cigar body taste component with little to no aromatics or top notes.
Thanks for the reviews and tips.
Wait a minute, quite a few people already do thatā¦ pick things from forums and add articles from here and there, publish a book and make money out of itā¦ snap it! too lateā¦!