Im trying to find out how Vape Flavors are made. (not mixing, actually making the flavor)
I grow mint plants, and would like to make a flavor that can be added to PG/VG. Made just as well as store bought flavors.
I cannot find anyone to have a conversation with. The companies who make extracts, say they are “Food Extract” companies, they direct me to DIY mixers. The DIY mixers say “Dont” or arent interested enough to help.
I need a Objective Thinker Vape Liquid Professor. An E-Liquid Wizard.
Thanks for your time guys,
bart
Seriously though, there are things you can do. But at a risk to yourself and potentially others. When perfectly good options exist that are much lower risk.
I appreciate the concern. With the safety concern addressed, i am still interested in those Things I can do.
According to the extract suppliers (so far, every last one ive contacted), everything in their inventories is only Food based. I mean, their entire inventories are listed in Vaping suppliers sales pages, but its obvious i will never get any info out of them.
(unless i lied to them, but my objective is an open and critical exchange of info. lying doesnt achieve that)
Id rather no do this in the blind. Every flavor or additive we know was once an unrefined solid.
How its refined, and what to avoid, is the question.
Are herbs steam distilled in a column? Are they steeped? Are they macerated in Alcohol, made into tinctures or extracts? Are they reduced to a powder and added to PG? Are they Steeped in PG and strained? How are mints refined? What mints are refined? What type of filters are used. Etc etc.
Thats it. Dont do it if you dont know exactly what you are doing.
And please dont ask me for advice, its your health and i will not give any advice.
You act on your own risk. If you dont know what fatty Oils are
i can only tell you to avoid them at all cost in the interest of your personal Health.
Aside from spending almost a decade in school and internship/apprenticeship to become a Flavor Chemist, you might look into making essential oils from the raw materials. Then, learn how to perform an alcohol flavor extraction/separation.
Then, send it to a lab with real chemists to discern what unvapable materials may be in there, then maybe go to school for a Chemistry degree anyway.
Its dangerous stuff. Which is why most people will just say Don’t, or pass you along.
Look up The Flavor Guy Nature’s Flavors on the you tubes to see an extraction being performed.
Do me a favor…I may be willing to point you in a direction. How long have you been vaping, mixing, and relevant vape info.
The risks of doing diy extracts is a pretty sensitive topic. One that many of people from the community do not want to go into because of safety.
That being said…in the meantime. You good learn more by our perspective by reading the materials already posted on the forum here, Vu, ecf, and reditt.
There’s a few threads on this topic if you use the search function, and probably a lot of threads on NETs, personally for the price and convenience think it’s better to go with companies that have done all the leg work and testing
Now thats a better reply. eg. Render the mint into an essential oil and then isolate with an alcohol. Then discern what hazardous material the extraction might have. Ill assume from the comment above fatty oils, and diacetyls are off the list.
What are some of the more common pollutants?
Do you prefer dried material? Are the volatile compounds in green material considered pollutants?
I must admit, when the Manufacturers of Flavors wont back their own products being vaped it feels suspect. Vanillin (or Castoreum for that matter) doesnt seem like something the should be in the lungs.
So its a little hard to know what advice is good and what advice is just CYA, ego, or bad.
Thanks for the idea, im going to go look that guy up now. Thanks for your time Plunder
I have hardly any experience. Im a gardener with an interest in science.
Ive tried watching videos and talking to people. But to be honest, i dont get anything out of it. 20 minute videos about how “phat” clouds are with some lo-fi beatz.
i want to know things like, how the nicotine is made. why oils are bad to vape, but CBD isnt. How flavors are isolated. Why diacetyls are bad.
Ill have a peruse through older stuff. kinda hard knowing where to start, alot of roadblocks (as weve spoke about) thanks for your time man
Ah! Thanks for the links, going to read those now.
For safety sake, the extent of my interest would be my homegrown mints.
I figure if i focused on that, it would organize the learning process. Also, menthol is isolated from mint and i figure theres alot of leg work already done with that. Mint is probably the most widely worked herb on the planet.
Have you ever extracted from tobacco?
I wasnt going to grow any this year, but it maybe worth it.
No, but you can probably find many threads on here, search NETs
I thought about doing coffee, but found a great alcohol based coffee flavor concentrate so no need now
They are either against the idea of having their flavors used in vaping, or keeping their distance so they’re not labeled a Nicotine product and the FDA and other agencies make a bunch of new regs and burdens on them. Import/export to other countries gets hairy, too. So, many companies stick with the Food/Bev Only mantra.
You are going to be better served in a diy essential oil forum. I just did a google search for
diy essential oil maker
and the tutorials do exist for home kits. Find the people who specialize in these activities and you’ll get there!
Hey Bart, perhaps you can get some more info from the NET crowd. There’s quite a community involved and their aim is to extract flavours from tobacco. Maybe the techniques can be used to extract flavours from other plants, too.
Also the cannabis fraction have done lots of attempts to get their herbs into vapable form.
It wouldn’t be the risk I would care about, so as much as the sheer amount of effort required and the return on that effort.
Like, growing your own mint then harvesting it at a time and way that preserves maximum flavour content, then treating that plant material to further increase or at least prevent flavour loss, THEN processing it into extract, THEN purifying that extract,…
FINALLY trying your finished flavoring only to discover the Capella version on sale for $1 is exactly the same or that yours is only the slightest bit better…
@Bartacomus hey diluted down essential oils (some flavors already are made this way [peppermint lavender clove ect.])
or
steeped herbs in [vg/ or /pg] or in hot water and staining them for essential oils
(being a country boy putting herbs in my pipe was not new to me( clove lavender tea peppermint rabbit-tobacco hemp) just be sure it is non-toxic and free of pesticides and chemicals Clove diy
