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NET: an understandable guide to making your own tobacco flavored e-juice

In searching for NET (naturally extracted tobacco) for e-juice online, I’ve found that most recipes are sketchy, vague and fail to give the ‘newb’ a thorough understanding of what is necessary to produce a tobacco like e-juice that is safe and tasty, or that offers actual quantities of yeild. Math?



In purchasing products for NET, my interest is in saving money in the face of purchasing small bottles of e-juice. So I want to know what vessels, nicotine testing kits, and other such things I’ll need to make and explore recipes properly. I also want to see ratios in online recipes. Unfortunately, most of the recipes I find are some person’s accounts that lacks a lot of information. Additionally, most people use unexplained acronyms for important terms that are known to the experienced but not to the aspiring makers out there. PLEASE offer useful information if you’re interest is education.



So here is a bulleted list, which I will be posting to multiple forums, of questions I have for anyone willing to help me with a serious recipe:



  • What containers, Ball jars, etc. should a heat assisted or cold steep require?
    • What size should a cooking/cold steeping container be for a certain yield?
    • What size container makes sense for mixing the extract into a final product?
  • Based on steeping method, how fine should tobacco be shredded/powdered?
    • I smoked Drum/Bali Shag/P. Stokkebye’s hand rolling tobacco for 20 years and would like to recreate their quality.
    • If using a heat/reduction method, what protective gear will I need?
  • I would like to achieve somewhere around a 70% VG/30% PG final product. Therefore, how much PG should be used for steeping, and how do I arrive at that ratio once the extraction is complete? I have seen too many recipes that list ingredients adding up to more than 100%. MATH people, math.
  • Time? Clearly timing differs based on cooking/steeping method. So, to best reproduce the smell/taste of raw pipe/handrolling tobacco, what is the best time to steep or cook?
  • When mixing a final extract, how much extract/flavor to PG, VG and nicotine (after figuring out the nicotine level of extract)?
    • What concentration/amount of nicotine extract should I order/use to bring my juice to 12mg?
  • Since I’m looking for a 70% VG/30% PG final product, what large quantities of ingredients should I purchase?
    • i.e. how many pints to quarts to gallons of PG, VG and nicotine extract does it make sense to purchase?
  • Obviously the nicotene content of a flavoring extract is low in nicotene content
    • are there good NET calculators that account for common nicotene extract content taking into account supplimenting with a purchased nicotene addative?
  • Filtering methods?
    • What are the best filter types? Where to get them?
  • Finally, any recommendations of suppliers for purchasing bulk ingredients from?


I’m sure I’ve left important questions out, so if you entertain answering my questions, please feel free to offer more than I’ve asked. Hopefully this outline will provide more vapers with the information they need to make their own e-juice.



Thank you all,



m
 
Last edited:

UncleRJ

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Great questions all dude!

Me, I just LOVE net tobacco E-liquids but Lord are they on the pricey side of things.

Like $30 plus $&H for a 30ml bottle of the really good stuff!:xD:

After the first of the year, I really want to get into DIY and in particular make my own NET E-Liquids.

Hopefully some folks in the know will jump right in here and get us pointed in the right direction!
 

fratervapor

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All the variables you mention will be basically trial and error to find out what you like. Or what processes fit your DIY style.

About the only variable with any kind of consensus is that steeping tobacco (and tea, coffee, etc) is done in PG. After the steeping it's strained through a coffee filter or similar. You would test your nic at that point, do taste testing at various percentages and augment with retail nic if needed.
 

pulsevape

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you forgot one of the most important aspects of making a NET extract....filtering....
 

Alter

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I tried a net with a couple broken cuban cigars I bought at a smoke shop. My mistake was covering the shreds with PG, put the lid on then put away rather than put some pg in then mash it down, put some more pg and mash it down until just the top is just wet then add more pg after a little while for the shreds to just soak up, it will settle in time and you can add more pg but not remove. My result was too much PG and overcut with vg so I can vape it, its good but no where as good as it could have been. After the coffee filter filtering I pushed the liquid through a large syringe with a thick cotton plug, the net is relatively clear, still a good coil gunker but a ok vape.
I let my net sit for 2 months with many shakes in between and will do it again when I get some actual leaf rather than using taylor made cigars.
 

pulsevape

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I tried a net with a couple broken cuban cigars I bought at a smoke shop. My mistake was covering the shreds with PG, put the lid on then put away rather than put some pg in then mash it down, put some more pg and mash it down until just the top is just wet then add more pg after a little while for the shreds to just soak up, it will settle in time and you can add more pg but not remove. My result was too much PG and overcut with vg so I can vape it, its good but no where as good as it could have been. After the coffee filter filtering I pushed the liquid through a large syringe with a thick cotton plug, the net is relatively clear, still a good coil gunker but a ok vape.
I let my net sit for 2 months with many shakes in between and will do it again when I get some actual leaf rather than using taylor made cigars.
yeah alot of cured tobaccos have alot of sugar and they are real coil killers.
 

fratervapor

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One of the best things about a NET is it gives you a lot of experience building coils! :)
 
Great questions all dude!

Me, I just LOVE net tobacco E-liquids but Lord are they on the pricey side of things.

Like $30 plus $&H for a 30ml bottle of the really good stuff!:xD:

After the first of the year, I really want to get into DIY and in particular make my own NET E-Liquids.

Hopefully some folks in the know will jump right in here and get us pointed in the right direction!

agreed, and thanks.
 
All the variables you mention will be basically trial and error to find out what you like. Or what processes fit your DIY style.

About the only variable with any kind of consensus is that steeping tobacco (and tea, coffee, etc) is done in PG. After the steeping it's strained through a coffee filter or similar. You would test your nic at that point, do taste testing at various percentages and augment with retail nic if needed.

That sounds about right, and I understand that the taste will be different than combusted tobacco; I'm just looking for something that doesn't taste like 8 different artificial flavors!
 
I tried a net with a couple broken cuban cigars I bought at a smoke shop. My mistake was covering the shreds with PG, put the lid on then put away rather than put some pg in then mash it down, put some more pg and mash it down until just the top is just wet then add more pg after a little while for the shreds to just soak up, it will settle in time and you can add more pg but not remove. My result was too much PG and overcut with vg so I can vape it, its good but no where as good as it could have been. After the coffee filter filtering I pushed the liquid through a large syringe with a thick cotton plug, the net is relatively clear, still a good coil gunker but a ok vape.
I let my net sit for 2 months with many shakes in between and will do it again when I get some actual leaf rather than using taylor made cigars.


Thanks, I've settled in for the long haul.
 

UncleRJ

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Since my last post, I have been putting out some feelers for more info on the process.

I kinda sorta know a guy that makes an absolutely AWESOME NET E-Liquids.

Sadly, not available to the public at large

Anyway, one thing he shared with me, is that when you are extracting the tobacco flavor, you are not actually extracting the nicotine component and the nicotine must be added to the end product just like your run of the mill E-Liquids.

I also looked into what is involved in extracting nicotine from tobacco leaves.

And you pretty much need to be a highly trained chemist with lots of fancy chemicals and equipment.

I am still continuing with my own research as I truly love a good NET E-Liquid and I am planning on getting into DIY solely for this.
 
Since my last post, I have been putting out some feelers for more info on the process.

I kinda sorta know a guy that makes an absolutely AWESOME NET E-Liquids.

Sadly, not available to the public at large

Anyway, one thing he shared with me, is that when you are extracting the tobacco flavor, you are not actually extracting the nicotine component and the nicotine must be added to the end product just like your run of the mill E-Liquids.

I also looked into what is involved in extracting nicotine from tobacco leaves.

And you pretty much need to be a highly trained chemist with lots of fancy chemicals and equipment.

I am still continuing with my own research as I truly love a good NET E-Liquid and I am planning on getting into DIY solely for this.


I've read the same; that's something I need to include in my bulleted questions. obviously a titration kit will reveal a bit, but the math behind achieving a 12mg nicotine content or any other obviously requires some work. if you know of any good NET specific recipe calculators, let me know.
 

pulsevape

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Member For 4 Years
Since my last post, I have been putting out some feelers for more info on the process.

I kinda sorta know a guy that makes an absolutely AWESOME NET E-Liquids.

Sadly, not available to the public at large

Anyway, one thing he shared with me, is that when you are extracting the tobacco flavor, you are not actually extracting the nicotine component and the nicotine must be added to the end product just like your run of the mill E-Liquids.

I also looked into what is involved in extracting nicotine from tobacco leaves.

And you pretty much need to be a highly trained chemist with lots of fancy chemicals and equipment.

I am still continuing with my own research as I truly love a good NET E-Liquid and I am planning on getting into DIY solely for this.
yeah there is almost no nicotine in a tobacco extract..nic has to be added. There are several extraction methods which walk a fine line between findinfg an extraction that will give good flavor,but not trash your coils...PG extraction,VG extraction,cold extraction heat assisted extractions,grain alcohol extractions...the two most common seem to be a cold PG maceration, and a heat assisted PG maceration...cold PG macerations is put shredded tobacco in a jar and let it soak in PG from one to two months decant and filter..the most common heat extracted method is using a crockpot on a low setting..the time is personal and varies some people do 8 hours in the crockpot 24 hours out then 8 hours in the crockpot then 24 hours out ect...it's something you have to play around with....some people do the crock pot over night them out and let the mix sit for a week...then decant and filter the shredded tobacco and PG...PGA extractions...pure grain alcohol extractions give a cleaner extract but the flavor diminshes fast. I always used a 2 or 2.5 micron lab filter paper to filter my extracts with and mixed at about 10% extract...I've heard people say that mixing at 5% extract gives a weak flavor but nice on the exhale,and doesn't trash coils so bad.alot of commercial NETs mix at above 10% extract the flavor, I've even heard of 20% extract it is great if you don't mind dry burning your coils and replacing wicks twice a day...if your really interested there are some long threads over at ECF on NET extraction methods, and I used to belong to a NETs facebook page where we traded ideas and results on our extractions I don't know if it is still around.
 

UncleRJ

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When the time comes................

I have a really nice 1.5 liter Ultrasonic cleaner with a heating function.

This could be interesting!
 

pulsevape

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Member For 4 Years
When the time comes................

I have a really nice 1.5 liter Ultrasonic cleaner with a heating function.

This could be interesting!
the time has come ...grab some tobacco grab some PG throw it in a jar and let it sit....
 

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