How to make a DIY liquid
I already posted this in the Smoking is good thread. Here is a copy, just in case you overlooked it:
The ingredients needed will depend from the extraction method.
Ingredients for the final liquid:
- distilled water
- vegetable glycerin(35 - 50%)
- nicotine extract
- flavour (optional, abt. 5 - 8%) s. below
Ingredients for nicotine extraction
1) Steam distillation:
- distilled water
- shredded tobacco leaves
2) Acid/base separation:
- distilled water
- shredded tobacco leaves
- sodium carbonate(5% or 50 gr per 950 ml of water)
- vegetable oil
- vitamin C/ascorbic acid
- baking soda
Ingredients for tobacco flavour
- alcohol(rum, vodka, brandy....)
- flavour rich tobaccos, about 10gr/100 ml alcohol (cigar, RYO tobaccos of dark varieties, Kentucky dark fired leaves...)
My personal favourite is a cheap Cuban cigar named José el Piedra.
Just let it sit for a week and filtrate.
Procedures of acid/base separation
You can more or less follow the tutorials below:
Been following the thread down in the nic forum for some time now... decided to give it a go in the sort of wholly unscientific, unsafe manner they repeatedly warn against. The result? Great success. As I am totally bereft of any sort of lab...
www.e-cigarette-forum.com
Tobacco extraction (WTA for vaping) - let's develop a tek? - Other Psychoactives - Welcome to the DMT-Nexus
If you should do so, please mind the above ingredients and quantities. You will need about 100 gr of tobacco for 100 ml liquid. Most probably you will need to evaporate some excess water before adding the vegetable glycerin.
In the first step the nicotine is removed from the tobacco leaves by the sodium carbonate solution which has a ph value of 11, strong enough to crack the binding forces. In the second step the nicotine is moved into the vegetable oil by adding the oil to the water and shake, rattle and roll it or use a mixer. Discard the water. In the third step the nicotine is removed from the oil by shaking it with a mild solution of water and vitamin C. Finally the slightly acid vitamin C - nicotine solution can be neutralised by adding some baking soda. Only small quantities of vitamin C and baking soda are needed, abt. 1/4 tsp. These two will react and form ascorbate, the salt of vitamin C, which will remain in the liquid.
The nastiest part of the whole procedure, from my experience, is the separation of oil and water. If I would do it again I would at least use 200gr of tobacco to make it worthwhile.
Procedures of distillation
Distillation is the cleanest way of extracting nicotine from tobacco. The only downside is that it needs some equipment. To my knowledge there are two options:
1) Use of a dry herb distiller
The usual suspects like ebay, Aliexpress a.s.o. are selling distillation equipment for any kind of dry herb. They work like pressure cookers. The steam will pass through a basket with tobacco and the nicotine will evaporate through a tube at he top and end up in a jar outside. The outer tubes must be cooled by water in order to prevent evaporation. Something like this:
Moonshine Still Spirits Kit Water Alcohol Wine Distiller Features. Ensure that the temperature is accurate when distilled. Boiler Barrel Size: 13.7"DIA x 13.7"H(8 Gal) / 1pcs Boiler Barrel Size: 11.8"DIA x 11.8"H(5 Gal).
www.ebay.com
2) Pressure cooker
These can work as well if the tobacco is put in the basket above the water but with less efficiency. The nicotine will end up in the water and will be very diluted. Then the excess water has to be evaporated at moderate temperature. A smarter solution would be to process a larger quantity of tobacco, divide it in several smaller portions and cook it up in steps, thus increasing the concentration of the nicotine in water.
Finally, the roughest of all methods of nicotine extraction
In tobacco leaves nicotine is bound to malic acid. Hence the above acid/base method. But it is also water soluble and pouring hot water over tobacco will dissolve a substantial part of the nicotine. This will end up as a muddy brown liquid. Many years ago farmers would use it for plant protection.