E-cigarettes: research - experiments - ideas

[A Jay]

Though MTL is my smoking style for ciggies, DTL is my preference when vaping. Only downside is that getting the deep hits that I like with vaping produces quite a cloud. Not that I'm trying to create clouds, in fact I find them kind of annoying and I think others do as well, but it's just what happens when I vape in a way that's most natural for me using my Vaporesso Xros 3 with a 0.8 Ohm pod.

 

[neonix]

Beyond that the question whether it is "ok" can only be answered on an individual basis. For some people it can work as a permanent replacement of tobacco. For many others it will not. They will still have a craving for their cigarettes. So, your question touches upon the great mystery of vaping. Why does it not work for everybody? Why do many smokers still need to burn tobacco?

Becouse tabacco contains more than just simply nicotine. It contains, esential oils, plant hormones, sugar, nicotinic acid (also known as niacin or vitamin B3, or vitamin PP) and many other substances that are not widely known.

High dose of nicotin can work like a poison, low dose of nicotin can work like a medicine, becouse its natural, biodegradable substance, that your body can handle, if you don't consume too much.

There could be also bad substances, herbicides, pesticides, petroleum products. People are not aware what they take to mouth.

I read two books about somking and I realized that there many facts that are not widely known and there are many contradictory facts in books and msm about smoking.

 

[iamthatis]

I started wondering how to make vape juice from cured tobacco leaves. I want to go as DIY as I can.

This year, I'm growing a number of tobacco plants, around 20 plants of the Shiraz variety. 'Shirazi' is Turkish-type of tobacco originating from Iran with thick and heavy leaves, high nicotine content, and rich flavors and aroma.

I was planning to air-cure most of the plants to get high nicotine content, and it's also the easiest process. Others I will sun-cure just for fun.

DIY Vaping: How to Make Your Own Nic Salt?

As nic salts have become a go-to option for lots of vapers out there, some are wondering about getting into DIY vaping, specifically creating them on their own the right way.

thevapemall.com

How to Make Your Own Nicotine Salt E-Liquids: Step-By-Step Guide​

Making your own nicotine salt (nic salt) for DIY vaping involves several steps and requires caution, as handling nicotine can be hazardous. Here's a basic outline on how to make your own nic salt:

Equipment and Ingredients​

1.Nicotine Base: Usually available in liquid form. It's vital to get pharmaceutical grade nicotine for safety and purity.

2.Propylene Glycol (PG): Acts as a carrier for the nicotine.

I wonder if pure VG can be used as a carrier?

3.Benzoic Acid: This is what turns regular nicotine into nicotine salt. It’s imperative to use food-grade benzoic acid.

4.Gloves and Safety Goggles: For personal protection.

5.Accurate Scale: For measuring ingredients.

6.pH Meter or Test Strips: To check the acidity.

7.Storage Bottles: Preferably dark glass to store the final product.

8.Syringes or Pipettes: For precise measurement of liquids.

Steps:​

1.Preparation: Work in a well-ventilated area. Wear gloves and safety goggles to protect yourself from nicotine exposure.

2.Mixing Nicotine Base with Propylene Glycol: Typically, a 50/50 mix of PG to nicotine base is used. Measure these with your syringes or pipettes, and then mix them in a bottle.

This stopped me right here. How do I make nicotine base? I was confused by the recipes listed in the first post on this thread, because I didn't know where the actual nicotine was coming from. It's from purchased bottles of nic salts, yes?

Nicotine base, or nicotine extract, can apparently be made a number of ways. There is a thread here describing one man's attempt to extract the max nicotine possible.

Sciencemadness Discussion Board - Nicotine Extraction and purification - Powered by XMB 1.9.11

And here's a video that goes way farther down the rabbit hole of chemistry than I really want to go.

Anyways, as broken.english already wrote, looks like the easiest way is to use the boiling water method.

Healthfully

Find your way to better health.

healthfully.com

Cut up the cigarettes [or use cured tobacco leaves] with the scissors to make the tobacco more readily accessible. Put the pieces in the glass jar and pour boiling distilled water over it. Close lid and leave to steep overnight (or at least a few hours).

Wearing gloves, pour contents of jar through a coffee filter into saucepan to separate liquid from remaining tobacco. Wrap filter around solid remnants and squeeze to extract all liquid possible.

Boil liquid slowly until liquid evaporates. You will have a sticky syrup left; while this will still have some additives in it from the cigarette, it is close to pure nicotine.

Alternatively, you could not slow boil at all, simply allow the liquid to evaporate on its own. This will result in purer nicotine 1.

Tips​

This is an at-home simple method. To obtain truly pure nicotine, chemicals and various solvents can be used, such as hydrochloride or citrate. Experimentation seems to be the best way to decide what works best for you to obtain the result you need. Some who have tried the boiling method, indicate that boiling water is unnecessary and instead suggest putting the cut cigarettes into empty tea bags and simply steeping to obtain the nicotine. This would eliminate the need for coffee filters.

Warnings​

Nicotine is an extremely dangerous poison that should not be ingested in its pure form, even in the smallest quantity. Keep your work area well-ventilated, either with a window open or fan running at all times. Be careful not to directly inhale.

Unfortunately, there are no weight ratios given for tobacco to water. Nor will I have any idea how much tobacco will be in the final extract. I will keep looking at recipes, but I think I may try this method and see if it works for making nicotine extract.

Anyways, back to making Nictotine salt e-liquid.

3.Adding Benzoic Acid: The amount of benzoic acid will vary depending on your desired pH level. Usually, a 1:1 ratio of benzoic acid to nicotine is used. Slowly add the benzoic acid to the nicotine-PG mix.

4.Adjusting pH Level: Use your pH meter or test strips to check the acidity. The target is usually around pH 5-6.

5.Shake and Steep: After adding all the ingredients, shake the bottle well and let it steep. The steeping time varies, but usually, a few days to a week is recommended.

6.Storage: Store the finished nic salt in a cool, dark place. Dark or UV glass bottles are ideal for this.

Safety Precautions:​

• Handle Nicotine with Care: Nicotine is a toxic substance, especially in its concentrated form. Always handle it with gloves and avoid any skin contact.
• Proper Ventilation: Make sure your working area is well-ventilated.
• Safe Storage: Keep nicotine and nic salt out of reach of children and pets.
• Dispose of Waste Properly: Dispose of any nicotine waste according to your local regulations.

That's all I've been able to find for now.

Or I could just buy a 60mL nice salt extract for $30?

 

[Mike1001]

There’s no smoke without fire.

 

[broken.english]

My idea: to make a 60% VG, 40% water mix, which would make it 8mg/ml nicotine. Would increasing the VG, thus slightly reducing the nicotine content, make a difference in terms of the harshness? Or, would it be better to do a 60% water, 40% VG solution? (the nicotine content would be 8mg/ml as well, but subjectively, it feels nicer to have a bit more VG, since it's denser and it doesn't feel like inhaling just water). Any advice would be appreciated, @broken.english We want to stay as pure as possible, I know, but if VG is not really an issue, I'm tempted to experiment with a bit more of it.

VG, in general, is not known as being harsh, rather the opposite. But, as you know, we have a lot of special cases in our forum. My proposal is to sort it out, once pure VG is available to you, by making a water/VG mix, starting around 70/30, then gradually add more VG and make vaping tests.without nicotine.

Until then your above idea (60%VG/40% water mix) sounds quite good as my main suspect is nicotine and the VG should have a dampening effect.

 

[broken.english]

And we typically do DTL, i.e. we inhale directly to the lungs.

Chu should try MTL to see if it makes any difference in terms of harshness.

 

[broken.english]

Or I could just buy a 60mL nice salt extract for $30?

Oh no, dear, this would anger you seriously.

And also, I am hoping for your further contributions here.

Thank you for this easy question.

 

[broken.english]

I wonder if pure VG can be used as a carrier?

Of course. But in my recipe the carrier is a water/ vg mix, in a step by step procedure

How do I make nicotine base? I was confused by the recipes listed in the first post on this thread, because I didn't know where the actual nicotine was coming from. It's from purchased bottles of nic salts, yes?

What I have been describing (for details s. post #29) is the extraction of nicotine into water. By adding vg in the final step your liquid is ready.

Anyways, as broken.english already wrote, looks like the easiest way is to use the boiling water method.

I am not so sure because what you get is a real gunk from which you have to extract the nicotine. What is the easiest way to do this?

Unfortunately, there are no weight ratios given for tobacco to water.

Not important. The water for the first step of extraction will be discarded in the second step, where the nicotine is moved into the oil.
The shredded tobacco leaves should be covered by the water generously.

Nor will I have any idea how much tobacco will be in the final extract.

I suggested to use 100 gr of tobacco for 100 ml liquid as end product. This is based on rough calculations of nicotine content in tobacco leaves which varies a lot. Such liquid will be of moderate strength, approx 20 mg nic/ml. For a nic salt of 40 mg you would need to double the tobacco quantity.

 

[broken.english]

I've started wondering if it may be the nicotine content. A seller at a local shop told us that the more nicotine you add, the harsher it can be on the throat.

Yes, what you are vaping currently is isolated nicotine (free base nicotine) which is known to be harsh. What is substantially milder are nicotine salts where the nicotine is bound to an acid. I don't know whether there are any recommendable products in Europe.

The nicotine from my DIY recipe is also a kind of nic salt, the nicotine binds to ascorbic acid. It is, however, not fine tuned.

 

[Mari]

What is substantially milder are nicotine salts where the nicotine is bound to an acid.

So, in theory, nicotine salts should give a good nicotine kick but is not harsh on the throat, right?
Something like

Liquideo SALT Nikotin Booster 50PG/50VG

Liquideo SALT Nikotin Booster 50PG/50VG ist eine Salz-Nikotinbasis in einer 10 ml Flasche mit einem Nikotingehalt von 20 mg/ml. Die Spezialität ist der sehr weiche Geschmack von Nikotin in E-Liquid, was es ideal für Benutzer mit hohem Nikotingehalt in E-Liquids macht.

www.qvapehouse.com

or

Prva Hrvatska prodavaonica elektronske cigarete! » Virginia Nic salt

ecigarete.hr

and can be smoked as is, no mixing needed?

 

[broken.english]

For those of you looking for flavored premade e-juices with no PG, they do exist. Here’s one I found as an example:

PG-Free Flavors

PG-Free liquids, natural flavors, VG-Based, hand mixed in Tucson, Arizona

velvetvapors.com

The vast majority of those flavors are natural or USDA-certified organic.

I just learned that one can vape cheesecake. Will be good for loosing weight.

 

[broken.english]

So, in theory, nicotine salts should give a good nicotine kick but is not harsh on the throat, right?
Something like

Liquideo SALT Nikotin Booster 50PG/50VG

Liquideo SALT Nikotin Booster 50PG/50VG ist eine Salz-Nikotinbasis in einer 10 ml Flasche mit einem Nikotingehalt von 20 mg/ml. Die Spezialität ist der sehr weiche Geschmack von Nikotin in E-Liquid, was es ideal für Benutzer mit hohem Nikotingehalt in E-Liquids macht.

www.qvapehouse.com

or

Prva Hrvatska prodavaonica elektronske cigarete! » Virginia Nic salt

ecigarete.hr

and can be smoked as is, no mixing needed?

Yes!

Not so bad as a start. Just two things to add:

- Commercial nic salts are made from isolated nicotine and have no taste. DIY nic salts will have a mild tobacco taste.

- Did I perhaps mention that pg is not ideal and vg would be preferable?

 

[flashgordonv]

Yes, what you are vaping currently is isolated nicotine (free base nicotine) which is known to be harsh. What is substantially milder are nicotine salts where the nicotine is bound to an acid. I don't know whether there are any recommendable products in Europe.

The nicotine from my DIY recipe is also a kind of nic salt, the nicotine binds to ascorbic acid. It is, however, not fine tuned.

Yes definitely. Nicotine salts are a lot less harsh than freebase nicotine liquids. You can get a decent nicotine hit with them and you also vape with a higher resistance coil and hence use far less power, and avoid the whole issue of dense clouds of vapour.

 

[flashgordonv]

...

- Did I perhaps mention that pg is not ideal and vg would be preferable?

The jury is out on that one, I'm afraid. And you are forgetting that nebulised (vapourised) PG is a potent anti-microbial. I vaped my way through Covid without ever catch it ( as did my wife) and I ascribed that to the anti-microbial properties of PG - maybe incorrectly but the correlation is there

 

[flashgordonv]

We tried a 0.2ohm coil this morning, and it really didn't work well. For some reason, the 0.4 at 30W power setting is optimal for both of us. And we typically do DTL, i.e. we inhale directly to the lungs. Haven't tried a high-ohm coil yet.

I noticed that with the 50/50 PG/VG blend, I could only inhale for about 0.5s before it was too much and would make me cough. On the other hand, with the 50/50 Water/VG blend, I find myself inhaling for an average of 1s.

For some reason, it feels very unnatural to vape by MTL (inhale into mouth, then 2nd inhale with added air into lungs).

But, that's just me.

Maybe you should try vaping nicotine salts using a 1 ohm or greater coil. I find that a LOT smoother.