I am starting this thread out of interest. I recently felt the need to know if it is possible to make cured tobacco leaves "lighter" by some method of reduction with food-safe (preferrably) solvents. I am interested e.g. to use acetone or IPA on commercial (or even homegrown) tobacco for a certain amount of time, to collect beta-carbolines, nicotine, or any other additives that may be soluble to the respective solvent, discard, and keep the "lighter" plant matter for smoking (combustion).

To keep this thread relevant to the topic, please do not post comments that their primary theme is :

1. Advice on buying anything alternative to tobacco
2. Advice on how harmful tobacco is anyway, even by making it lighter.
3. The reasons why someone would want to perform such a technique (it is self-explanatory)
4. Suggestions of other ROA, by assuming that you know what I want.

To sum it up so we do not deviate:

How to make tobacco matter lighter on substances, for combustion purposes only.

I would appreciate information that is accurate and relevant, as would you.

Thank you for any contribution!

No solvents needed, just do further curing or time consuming mellowing.

At 140°F and 65% RH the tobacco should be flexible but never moist and should start gassing off nicotine, ammonia, putrescine, etc. the hot box just needs a provision for slow venting of those gasses.
In addition to homegrown it should also work on commercial since they adulterate their products with urea (synthetic pee) to generate ammonia as the tobacco is smoked.

Avoid contact with concentrated gasses or extracts from tobacco, they can easily cause overdose.

..nicotine's water soluble..
.

Good suggestion - maybe then soak tobacco in water, say enough to cover the plant material and then a bit more, for a day, filter and dry it out? that'd definitely take away some amount of nicotine and other stuff.

Good suggestions, but with a minor setback : By soaking tobacco in water, won't the tobacco itself get swollen enough to become unmanageble afterwards for smoking? This definitely happens if the water is hot; will a cold water dip exhibit minor swelling?

What about acetone/IPA?

So in other words, just heating it up in a chamber to 140 F ?
How long would you leave it in approximately? I am sure that it depends on how much
I want the substances to reduce, but I have no unit of measurement at all. Would 1 hour suffice, or is the scale closer to a e.g. a day?

I just dipped 5 grams of Pueblo in cold water. Immediately, the water turned yellow. In 2 minutes, it was dark orange. Done the same procedure 4 times, water is now almost light yellow. Tobacco left to dry, will report subjective findings as soon as it dries!

I tried water soakek tobacco before when i tried quiting it for joints.

Sure it works and all the bad stuff gets out, but it tastes awful and looses all its aroma.

To make quality tobacco from live plants the tobacco is first hung in the shade to color cure, turning the leaves from green to brown, this produces a harsh and very potent smoke that was traditionally only smoked by slaves and the very poor. From there it goes to flavor curing, the speed of which is proportional to hydration and heat- hydration to allow for the largely water based chemical reactions and heat to speed those reactions. Humidity being at the upper limit of 65% RH makes the tobacco soft and flexible and heat being at 140°F, also near the upper limit, greatly speeds the curing. Chemical reactions tend to double for every 18°F increase in temp. At those conditions people flavor cure for 1 to 3 weeks. After that the (higher quality) tobacco is mellowed at lower temps for months to years, then more moisture is removed to greatly slow the mellowing. I once found two cups of 20 year old pipe tobacco, man that was a high quality smooth smoke.

So yeah, you can play with the conditions. If the tobacco is flexible (but never moist) it will continue to cure or mellow even at room temp, it'll just go very slow. In the garage in summer it'll go faster, I've met people that quite successfully cured in their garage the following year after harvest with no added heat. In tropical native villages the tobacco twists are hung under cover and cured in the tropical heat and humidity. Most build tobacco kilns to just get it done fast. Since your just after a slight extension of curing or a serious mellowing a warm shed or garage may be enough. Just make sure the tobacco isnt crispy dry or it wont do much more than gather dust.

Ice water or other solvent extraction would make for a lighter smoke but it would substantially reduce the flavor and odor qualities of good tobacco... so try it on the cheapest first.

Which is exactly what I am going for

I am not after a better quality tobacco, or potency. The opposite really: how to administer the much euphoric CO, and feel satisfied holding a cigarette, but reducing all the substances.

Thanks for the input however!

I see, you dont just want the nicotine gone and a lighter flavor but rather just... bland. I could see that.
Much of the carbon monoxide punch commercial tobacco has is from the urea they add, heat decomposes it to ammonia, carbon dioxide, and carbon monoxide. Take away the urea and nicotine and you might as well be smoking something else.
Have you considered using something other than tobacco?
This time of year mullein is easy to find for free. More rustic/tree-ey parks and the sides of freeways are great spots to find them and in their second year theyre very easy to spot.
Its one of the smoother alternative smokes. A filter must be used due to the irritant hairs on it. It could be further lightified with ice water like tobacco. And, unlike tobacco, its not radioactive from cheap fertilizers since it grows without any assistance.

I'd suggest cutting out the mid-veins from the leaves before drying.
Its also medicinal, mainly used as a tea for mucousy colds and flus. [1]

I do want the nicotine gone and a lighter flavor. I did not say I wanted something bland. Carbon monoxide comes in abundance from whatever plant matter one combusts, so I am okay with smoking what I just smoked.



No I have not considered an alternative to tobacco, please read the OP and the guidelines I posted to avoid derailing from the thread, there are numerous about alternatives to tobacco, and I do not want this one to be one of them. Thanks for your input though.

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Result:

Pueblo dipped 5 times (20 minutes each dip) in cold water, then strained, squeezed, and dried, produces an amazing wooden flavour with (at least for me) no increase in blood pressure/heart rate, it feels super-smooth in my lungs, and I do not get a rush from it. Yet, I do feel the high of the cigarette that I attribute it to CO. I have put 3 moistened filter tips in the tobacco pouch with the lighter tobacco to keep it moist and not totally dry. I have to say, I took a drag from the light version and a drag from the normal Pueblo, and they are worlds apart.

(Subjective) Result!

Thanks to everyone for their contribution!