Question: Effect of Propylene Glycol / Glycerin on Smoking Experience

[BrotherJ]

I'm still rather new to the world of whole leaf tobacco. I've just started sampling some varieties I got from WLT and I've noticed something. I want to make sure it's not just me and not just the specific varieties I've tried so far. I rolled a cigarette of straight Virginia red, one of straight Virginia lemon (ouch), and one of straight Krumovgrad (yummy).

In general (within my lifetime), it's been common that the last half of a cigarette is harsher than the first half. The smoke seems "hotter," tastes stronger and more like an ashtray smells, and it gets harsher on the throat. The last half of the cigarette has filtered the smoke from the first half, so it makes sense that there would be a difference. The thing is that I don't notice that effect nearly as much with tobacco that has no humectants on it. Even the Peter Stokkebye I've been rolling gets quite a lot harsher toward the end, but the WLT tobacco and American Spirit that I used to smoke just don't do this as much. The last half of the cigarette tastes more like the first half than it does like a cooking-hot ashtray.

Question: Have others noted a similar difference between raw tobacco and tobacco laced with humectants? The difference upon inhaling the smoke seems quite large to me when you get to the last third of the cigarette.

 

[BrotherJ]

Since posting the above, I've been thinking. I tried vaping years ago (before it was popular enough for people to make "tournaments"). If I remember correctly, the vape juice I bought was about 70% propylene glycol and about 30% glycerine. There was a bit of a "hot mouth" feeling from the vapor (not forward or rear tongue bite). That is quite similar to what I'm tasting in Peter Stokkebye's Norwegian Blend. There's a hot sweetness to it that isn't coming from the tobacco. It feels like I'm vaping while smoking. I'm really starting to think that propylene glycol is a problem (and maybe glycerine). The raw tobacco cigarettes that I've tried, especially the Virginia lemon, seem to get smoother and easier to smoke as you go, which is opposite to the commercial tobacco. I think these things are related.

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

Everything you say makes sense to me. It has been years since I've smoked commercial tobacco aside from cigars. I did experiment with pg in pipe tobacco and it didn't seem to do much other than make it hotter. I do use glycerin and I appreciate the sweetness it adds, but pg, no way.