Ph of latakia

[Radagast]

I await the arrival of a pack of smokey wlt goodness. In the meantime, daydreaming about what blends I might cobble together, I've been wondering where latakia smoke fits into the pH scale. I've poured over Bob's brilliant latakia blending matrix and that whole thread leads me to believe it is pretty much neutral.. Well? How wrong am I?

 

[deluxestogie]

I've never measured the pH of any tobacco or tobacco smoke. All of my blends are balanced empirically. But my guess is that Latakia doesn't affect the smoke pH very much. It may even serve as a pH buffer. Because of the rich concentrations and varieties of volatile organic compounds (like terpenes) in Latakia, if you use too much of it in a blend, and/or smoke too much of it, the Latakia can make your tongue feel like a well used doormat.

Bob

 

[Radagast]

I've never measured the pH of any tobacco or tobacco smoke. All of my blends are balanced empirically. But my guess is that Latakia doesn't affect the smoke pH very much. It may even serve as a pH buffer. Because of the rich concentrations and varieties of volatile organic compounds (like terpenes) in Latakia, if you use too much of it in a blend, and/or smoke too much of it, the Latakia can make your tongue feel like a well used doormat.

Bob

Thank you!

 

[Levi Gross]

I've never measured the pH of any tobacco or tobacco smoke. All of my blends are balanced empirically. But my guess is that Latakia doesn't affect the smoke pH very much. It may even serve as a pH buffer. Because of the rich concentrations and varieties of volatile organic compounds (like terpenes) in Latakia, if you use too much of it in a blend, and/or smoke too much of it, the Latakia can make your tongue feel like a well used doormat.

Bob

I can concur with that. I’m still getting over a dose of “cats” tongue. LOL

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

I'm pretty sure it's mildly acidic from my blending experience. I've had this intuition in the past that I can use less air cured tobacco in a blend with latakia, and I've always been wrong.

 

[deluxestogie]

Somewhere, I have a dispenser of 30 year old hydrion paper. One of these days...

Bob

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

Somewhere, I have a dispenser of 30 year old hydrion paper. One of these days...

Bob

How would you measure the pH of the smoke? Perhaps with a distilled water filled hookah, sans charcoal?

 

[Radagast]

How would you measure the pH of the smoke? Perhaps with a distilled water filled hookah, sans charcoal?

That's along the lines of what I had thought might be interesting

 

[deluxestogie]

measure the pH of the smoke?

I have no idea. The hookah concept is how it's usually performed in a lab, using a certified, calibrated, official lab chamber, and similarly precise combustion temperature and smoke flow rate. pH has meaning only in an aqueous solution. For people smoking tobacco, it is actually the pH of the mucous or saliva that covers our nasopharyngeal passages, and the fine layer of aqueous surfactant that lines the interior of the lung's alveoli.

The Bob method is (theoretically) to dip hydrion paper into distilled water, then blow smoke on it.

Bob

 

[Radagast]

The Bob method is (theoretically) to dip hydrion paper into distilled water, then blow smoke on it.

Something like that would be enough, no? You only need to compare the tested tobaccos' smoke to each other to chart their relative acidity, at least for blending purposes. So the pH doesn't exactly matter, as long as all tobaccos tested are done the same way and you end up with a table of some kind.

 

[Radagast]

..then you could draft blends and dial in the smoothness profile on paper! Even spreadsheet it and start blends based on that! Oooweeee! Possibilities..

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

I have no idea. The hookah concept is how it's usually performed in a lab, using a certified, calibrated, official lab chamber, and similarly precise combustion temperature and smoke flow rate. pH has meaning only in an aqueous solution. For people smoking tobacco, it is actually the pH of the mucous or saliva that covers our nasopharyngeal passages, and the fine layer of aqueous surfactant that lines the interior of the lung's alveoli.

The Bob method is (theoretically) to dip hydrion paper into distilled water, then blow smoke on it.

Bob

Shouldn't you put mucous on it instead?

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

..then you could draft blends and dial in the smoothness profile on paper! Even spreadsheet it and start blends based on that! Oooweeee! Possibilities..

Oh dear

 

[Charly]

I am with ChinaVoodoo, I always have the sensation that latakia is a bit acidic.

 

[Yultanman]

How would you measure the pH of the smoke? Perhaps with a distilled water filled hookah, sans charcoal?

Distilled water will usually be on the acidic side if its been exposed to oxygen. Mine is usually about 5.5