Aaron
Well-Known Member
Let me start by saying that the science of this is way above my head! I've been wondering if its possible to strip the ammonia off of color-cured leaf by placing it in a vacuum chamber. I understand that I make a lot of assumptions here, and I'm not positive that all my figures, conversions, and calculations are correct. By searching the internet I've found that the vaporization pressure of ammonia is about 14.5 inHg. At my elevation of 5000ft the atmospheric pressure is about 25 inHg. If I apply around 15 inHg of vacuum to a container that should put my inside pressure at about 10 inHg thereby vaporizing the ammonia. I really don't know if the ammonia in tobacco is even in a form that can be vaporized in the first place. I made a small tester earlier while I was home for lunch. I used a pickle jar, attached a piece of tubing to lid and put a vacuum check valve in line so it would hold the vacuum inside, then used a hand pump to put a vacuum on it. I left a vacuum on the jar for about 10 minutes then opened it to exchange the air and then applied a vacuum again for another 10 min or so. Oh ya, I forgot to mention that I had some color-cured suckers that I put in the jar for this test. After the second round of vacuum I took the lid back off blew some fresh air in the jar again and then used the old sniffer test to smell the leaf. It may be all my imagination but it seemed like the leaf was smelling sweeter and had less of a funky smell.
My question now is... Am I just an ignorant moron for trying this? Is this even possible or advisable? I know there are several members here that will understand this way better than me. Any thoughts?
Aaron
My question now is... Am I just an ignorant moron for trying this? Is this even possible or advisable? I know there are several members here that will understand this way better than me. Any thoughts?
Aaron