Beer with........ pipe tobacco?

Just had a crazy notion. Anybody wanna share what they think about using pipe tobacco in a beer recipe. It could either be wonderful and contribute an amazing flavor, or it could just make it sour. Any Ideas?

Uhm.. how about. not doing that. That just seems soooo wrong.

If you do try that, let us know what that tastes like and if it makes a good replacement for smoking.

I've thought of doing a nicotine beer, mostly just to horrify friends. Tobacco is bitter, very bitter and will hard to balance. Beyond that, I have no idea how much nicotine is leeched out of tobacco leaf using a tincture. Could be so minor as to not even help someone's nic fix, or it could be lethal. I imagine it would be at the minor end, but I was hoping to come across some research before attempting.

Make a sun tea with it. Put it in a clear glass bottle with water and sit it in the window for a day. Then take a sip. If you like it, brew it. If you don't like it, you can always use it as a pesticide on your house plants.

It sounds utterly wretched.

On the plus side, I'm almost positive that nicotine is water soluble.

Be careful, though, as nicotine is also a very potent poison. I think it was the Anarchist's Cookbook that had a recipe for a nicotine poison concoction that only used a can or two of dip (sorry, no link...I try to avoid that thing after having read a bit of it).

Oh good Lord, NO! Nicotine is utterly deadly. If it kills bugs as a pesticide, think of what it does to your intestines. Plus, when the condensed spit runs back up the pipe stem of my favorite briar, it is digustingly bitter, and smells like ass! Why do I smoke it? It's a habit, and tough to break. Do NOT ruin a beer by doing this. As an alternative for your smoker friends why not a homebrew and stogie or pipe night? That with some cheese and sausage, crackers...whatever. With some good homebrew, and a poker table. Sounds like a good time.

If you're sitting in a bar and you take a long pull off a beer, and you get that cigarette butt impact at the back of your throat, you'll get the idea. Minus the burnt taste of course. Just all soggy tobacco goodness.

Mmmmm.... ass.

Accchhhhhh!

Try steeping some Mormon Tea in it instead.

Just think, too much dip or chew spit goes down your throat and you're not feeling too hot... Throw back a few pints of it and I'm sure there will be some puking involved...

(from our old pal Wikipedia)

Toxicology

The LD50 of nicotine is 50 mg/kg for rats and 3 mg/kg for mice. 40–60 mg can be a lethal dosage for adult human beings. This makes it an extremely deadly poison. It is more toxic than many other alkaloids such as cocaine, which has a lethal dose of 1000 mg. The LD50 of cocaine when administered to mice is 95.1 mg/kg.

The amount of nicotine inhaled with tobacco smoke is a fraction of the amount contained in the tobacco leaves (most of the substance is destroyed by the heat). The amount of nicotine absorbed by the body from smoking depends on many factors, including the type of tobacco, whether the smoke is inhaled, and whether a filter is used. For chewing tobacco, often called dip, snuff, or snus, which is held in the mouth between the lip and gum, the amount released into the body tends to be much greater than smoked tobacco.

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I'm no scientist here, but I wouldn't do it. I've heard of tobacco farmers dying because they touched a tobacco plant that had dew on it. I've also heard of inmates making a tea out of 2 packs of cigarettes to commit suicide with.

So, um... DON'T DO IT.

Next up... CYANIDE BEER.. Recipes please?

Cancerbrau? Anyone care for a cancerbrau?

Cheesefood said:

Cancerbrau? Anyone care for a cancerbrau?

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I'd prefer a Tumorbock please...

Hmmm... I don't remember Tomacco being poisonous...



Err... maybe...

Instead of ripping on a bad idea, I will try to be positive. Nobody likes the taste of tobacco. Some people do, however, like the flavor of smoke. Soooo....

Rauchbier.


You can by smoked malts. You can even make your own on a charcoal grill. Add some wood, smoke the grains over it, keep the heat, I dunno, maybe below 200, let them roast for awhile, then let them sit for two weeks to mellow before using in a brew.

Smoke beer is good. In fact, I had a Smoked Maibock the other day and was quite surprised that I could actually finish a full glass of it. It was tasty. So go ahead, experiment with smoke beers, but nobody likes the taste of nicotine.

mlee0000 said:

(from our old pal Wikipedia)

Toxicology

The LD50 of nicotine is 50 mg/kg for rats and 3 mg/kg for mice. 40–60 mg can be a lethal dosage for adult human beings. This makes it an extremely deadly poison. It is more toxic than many other alkaloids such as cocaine, which has a lethal dose of 1000 mg. The LD50 of cocaine when administered to mice is 95.1 mg/kg.

The amount of nicotine inhaled with tobacco smoke is a fraction of the amount contained in the tobacco leaves (most of the substance is destroyed by the heat). The amount of nicotine absorbed by the body from smoking depends on many factors, including the type of tobacco, whether the smoke is inhaled, and whether a filter is used. For chewing tobacco, often called dip, snuff, or snus, which is held in the mouth between the lip and gum, the amount released into the body tends to be much greater than smoked tobacco.

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I'm no scientist here, but I wouldn't do it. I've heard of tobacco farmers dying because they touched a tobacco plant that had dew on it. I've also heard of inmates making a tea out of 2 packs of cigarettes to commit suicide with.

So, um... DON'T DO IT.

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I think people are missing the point here, it would be for the taste not the nicotine, however reading the toxicology of nicotine (thanks for that) it sounds like a bad idea, however, I did make a sun tea using 1/4 oz. of oregon cherry tobacco to a gallon of water and the taste was excellent (surprise surprise), Its been two days and I'm still alive.

Ask anyone who has either dipped or chewed tobacco and they will tell you that digesting tobacco sap, even in very small amounts, causes nausea. There is a reason they spit! So even if you were to calculate an amount that is non-toxic, it is sure to cause extreme nausea or be such a small amount as to not offer any flavor to the brew. But a neat idea.

If it is the nicotine effect in the brew and not the flavor you're looking to achieve it might be obtainable through the use of a well calculated does of nicorette gum. Although likely way to expensive to be pratical.

Nicotine gum also causes nausea when used in any appreciable quantity. I speak from experience.

OP asked about pipe tobacco and flavor.

Isn't most pipe tobacco flavored? Like apple, cherry, etc...

I'd go with that. Nicotine doesn't really have a flavor does it?

olllllo said:

Isn't most pipe tobacco flavored? Like apple, cherry, etc...

I'd go with that. Nicotine doesn't really have a flavor does it?

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Yup, it's usually flavored, and pipe tobacco is usually very sweet and pleasant smelling. The smoke carries the flavor well and is also sweet tasting.

Nicotine is an alkaloid, and I bet that the pure substance is quite bitter. However, should you have enough pure nicotine to actually taste it, it would probably be a lethal dose.

To the OP: if the sun tea tasted good and produced no ill effects, you can probably add it to your homebrew as a flavoring. To achieve similar results in a more traditional manner, I bet you could use some cherry (or other flavored) extract and oak chips.

I think I'm gonna try a small batch, smoking the grains over some pipe tobacco, see what happens. Thus eliminating the nicotine and hopefully retaining some flavor. I'll follow up if anyones interested.......

Yuri_Rage said:

To the OP: if the sun tea tasted good and produced no ill effects, you can probably add it to your homebrew as a flavoring. To achieve similar results in a more traditional manner, I bet you could use some cherry (or other flavored) extract and oak chips.

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I dunno, is the toxicity of Nicotine cumulative? Just throwing it out there as I am not sure...

I have no idea if it bioaccumulates if its ingested.

Pipe smoke beer sounds nice. I like the smell of it. Could you smoke some wood chips and then put them in the secondary? Would this give smell as well as taste?

That's not a bad idea. It would take a lot of tobacco to flavor chips or grain though.

i think a rauchbier with some cherry or vanilla flavoring added would be a nice complement to a little pipe smoking. i might try that sometime myself.

Lil Sparky had a good recipe for a beer with cigar taste

http://homebrewtalk.com/showpost.php?p=223796&postcount=42

What if you made a smoked porter and smoked your own malt but instead of using a particular kind of wood, you used some cheap cigars you have laying around, or pipe tobacco. That would give you a smokey flavor to your beer and possibly some of the pipe tobacco or cigar taste you're looking for.

Why is this in the food forum???

Moved it to general techniques even though I find this to be uncommon or unique or bad idea.

uncommon or unique or bad idea

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Sounds like a forum of it's own...

Holy thread bumping batman!

There was a thread by bigkahuna on this topic a few months back, IIRC someone came on and posted how dangerous it was to leech the high levels of nicotine out of them and into liquid...

I can't recall the particulars but the general gist of the thread IIRC is that it is not a good idea to do...maybe even extremely deadly.

If you are going to do it I would do all manner of research into nicotine poisoning and leaching from tobbacco.

You do not want to mess with tobacco in liquid, people have leached it out and used it to poison people....

Historically, most cases of nicotine poisoning have been the result of its use as an insecticide; however, such use is less frequent now than previously. Every year many children go to the emergency room after eating cigarettes or cigarette butts. Sixty milligrams of nicotine has the potential to kill an adult,[1] which is the amount of nicotine in about five cigarettes or half a cigar, if all of the nicotine were absorbed.

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Nicotine poisoning - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I don't know about smoking malt with it either...let's see, formaldehyde and about 50 other deadly compounds come out in the smoke and would then cling to the grains...

You know when a reviewer mentions "tobacco notes" in a beer or wine it's not literal tobacco he is referring to. It's a product of yeast and dark malts and even aging, not actually tobacco products.

As much enthusiasm as I have for trying new things, I would probably not do this. It seems like any tobacco in a drink would give me heartburn. I do chew (dip, whatever you want to call it) occasionally, but it's when I'm at work (Where I'm not allowed to smoke). I'm not a hardcore smoker, but when I drink I do smoke more. I think that the two should be left separate. People like to light up when they drink. I don't think that this beer would stop anyone from smoking, or fulfill a nicotine craving.

If anything, if you really want to try this, I would do it as a very small batch. Do it and see what you think. The next batch you have, just separate a gallon of it and try adding a little tobacco. If it turns out bad you didn't ruin the whole batch. When I say little though, I mean it. Just try adding like a quarter oz (or less).

I would highly advise against giving this beer to guests or drinking more than one in a session.

What about making a smoked porter and when you smoke the malt yourself, throw a few cigars or tobacco leaves in with the wood. You'll get a nice smokey taste in the porter and it might pick up some of the smokiness of the tobacco in the malt without having to put whole tobacco leaves into your beer.

How about just drinking a nice beer while you smoke your pipe?

cmdrico7812 said:

What about making a smoked porter and when you smoke the malt yourself, throw a few cigars or tobacco leaves in with the wood. You'll get a nice smokey taste in the porter and it might pick up some of the smokiness of the tobacco in the malt without having to put whole tobacco leaves into your beer.

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I think I covered it here....

Revvy said:

I don't know about smoking malt with it either...let's see, formaldehyde and about 50 other deadly compounds come out in the smoke and would then cling to the grains...

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The stuff that comes out in the smoke which will attach itself to the grain will be more often than not, be just as nasty as the nicotine...How do you think the hickory taste gets from the smoke to the meat when you smoke a brisket for example? It's chemical molecules that cling to and penetrate the meat...the same thing will happen to the grain....the compounds given off in the burning tobacco will attach to the grain...then they will leach into the wort...

Heres what the Center for Disease control says about nicotine poisoning...

Clinical description

After oral ingestion of nicotine, signs and symptoms of nicotine poisoning mimic those for nerve agent or organophosphate poisoning and typically include excess oral secretions, bronchorrhea, diaphoresis, vomiting (common, especially among children), diarrhea, abdominal cramping, confusion, and convulsions. Although tachycardia and hypertension are common, bradycardia and hypotension might also occur as a result of a severe poisoning (1, 2).

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This is NOT something you wanna mess with folks...all specultion aside...This is potentially LETHAL!!!!!

A cigar, depending on its size and type, can contain anywhere from 10 to 444 mg of nicotine. Cigar smoke produces 30 times more carbon monoxide than cigarette smoke. During this time, high concentrations of tobacco-specific nitrosamines (TSNAs) are produced. TSNAs are some of the most carcinogenic compounds known to man. Secondly, cigar wrappers are not as porous as cigarette wrappers, making the combustion of a cigar less complete. These two factors result in higher concentrations some of the toxic chemicals in cigars than in cigarettes.

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Again, this is NOT how those flavors appear in wines and beers where you appear to taste it....What you taste REMINDS YOU of the flavors...but they are NOT THE ACTUAL MATERIALS!!! It's a METAPHOR....

If you guys aren't grasping this idea...listen to this basic brewing podcast....

May 1, 2008 - Beer Eye for the Wine Guy
Gary Vaynerchuk of Wine Library TV brings the thunder to BBR and gives us his perspectives on the art of tasting as he samples homebrew.

Click to Listen

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He talsk about how we taste, and how it triggers memories of things...

I love a good cigar...I smoked one today while brewing...I haven't smoked a pipe in over a decade....Like ghack said, smoke em if you got em...but don't CONCENTRATE the chemicals in you beer!

Well you guys are giving me all kinds of umm... "alternative" smoked beer recipe ideas.

I smoke a pipe. English blends. I've considered tossing some latakia into a porter or stout. It sounds better to me than 99% of the stuff that other brewers add to their beer.

I say do it. I likes me a good cigar every once in a while, and "tobacco" is considered a positive flavor in scotch. Better make it a strong beer though.

As a test, you could spit Skoal into a half a can of Bud and drink that down.