So, I convinced the wife that we should run across town to the local meat market and get some steaks for a "pre-Mother's Day Dinner."
She fell for it, hook, line and sinker.
So, we grabbed the steaks, then I suggested that we should go to Whole Foods for some side dishes.
Once at Whole Foods, the kids and I ditched her and found some coffee flavoring, a shot glass style measuring cup and some Stevia (sweetener) extract.
After we got home I managed to steal some vanilla from the wife's spice rack (she seems to have 20 partial bottles of it, so I am sure this will not be missed).
Then the oldest kid and I sneaked out to Walgreens to pick up some eye droppers (which we finally found by the eye drops - damn those logical stockers!). Then off to Walmart to find a spray bottle (in hair care).
Then using a recipe found only in a mysterious tome, written in blood by the mad arab Abdul Alhazred, I conjured up a small batch of snus flavoring.
The initial recipe was thus (don't read this aloud):
5 drops coffee extract (which tastes awesome!)
5 drops vanilla (meh, I'm not a fan of this brand)
1 drop Stevia (Man! This is some sweet stuff!)
Distilled water until we hit 4ml, more or less (I need some real metric measuring devices)
Shake well
Then I sprayed the several (like 8 maybe) portions until they were good and wet.
I placed these in the fridge.
I waited like 2 hours... Excitement building...
ok, can't wait 3 days.
I try one. Not bad...
But, I seem to have created "Maple" snus. Not bad, but certainly not coffee/vanilla.
I'm leaving the other 7 portions in the fridge for 2 more days. After that, if they are still maple - I'll sell them to a Canadian (via the cool new auction feature) and try again.
I've now used 9 out of almost 500 portions, I think I can do a few more trials.
Thoughts for next time:
1. Buy a vanilla I actually like - crime apparently does not pay.
2. Try skipping the Stevia
1. Get a couple small containers with lids
2. Add a set amount of water to both containers
3. Take a snus with a known pH and add it to one container
4. Add one of my snuses to the other container
5. Shake both well
6. Let them sit for say, 10-30 minutes - maybe stir a bit
7. Test them both with those test strips you mentioned.
This should at least tell me if the pH of my snus is in the same ballpark as the known pH snus. Even if the real value is different then reported by the strips (the strips will probably report a little low, IMO, since the pH of the water will be less then the snus in both cases.) I'll probably just use whichever test strips I can find cheapest (Walmart?)
I _think_ a couple of them are poking their heads out a bit today. The seeds are SO small. But some of them look greenish!
Good luck with the plants. If you pot them in some good soil and give them some indirect light and miracle grow they will probably perk up.