i have a pesticide license but, well, don't know all about this....
i think Andy once chided me for mentioning tmv and orchids in the same post. i think he was saying tmv doesn't affect orchids (i was saying that smokers shouldn't get near things in the tobacco/tomato/potato family as tmv is all over).
perhaps you didn't soak the enough cigarettes or for long enough. it is a way to get a nicotine based pesticide but nicotine is a very broad, non-selective pesticide which has high mammalian toxicity.
i don't know what the appropriate way to soak/dilute a homemade nicotine solution either but it is definitely dangerous.....
feel like this was rambling. sorry....