Electronic Cigarettes, vape pens, vape devices and the like use E Liquid for vaporizing. E Liquid as also referred to as Vape juice, Vape liquid, E Juice or E Liquid.
The list of ingredients in vaping are broken down in our blog post about E Liquid Ingredients
What is Steeping?
Steeping is the process of letting flavors mature so that they taste better. Some liquids really need steeping, while others don’t.
Generally speaking, the types of e liquid that need the most steeping are custard and tobacco flavors. Creamy or dessert flavors generally benefit from steeping as well. Allowing the flavors to fully mature and meld together.
This is more of a guidance than a universal rule, as some flavors change too much while steeping and you may prefer the fresh taste over the steeped one.
Most fruit flavors are good to go as you receive them and don’t need any additional steeping and sometimes they lose some of their flavor profile as they steep.
How should I steep my liquids?
We recommend to keep things simple. Some people recommend leaving caps off bottles, heating the liquids, etc. but we found that these altered the flavors in negative ways. Heat also degrades nicotine which will degrade the flavor of your liquids, so keep that in mind when you store your E Liquid.
Leaving the cap off the bottle allows some of the flavoring chemicals to escape from the bottle. This is generally not needed and should only be used in extreme cases. If an E Liquid is formulated properly, this will not be necessary at all. If you purchased sub par E Liquid that tastes chemically and harsh, leaving the cap off of the bottle might help in this case.
If you try your E Liquid and it feels a little harsh(in flavor) or it doesn’t taste like the last batch that you had of the same E Liquid. The best thing to do is to leave the E Liquid in a drawer somewhere away from light and just let it sit. You can shake the bottle of E Liquid periodically(once a day) and put them back in the drawer. Leave it in the drawer for 1 week and give it a test. If it tastes good, go ahead and vape it. If it’s better, but not quite where you want it, give it another week and repeat the process.
Generally if you’ve steeped your liquids for one month and you still don’t like the liquid, you just might not like that vape liquid.
Longevity of E Liquid
E Liquid has a very long shelf life and even when it “expires” it’s not like food products. E Liquid changes over time, changing in color(going from clear to yellow, or yellow to a light brown, etc.) as a result of the nicotine in the vape liquid. As the flavors steep and the nicotine is sitting in the bottle, the liquid will start to get darker and darker.
You can vape your liquids up to 2 years after it’s manufacturing date, depending on how it was stored. Nicotine can be degraded by air, heat and sun exposure. You can still vape the liquid if it’s been exposed to these elements for an extended period of time, but you may find that the flavor has degraded or that the vape liquid has become harsh.
If you’re not sure when your product expires, check the expiration date on the bottle if provided.
