My recent order of liquid nicotine from Heartland Vapes (one liter of 100mg/ml nic in a 50/50 PG/VG base) arrived in the mail yesterday. The large box contained a white plastic 1-liter jug with its cap taped inside a sealed clear plastic bag, which was surrounded by styrofoam peanuts. (All the nic Ive ordered from major suppliers has been well-packed.) Included in the box were the print-outs of the two certificates----MSDS and COA.
Today I compared the HeartlandVapes liquid nic to the WizardLabs Regular liquid nic, also at 100mg/ml in 50/50 PG/VG, which is the nic Ive been using for the past year. (I also have a liter of 100mg/ml RTS nic in VG and 500ml of MyFreedomSmokes 100mg/ml nic in PG---both purchased within the past three months---but those two bottles are unopened and in the freezer, and I wasnt about to open and thaw them just for an ad hoc test).
Both Heartland and Wizard are nearly clear and almost transparent liquids. Each appears to have a very slight translucency. Neither liquid has any obvious color, but if hard-pressed, Id say that the Wizard nic leans toward the yellow end of the spectrum, while the Heartland leans toward the orange-brown. For all intents and purposes, though, Id call them both clear. My WizardLabs nic has remained almost clear for a year now. Time will tell about the HeartlandVapes nic, but it's clear now.
Nose of the two liquids is very similar. Again, neither has an obvious scent, but I pick up a trace of what I might call earthiness from both (like the fresh smell of good dirt), with the Heartland nic earthiness being a tad more present. Im comfortable calling them both essentially odorless.
I mixed two small samples containing 1ml (20 drops) of unflavored PG to which I added 6 drops of each respective nic, for a concentration of 24mg/ml. I comparison-vaped these by dripping into identical 2.2 ohm Joyetech SR510 atties---both cleaned and dry-burned---powered by two VAMOs set to 7.5 watts RMS.
Neither nicotine imparted any easily identifiable flavor to the PG. I didnt notice any pepper or sharpness from either. I dont know yet how the Heartland nic will affect various flavor profiles in my DIY. Ill discover that in the weeks ahead, since Ill probably mix up two batch of each DIY juice I make for awhile, just to see if theres a discernible difference.
Interestingly, throat-hit was a little more emphatic in the Heartland nic, though not enough to suggest that impact potency was measurably higher in the Heartland. If the throat-hit of Wizard Regular is given a benchmark of 100, then the Heartland nic I got would be about 104. Very close, with the Heartland having a tiny bit more intensity.
Im quite pleased. WizardLabs Regular liquid nic has been my standby since WL went online. If the HeartlandVapes liquid nic proves over time to be as good as it seems in my informal comparison-test, that will be brilliant, given that the price for a full liter of 100/mg/ml ($75 shipped) is 40% cheaper than Wizard, which was the former reigning champ for least expensive high-quality nic, especially in less-than-industrial quantities.
Nic base doesn't go bad per se for the most part. If you continually cross contaminate the base with water it can happen, though rare as far as I know. Flavored juices with a water addition or unstable flavoring can sometimes go "off" after a certain amount of time. We've had several members fall off the wagon for a year or so and then return, only to have to toss their collection of juices from the top shelf of the closet.
