What is "steeping"?
Briefly, "steeping" is the term vapers use to describe the process of waiting for fresh juice to finish aging/mixing in the bottle. "Unsteeped" juice can taste like perfume, chemicals, or nothing at all.
If you're buying your juice from a vendor, not all of it will need to steep. Some vendors premix their juice, so the steeping is already done for you. Also, some flavors - usually simpler flavors like fruits - may taste as intended right out of the mail.
However, if your vendor of choice mixes juice to order, chances are good that most, if not all, of your juice will need to steep before it tastes like something you'll want to vape.
Okay, so how do I steep it?
There are as many ways to steep as there are vapers. Everyone has a process that works for them. Here's how I do it, as well as why I do it this way.
1. As soon as the "fresh" juice arrives, throw all the bottles in a ziplock, squeeze out the air, seal the bag, and put the whole thing in a bowl of hot tap water for 4-5 hours.
Why? Because steeping, at its core, is about the PG, VG, flavoring and nic forming a homogenous mix, and heat accelerates that process. Why not just zap it in the microwave? Because too much heat will degrade nicotine and can do funky things to certain flavorings. (Generally, the rule of thumb is to keep the temp under 120F.) Hot tap water does the job fine - you're trying to mix the juice, not cook it. Why the ziplock? Because I like my labels to stay intact. Why the bowl? So that as the water cools off, I can just run more hot water into it.
2. After 4-5 hours, pull the bag, give every bottle a good shake, and sample each one.
Why? Because for many flavors, 4-5 hours of soaking and a good shake will be enough to get them vapeable. They'll continue to improve over time, but if what you need is juice you can vape, you may well have accomplished that at this point.
I have never myself had a juice improve further with more time in the hot water - after 4-5 hours, the hot water has done all it's going to do for you. And for darker juices or certain flavorings, it may still taste like vaping a chemical factory. So what then?
3. Remove the caps and drip tips from any juice that's still unvapeable to you. Put the bottles in a cool dark place, away from children or animals. Wait 24 hours.
Why? You've probably seen this as "step one" in a lot of steeping guides, and if you'd prefer it to be step one, heck, make it step one. I'm impatient and uncoordinated (you try popping those tips off when your fingers don't work as advertised!), so I only move to this after a hot water steep hasn't done the trick. So what's the purpose of this step? Simple - to evaporate any alcohol used in the mixing process. Why only 24 hours? Because under most circumstances, that should be plenty of time to evaporate any alcohol (which will rise to the top of the bottle).
I've heard of people leaving their juices uncapped for a week. If that works for them, great, but here's the thing - once the alcohol is gone, what you're evaporating is juice. I prefer my juice remains in the bottle. Feel free to experiment with this, as with all the other steps, but keep in mind the purpose of each one - heat is to aid in mixing, not to cook the juice. Caps off is to give the alcohol time to evaporate, not evaporate the juice.
4. After 24 hours, put the tips and caps back on, give every bottle a good shake, and sample again if you wish.
Why? Some juices will be vapeable now - they just needed some time for any alcohol to make its way out of the bottle. And some will *still* taste funky, so now what?
5. Toss any still unvapeable juice in a box/drawer and leave it alone for a week. Shake it when you feel like it.
Why? Some juices just need time. At this point, you've pretty much done all you can, apart from giving them a shake once in a while to encourage the mixing process. Don't despair. Odds are good that most if not all of your juices will be vapeable, given enough time to age.
6. Once a week or so, try some of your "unvapeable" juices and see if they're better. If not, toss them back in for another week.
From here, it's just rinse and repeat on that final step. You don't have to try everything every week - if you want, forget about the whole box/drawer for a month or so. After 4-6 weeks, everything should taste just fine. I test weekly because I like to have a general idea how much time each flavor needs to steep - it's good information to have for reordering purposes. But if you can afford to let a bunch of juice sit "out of sight, out of mind" for a while, that'll work fine too.
That's not to say there's no such thing as a juice that you just can't stand. Sometimes, no amount of steeping will change a juice to your liking. But in general, fresh juice does need to steep, and will taste better if you steep it.
I choose to do it this way in order to cut down on my wait time - hot water steeping cuts my steep time by about a week.
You can do it any way that works for you - tossing it in a drawer and forgetting about it will, given enough time, do the same thing as the steps outlined above. Some people use an ultrasonic cleaner with good (and faster) results.
You'll find your own "best" steeping method - just don't be surprised if skipping the steep results in your made-to-order juices tasting funny.
Briefly, "steeping" is the term vapers use to describe the process of waiting for fresh juice to finish aging/mixing in the bottle. "Unsteeped" juice can taste like perfume, chemicals, or nothing at all.
If you're buying your juice from a vendor, not all of it will need to steep. Some vendors premix their juice, so the steeping is already done for you. Also, some flavors - usually simpler flavors like fruits - may taste as intended right out of the mail.
However, if your vendor of choice mixes juice to order, chances are good that most, if not all, of your juice will need to steep before it tastes like something you'll want to vape.
Okay, so how do I steep it?
There are as many ways to steep as there are vapers. Everyone has a process that works for them. Here's how I do it, as well as why I do it this way.
1. As soon as the "fresh" juice arrives, throw all the bottles in a ziplock, squeeze out the air, seal the bag, and put the whole thing in a bowl of hot tap water for 4-5 hours.
Why? Because steeping, at its core, is about the PG, VG, flavoring and nic forming a homogenous mix, and heat accelerates that process. Why not just zap it in the microwave? Because too much heat will degrade nicotine and can do funky things to certain flavorings. (Generally, the rule of thumb is to keep the temp under 120F.) Hot tap water does the job fine - you're trying to mix the juice, not cook it. Why the ziplock? Because I like my labels to stay intact. Why the bowl? So that as the water cools off, I can just run more hot water into it.
2. After 4-5 hours, pull the bag, give every bottle a good shake, and sample each one.
Why? Because for many flavors, 4-5 hours of soaking and a good shake will be enough to get them vapeable. They'll continue to improve over time, but if what you need is juice you can vape, you may well have accomplished that at this point.
I have never myself had a juice improve further with more time in the hot water - after 4-5 hours, the hot water has done all it's going to do for you. And for darker juices or certain flavorings, it may still taste like vaping a chemical factory. So what then?
3. Remove the caps and drip tips from any juice that's still unvapeable to you. Put the bottles in a cool dark place, away from children or animals. Wait 24 hours.
Why? You've probably seen this as "step one" in a lot of steeping guides, and if you'd prefer it to be step one, heck, make it step one. I'm impatient and uncoordinated (you try popping those tips off when your fingers don't work as advertised!), so I only move to this after a hot water steep hasn't done the trick. So what's the purpose of this step? Simple - to evaporate any alcohol used in the mixing process. Why only 24 hours? Because under most circumstances, that should be plenty of time to evaporate any alcohol (which will rise to the top of the bottle).
I've heard of people leaving their juices uncapped for a week. If that works for them, great, but here's the thing - once the alcohol is gone, what you're evaporating is juice. I prefer my juice remains in the bottle. Feel free to experiment with this, as with all the other steps, but keep in mind the purpose of each one - heat is to aid in mixing, not to cook the juice. Caps off is to give the alcohol time to evaporate, not evaporate the juice.
4. After 24 hours, put the tips and caps back on, give every bottle a good shake, and sample again if you wish.
Why? Some juices will be vapeable now - they just needed some time for any alcohol to make its way out of the bottle. And some will *still* taste funky, so now what?
5. Toss any still unvapeable juice in a box/drawer and leave it alone for a week. Shake it when you feel like it.
Why? Some juices just need time. At this point, you've pretty much done all you can, apart from giving them a shake once in a while to encourage the mixing process. Don't despair. Odds are good that most if not all of your juices will be vapeable, given enough time to age.
6. Once a week or so, try some of your "unvapeable" juices and see if they're better. If not, toss them back in for another week.
From here, it's just rinse and repeat on that final step. You don't have to try everything every week - if you want, forget about the whole box/drawer for a month or so. After 4-6 weeks, everything should taste just fine. I test weekly because I like to have a general idea how much time each flavor needs to steep - it's good information to have for reordering purposes. But if you can afford to let a bunch of juice sit "out of sight, out of mind" for a while, that'll work fine too.
That's not to say there's no such thing as a juice that you just can't stand. Sometimes, no amount of steeping will change a juice to your liking. But in general, fresh juice does need to steep, and will taste better if you steep it.
I choose to do it this way in order to cut down on my wait time - hot water steeping cuts my steep time by about a week.
You can do it any way that works for you - tossing it in a drawer and forgetting about it will, given enough time, do the same thing as the steps outlined above. Some people use an ultrasonic cleaner with good (and faster) results.
You'll find your own "best" steeping method - just don't be surprised if skipping the steep results in your made-to-order juices tasting funny.
