Citric Acid use in my e-juice?

[kohl]

I make my own fluid and I've heard that citric acid can be used as a preservative. Being my juices some times sit for a while before I can get to vape them/give them out. I was wondering if any of you nice fellows have any experience in using citric acid? I have noticed that my nicotine will oxidize (terminology?) if i dont store it in a very cool place and therefore carry more of a harsh nicotine taste when added to my juices. And being citric acid will preserve the flavor, will this slow/halt the steeping process? Thank you so much for your time!

 

[hazarada]

I use IW lemon-mix quite often, it states it has some citric acid in it, all though im not sure how much. Anyway i havent noticed any different behavior from juices mixed with it.

 

[StrappedKaos]

I use Lemon juice concentrate and also Sour and tart which I believe has citric and malic acid. I tend to put one drop per ml give or take for certain recipes to either add a kick or to affect ph of certain flavors. I cant say for sure it has any effect at all but I made several mixes for people and after adding the two in some way or another all said it was better and what did I change. Mind you I didnt tell them I did change anything.
Preservative I dont know because people vape it to fast, it does have its uses and for the fruits they normally dont need to much steeping and I dont use in tobaccos so COuldnt answer on that note.

 

[Hoosier]

I haven't done any experiments with citric acid and nicotine oxidation, but what little chemistry I know...it would seem to be a wash.

It's good in tiny amounts for putting a bit of tart edge on some mixes.

If you'd like to do some oxidation experiments with nicotine solution with and without citric acid, I'm sure there would be more than a few folks on this sub that would love to read the results.

 

[LucentShadow]

I've studied nicotine a bit in recent months, including using citric acid as part of an acid-base extraction method. Unfortunately, available data sources are often in conflict with each other, and my understanding is quite limited. My thoughts, which could be way off:

Citric acid as preservative for e-liquid: With PG and/or VG being fine preservatives, especially when they comprise most of the liquid, I don't see much benefit. An amount that is sufficient to be antimicrobial, may be caustic for the person vaping it. It's possible that it could affect the chemical reactions amongst various flavoring molecules, but it's probably impossible to say that it would good or bad, or with any consistent outcome. I'd say that it would depend upon the specific recipe.

Citric acid's effect on nicotine oxidation: This one is interesting. The nicotine in our e-liquids is generally freebase nicotine. Adding an acid to it will cause the nicotine to protonate. In the case of citric acid, it would react with nicotine to form nicotine citrate, which is how some plants store much of their nicotine. Nicotine citrate would seem to be more stable than freebase nicotine, and probably resist oxidation better. However, I have some indication that it may not transfer as well as freebase nicotine to vapor, and that it does not get to the human brain as well. Not sure if an amount of citric acid to result in tolerable flavor would be enough to convert much nicotine, either.

I'd also be interested in any experimental findings on the subject. I actually like oxidized nicotine, and dislike inhaling most acids, though.

 

[kohl]

So after conducting some tests (sorry for the delay) I have came to the conclusion that citric acid does in fact help preserve e juice in certain ways. One of my recipes containing LorAnn's Banana Cream turns from a bright yellow to a heavy red after a couple weeks of steeping under the 24 mg strength. The more the nicotine in the recipe the heavier the color change will generally be and the more the flavor will change overall which is what was making juice-making hard in some ways being i test about 80% of my fluid as 0 mg for cost reasons. After adding a very small amount of citric acid to my juice with the banana cream the color stayed a bright yellow! The hit is a lot smoother than the fluid without with the same steep time. Less notes are muted out due to the nicotine oxidation and the fluid preserves. Good for keeping your fluid closer to how it would be tested at 0 mg but bad for the whole idea of allowing it to steep and possibly add depth and value to the mixture. Overall I am happy with citric acid and will be using it for just about everything.

 

[SLIPPY_EEL]

so would it be of any benefit if you added it to a steeped juice to keep it at that stage