Define "Steeping"

[bladebarrier]

That's pretty much it.

I'm not interested in how long you kept the cap off, left it near the fan, or how many goats you sacrificed to the juice gods.

I'm starting to DIY, and I accept that there is a change in flavor, that's quite noticeable, as the flavor "steeps."

But why?

Are we talking about it purely spreading out more evenly, because if that were the case, you would expect some vapes to be weak, and some overly strong, until it smooths out.

So is there instead a chemical reaction of some sort?

What is "steeping" really? What makes it happen, why, and in what ways can it be encouraged to produce the best results in the shortest time?

 

[Scottinboca]

Steeping is a natural process of diffusion and molecular bonding. You can speed up the process, but it not recommended due to the sensitivity of the chemicals involved in juices. It is best to let it happen naturally over time to get best flavor.

 

[bladebarrier]

Steeping is a natural process of diffusion and molecular bonding. You can speed up the process, but it not recommended due to the sensitivity of the chemicals involved in juices. It is best to let it happen naturally over time to get best flavor.

I'm not sure I follow. What's bonding to what, and if it's just diffusing, then why wouldn't some of the mix be overly strong, and some be overly weak?

Say for example, that it's a matter of the flavoring diluting itself into PG, or VG. In that case, wouldn't it just make more sense for me to take all of my flavors and pre-mix them to speed up the process, so that when I add them to the base they're already "stirred," so to speak?

 

[Dieseler]

What poster #2 said i do not fully understand all the tech behind it though .
As for me mine is good the day i buy it but i do leave the 50ml bottle open , course it does not last long at all.
I have also noticed vaping a tank that holds about 5ml of juice with a ce2 installed it tends to change color as the level lowers it gets darker and they taste improves sligthly maybe because of the heat from the ce2 can create i do not know.

 

[stephpd]

Steeping isn't exactly the right word but close enough. For things like tea, it's the amount of time the tea is in contact with the hot water to get the flavors out of it and into the water.

For E-liquid there are two different things going on. One is allowing sufficient time for a combination of flavors to mix and combine to form a different taste. That's more like what happens with red wines or whiskeys in a charcoal cask or just sitting in it's bottle for years. That takes time. Red wine fresh from a cask will taste overly harsh, but as time goes on it mellows out. When mixing different flavors the same type of thing is happening. Intially they'll both be very strong and distinct. But as time goes on they mellow out and form new flavors.

The other is more about oxidation. Many of these come with what can only be described as 'off flavors'. They smell like purfume or flowery and need to let this odor escape. I think that has to do with how the flavors are extracted and what medium they use. Some are oil or alcohol based and it needs time and oxygen to defuse these flavors and 'off' flavors need to escape. For that many will keep the top off and/ or shake the liquid in the container.

I've got a couple of those as well as quite a few small samples that are having the latter applied to it. There's just something in these that make it smell and taste bad. I'm letting them sit with the lids open or I blow into them or squeeze the bottles to exchange the air. I keep the lids on mostly so as not to spill them. Using the air exchange and shaking to help get these smells and tastes out of the liquid. Been at it a few days and it's getting better. Still has a slight smell but I'm definitely getting the desired smells to be more dominant and the perfume smell less so.

 

[stephpd]

I'm not sure I follow. What's bonding to what, and if it's just diffusing, then why wouldn't some of the mix be overly strong, and some be overly weak?

Say for example, that it's a matter of the flavoring diluting itself into PG, or VG. In that case, wouldn't it just make more sense for me to take all of my flavors and pre-mix them to speed up the process, so that when I add them to the base they're already "stirred," so to speak?

I work in a water filter plant so I have a need of basic chemistry. In an aqueous solution there's constant associations and disassociation of simple chemicals all the time. Like salts. Most are things like calcium, sodium and magnesium loosely bonded to chlorine. They disassociate in water and it's easy to get them to bond to other elements. We use this to get heavy metals out of the water by using a coagulant and forming floc that settles out.

The same type of thing happens with flavors. They disassociate and then associate with other things in the liquid to form different flavors.