Figured out how to clean my old e-liquid bottles!

[mylose64]

I have a small box that contains many 5ml bottles from miscellaneous vendors. Recently, I attempted to peel off the label sticker with no luck. I even soaked them all in my sink with warm soapy water overnight and I had no success.

Today I opened up the box and realized my orange extract that I had attempted to use as a DIY mixer spilled ALL OVER THE BOX.

I thought, wow this sucks!

I began to take out the bottles and realized that the stickers and the glue had been INCREDIBLEY easy to peel away and wipe off.

Now I have a bunch of shiny bottles!

Before this I tried everything, even that goo-be-gone stuff (which ruined the bottle by the way).

I think the orange extract may have worked because it has a high alcohol content (79%), but I think it's a good alternative to using straight alcohol, since it smells great!

If anyone has had any problems cleaning bottles, this is the way to go!

 

[WyattDerp]

Nice. That definitely gives me some ideas now. I've got a ton of 5mL bottles leftover from when I bought a bunch of samples from GourmetVapor's 50% sales so now I have a way to label the bottles for my peeps to try some of my juices before they buy them. Awesome. You are the Isaac Newton of e-niquid bottle restoration.

 

[washvap]

Great tip, I personally either use hot water or goo gone. Works like a charm.

 

[Fernand]

I found a little 3 ml bottle that I thought I'd use in my VMOD bottom feeder. It had held an "organic" plum something juice sample that made everybody york. So I rinsed and soaked and alcohol washed, and soaked some more. Uncapped, I set it aside in the high tech age-arium (tossed it on the counter in the bathroom). Weeks later, thoroughly rinsed and aired in steam and drafts and hair drier storms, I picked it up and sniffed it .... "york!". Organic WHAT? With a tenacious hold on anything it touches? Anyway, don't count your diddle bottles 'till you sniff 'em.

And those cute SO crystal clear transparent 10 ml bottles take on a shape like Jimmy Durante's nose from squeeze-dropping, even though they remain crystal clear! If I ever saw a professional-looking label on one of those, I'd die laughing.

 

[mylose64]

After using up all my orange extract, I took the sticker off a cartomizer and used vanilla extract to get the residue off that!

LOL

EXTRACTS FOR THE WIN!

the vanilla extract didn't work AS great, but it did the job. the alcohol content of that was 46%. I soaked some vanilla extract into a paper towel and wiped down the cartomizer a few times. This whole extract thing just made my life a million times easier.

I really want to try to make a tank mod out of a liberty-flights 5ml bottle... they are so cool looking, especially polished with orange extract.

 

[Bdbodger]

Someone posted about using vegetable oil so I tried it it works good to remove the glue after you peel the label .

 

[orachel]

I think its something in the orange, rather than an extract, that makes em come off. I used to use this relatively cheap orange cleaner stuff (like 'fantastic' only organic) that took off gooey label residue as well. Plus there's another product that works really well, I think its called 'Goof Off'. And the lemon water mentioned below gets em off pretty easily as well. So maybe its just citric acid that works?

As for the getting the smells out of bottles, especially plastic... I've been having good luck putting about a tablespoon of lemon juice in a glass of hot water and soaking the bottles in that for a few hours. Of course you want to rinse em well with regular water first, to get out the actual juice that's left in there first.

 

[hairball]

To get stubborn smells out, put them in your freezer overnight. I did this with a cinnamon bottle...worked like a charm. Freezing with even take foot odor out of sneakers but place in a bag first.

 

[erich]

There are several orange-based adhesive removers out there... they all claim bio-degradable and non-toxic, but I don't know that that means it's safe if on something you'll consume...
e.g.
Orange Peel Adhesive Remover
Orange Peel Adhesive Remover - Remover - Sign Supplies and Equipment

 

[HeadLikeOrange]

I think its something in the orange, rather than an extract, that makes em come off.

Agreed. I use a citrus solution to strip varnish off of furniture.

 

[mylose64]

I've used orange cleaners before, but orange extract is like night and day.