Hello all! Just a quick question. Do dark glass bottles slow down the steeping process? Thanks!
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I would say yes! Does it negate the steeping? No. Slow it down? Yes. There is just less breathing going on and exposure to light.
Small thin-walled plastic bottles (think 3 mL) steep the quickest in my experience.
Now I'm confused.. I thought it was recommended to steep in a cool, dark place.. So how could a dark bottle slow down the process?
Glass is always best and heat /light will rapidly break down nicotine. The more air in the bottle the better. Open and exchange air at least once per day. Then give a vigorous shake to mix the new air into the juice.
Plastic is bad for you and everything else.
It is not possible to speed the process. It is chemistry.
Plastic is bad for you and everything else.
It is not possible to speed the process. It is chemistry.
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Thanks Oydesseus! I appreciate the info! Skyz a dark cool place is what I've always been told before & has worked for me as well. I just happen to have ordered from a company that uses dark glass bottles & 6 weeks later I'm still getting that perfume smell from the juices. I put some in a small plastic bottle but I've got others that ill start doing the open & shake. Before I was just shaking without opening the bottles. 
Not all plastic is the same. As far as I know, no BPA has been found in food safe PET bottles, but I don't think you'd want to melt them. LOL. "[H]eat /light will rapidly break down nicotine," according to what study? The OP's question, I thought, was regarding flavor (in terms of steeping) which is not an exact science.
Here is an experiment that Madvapes did regarding nicotine and how it holds up to light/heat/air. Their results show minuscule variations after long periods (2-4 months at a loss of about 2-4 mg of nicotine on open bottles for the entire time), but not "[rapid] break down of nicotine" by any stretch.
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Thanks Oydesseus! I appreciate the info! Skyz a dark cool place is what I've always been told before & has worked for me as well. I just happen to have ordered from a company that uses dark glass bottles & 6 weeks later I'm still getting that perfume smell from the juices. I put some in a small plastic bottle but I've got others that ill start doing the open & shake. Before I was just shaking without opening the bottles.
Steeping involves oxidation. Air exchange and surface area are important variables in allowing the process to occur. 6 weeks is a long time, but without air exchange, oxidation rapidly slows. You may want to leave your bottles open for several hours per day, especially if the flavorings in your juice are alcohol based. This is to allow the alcohol to evaporate. Impatient people sometimes put their bottles (open) in warm water. Don't heat plastic and don't apply direct heat to the bottles. This may help your particular olfactory issue but some breakdown of nicotine and flavor will occur. Remember that a large part of taste involves smell. If your patience is wearing thin and you have an extra glass bottle, you may want to try warming a few milliliters.
Thanks again guys! I have plenty of juice in the stash so I don't mind waiting these out. Ill try leaving them open for a couple of days along with shaking them a couple of times a day to see if it helps! Yeah 6 weeks is a long time but it sounds like I haven't been letting them get enough/any air to help move things along.
I have had juice that took longer to reach full maturity in terms of flavor, but some stay bad!
@Odyseesus, I don't know if nic only liquid, not nic/PG/VG and flavorings, is as susceptible to nicotine degradation in the same way as pure nicotine liquid. I have seen, since my previous post, a lot of posts and statements regarding nicotine breakdown over really long periods, but still not serious breakdown. However, if when you say "break down" you are not necessarily referring to strength of the nic, i.e., mg/mL, but the overall color and "purity" of straight nic, then I have seen reports of that, but still searching for actual testing.
One of the reasons I like mountan oak vapors. When I'm done, I'll clean and save the bottles.
I use plastic because I can squeeze it with the tip on... old air out, fresh air in.
http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...scussion/296537-plastic-bottles-e-liquid.html That is a great thread on plastic bottles manned by mwa. My vendor stopped using LDPE bottles and moved to all glass and or PET bottles. I only have a few LDPE bottles that I choose to use, but the juice never stays in there for long (3 mL) and I don't reuse them.
I am happy to have seen this thread because I do have a few recent purchases that resulted in LDPE bottles that I need to change over to glass or PET bottles.
I am happy to have seen this thread because I do have a few recent purchases that resulted in LDPE bottles that I need to change over to glass or PET bottles.
Nicotine is not a very stable molecule. As the investigation from madvapes suggests, light of some unknown magnitude and room temperature of some unknown degree did indeed breakdown nicotine over time. What room temperature and how much light is not presented or controlled. The major flaw with their methodology is that the only controlled environment was the refrigerator; which consequently was the only place where breakdown was not found. That's because there is minimal heat and no light inside a refrigerator.There are actual scientific experiments that address this, but that is not one of them.
I have had juice that took longer to reach full maturity in terms of flavor, but some stay bad!
@Odyseesus, I don't know if nic only liquid, not nic/PG/VG and flavorings, is as susceptible to nicotine degradation in the same way as pure nicotine liquid. I have seen, since my previous post, a lot of posts and statements regarding nicotine breakdown over really long periods, but still not serious breakdown. However, if when you say "break down" you are not necessarily referring to strength of the nic, i.e., mg/mL, but the overall color and "purity" of straight nic, then I have seen reports of that, but still searching for actual testing.
When I said rapidly, of course the magnitude of heat and light is the mediating variable. As for breakdown, I was mostly referring to strength, but the really interesting question is breakdown into what?
On one hand, I wouldn't be concerned about mixing my juice in an air conditioned "darkroom". On the other hand, I wouldn't leave my juice in a parked car.
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For our purposes of eliquid (PG/VG, nic, flavorings), not pure nicotine, their experiment (which it was, though I never referred to it as "scientific") is of help to the average vaper more so than a scientific experiment on something that most of us do not have, i.e., pure nicotine liquid. My post was merely asking for a link to a study that had some bearing on eliquid, or for that matter, pure nic liquid (something I will never have).
FYI, my request for a study/scientific experiment (or any experiment) was not a way of challenging you, but me wondering if you had read an study or knew of one that I could read that could have some bearing, directly or indirectly, to vapers and eliquid.
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I did that just last night after finishing off a bottle of Nirvana.
I also got 60 cobalt blue glass bottles of three sizes from Specialty Bottle yesterday (~15mL, ~30mL, and~ 60mL, to go with my existing ~120mL bottles). I leave the tops off and periodically shake when steeping.
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