Is steeping an urban legend?

[Momster]

BAHAHAHA! I first read this thread's title as "Is sLeeping an urban legend?". I'm such a dork!

I am a firm believer that some juices need to steep. I've especially noticed distinct differences in my tobacco flavors from FSUSA after letting them age for a few weeks. Virtually all of my "made to order" flavored juices (and I'm an avid collector from different vendors!) become yummier over time and some flavors have gone from unvaporable to OMG, and I don't believe my taste buds changed that drastically. That being said, I have noticed that most of the flavors I've ordered that are premixed well in advance of ordering do not change that much over time.

Those were my $0.02 USD.

 

[SimpleSins]

I just made an observation. And, frankly, stating that the people who don't believe in steeping, despite the fact that any one of them has more vaping time than the rest of us combined, quite possibly have defective taste buds, seems a bit mud-slingy. Frankly, post #2 in this thread seemed a bit confrontational, too, but I guess that one slipped by unnoticed.

 

[Papa Lazarou]

I've voted based on my experience which is that I've yet to notice any juices that have improved with age. I've had some that have definitely deteriorated with age (flavour seems reduced and washed out mainly) on opened bottles I've had hanging around for a year or more. I do find some DIY mixes better if left for a day or two. If I find in the future anything improves drastically in weeks and months I'll come back and change my vote!

 

[SimpleSins]

I've voted based on my experience which is that I've yet to notice any juices that have improved with age. I've had some that have definitely deteriorated with age (flavour seems reduced and washed out mainly) on opened bottles I've had hanging around for a year or more. I do find some DIY mixes better if left for a day or two. If I find in the future anything improves drastically in weeks and months I'll come back and change my vote!

That has been my experience, too, although I've not had anything for that length of time. I wonder if what some people are perceiving as the improvement in their juice is in actuality the fact that the flavor is degrading out of it; in other words, the flavor was blech, so as the flavor degrades and fades, it gets better.

 

[Vapenstein]

Don from Backwoods on the subject of steeping:

Just a little input as I make alot of juices and let them sit around for days and weeks when creating new flavors. I notice as time goes by they do change in alot of ways. Color, flavor, and TH. I really believe on a Molecular level the ingredients that are mixed together need time to meld together. I think with the different densities of the different ingredients some more so than others. I have made some juices and thought they were absolutely disgusting but after sitting for some time they changed into really good juices. I wish there was a way to make them steep faster but I havent found a way yet. I aslo believe the quality of the ingredients matter as well. Alot of these ingredients were designed for baking needs and things change with the heat from baking. Just my .02

Halo on their juice:

This E-Juice is packed very fresh and it is recommended to open your E-Juice when it arrives and let it sit to adjust to room temperature. Once the bottle is opened it goes through a “steeping” period which usually takes 24-48 hours. It is not recommended to store this E-Juice in a refrigerator unless it will not be used for a long time. To get the best flavor this E-Juice needs to be at room temperature and the E-Juice will continue to “mature” as it adjusts to the atomizer and air. The taste will also increase the more it is vaped as the flavor builds on the atomizer.

David from FSUSA:

we have been storing many various liquids for more then 6 months now. for those who just can't seem to long store stuff we are about to release our gold label vintage edition liquids that have been carefully stored for 3,6,9 months aged liquids

 

[SimpleSins]

Vape, you're free to believe what you want. Halo's 24-48 seems about right and in line with what I have experienced with my DIY juices, including the more complex flavors. And that's why most juices are ready to vape from the mailbox- they get that 24-48 hours out of the way during the shipping time.

If you feel convinced that juices improve with age, then by all means savor yours. My experience, and apparently that of some of the others, has been different. Juices that I hated when I got them three months ago have not improved with time, and at this point I frankly doubt that putting them on the shelf for 9 months is going to help that any unless, as I mentioned above, the flavor degrades to the point that it is almost gone. That might improve it enough to make it vapable.

 

[Vapenstein]

I've already said that the overwhelming majority of juices are the same on day one as they are on day 30. A minority improve with a little time, a handful change radically.

IMO

 

[Xanax]

One might then wonder what they put in it, PG, VG or flavorings doesn't change color AFAIK

......Nicotine tans as it is exposed to more and more oxygen... IE- as you use more, the liquid takes up less space that the oxygen fills in. Thus resulting in color change.

 

[Neo]

I voted myth but I have a qualifier...I think 24-48 hours is sufficient. I don't think weeks or months of aging does a thing.

 

[vapspaz]

I just made an observation. And, frankly, stating that the people who don't believe in steeping, despite the fact that any one of them has more vaping time than the rest of us combined, quite possibly have defective taste buds, seems a bit mud-slingy.

Simple, could you elaborate a little on that statement? I fail to see how someone that has vapped for 1 year or 20 years has the ability to determine Good or Bad tastes any better than someone that has been vapping for a few months. I understand that years of smoking the stinky sicks can dull a persons sense of taste but it doesn't keep a person from tasting good or bad flavors. Weak or no flavors yes but not good or bad.

Frankly, post #2 in this thread seemed a bit confrontational, too, but I guess that one slipped by unnoticed.

That was not my intention. Just my twisted sense of humor (as noted in post #4) referring to another previous thread

 

[JonnyVapΣ]

I DIY all my juices. I currently have around 30 bottles of different flavors in 10ml bottles. Some, not all absolutely change quite a bit over time. Some, like my French Vanilla and Peach Vanilla, start out a light Budweiser color...now they're near the color of maple syrup and taste very smooth (looking through my stash now as I look at/try some of these). I have a mango that started out almost clear. About a month later it looks as rich as printer ink and I actually had to cut that bottle with PG/VG because the flavor got too intense. Same with this Raspberry. Raspberry turned into something I can only describe as inhaling old lady perfume after about 2 weeks. I had to cut this bottle like 6 times to tame it. Let's see here (rummaging through my pile again) cinnamon and fruit punch also started out pretty clear and are now pretty dark. Hmm...and after dripping this month plus old cinnamon...holy hell this needs to be cut...LOL. Wow...this tasted great the day I made it. Bleah...wow...making me think of cinnamon soap. I think I just vaped cinnamon soap. Ugh...ok...that's enough for now. The rest of these don't seem to have changed in color much (a lot of fruit, some mints and menthols). I'll have to go through these some weekend. Again....LOL.

Oh, ya..."Improve with age?"
Some yes, some...no...LOL.

 

[UntamedRose]

Is it possible that the difference is in Nic mg usage?

In general it seems most newbies start out at higher levels and then lower there mg's as they go.

The same recipe will taste different from 0mg to 24mg, Nic on it's own is very bitter.
When yall leave your bottles open to air, shaking ect for "steeping" your changing the chemical composition of the Nic in the Juice.
lowering the nic mg and changing the flavor.

just a possibility.

 

[vapspaz]

You had me there for a minute Untamed. I hadn't thought of the nic level as a possibility. But (in my case at least) I don't leave my bottles open at all. The ones that I do let age, I set in the dark and that's it. Also, that wouldn't explain why the same juice & same nic level taste extremely different over the course of a week or two.
Another amazing "taste" thing I have come to realize in the past month or so is the fact that my wife's and my taste are vastly different. We can set down with several fruit flavored juices and vape it using the same PV and she loves the stuff and all I taste is a nasty perfume or chemical taste. Not all fruits but I'd say 90% of the ones we've tried so far.
So I don't know... Maybe there's something going on with this whole taste thing that we don't understand.

 

[PoliticallyIncorrect]

Some people are going to perceive a change because they're told to expect it, or not going to perceive one because they're told it's baloney. I absolutely believe that.

There's probably some truth to that; but like the concept of placebo effects, everyone observes their reality--yet no one admits to being subject to them, insofar as there's a tacit presumption that those that are are foolish, unintelligent, gullible, etc.

Having said that, while taste is hopelessly subjective and can be molested by psychological influences, the color saturation of ejuice deepens over time; that can be precisely, objectively measured with no room left over for mythological explanations. Where color goes, flavor is very likely to follow.

My own observation is that although flavor becomes more concentrated over time, it doesn't fundamentally change; if I don't like a juice I bought on a blind impulse, I'll hate it one month hence.

 

[Vapenstein]

Bella Valente tasted like insecticide when I opened it. Two weeks later I gave it a Vapenstein It's Alive! Award. That is the extreme example, and no other juice has displayed such a radical change. BWB Maple Tobacco and Casablanca were both kind of "meh" out of the mail, and they just kept getting better and better until 3 weeks out of the mail, when I also gave them top honors. They also represent a minority.

 

[Zurd]

Really good thread, I now believe juices can change (color, flavor) with time even tho I never noticed it, I still didn't change my vote, still a myth, but I understand the question as "Did you find your juices changed with time". Thanks for the info Xanax, that is very interesting ! And if you're juices get ink dark Johnnyvape, I would then ponder if they're still good to vape or maybe they've gone bad lol

 

[Xanax]

Is it possible that the difference is in Nic mg usage?

In general it seems most newbies start out at higher levels and then lower there mg's as they go.

The same recipe will taste different from 0mg to 24mg, Nic on it's own is very bitter.
When yall leave your bottles open to air, shaking ect for "steeping" your changing the chemical composition of the Nic in the Juice.
lowering the nic mg and changing the flavor.

just a possibility.

Oxygen exposure in that short amount of time would not, and could not lower the nicotine's MG potency. Maybe over the period of a year or more but 24-48 hrs? No way.

 

[Lyndagayle]

Although I voted myth, the jury is still out as far as I'm concerned. How can we explain the flip flops we have with our taste buds from time to time? At least that seems to be true for me. I can get hooked on a flavor and think it's the best thing since homemade soup and suddenly, without warning, it's no longer "the one" and I pull out open my juice drawer and begin a taste test process until I find one that satisfies the flavor hound in me. A few days or weeks later, I'm back on the one that went south on me last week. I'm a dripper so it's not a carto problem. I think it's all in the taste buds. I remember when I smoked, there were times when my ciggys had "sweet spots" and I wanted to chain smoke and some were so bad I couldn't wait to put them out. They were the same brand. Were there good cigs and bad cigs within the same pack? I'm not talking about stale ones, just good taste, bad taste and mediocre taste. Have you ever gotten hooked on a certain food and ate it for days on end and suddenly one day it no longer tasted very good? I still have to lean toward juice flavor appeal being more of a taste bud adaptment but I'm not so bull headed to not change my mind if I could see some real evidence. This is one reason I rarely get rid of a liquid that doesn't appeal to me. My taste buds might start yelling one day and say "Hey, give me that bottle of "x" today. It's gonna taste great!" And most likely, it will. JMO

 

[Modrod.]

BAHAHAHA! I first read this thread's title as "Is sLeeping an urban legend?". I'm such a dork!

If that was a thread, with a poll, I'd have to vote yes.

 

[Vapenstein]

Although I voted myth, the jury is still out as far as I'm concerned. How can we explain the flip flops we have with our taste buds from time to time? At least that seems to be true for me. I can get hooked on a flavor and think it's the best thing since homemade soup and suddenly, without warning, it's no longer "the one" and I pull out open my juice drawer and begin a taste test process until I find one that satisfies the flavor hound in me. A few days or weeks later, I'm back on the one that went south on me last week. I'm a dripper so it's not a carto problem. I think it's all in the taste buds. I remember when I smoked, there were times when my ciggys had "sweet spots" and I wanted to chain smoke and some were so bad I couldn't wait to put them out. They were the same brand. Were there good cigs and bad cigs within the same pack? I'm not talking about stale ones, just good taste, bad taste and mediocre taste. Have you ever gotten hooked on a certain food and ate it for days on end and suddenly one day it no longer tasted very good? I still have to lean toward juice flavor appeal being more of a taste bud adaptment but I'm not so bull headed to not change my mind if I could see some real evidence. This is one reason I rarely get rid of a liquid that doesn't appeal to me. My taste buds might start yelling one day and say "Hey, give me that bottle of "x" today. It's gonna taste great!" And most likely, it will. JMO

You've stated your position thoughtfully, but here's why I don't buy into this line of thinking. Taste doesn't fluctuate that radically over time. If I like Diet Coke with lime, sure, there are going to be days when it tastes better to me than others, but I am still going to like Diet Coke with lime because I like Diet Coke with lime.

Some days I want to vape VS Frisco because I want to vape VS Frisco. Another day I might want Boba's Bounty instead. I don't want Boba's because Frisco tastes different to me, I want Boba's because I want Boba's.

We'll never reach a consensus on this subject. That's why I chose the subject I did for the poll, which merely asks if you feel that some juices change dramatically with age. Unless you've had an experience like I had with Bella Valente, or BWB Maple Tobacco, I wouldn't expect you to buy it, but obviously I'm not the only one who has had this experience.