Juice, steeping, and the industry

[Trips1103]

I've been wondering for a while why some juice needs to be steeped, while others do not. At first I thought it was because of the freshness of the product, but I can't imagine that to be the only reason. Some juices I get freshly made don't need to be steeped at all.

I can't put my finger on it. Is it specific flavors? Is it tobacco based flavors, and if so, why? What actually happens during the steeping process? (other than obviously letting it sit for a while).

Also ... are there any industry guidelines as to how long a juice's shelf life is? Is there, or should there be, a "use prior to X date for best results"?

 

[swedishfish]

Some juice is premade. You just select from a few nicotine strengths. Some juice where you pick pg/vg ratio and nicotine strength are made to order. Those juice usually do need to steep for all of the flavoring to come out. You'll even notice that yourself if you do some DIY.

Probably the more complex flavors, probably nicotine flavors benefit the most from steeping. Sort of like fine wine!

 

[base234]

In my limited experience I found that higher PG juices benefit more from steeping than higher VG juices. Almost all of the flavors that I didn't like right away never got any better with a few notable exceptions. Many good juices got better with steeping. Some flavors co-mingle and become more developed.

 

[MaxUT]

In my limited experience I found that higher PG juices benefit more from steeping than higher VG juices.

My experience has been that VG based juices need more initial steeping time, that is, the steeping which begins immediately after mixing.

Juices with complex flavoring seem to need the most time before the taste stabilizes.

 

[base234]

I'm very fortunate, then. I've found a few vendor's juices (all VG) that don't require steeping at all even though they're mixed to order.

 

[MaxUT]

There's not a great difference, but it always seemed to take longer with VG when making my own tobacco flavored juices.

 

[Trips1103]

Confusing, eh? lol

My go-to juice is Bloog's SPI. It is a complex juice. I still can't figure out what's in it exactly. But considering Bloog is a larger company I'm sure they have plenty of their juices shelved in advance for convenience.

I have to agree with regard to tobacco based juices. It seems they do need time for the flavors to mix accordingly. That itself would make sense since the end result is a blend of several flavors, rather than one flavor alone.

\9/ghI wish I could re-create this process somehow to decrease the time needed to steep. I really want to use these Vermillion River tobacco juices that smell so damn good! They're just not ready yet.

 

[sandybeach]

All of my favorite juices were great the day I got them. Most juices that I didn't like when I first got them never got any better by aging.

 

[leBEEF]

All of my favorite juices were great the day I got them. Most juices that I didn't like when I first got them never got any better by aging.

I'm in my 3rd week off analogs so I'm trying a lot of different things out, and I have this notion in my head that steeping will make certain things better, but it never does.

 

[swedishfish]

All of my favorite juices were great the day I got them. Most juices that I didn't like when I first got them never got any better by aging.

That's because you mostly vape chinese juices, correct? They don't really need to steep. Or they have been steeped by the time you get them. One chinese juice I like is the same way.

 

[sandybeach]

That's because you mostly vape chinese juices, correct? They don't really need to steep. Or they have been steeped by the time you get them. One chinese juice I like is the same way.

My faves are Bounty Hunter, Renegade, and Vanilla Strait by Nite Lite Vapor. Two of my other faves are Chinese - Dekang Tab and RY4. None need to steep.

 

[ardelleg]

I think the official party line on shelf life of juice is 1 year.

I have been known to take pills, drink milk, eat eggs and lots of other things that have gone past their 'expiration date'. So I figure it the juice still does it for me I will go ahead and vape it....

 

[Trips1103]

Steeping tip!

*Heating the juice*

I just tried this with Vermillion River juices because they sent their samples in small glass bottles. Steeping has worked for me in the past (Freedom Smoke's Wyatt Earp comes to mind), so I've been waiting on these little juices, confident that the slight perfume taste on their Kentucky Blends would warm away into a succulent little vape. Tired of waiting, I decided to heat each of their small sample bottles for a few seconds until hot (hot, but not scorching or boiling hot), and left them uncovered for an hour or so. Then I repeated the process one time.

The juice definitely changed. Their strong fragrance went away, but the juices mellowed down into each delicious little blend.

I was surprised that it worked, but I thought the heat may work to blend the juices further, possibly evaporating what didn't need to be there.

I'm not sure how one would go about doing this with plastic bottles. I have no idea what plastic bottles may be microwave safe, but my guess is that most are not.

I was happy this worked, and perhaps it will work for someone else. Hopefully it does.

 

[sandybeach]

Trips, did you nuke them? I have some really strong juices that taste perfumey even after steeping. Maybe nuking would help them. But they are all plastic bottles.

 

[Retriever]

I wouldn't trust plastic bottles in the microwave. That is just me though, it might be fine..

 

[Nikkita6]

In my limited experience I found that higher PG juices benefit more from steeping than higher VG juices. Almost all of the flavors that I didn't like right away never got any better with a few notable exceptions. Many good juices got better with steeping. Some flavors co-mingle and become more developed.

hmmmm .... I DIY and I find that flavoring takes longer to develop in VG than they do in PG, which would make sense considering VG is far more viscous than PG.

 

[sandybeach]

Heheh, you were right. I nuked a plastic bottle for 10 seconds, and it sort of imploded

 

[swedishfish]

Steeping tip!

*Heating the juice*

I just tried this with Vermillion River juices because they sent their samples in small glass bottles. Steeping has worked for me in the past (Freedom Smoke's Wyatt Earp comes to mind), so I've been waiting on these little juices, confident that the slight perfume taste on their Kentucky Blends would warm away into a succulent little vape. Tired of waiting, I decided to heat each of their small sample bottles for a few seconds until hot (hot, but not scorching or boiling hot), and left them uncovered for an hour or so. Then I repeated the process one time.

The juice definitely changed. Their strong fragrance went away, but the juices mellowed down into each delicious little blend.

I was surprised that it worked, but I thought the heat may work to blend the juices further, possibly evaporating what didn't need to be there.

I'm not sure how one would go about doing this with plastic bottles. I have no idea what plastic bottles may be microwave safe, but my guess is that most are not.

I was happy this worked, and perhaps it will work for someone else. Hopefully it does.

I've done it and it does work. Seems to speed up the steeping process. Thicker juices seem to become a bit thinner too.

 

[swedishfish]

My faves are Bounty Hunter, Renegade, and Vanilla Strait by Nite Lite Vapor. Two of my other faves are Chinese - Dekang Tab and RY4. None need to steep.

You might like them right out of the bottle. My mom likes BWB as soon as she gets it. That doesn't mean that they don't change as they steep.

Some juices like the dekang aren't made to order. I'm sure they're already steeped many times over by the time you get them.

 

[sandybeach]

Uhh, I just tried nuking a plastic bottle of a juice that was too "perfumey". Learning curve: Try 5 seconds next time. 10 seconds made the bottle implode on itself