My nicotine tastes like plastic

[GT86]

I've been DIY'ing for a short time now making small batches trying to learn and find some good recipes but everything I mix has this same plastic/perfume/chemical taste in it. I have let some mixes steep for over a month and still the taste is there. I have given them warm water baths, shaken like crazy and still the taste is there.

When I first got all my supplies I got 100mg/ml nicotine and mixed it to 50mg/ml with my VG in 30ml brown Boston rounds and put it in the freezer except 1 bottle I kept in the fridge for mixing.

So today I backed up and did what I should have at the very start. I tasted everything separately.
I cleaned and re-wicked my Magma and tasted my PG by itself. Almost flavorless, maybe just a very very slight sweetness sorta like an artificial sweetener but hardly noticeable. No offensive taste at all.
Cleaned and re-wicked again and tried my VG by itself. Again almost flavorless, maybe just slightly sweeter than the PG but not much. Again nothing offensive at all.
So I mixed some of the nicotine with my VG to a 10mg/ml ratio and since there was no offensive taste with the VG I just dripped some of the nicotine mix on the wick and Boom there was that plastic taste. So I conclude the nicotine is giving me the offensive taste in all the mixes I have tried so far.

So my question is, has anyone experienced this taste before?

I'm willing to throw the nicotine away and buy more if I knew I could get some that won't taste like this

In the mean time I think I'm going to mix 0 nic and try and find some recipes that I really like then add nic to them later if I can find some that doesn't taste like plastic.

 

[Sgt.Rock]

Where did you get the NIC..?

 

[GT86]

Where did you get the NIC..?

I didn't want to say because I didn't want it to seem like I was bad mouthing them because I have got good service from them and think they are a good reputable company and I don't think this is their fault at all but I got it from Wizard Labs.

 

[Boletus]

Looks like you've got some bad nic. This happens; even some of the most highly regarded vendors have been reported to send out something bad now and then. The only other possibility I can think of is that the bottels you transferred it to after diluting were contaminated.

At any rate, it sounds like a lot of time has gone by and you have used a fair amount of it, so sending it back may not be an option. But even if you dump it and get some somewhere else, I would recommend sharing your findings with the vendor.

 

[Soignee]

WL is great to deal with. Even though they may not be able to replace they definitely need the feedback to check their supply chain.


Sent from Stoooopidtalk!

 

[lasttango]

I've tried my hand at DIY a few times, and while I am no expert... I have found some bliss with getting my nic from Xtremevaping and/or decadent vapor... I get my VG from TW... the aqueous vg...

It costs more... but in the long run, it's still inexpensive... it makes a luxurious base... that performs well and tastes nice...
Another Vet... Kent C is the one that got me thinking this way and it made the winning difference...

I gave up a few times in the past... because my juice always tasted off...plasticy or peppery.... when I upgraded my nic, vg and pg... it made a word of difference to me.

a few of my well known vendor pals use Xtremevaping. Not only is it good quality, but the owner guarantees them that he'll send them good nic...

 

[GT86]

Thanks everyone!
I ordered the nic back on Oct 5th so it's been a while and I wouldn't try to have WL replace it. Like Boletus said, even the best have problems once in a while, it happens.
I don't think it was the bottles I transferred to, they were brand new and I washed them good then rinsed about 10 times and let them dry completely. I have used bottles from the same batch for other store bought juices and they tasted fine.
I will probably contact WL just to let them know.
Thanks for the tips Lasttango!

 

[Boletus]

WL is great to deal with. Even though they may not be able to replace they definitely need the feedback to check their supply chain.

Absolutely so. Consider it a service for the benefit of the vendor and other DIY'ers that may follow in your footsteps. No one can improve their game in a vacuum.

[edit] IMO, anyone can screw up, but the difference between a good vendor and a bad one is how they respond to issues. If they bombast you and tell you you don't know what you are doing, run away as fast as you can and don't look back. If they seem to genuinely want to find out what the problem is and resolve it, they may deserve another try.

 

[Boletus]

BTW, if you are sitting on the fence about whether to keep using it, I would not, given your description. Hang onto it in case WL wants you to send it back so they can maybe figure out the problem.

 

[GT86]

Well WL is closed and their website is shut down until Monday so I will contact them then.
I am definitely not on the fence with this after tasting this morning. I know that's where the funny taste is coming from and I won't use it but I'll hang on to it until I talk to WL.

 

[Sgt.Rock]

I've used Nic from RTSVapes and Nude Nicotine and not had any problems yet.

Out of the two I prefer RTSVapes.com for both price and service and they carry boatloads of flavors from most of the major vendors.

$50 for a liter of 100 mg

 

[BLennon]

WL is great to deal with. Even though they may not be able to replace they definitely need the feedback to check their supply chain.

Yes, they are very accommodating nothing but great experiences and they even gave me credit on a future order for a mistake I made one time - you can't beat that.

I used ecigexpress for months and switched to WL until recently when ecigexpress is less costly for unflavored nic. I do prefer the taste of ecigexpress but have had no problems at all from WL nic and certainly no bad taste issues.

 

[GT86]

Looks like you've got some bad nic. This happens; even some of the most highly regarded vendors have been reported to send out something bad now and then. The only other possibility I can think of is that the bottles you transferred it to after diluting were contaminated.

At any rate, it sounds like a lot of time has gone by and you have used a fair amount of it, so sending it back may not be an option. But even if you dump it and get some somewhere else, I would recommend sharing your findings with the vendor.

So this got me to thinking. Before I can say definitively that it is the nicotine I need to try all the bottles that I mixed up.
Remember, when I got my 100mg/ml nic I mixed it to a 50mg/ml base with straight VG in 8 - 30ml bottles.
I started thinking it possibly could be a contamination problem so this morning I decided to test everything. I mixed up small 4ml batches at 12mg of each of the eight bottles and dripped each one individually with a clean wick each time. Boy what a PITA but it was the only way I could be sure.
So 7 of the bottles have virtually no taste, just a slight sweetness from the VG and I saved the one I knew tasted bad for last and it still tastes bad.
So now I conclude that one bottle was contaminated. I probably didn't get it rinsed out well enough when I cleaned it and there must have been some soap residue left behind and that is what I am tasting, soap! Well I will never use soap to clean with anymore, alcohol and distilled water from now on.
It sure was a lot of work and I should have done it at the start before I started trying to make any flavors but a good lesson learned. Always taste your base before you start any recipes!

And that's my luck, the one bottle that was bad was the first one I started mixing with!

Oh and I am used to vaping 6mg/ml and after all this testing with 12 I am buzzing like crazy!

Thanks everyone for your help!

Wizard Labs F T W! No problem with their nicotine at all!!!

 

[dannyv45]

So this got me to thinking. Before I can say definitively that it is the nicotine I need to try all the bottles that I mixed up.
Remember, when I got my 100mg/ml nic I mixed it to a 50mg/ml base with straight VG in 8 - 30ml bottles.
I started thinking it possibly could be a contamination problem so this morning I decided to test everything. I mixed up small 4ml batches at 12mg of each of the eight bottles and dripped each one individually with a clean wick each time. Boy what a PITA but it was the only way I could be sure.
So 7 of the bottles have virtually no taste, just a slight sweetness from the VG and I saved the one I knew tasted bad for last and it still tastes bad.
So now I conclude that one bottle was contaminated. I probably didn't get it rinsed out well enough when I cleaned it and there must have been some soap residue left behind and that is what I am tasting, soap! Well I will never use soap to clean with anymore, alcohol and distilled water from now on.
It sure was a lot of work and I should have done it at the start before I started trying to make any flavors but a good lesson learned. Always taste your base before you start any recipes!

And that's my luck, the one bottle that was bad was the first one I started mixing with!

Oh and I am used to vaping 6mg/ml and after all this testing with 12 I am buzzing like crazy!

Thanks everyone for your help!

Wizard Labs F T W! No problem with their nicotine at all!!!

It looks like you hit the nail right on the head. Sounds contaminated to me. May have been caused by excess water in the bottle. Water plays hell on NIC and can spoil it quickly giving it an off taste and a yellow amberish color. Always make sure your bottles are clean and most importantly DRY. 4 things can kill NIC during long term storage. Excessive water, air, light and heat.

 

[GT86]

Thanks Danny! Yea it could have been water though I did let the bottles dry overnight after washing before filling. But our water here is on the hard side and a lot of chlorine, I can even stand to drink it, so distilled water only in my bottles from now on and I will make sure they are completely dry!
I should have listened to you from the very start but I used the assume technique instead. I assumed because everything was brand new and clean it would be OK. Well by assuming I wasted about 2 months of DIY'ing and became very frustrated. I hope I'm back on track now because I am going to mix a couple of recipes this afternoon and see how it goes!


So all you newbies to DIY'ing, read the stickys, read the blogs and most of all DO WHAT THEY RECOMMEND!!! It might just save you a lot of time and frustration!!!

 

[Hoosier]

Even long-time mixers can forget to taste test the bases....

And it always sucks when you've mixed up a large number of batches to discover something's off...

It's happened to me a few times. One would think after more than 4 years mixing, I'd have all this stuff figured out...ppphhhttt! Still playing around.

 

[smelly]

I had a stock pile of nic from wizard labs and nude nicotine. I took a healthy amount of it and put it in smaller sized ball jars... ugh. Ruined all of it. I know exactly the taste you mean.

Tango turned me on to Xtreme. My first order arrived today. It's good and on par with wizard labs and nude nicotine. Those are my three favs. Nude has the nicotine armor thing which is really cool, I've got a few of those bottles in the freezer for a rainy day.