Nic Base Storage: Freezer vs. Room Temp Experiment

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Rossum

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What's the consensus on storing salt nic? It is more resistant to oxidation than FB. How long it is expected to keep at room temperature?
...Trying to prioritize freezer space.
I don't know, I generally prefer freebase nic. I currently vape MTl at 13mg, so harshness isn't a problem. In fact, I like the TH/bite that freebase provides at those levels. The only time I use salts is when I do trade shows, where my ability to vape is greatly constrained, and that normally only happens every other year.

Anyway, there's no real consensus on how long any kind of nic lasts at room temperature. All of my samples started discoloring quite rapidly, yet there are still people who say they keep their regular, freebase nic at room temperature for as long as a year without any noticeable degradation....?

Then there's one vendor of nic who explicitly recommends against freezing. This has come up repeatedly of late, so last night I ordered some of their super-special, super-expensive, super-critical CO2-extracted nic in both PG and VG and will test the stuff. This time I'll be comparing three temps: Room, Freezer, and Refrigerator.
 

Bronze

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Then there's one vendor of nic who explicitly recommends against freezing. This has come up repeatedly of late, so last night I ordered some of their super-special, super-expensive, super-critical CO2-extracted nic in both PG and VG and will test the stuff. This time I'll be comparing three temps: Room, Freezer, and Refrigerator.
This will be interesting. And expensive unless you are just buying one bottle of each and decanting from the glass bottle it comes in which I guess you will have to cuz I think they come in amber bottles only.
 

*RJ*

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I don't know, I generally prefer freebase nic. I currently vape MTl at 13mg, so harshness isn't a problem. In fact, I like the TH/bite that freebase provides at those levels. The only time I use salts is when I do trade shows, where my ability to vape is greatly constrained, and that normally only happens every other year.

Anyway, there's no real consensus on how long any kind of nic lasts at room temperature. All of my samples started discoloring quite rapidly, yet there are still people who say they keep their regular, freebase nic at room temperature for as long as a year without any noticeable degradation....?

Then there's one vendor of nic who explicitly recommends against freezing. This has come up repeatedly of late, so last night I ordered some of their super-special, super-expensive, super-critical CO2-extracted nic in both PG and VG and will test the stuff. This time I'll be comparing three temps: Room, Freezer, and Refrigerator.
I am particularly interested to see how the vg nic performs in those three scenarios since that is what I purchase.

Do you think it would be useful to do the experiment with different vendor nic to compare among the most popular brands? Now would be the time before your experiment starts. Not trying to spend your money for you, just a thought.
 
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Rossum

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This will be interesting. And expensive unless you are just buying one bottle of each and decanting from the glass bottle it comes in which I guess you will have to cuz I think they come in amber bottles only.
Yep. I ordered two 120ml sample bottles, one in PG and one in VG. Each will be decanted into three 30ml clear bottles. There will obviously be some left over from each. I plan to mix that down and vape it to see if I can tell the difference between it and the nic I'm currently vaping.
 

Rossum

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I am particularly interested to see how the vg nic performs in those three scenarios since that is what I purchase.
I already have one one set of VG samples up in PA. They're from VT and are now about 2-1/2 years old. I haven't spent much time up there this year, so it's been a while since I posted an update on them, but I'll be there the entire month of December and promise to post an update then.

Do you think it would be useful to do the experiment with different vendor nic to compare among the most popular brands? Now would be the time before your experiment starts. Not trying to spend your money for you, just a thought.
Two of my samples are WL. Most are VT. In the nicotine comparison thread back in 2015, I had four "premium" vendors' nics, each of which had about 40ml left in the bottle after I sent out the samples. At the time, I wasn't aware how quickly nic would oxidize at room temperature, so I stuck all of them in a cupboard until I was ready to mix with the left-overs. That was several months later, and every one of them had noticeably degraded. Of course those bottles had been opened and had a lot of head-space, but still, that experience provided much of the motivation for the more formal testing in this thread.

So my considered opinion right now is that there isn't much difference between brands of regular, freebase nic when it comes to storage, and I'm not going to order every possible vendor's nic. But in the interest of science, I will add one some of my own NN Armor V1 to the upcoming three-temperature test.
 

DaveP

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I prefer my John Deere 717A, I like to ride. :) (stock pic, not my actual mower, it does not look this good)
View attachment 843529

I've been through a Snapper and two Sears Craftsman lawn tractor mowers over the last 20 years. I gave them to family and friends as I bought new ones. Now, I'm looking at zero turn mowers for the next cycle. My 2 acre lot is generally flat, but with a 4 foot rise from side to side in the front and a drop down hill at the road. I've decided on the 42" Hustler Raptor Zero Turn for my next purchase after seeing the YouTube video where they tested it up, down, and sideways and turning around on a 15 degree slope. There's one part where they park a lawn tractor and the Hustler ZT sideways on the slope and pull on the seat to try to turn it over. The Lawn Tractor is easy to pull over with one hand. The Hustler zero turn didn't move with two different guys leaning and straining on it trying to make it flip. I was impressed. Low center of gravity makes the difference.
 
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DaveP

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Agree,, I too am debt free for years. But I remember being poor,, and to a normal person nic may seem expensive.

I am a tightwad,, I don't like spending money,,, unless its on travel or nice food.

As I grow older I'm less worried about buying what I want when I want it. These days we don't worry about money running out. It's obvious that there will be money left for our heirs, but my wife and I have decided that new vehicles every 4 years and any other toys we decide to buy are deserved after working 40 years each and finally retiring.

We decided this year to book a 9 day Mississippi River steamboat tour from New Orleans to Memphis next April. We've also talked about a European trip. I always wanted to see England, France, and Italy.
 

DaveP

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I disposed of two liters of 100mg nic base that was stored at room temp a couple of years ago. i kind of wish that I had kept it and froze it. Looking down into the bottle from the top I could detect a yellow tint and the beginnings of a musty smell. I ended up using it to kill fire ant mounds on my property and it worked really well for that! Years later we have almost no ants.

I split the two liters of replacement nic into 240ml clear glass Boston Rounds bottles and that went into my freezer immediately. It's still nice and clear. I put the bottles into heavy duty freezer bags inside a corrugated cardboard box in the freezer so I could open the box and inspect for clarity and color change (and for leak containment, just in case).

What was left over went into a 60ml bottle. I kept that in the fridge for a while and used it up.
 
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Letitia

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My 100mg pg salts after 2y of freezer storage are still good, no difference in color, smell, or strength that I notice. Salts that are left out at room temp in amber glass will get orange but smell & strength seem fine to me. They vape quite well. My working bottles (120ml) of both the 100 & 250 will slowly color though kept in the fridge when not in active use. Once mixed the color changes very slowly but does change.
 

kross8

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As I grow older I'm less worried about buying what I want when I want it. These days we don't worry about money running out. It's obvious that there will be money left for our heirs, but my wife and I have decided that new vehicles every 4 years and any other toys we decide to buy are deserved after working 40 years each and finally retiring.

We decided this year to book a 9 day Mississippi River steamboat tour from New Orleans to Memphis next April. We've also talked about a European trip. I always wanted to see England, France, and Italy.
I was watching sharktank one night,, Mark Cuban made a remark that going forward people would value activities over objects. - I agree,, you can't take "it" with you,,. & More than likely people cherish special memories more than some object they once had. Ie,,, I have had 33+ cars,, I love muscle cars & suv/trucks,,, but I value my most valued memories & moments with my family & friends even more,,, especially if the person has died
 

stols001

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I do not believe EVEN the great Chemovape nic or whatever it has called has been able to genetically modify nic so it self destructs after 2 years when frozen or whatever.

If they have, I am calling them. I need them to fix my bipolar disorder and ADHD.

However, I too await experiments but I am not a nic pincess. Most of my stash is either various sorts of like, Nic River, some of the stuff from Nude Nic, and Heartlands.

I have a gallon of salt nic from Nic River it seems to be doing fine. I think I've had it frozen a LONG time. I don't know if any of these "differences" will be noticeable immediately, I mean maybe after 15 years? Who knows. I am saving the salts for last in case I get all nic sensitivity like throat wise as an old old lady. Who knows.

@Rossum @mikepetro you are the best! Advising me (and anyone else paying attention) on HOW to stock up since I got to ECF :wub::wub::wub:

Anna
 

ChelsB

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I'm waiting for NR to respond before breaking the seal, so I can't say how mine smells.

Dr.Seuss who also got the 250 non-salt in VG dated from May and reported it in DIY : Good Deals and Sales ! says it smelled horrendous.

Was yours VG or PG? Non-salt? Did they want you to return the defective nic?

Mine was VG , non-salt nic. They did not require me to send it back. They said they refunded me a week ago but I don’t see the credit yet. I can’t believe the bad luck I’ve had with nic lately. But my worst experience has been with LNW. They are being awful about the whole thing. They received my return over 2 weeks ago and are now ignoring my emails


http://www.sincemylastcigarette.com/banners/1472238000_20_1_USD_8_default.png[/img
 

ChelsB

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Mine was VG , non-salt nic. They did not require me to send it back. They said they refunded me a week ago but I don’t see the credit yet. I can’t believe the bad luck I’ve had with nic lately. But my worst experience has been with LNW. They are being awful about the whole thing. They received my return over 2 weeks ago and are now ignoring my emails


http://www.sincemylastcigarette.com/banners/1472238000_20_1_USD_8_default.png[/img

Does anyone know if ECF still has the vendor complaint section? I’m not seeing it


http://www.sincemylastcigarette.com/banners/1472238000_20_1_USD_8_default.png[/img
 
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wetclay

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Mine was VG , non-salt nic. They did not require me to send it back. They said they refunded me a week ago but I don’t see the credit yet. I can’t believe the bad luck I’ve had with nic lately. But my worst experience has been with LNW. They are being awful about the whole thing. They received my return over 2 weeks ago and are now ignoring my emails
Seems like NR had a bad batch. Wanted to place order with them, but will stay put until sure they corrected the problem.
 
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Rossum

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One of the things I've been asked repeatedly is, "How does keeping nic in the refrigerator compare to room temperature or the freezer?" The only answer I've been able to give is, "I don't know, I've never tried it." I've been asked often enough that I started regretting having only bough two of each sample instead of three.

Another thing people have asked is, "How about that Carolina Extraction Tech nic that's done using supercritical C02 instead of solvents; is it worth the silly prices they charge for it?"

So I think it's time to do find out, and without further ado, I present the latest set of samples:

QCEgD7L.jpg


Both CX samples are fresh. I ordered them last weekend and they arrived on Thursday.

The NN Armor is from May of 2014 but has been in my freezer the whole time.

The VT is from May of 2017. It was one of a pair of Freeze and Room Temperature samples, but the Room Temperature one got opened in order to find out if there was an inner seal under the cap when someone got some less than wonderful nic from them. I caught a whiff of the room temperature sample at that point and decided there was no sense in keeping it; I'd never vape that.

But there's only one of each. Right, and three of four are in brown glass bottles, which makes things tough anyway, so I also ordered up a dozen 30 ml clear glass bottles with polycone caps. More pics to follow.
 
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