Question about E Liquid and Vape storage

[C.C. 95]

Hi -
I bought a bunch of e liquid and vapes to store away. It will be in a sealed plastic tub away from light and heat. The question I have is - since light, heat, and oxygen are the enemies of eliquid - would it be good, bad or ineffective to put oxygen absorbers inside the the plastic tub with the eliquid bottles?

 

[Izan]

Hola,
IMO, a vacuum sealer and some desiccant packs would be a better investment.
Inventory and clearly label everything in the tubs.


Cheers
I

 

[zoiDman]

I really think the Effectiveness of Oxygen Absorbers would be Marginal at best if you are storing your e-liquids in Plastic containers.

If you want to Maximize Shelf Life, I would invest in Glass Bottles with Polycone Caps vs Oxy Scrubbers.

 

[englishmick]

I keep plastic bottles of flavoring in tupperware tubs in the fridge. Each tub holds half a dozen bottles, I put the bottles in a sealable plastic bag and then in the tubs. Maybe oxygen could get through to juice eventually, it can travel through plastic. Personally I wouldn't worry unless you plan on having a ten year supply. Actually I never heard of oxygen absorbers.

You also mentioned vapes. Do you mean hardware? With hardware I guess the enemy is water rather than oxygen. There wouldn't any reason to keep mods in the fridge unless they have built in batteries. I know some people use desiccants for storing mods.

I store batteries in the fridge the same way. Hoping that a sealed tub and a sealed bag will be enough to keep them dry.

 

[C.C. 95]

I keep plastic bottles of flavoring in tupperware tubs in the fridge. Each tub holds half a dozen bottles, I put the bottles in a sealable plastic bag and then in the tubs. Maybe oxygen could get through to juice eventually, it can travel through plastic. Personally I wouldn't worry unless you plan on having a ten year supply. Actually I never heard of oxygen absorbers.

You also mentioned vapes. Do you mean hardware? With hardware I guess the enemy is water rather than oxygen. There wouldn't any reason to keep mods in the fridge unless they have built in batteries. I know some people use desiccants for storing mods.

I store batteries in the fridge the same way. Hoping that a sealed tub and a sealed bag will be enough to keep them dry.

The vapes I mentioned are some boxes of POSH disposables (with batteries (obviously).
I assume Oxy Absobers and Dessicants are pretty similar.

 

[smacuser]

I might draw the line at that. But, then again, I'm pretty average at my vape prepping.

 

[C.C. 95]

I might draw the line at that. But, then again, I'm pretty average at my vape prepping.

So you don't worry about losing the flavor or nic strength when storing the stuff properly? Maybe I'm going too far, but I may not get to the juice for a over a year, and I would be bummed if the Nic and flavor had gone. Just wonering if the Oxy absorbers would be a good extra step to keep oxygen from the juice. It would be very disheartening if all the money spent turned to bad juice down the line.

 

[smacuser]

So you don't worry about losing the flavor or nic strength when storing the stuff properly? Maybe I'm going too far, but I may not get to the juice for a over a year, and I would be bummed if the Nic and flavor had gone. Just wonering if the Oxy absorbers would be a good extra step to keep oxygen from the juice. It would be very disheartening if all the money spent turned to bad juice down the line.

I'm sure what you are proposing would probably work. Though, I think the reponses received above are what I would do.

 

[C.C. 95]

I'm sure what you are proposing would probably work. Though, I think the reponses received above are what I would do.

Unfortunately- no real way to ever know if it will be beneficial!
But, I read a bunch about how oxygen degrades the nicotine, so that (If stored poorly, I guess) it would be very low nicotine after "x" amount of time. I'm just seeing if there is any way to maximize the storage. I do have the amber glass bottles, and store it in a basement closet so it is dark and cool.
I greatly appreciate everybody's opinions and advice on this subject!

 

[englishmick]

Unfortunately- no real way to ever know if it will be beneficial!
But, I read a bunch about how oxygen degrades the nicotine, so that (If stored poorly, I guess) it would be very low nicotine after "x" amount of time. I'm just seeing if there is any way to maximize the storage. I do have the amber glass bottles, and store it in a basement closet so it is dark and cool.
I greatly appreciate everybody's opinions and advice on this subject!

I make my own juice. Keep it on a shelf in my office. I've had juice sitting there for 18 months because I stopped using it for a while, tasted better than it did fresh. On the other hand some juice loses its taste in weeks, like lemon flavors. And I've had year old juice that tasted so bad it was unusable.

Trouble is that with juice you have a cocktail of dozens or hundreds of chemical compounds. There's no way of predicting how they will interact over time. Chances are whatever happens will happen slower at lower temp like in a fridge. At freezer temps more unpredictable stuff happens. Stuff separates out and doesn't come back the same when it's thawed. Vendors who have expressed an opinion say fridge is good, freezer is bad.

Not sure about nic. Apparently concentrated nic will stay unchanged for years in a freezer and change slowly in the fridge. At room temp it can go bad quite fast. I store mine at 100mg. I think I read that at lower concentrations like in mixed juice it degrades slower than concentrated nic.

In your situation if I wanted to store premixed juice for longish periods I would put it in glass bottles and stick it in the fridge in plastic bags in tupperware. Those oxygen absorbers can't do any harm and they might help. Never heard of anyone using them though.

 

[C.C. 95]

I make my own juice. Keep it on a shelf in my office. I've had juice sitting there for 18 months because I stopped using it for a while, tasted better than it did fresh. On the other hand some juice loses its taste in weeks, like lemon flavors. And I've had year old juice that tasted so bad it was unusable.

Trouble is that with juice you have a cocktail of dozens or hundreds of chemical compounds. There's no way of predicting how they will interact over time. Chances are whatever happens will happen slower at lower temp like in a fridge. At freezer temps more unpredictable stuff happens. Stuff separates out and doesn't come back the same when it's thawed. Vendors who have expressed an opinion say fridge is good, freezer is bad.

Not sure about nic. Apparently concentrated nic will stay unchanged for years in a freezer and change slowly in the fridge. At room temp it can go bad quite fast. I store mine at 100mg. I think I read that at lower concentrations like in mixed juice it degrades slower than concentrated nic.

In your situation if I wanted to store premixed juice for longish periods I would put it in glass bottles and stick it in the fridge in plastic bags in tupperware. Those oxygen absorbers can't do any harm and they might help. Never heard of anyone using them though.

Thanks for that knowledge drop! I love anecdotal real world testimonials. Good info, thank you.
I May have to clear some room in the fridge then. : )
Y'know - I bet if the nic loses its strength, you problably wouldn't know.... Kind of like a placebo effect. If you THINK it is there, your brain will make you believe it is. After all, I don't have any instrument to test the levels of nic in my juice!
Although, I did start buying my juices (to store) in twos: one with the nic level I like, and one bottle with the highest level they offer. That way if there was any nic loss in the regular nic level, I could supplement some juice from the other!
Any anecdotal stories about the LONGEST amount of time someone has gone storing juice (and have it still be fine)?
EnglishMick has 18 months on the record!

 

[uthinkofsomething]

I have a 2+ year old bottle of my own Buccaneer Cigar e-liquid, 10mls, 3mg. I might have to crack into it and try it just to see. It looks identical to when I made it...

 

[uthinkofsomething]

Personally, I don't think the oxygen absorbers will do much. Not much gas passes through into a bottle. Some air is already in it....
Fridge good, though. Light bad.

 

[Izan]

Thanks for that knowledge drop! I love anecdotal real world testimonials. Good info, thank you.
I May have to clear some room in the fridge then. : )
Y'know - I bet if the nic loses its strength, you problably wouldn't know.... Kind of like a placebo effect. If you THINK it is there, your brain will make you believe it is. After all, I don't have any instrument to test the levels of nic in my juice!
Although, I did start buying my juices (to store) in twos: one with the nic level I like, and one bottle with the highest level they offer. That way if there was any nic loss in the regular nic level, I could supplement some juice from the other!
Any anecdotal stories about the LONGEST amount of time someone has gone storing juice (and have it still be fine)?
EnglishMick has 18 months on the record!

For your edification;

What's the oldest nic base you've ever used?
Nic Base Storage: Freezer vs. Room Temp Experiment

Cheers
I

 

[C.C. 95]

Personally, I don't think the oxygen absorbers will do much. Not much gas passes through into a bottle. Some air is already in it....
Fridge good, though. Light bad.

I'm going to assume that you mean strcitly glass bottles and not plastic. Right?

I have a 2+ year old bottle of my own Buccaneer Cigar e-liquid, 10mls, 3mg. I might have to crack into it and try it just to see. It looks identical to when I made it...

I am very curious! Let us know!

 

[BNEAT]

All of my juice is in deep freezers, I've heard that's the best way to store it.

 

[uthinkofsomething]

I'm going to assume that you mean strcitly glass bottles and not plastic. Right?

I'm no expert, so please take with a grain of salt, but I was referring to plastic. Now, I would not do long term storage in plastic, but thinking you are talking about a finished e-liquid from a commercial producer I assume they come in plastic.
Again this is not based in tested fact, but I think you should worry more about plastic degrading and gassing into your bottle before worrying about oxygen outside the bottle getting in and degrading your e-liquid.

 

[uthinkofsomething]

At the same time, oxygen absorbers are probably cheap and should not cause any negative effects, so go for it.

 

[uthinkofsomething]

I have a 2+ year old bottle of my own Buccaneer Cigar e-liquid, 10mls, 3mg. I might have to crack into it and try it just to see. It looks identical to when I made it...

I broke into the bottle, made January 2019. It has been stored in a dark closet that gets pretty hot in summer, ldpe plastic 10ml bottle.
This is a DIY blend of Cuban Supreme, Desert Ship, Hazel Grove, French Vanilla, and Catalan Cream. Base is 75% VG, 3mg nic.
I actually expected this to be bad, but it was perfect. I'm rather surprised. I can't really test the nicotine, so no idea of it's strength, but it is smooth as silk and has a nice flavor.

 

[C.C. 95]

I broke into the bottle, made January 2019. It has been stored in a dark closet that gets pretty hot in summer, ldpe plastic 10ml bottle.
This is a DIY blend of Cuban Supreme, Desert Ship, Hazel Grove, French Vanilla, and Catalan Cream. Base is 75% VG, 3mg nic.
I actually expected this to be bad, but it was perfect. I'm rather surprised. I can't really test the nicotine, so no idea of it's strength, but it is smooth as silk and has a nice flavor.

Wow. That's helpful to know. And it was also in plastic bottle? Whoa! So I wonder if Darkness is more important that temp, and Glass/plastic?
a lot to think about. Thanks!!