Smoke Juice Storage Tips
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Thanks mamacat. 
Chris asked me for these recommendations yesterday, and it seemed like a good idea to list them in order from obvious measures that will help through more extreme measures that might help.
It's occurred to me that we really don't have any good information on long term storage of e-liquids. While I believe that keeping a 3 - 6 month supply offers a reasonable time between orders while still maximizing freshness, some of us are concerned about the future implications of a certain three-letter government agency's public posturing, and might wish to "stock up" a much longer term supply.
I have 1 mL remaining of a liquid that Chris sent me around the beginning of October for nicotine potency testing. This liquid is a 15% solution of nicotine in propylene glycol (this was a test sample only, Chris does not sell this concentration), and due to it's higher than ordinary strength, is an ideal test sample for e-liquid aging. Any degradation to the nicotine will be more readily apparent at this concentration than at lower "for sale" nicotine concentrations.
1. I will start by replacing the headspace air in the ~25 mL container with pure oxygen. This means that there will be ~40 mg of oxygen available to interact with the ~150 mg of nicotine in the sample. By creating this oxygen enriched environment, any oxidation of the nicotine that might tend to happen, should tend to happen faster.
2. I will be routinely storing the sample not in cool, dark places, but rather warm, bright places. I've faded more than one brightly colored jacket by leaving it on the back window-shelf of my car, and I figure this would be a good place to abuse the sample (when I don't have it sitting on top of my CRT computer monitor soaking up 75 watts of heat).
While I honestly have no idea what will happen to the sample after a month of this treatment, and I have no idea how long under careful storage conditions this test would represent, I would suspect between the extra heat, light, and oxygen, it should easily account for many times longer.
Nicotine shows it's "age" (oxidation) via becoming tinted. My guess is that the sample will appear no worse for the wear tint-wise than many liquids sold as "new" elsewhere.
Stay tuned for 11/21/09 and the results.
DVap
Mad Chemist
Chris asked me for these recommendations yesterday, and it seemed like a good idea to list them in order from obvious measures that will help through more extreme measures that might help.
It's occurred to me that we really don't have any good information on long term storage of e-liquids. While I believe that keeping a 3 - 6 month supply offers a reasonable time between orders while still maximizing freshness, some of us are concerned about the future implications of a certain three-letter government agency's public posturing, and might wish to "stock up" a much longer term supply.
I have 1 mL remaining of a liquid that Chris sent me around the beginning of October for nicotine potency testing. This liquid is a 15% solution of nicotine in propylene glycol (this was a test sample only, Chris does not sell this concentration), and due to it's higher than ordinary strength, is an ideal test sample for e-liquid aging. Any degradation to the nicotine will be more readily apparent at this concentration than at lower "for sale" nicotine concentrations.
1. I will start by replacing the headspace air in the ~25 mL container with pure oxygen. This means that there will be ~40 mg of oxygen available to interact with the ~150 mg of nicotine in the sample. By creating this oxygen enriched environment, any oxidation of the nicotine that might tend to happen, should tend to happen faster.
2. I will be routinely storing the sample not in cool, dark places, but rather warm, bright places. I've faded more than one brightly colored jacket by leaving it on the back window-shelf of my car, and I figure this would be a good place to abuse the sample (when I don't have it sitting on top of my CRT computer monitor soaking up 75 watts of heat).
While I honestly have no idea what will happen to the sample after a month of this treatment, and I have no idea how long under careful storage conditions this test would represent, I would suspect between the extra heat, light, and oxygen, it should easily account for many times longer.
Nicotine shows it's "age" (oxidation) via becoming tinted. My guess is that the sample will appear no worse for the wear tint-wise than many liquids sold as "new" elsewhere.
Stay tuned for 11/21/09 and the results.
DVap
Mad Chemist
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I had intended to finish the e-liquid storage testing on 11/21, but I'm tired of the stuff rolling around on my dashboard, and with 18 days of testing, I've seen all I need.
I had 1 mL of a 15% nicotine/propylene glycol sample that Chris had sent me around the beginning of October. This was stored in a 30 mL plastic dropper bottle under an enriched oxygen atmosphere between 10/18 and today 11/4.
The sample was left on my car dashboard all day, usually in the sun, where it received quite a bit of UV exposure and became as hot as a car interior usually gets out on the sun in the mid South during late October... not scorching, but easily in the 100 - 110°F range. By night, the sample sat on top of my 20" CRT monitor soaking up the heat, again, easily over 100°F.
The storage conditions were, in short, atrocious.
I transferred the liquid to a glass vial (12 mm diameter), and transferred an equal volume of USP grade propylene glycol to an identical, and compared the vials against a background of high brightness inkjet paper, illuminated from behind by a bright incandescent bulb.
The propylene glycol vial was crystal clear (no cloudiness) and indistinguishable from water. The 15% nicotine vial was also crystal clear (no cloudiness), and displayed the slightest beige tint. It was almost, but not quite, indistinguishable from water.
The nicotine concentration of the "aged" 15% sample (previously tested at 14.7%), tested at 13.7%. This represents a nominal 7% loss in nicotine potency. Due to having barely 1 mL to test, the error may approach 5%, in which case, the aged liquid is hardly distinguishable, nicotine-wise from the fresh liquid. After all this abuse, the 15% nicotine sample looked much better than many nicotine/propylene glycol mixes I've come across at much lower nicotine concentrations.
What conclusions do I draw from this?
1. I could barely discern a tint in the liquid after badly abusing it for 18 days. It's difficult to say with any certainty better than a wild guess how long 18 days of such abusive storage would represent under careful storage conditions, a year? two years? longer?
2. Since this was a 15% liquid, which is 2.5 times more concentrated in nicotine than the strongest 6% concentrate that Chris sells, it's doubtful whether I could have distinguished the sample from water had it been at a lower nicotine concentration like 4.8% (48 mg) or 6% (60 mg).
3. I don't want to put too much into the marginally lower nicotine analysis after the abusive storage conditions. I would be much more confident of any difference in test results pre/post abusive storage if I'd had a larger volume of liquid, perhaps 3 or 4 mL to test instead of barely 1 mL.
Solutions of nicotine in propylene glycol are not immune to nicotine oxidation, but it appears that they're quite durable and shouldn't suffer from a year or even longer of careful storage.
We should be aware that when it comes to flavored liquids, the shelf-life becomes much more uncertain due to the variable composition of flavored liquids. There are an almost infinite variety of possible ingredients in flavored liquids, each of which will have their own potential to "go bad" over time.
For long term storage of nicotine, I would keep it as simple as possible, just store nicotine/propylene glycol concentrates, and mix with flavorings as needed maybe 30 mL or so at a time. If a flavoring goes bad, it's pretty cheap to replace, but if it goes bad while mixed in bulk with nicotine, then the whole mess will need to be replaced, including the much more expensive nicotine.
DVap
I had 1 mL of a 15% nicotine/propylene glycol sample that Chris had sent me around the beginning of October. This was stored in a 30 mL plastic dropper bottle under an enriched oxygen atmosphere between 10/18 and today 11/4.
The sample was left on my car dashboard all day, usually in the sun, where it received quite a bit of UV exposure and became as hot as a car interior usually gets out on the sun in the mid South during late October... not scorching, but easily in the 100 - 110°F range. By night, the sample sat on top of my 20" CRT monitor soaking up the heat, again, easily over 100°F.
The storage conditions were, in short, atrocious.
I transferred the liquid to a glass vial (12 mm diameter), and transferred an equal volume of USP grade propylene glycol to an identical, and compared the vials against a background of high brightness inkjet paper, illuminated from behind by a bright incandescent bulb.
The propylene glycol vial was crystal clear (no cloudiness) and indistinguishable from water. The 15% nicotine vial was also crystal clear (no cloudiness), and displayed the slightest beige tint. It was almost, but not quite, indistinguishable from water.
The nicotine concentration of the "aged" 15% sample (previously tested at 14.7%), tested at 13.7%. This represents a nominal 7% loss in nicotine potency. Due to having barely 1 mL to test, the error may approach 5%, in which case, the aged liquid is hardly distinguishable, nicotine-wise from the fresh liquid. After all this abuse, the 15% nicotine sample looked much better than many nicotine/propylene glycol mixes I've come across at much lower nicotine concentrations.
What conclusions do I draw from this?
1. I could barely discern a tint in the liquid after badly abusing it for 18 days. It's difficult to say with any certainty better than a wild guess how long 18 days of such abusive storage would represent under careful storage conditions, a year? two years? longer?
2. Since this was a 15% liquid, which is 2.5 times more concentrated in nicotine than the strongest 6% concentrate that Chris sells, it's doubtful whether I could have distinguished the sample from water had it been at a lower nicotine concentration like 4.8% (48 mg) or 6% (60 mg).
3. I don't want to put too much into the marginally lower nicotine analysis after the abusive storage conditions. I would be much more confident of any difference in test results pre/post abusive storage if I'd had a larger volume of liquid, perhaps 3 or 4 mL to test instead of barely 1 mL.
Solutions of nicotine in propylene glycol are not immune to nicotine oxidation, but it appears that they're quite durable and shouldn't suffer from a year or even longer of careful storage.
We should be aware that when it comes to flavored liquids, the shelf-life becomes much more uncertain due to the variable composition of flavored liquids. There are an almost infinite variety of possible ingredients in flavored liquids, each of which will have their own potential to "go bad" over time.
For long term storage of nicotine, I would keep it as simple as possible, just store nicotine/propylene glycol concentrates, and mix with flavorings as needed maybe 30 mL or so at a time. If a flavoring goes bad, it's pretty cheap to replace, but if it goes bad while mixed in bulk with nicotine, then the whole mess will need to be replaced, including the much more expensive nicotine.
DVap
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Thanks for the work DVap! This is defiantly good to know and makes us all feel better about bulk buying! Great work!
I've just laid down my first long-term storage reserves. This is how I stored my 700 mL 35mg/VG unflavored juice I got in 250 mL plastic jars from Vermont Vapor (Vermont Vapor - The Smoking Alternative). As we have discussed, I did not want to be continually dipping into a 250 mL jar to make my DIYs.
1. Ordered 50 mL amber glass bottles with euro-dropper inserts from specialtybottles.com:
Amber Euro Glass Bottle 50 ml w/ Dropper Cap (Blk) - 18 EURO BLK
The euro-dropper as a dropper insert is not good. However, the insert has a hole in the center perfect for a 17G syringe needle I got from juicyliquid.com:
10ml Luer Lock Syringe w/17g Blunt Needle [10ml_Syr_17g] - $2.25 : JuicyLiquid.com, DIY E-Liquid and Accessories!
(Note: you can only buy blunt needles in the US. Hypodermics are perscription only)
I bend the needle enough to be able to access all liquid in the bottle with tilting of the bottle. This setup allows a spill-proof and non-contact way of getting the juice, by syringe)
3. Bottles are not always sterile upon delivery, so a few mL of vodka into the bottle, swirl, transfer vodka into the next bottle to be sterilized.
4. Transfer unflavored juice from plastic jar via plastic funnel or sterilized 10 mL syringe until liquid is about a cm from the top. Insert euro-dropper, screw on cap, label bottle, wipe down entirely. Bottle is not filled and ready for storage.
5. After filling as many bottles as needed, I got a plastic pet-food container, with hinged top and seal gasket.
Pet Food Storage Containers - Van Ness Plastics, Inc.
Its not vacuum-sealed, but it will do. Laid down papertowels for padding and accidental breakage/spillage, and then laid down the filled 50 mL glass bottles of juice. When I can get some, I'll get some dessicant to put in the bottom of the pet-food container. Perhaps I'll eventually get a vac-sealed container, but they are pricey. I got the 5-lb container, which looks like it will hold a few liters of juice in the 50 mL bottles. The container with bottles is now in my basement, which is cool, dry and dark.
When I want juice, I get one of the bottles, and then take from it as needed with syringe. To not cross-contaminate liquids, and using scubabatdan's spreadsheet for amounts, syringe gets vodka washed first, pumped repeatedly until ~dry, into unflavored high-nic juice first, then VG, then flavor, taking from each without emptying syringe between takes, then into dropper-bottle for carrying around with me. Then vodka wash the syringe.
That's my system, and I'm sticking with it!
1. Ordered 50 mL amber glass bottles with euro-dropper inserts from specialtybottles.com:
Amber Euro Glass Bottle 50 ml w/ Dropper Cap (Blk) - 18 EURO BLK
The euro-dropper as a dropper insert is not good. However, the insert has a hole in the center perfect for a 17G syringe needle I got from juicyliquid.com:
10ml Luer Lock Syringe w/17g Blunt Needle [10ml_Syr_17g] - $2.25 : JuicyLiquid.com, DIY E-Liquid and Accessories!
(Note: you can only buy blunt needles in the US. Hypodermics are perscription only)
I bend the needle enough to be able to access all liquid in the bottle with tilting of the bottle. This setup allows a spill-proof and non-contact way of getting the juice, by syringe)
3. Bottles are not always sterile upon delivery, so a few mL of vodka into the bottle, swirl, transfer vodka into the next bottle to be sterilized.
4. Transfer unflavored juice from plastic jar via plastic funnel or sterilized 10 mL syringe until liquid is about a cm from the top. Insert euro-dropper, screw on cap, label bottle, wipe down entirely. Bottle is not filled and ready for storage.
5. After filling as many bottles as needed, I got a plastic pet-food container, with hinged top and seal gasket.
Pet Food Storage Containers - Van Ness Plastics, Inc.
Its not vacuum-sealed, but it will do. Laid down papertowels for padding and accidental breakage/spillage, and then laid down the filled 50 mL glass bottles of juice. When I can get some, I'll get some dessicant to put in the bottom of the pet-food container. Perhaps I'll eventually get a vac-sealed container, but they are pricey. I got the 5-lb container, which looks like it will hold a few liters of juice in the 50 mL bottles. The container with bottles is now in my basement, which is cool, dry and dark.
When I want juice, I get one of the bottles, and then take from it as needed with syringe. To not cross-contaminate liquids, and using scubabatdan's spreadsheet for amounts, syringe gets vodka washed first, pumped repeatedly until ~dry, into unflavored high-nic juice first, then VG, then flavor, taking from each without emptying syringe between takes, then into dropper-bottle for carrying around with me. Then vodka wash the syringe.
That's my system, and I'm sticking with it!
For some reason edit is not working. Item 4. should read "Bottle is now filled and ready for storage." Not "Bottle is not filled and ready for storage." That would have been confusing.
I'm wondering how an aging test on 25% would work.. I've got 250 mL and it's looking clear as daylight. 10 mL or so would really make a good test, and I could precisely determine any loss over time. Not a lot of hot sun anymore pounding on my dashboard with it being November and all, but I'll bet I could make like tough on a sample...
lol.. and nobody tell Chris I've been seeing another supplier behind his back.
lol.. and nobody tell Chris I've been seeing another supplier behind his back.
I am wondering about long term storage of VG-only unflavored e-juices. I know that PG pretty much keeps things from growing almost indefinitely, but is VG effective as well? I have read elsewhere that certain bugs will grow in VG, although it was not clear how common those bugs might be ambiently. I was going to get some VG juice from MFS at some point, depending on news from the courtroom, but now I'm thinking for very long term I should maybe do PG or a PG/VG mix.
Not a big fan of vaping PG. But perhaps a low % in a juice will allow it to store safely.
Or perhaps adding a 10% PGA to the VG juice. That should kill much. And if it is 60 mg juice, it will be diluted significantly anyway with my own VG.
MFS does look like a very good deal, even if I did miss this last sale.
Dvap, Chris? Your thoughts?
Not a big fan of vaping PG. But perhaps a low % in a juice will allow it to store safely.
Or perhaps adding a 10% PGA to the VG juice. That should kill much. And if it is 60 mg juice, it will be diluted significantly anyway with my own VG.
MFS does look like a very good deal, even if I did miss this last sale.
Dvap, Chris? Your thoughts?
I am wondering about long term storage of VG-only unflavored e-juices. I know that PG pretty much keeps things from growing almost indefinitely, but is VG effective as well? I have read elsewhere that certain bugs will grow in VG, although it was not clear how common those bugs might be ambiently. I was going to get some VG juice from MFS at some point, depending on news from the courtroom, but now I'm thinking for very long term I should maybe do PG or a PG/VG mix.
Not a big fan of vaping PG. But perhaps a low % in a juice will allow it to store safely.
Or perhaps adding a 10% PGA to the VG juice. That should kill much. And if it is 60 mg juice, it will be diluted significantly anyway with my own VG.
MFS does look like a very good deal, even if I did miss this last sale.
Dvap, Chris? Your thoughts?
I'll bet if you asked Chris to mix up 500 mL of 60 mg with 80/20 VG/PG, he might do it for you. This percentage should inhibit bugs, but so should cold storage. If you did have 60 mg in 80/20 VG/PG, a mix down to 30 mg with VG would drop the PG down to 10%. I also like the idea of adding 10% PGA for storage, I doubt there's much potential for the alcohol to oxidize to acetic acid over time, but it's something to at least consider. Any of these things, 80/20, 10% PGA, or cold storage should be pretty effective.
Concerning long-term storage, I read that VG, PG, and alcohol have the following limits for safely storing herbs/extracts/etc. This is from memory, from reading a page on an herb company web site...
Alcohol: 4-6 years
PG: 24 months
VG: 12-14 months
Alcohol: 4-6 years
PG: 24 months
VG: 12-14 months
Figured the gravity of the current situation called for a bump. Thanks for this info, Scottes! But are these figures at room temp? Seems cold should slow everything down, and as long as its unflavored nic-juice, why not freeze it if it is sealed? I've seen how this over the long term can be a problem with some flavors, but with unflavored we are just trying to keep things from growing in it, and slowing the kinetics of nic oxidation. Unless there is something I'm not considering, deep freeze should equal essentially forever. Anyone?
Generally, freezing is not possible with conventional freezers. Depending on the concentration of PG and/or VG to water and other fluids, the freezing temp changes. It is -30f, -60f or even colder. But, I would summize the colder the better. Nearly all processes slow down as temperatures decrease.
I keep my unflavored in various sized cobalt blue glass bottles. I top off the bottles so there is no head room in the containers. I pull a black sock over the bottle as it further blocks light and acts as a cushion.
I use from one 60ml bottle and mix 10-15 ml at a time.
I guess that I'll safely get about a years storage this way at -2f.
I just ordered 500ml of 60mg from Chris just a bit ago. Great sale!
I keep my unflavored in various sized cobalt blue glass bottles. I top off the bottles so there is no head room in the containers. I pull a black sock over the bottle as it further blocks light and acts as a cushion.
I use from one 60ml bottle and mix 10-15 ml at a time.
I guess that I'll safely get about a years storage this way at -2f.
I just ordered 500ml of 60mg from Chris just a bit ago. Great sale!
Right! I didn't mean it had to be frozen solid, just very cold. time will tell about the actual ability of the juice to remain unchanged in the cold, but certainly whatever happens to it at room temp while it is sealed, dry and dark, will undoubtedly slow way down in the very cold. But I expect much more than a year, as I think the figures Scottes posted are probably room temp.
i like the sock idea, btw!
Yes! I'm being very conservative because I'm not sure what the storage life of nicotine is.
I came up with the sock idea by accident when I was trying to find something to place the bottles in. I remembered when I got my Silver Bullet it came in a baby sock to protect it.
Anyone have any data on nicotine storage life?
I came up with the sock idea by accident when I was trying to find something to place the bottles in. I remembered when I got my Silver Bullet it came in a baby sock to protect it.
Anyone have any data on nicotine storage life?
I can't find any data, but I do know that if pure nic free-base is stored dark, dry and away from oxygen, its essentially forever...10 years at least. I know this because my brother worked with pure nic in tests on rats for Alzheimers...nic reverses the disease in many respects. They routinely used 10 and 20 year old nic that had been stored properly that tested essentially unchanged and pure.
In VG or PG I think the main issue, if there is no head space above the liquid, is O2 in the VG or PG ethanol added. There won't be much, and depending on the mobility of the liquid it may or may not all react with the nic, but once its done, I don't think there is much more nic can do. So really if it is very cold, and in dark glass, I don't see why it shouldn't last several years without significant change.
Perhaps one of the other resident chemists can give their thoughts?
In VG or PG I think the main issue, if there is no head space above the liquid, is O2 in the VG or PG ethanol added. There won't be much, and depending on the mobility of the liquid it may or may not all react with the nic, but once its done, I don't think there is much more nic can do. So really if it is very cold, and in dark glass, I don't see why it shouldn't last several years without significant change.
Perhaps one of the other resident chemists can give their thoughts?
Thanks Kurt,
Good to know. Excellent chances we can store unflavored liquid for several years.
I thought about filling the head space of bottles with high purity nitrogen (I have access - my work) but a vendor (vapemeister.com) says they tried it and it fundamentally changed the taste of the liquid. ???
My son works in the Central Cali wine valley and they do this with the kegs of wine while they are aging to prevent oxidation of the contents.
Would love to hear a synopsis by a chemist or chemical engineer...
Good to know. Excellent chances we can store unflavored liquid for several years.
I thought about filling the head space of bottles with high purity nitrogen (I have access - my work) but a vendor (vapemeister.com) says they tried it and it fundamentally changed the taste of the liquid. ???
My son works in the Central Cali wine valley and they do this with the kegs of wine while they are aging to prevent oxidation of the contents.
Would love to hear a synopsis by a chemist or chemical engineer...
Actually I am a chemist of some 30 years. I've discussed this with other organic chemists, and they are in agreement with me based on the info we have, but no one has first hand experience with these liquids over the course of years, so this is all speculation based on the known chemistry. And I don't think there is anyone here that has checked a high-nic unflavored juice that has been stored for many months. DVap showed that O2 oxidation can happen, but it is not quantitative if the nic is in PG, meaning that not all available O2 will react quickly with excess nic, at least in the time frames of his experiment.
I don't know why N2 would change the flavor of a juice, but if it is significantly soluble in PG it might change the nature of the vapor. Someone else here suggested putting a small piece of dry ice in the liquid before sealing, but IMHO CO2 can make carbonates. My opinion is that if there is little to no head space in the stored bottle, the amount of O2 is negligible anyway. And I doubt that anything would grow in PG or VG that also has lots of nic in it. I do rinse the bottles with PGA before filling with juice to sterilize the bottles, and I may even add some PGA to the high-nic juice up front before storage. Also, the eurodropper inserts somewhat keep the headspace from exchanging with ambient air even after a particular 50 mL bottle is opened.
Unless I hear compelling information to improve upon this storage method, I think my juice will be good for a long long time...but only time will tell.
I don't know why N2 would change the flavor of a juice, but if it is significantly soluble in PG it might change the nature of the vapor. Someone else here suggested putting a small piece of dry ice in the liquid before sealing, but IMHO CO2 can make carbonates. My opinion is that if there is little to no head space in the stored bottle, the amount of O2 is negligible anyway. And I doubt that anything would grow in PG or VG that also has lots of nic in it. I do rinse the bottles with PGA before filling with juice to sterilize the bottles, and I may even add some PGA to the high-nic juice up front before storage. Also, the eurodropper inserts somewhat keep the headspace from exchanging with ambient air even after a particular 50 mL bottle is opened.
Unless I hear compelling information to improve upon this storage method, I think my juice will be good for a long long time...but only time will tell.
Great Kurt - thanks.
I'm a mechanical designer and work in air separation technology; hollow fiber membranes, molecular sieves and cryogenic distillation. Fun stuff.
I asked a co-worker; he's our chief scientist and has a PHD in chemistry / chemical engineering. He's equally in agreement. Cold, dark, minimize exposure to oxidizers - should last years.
Now to just talk my wife into a little lab freezer...
I'm a mechanical designer and work in air separation technology; hollow fiber membranes, molecular sieves and cryogenic distillation. Fun stuff.
I asked a co-worker; he's our chief scientist and has a PHD in chemistry / chemical engineering. He's equally in agreement. Cold, dark, minimize exposure to oxidizers - should last years.
Now to just talk my wife into a little lab freezer...
Great Kurt - thanks.
I'm a mechanical designer and work in air separation technology; hollow fiber membranes, molecular sieves and cryogenic distillation. Fun stuff.
I asked a co-worker; he's our chief scientist and has a PHD in chemistry / chemical engineering. He's equally in agreement. Cold, dark, minimize exposure to oxidizers - should last years.
Now to just talk my wife into a little lab freezer...
That great! Thanks for getting a second opinion from another pro chemist! This issue has been discussed here extensively, but I think we now finally have a real plan for unflavored high-nic juice storage. I had been considering getting a PG/VG mix because PG does tend to kill bugs a bit better than VG, but PG and I simply don't get along, which is a common issue.
Even raw meat will last years in deep freeze, and few things go bad as aggressively as raw meat at room temp. And we don't have anything animal or vegetable in the juices (meaning pieces of fruit or meat, or large biomolecules). Combine this with VG or PG acting like sugar or honey does in canned foods (sugar OHs destroy bacteria cell walls), nicotine, that kills almost everything else, lack of ambient O2, and even at just cool temps the juice should last a long time. In deep freeze many years, I would think. The only other issue besides nic + O2 kinetics is racemization of nicotine's chiral center, but after looking at some journal articles on this, it looks like this reaction requires a strongly acidic environment and high heat, that it would not occur at neutral and very cold conditions. And even if it did happen a little, R-nicotine still has about half the psychoactive character of S-nicotine, the naturally occurring form. Even some of the oxidation products, like cotamine, have similar, although less, psychoactive character compared to nic.
I was wondering about O2 dissolved in glycerine itself. Looked it up, and the O2 solubility in VG is very low (0.008 cc O2 /g/atm.) At room temp, this calculates to 3EE-7 moles of O2/mL VG. So even if the VG was SATURATED with O2, the maximum a 100 mg nic VG juice would oxidize is about 0.05%, assuming a 1:1 molar reaction of O2 with nic. Nothing, even if it is at maximum kinetics.
So clearly, there are many internal safety nets here for properly stored unflavored high-nic VG juice, even if we don't freeze it. But once I test a small amount of mine to see about expansion at freezer temps, I will probably be freezing mine. Probably window dressing, but doesn't hurt the psychological factor.
As for the wife factor, if you are in a winter climate now, like we are on the East Coast, you can probably store it in the garage or even outside in a water-tight container while it is cold, and work on her come the Spring thaw. Of course, even in Philly we have to consider raccoons! 8-o They would certainly get into Tupperware. Mine is in an unheated cold room now probably not much warmer than outside, not the freezer just yet.
This was the one thing that was detracting piece of mind about my reserves, especially if there is a ban or extreme tax. Now I believe it is solved completely.
Interesting you mention molecular sieves. I was discussing with another chemist on BigJim's board the possibility of molecular sieves to soak up water in juices for storage, but they wouldn't dry the juice beyond its eutectic anyway.
Cryogenic freezing would be beyond cool...literally!
If we could only afford the N2 and cryo-fridge! Imagine pulling up a blue bottle from a lit-up freezer tube, like the dino eggs in Jurassic Park, complete with machanical movie servo sounds! Complete and utter overkill, but so sci-fi cool!! - Status
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