"Steeping" why? and how?

[spegtoast]

I am new to buying e-juice. I am currently waiting for my first kit and was doing some research for the best juice. right now I am smoking backwoods cigars / honey flavor. So I am partial to honey.

My question is during my research I am finding that people are "steeping" the juice. How do I know when I need to do this? And why are people doing it?

 

[Happy2beMe]

Some companies steep their liquid before sending it like Clouds of Vapor. Other companies make the juice to order like Mt vapor and ECBlend. The made to order ones you'll need to steep for 1-4 weeks. The reason to steep is so that the flavor and nicotine can absorb completely into the PG and/or VG base. VG base will need to steep longer than PG due to it's viscosity.

 

[StormFinch]

Also, like certain foods that have sat in the fridge, some juices are better steeped and some not necessarily. Single fruit flavors for the most part are good right out of the mixing room. Rule of thumb tends to be that the more complex the flavor, the better it is steeped. If you find a juice you don't particularly like, set it aside and let it steep for a while. You might find you like it once it's had time to blend. You could always buy two small bottles of a juice you're trying and put one back to steep, then vape the other to see which you prefer.

 

[spegtoast]

So.. To "steep" is just to set it aside and let it age?

 

[StormFinch]

So.. To "steep" is just to set it aside and let it age?

Yep, like a fine wine we will not vape before it's time.

Seriously though, you can get a fast steep by letting a bottle of juice sit in hot water for about an hour and shaking it occasionally, then letting it return to room temperature. It's said that's good for about a week's steep. You can do a search of the forums up on the top right of the page for other steep tips. There's hundreds of them.

 

[spegtoast]

Oh boy.. here we go lol.

Thank you

 

[shatner]

So.. To "steep" is just to set it aside and let it age?

Exactly. Why in the hell is it called steeping? No freaking clue. It's just aging. Give it a good shake every day or three.

As others have said, it's just giving the flavors time to meld. It's like soup/stew. It's always better on the second day.

If you like honey tobacco try Ahlusion's Gold Rising and/or Velvet Cloud Vapor's Blue Beard Tobacco. Both are honey cured Virginia tobacco. Blue Beard has essence of blackberry and blueberry. Gold Rising, to me, is straight up honey Virginia. You can't go wrong with either, imo.

 

[aubergine]

"The widow rung a bell for supper, and you had to come to time. When you got to the table you couldn’t go right to eating, but you had to wait for the widow to tuck down her head and grumble a little over the victuals, though there warn’t really anything the matter with them,—that is, nothing only everything was cooked by itself. In a barrel of odds and ends it is different; things get mixed up, and the juice kind of swaps around, and the things go better. "
Huck Finn

 

[Abe_Katz]

Steeping is setting aside a juice to age for a period of time. This is done to allow the flavors to meld with the base liquid and each other.

More complex flavors like say tobaccos, or bakery cereal types require more steeping than say very simple fruit flavors. Furthermore depending on whether you are buying ready made juice or making DIY juice for yourself steeping times may vary.

For example I make a simple banana cream flavor that I'm partial to. It has to steep three days. My menthol which is just plain menthol is ready for use after steeping a few hours. With ready made juice as an other example several fruit flavors are ready to vape immediately but my Krispie treats juice requires nearly 2 months of steeping time to get good.

There are several ways to steep one's juice. One such method is to place your juice (in the bottle) into a tub of hot water and allow it to sit there for an hour and shake it vigorously as it returns to room temperature after removing it. An other is to simply let it alone for a period of time (the do nothing tactic). And yet an other is to shake the juice vigorously several times a day over the course of several days or even a week or two.

The point of steeping is to improve the flavor of the juice. Some juices age like fine wine, other juices age like fish. And to figure out which is which for you will require experimentation--taste is subjective.

 

[spegtoast]

Awesome. Just glad it's not a chore to make it taste good. Aging like soup is a good analogy. Gives time for all the flavors to meld together. I Always love my chili the next day or two.

 

[Jethead]

Didn't read the entire thread so I don't know if it's been said already... Try the juice fresh out of the mail, some do not need steeping at all. In fact I PREFER Boba's fresh over steeped. On the other hand MOST tobacco based flavors greatly benifit from a long steep.