Hello everyone, Chris Sisson here again. Today we will talk about how to steep e-juice. Picture this, you just visited a vape shop and after trying out several flavors you brought home a bottle of e-juice that you thought you really enjoyed but upon opening the bottle you found the flavor doesn’t taste much at all like the one you tested out in the vape shop. Or you just found a new company online and they offer really incredible prices on made to order e-liquids and the flavors sound appealing so you put in an order only to receive some of the most tasteless liquid you’ve ever tried. So what gives, why doesn’t your juice taste like you expect it to? Often the case is what most veteran vapers will refer to as steeping or the process of allowing the mixed flavors and ingredients in an e-liquid to fully blend and incorporate.
How to Steep E-juice
Most of us know that an e-liquid is made up of only a few common ingredients including vegetable glycerin, propylene glycol, flavoring and nicotine. Because the ingredients often have a different viscosity (thickness) mixing them together thoroughly can sometimes be a challenge. It’s why you’ll see on almost any bottle to shake well before using as often the ingredients can separate leading to a harsh hit or a serious nicotine spike.
Steeping a term which is often used with tea means to let the product sit and the flavors to develop much like with a cup of tea. Probably the most reliable method for steeping is to just shake your liquid and leave it in a cool dark place for a couple of weeks however there are a number of techniques that people have employed to accelerate the process which can often take a considerable amount of time. How effective these methods are is up for debate but here are some of the most common methods to steep e-juice.
How to Steep E-juice?
5 Tips to Steep E-juice
Time: As mentioned just leaving it sitting in a cool dark place for one to two weeks is usually enough to see a change in your liquid. This method is probably the least risky, the least involved and only requires a little bit of patience.
Shaking: There’s a reason your bottle suggests shaking well before use! The most common and probably easiest method of steeping is just shaking your e-liquid. If used in conjunction with time this method is probably the most foolproof method and won’t run the risk of ruining your product. There are of course a number of ways this can be accomplished and I’ve even seen users strap bottles to liquid to a reciprocal saw to shake the heck out of their juice in no time flat.
Heat: Warming an e-liquid up will make it less viscous which in turn makes it easier to blend. A lot of users will suggest a warm bath to sort of thin out the liquid before giving it a thorough shake. I’ve also heard others suggest leaving it in a warm car but one thing to consider with heat is too much can actually be detrimental to an e-liquid and can start breaking down the liquid or nicotine which in turn can ruin the juice so always use heat with caution.
How to Steep E-juice?
Ultrasonic: Another method which isn’t quite as common is to use an ultrasonic cleaner to speed steep the juice. This method involves placing the sealed bottles in a warm ultrasonic bath. The ultrasonic waves of the machine heats up the liquid inside the bottles but also sort of shakes it with ultrasonic waves. I’ve seen tests where it appears about an hour in an ultrasonic equates to about a week of steeping but even this time tested method has it’s detractors.
Breathing: A lot of users believe oxidation plays a role in developing the flavor of your liquid and will open a bottle to let it breath which in turn leads to oxidation. Others will argue that oxidizing your nicotine isn’t a good thing but we’re not here to debate just discuss the methods. An alternate method often referred to as streathing involves both breathing and steeping in conjunction to achieve the perfect steep.
Conclusion
How effective any of these methods truly are is still up for debate but most folks will agree on steeping to some degree will almost always benefit a liquid, with some flavors outright requiring a good steep before it tastes as it should. Since some of these methods have the potential to be destructive it’s always suggested that you use caution when attempting to steep your liquids and keeping notes on the results can help you find a method that works best for you. At the end of the day a bit of patience is all that’s really needed and now being equipped with a little bit of knowledge will mean you too can steep e-juice with confidence.
