How do you store e-juice the right way? Now, you may be thinking that e-juice pretty much can be stored any old way. After all, it’s just a chemical formulation of nicotine. How bad could bad storage decisions be?
Well, if you’re dealing with any kind of biochemical compound, especially something in liquid form, there will always be degradation. The chemical bonds as well as the specific formulation of the ingredients that went into the product may not withstand tremendous temperature variations. It may break down or separate into different layers when exposed to light.
All sorts of bad things can happen. Don’t think that just because you bought from a credible and trustworthy vendor that you’ve done business with for a long time that the product would be able to withstand shoddy or careless handling. That’s really the issue here.
Make no mistake about it, when your e-juice source delivered the product to you, they already did their job. They delivered a product that lived up to its billing. It tastes the way it was described. It performs as described.
If both of these factors are present, then your source is off the hook. They already did what was reasonably expected of them. Everything else that could happen is on you.
I know this sounds pretty jarring and it’s definitely not the kind of answer a lot of people would expect, but it’s absolutely true. Why put the responsibility or blame on your vendor when it turns out the way you handled your e-juice caused it to break down prematurely?
You have to store it properly. So here are just some rules of thumb that I follow to ensure that my vaping juice delivers an amazing experience for months, if not years, down the road.
First, make sure that you buy the right container. The problem with buying huge lots of vape juice from eliquid-depot.com and then storing them in any old soda bottle is the fact that those bottles are not designed to contain e-juice. It’s important to make sure that you buy specialized equipment.
Sure, we’re talking about plastic containers. You might be thinking at the back of your head how different could plastic containers be? Well, it turns out that they can be quite different because plastic actually comes in many different chemical “blends.” Just like there are many different blends of coffee or tea using different composite ingredients, the same applies to plastics and their composite materials.
You have to pick the right blend because these differences impact how well they stand up to chemical pressure. Some deteriorate quickly over time, others don’t mix well with vape juice and they start to deteriorate. So make sure you are looking at the right plastic type. At the very least, you need a plastic type that would ensure that the nicotine content of your vape juice or e-juice remains intact over an extended period of time.
The next thing that you need to look at is the size of the container. As I mentioned above, buying a tremendous amount of e-juice at one time might not be a smart move. Not only would there be container-related issues, but there would also be early breakdown issues.
The great thing about vaping is that you probably would need a tremendous amount of juice sooner that you expected. But you shouldn’t allow this fact to somehow delude or trick you into buying jugs, if not gallons, of this liquid way before you need them.
You have to remember that when you’re dealing with any kind of liquid, especially all-organic, perfectly natural e-juice formulations, these liquids do settle. This is especially true for compounds. Meaning, these liquids don’t normally go with each other, but they have been blended together. So you have to consume that liquid in a relatively short period of time, otherwise, the different parts that were blended together would start to filter.
It’s not unusual for, for example, condiment liquids, including fish sauce, or perhaps tomato paste, to separate into solids, liquids, and then oils. The same situation can play out with e-juice depending on the particular manufacturer and formulation you bought.
Given this reality, it doesn’t make sense to buy really large containers and store a tremendous amount of e-juice. Instead, you might want to look at your actual usage pattern and double it. That should be the upward limit of the amount of vaping liquid you should have available.
The third thing that you need to pay attention to is storage location. It’s always a good idea to store any kind of liquid that is prone to breakdown or go through some sort of internal chemical change or filtering or separation, in a cool, dark place. This way, you are shielding the container from two factors that put a tremendous amount of pressure and inflict quite a bit of punishment on liquid as well as solid chemical compounds. I am, of course, talking about heat and light.
Many substances only need to come contact with open air and under normal heat start breaking down. Others need light to trigger some sort of chemical chain reaction that leads to the chemical bonds of the liquid breaking down to such an extent that the liquid starts separating itself.
Regardless of how you cut it, you really have to be proactive in making sure that the environmental factors that lead to some sort of degradation, separation or some sort of breakdown in the chemical bonds holding together the compounds in a formulation are simply present. This is why it’s a good idea to always keep your stuff in a cool, dry place.
Now, in many situations, it might even make sense to cover the stored items with some sort of cloth to further regulate the internal temperature of the liquids you are trying to store. Keep this in mind when storing e-juice.
Personally, I would not store it at all. Instead, I would only have one bottle available so by the time I’m almost done with my first bottle, and I’m ready to switch to the next bottle, I would have ordered my follow-up bottle.
Do you see how this works? This way, you get everything using a “just in time” system and you really cut out the possibility of you vaping with a less than fresh or less than effective e-juice.
