Ripening?

[kylereu]

Well, Dave, do you think you can keep any of your juices around long enough to age? It must take incredible discipline just to let it ripen. Maybe you could put some in burnt oak casks and bury them in your back yard? I'll volunter to taste test, but it needs to be 0 nic.

Wait I live closer! I pay for my services Dave

[ping279]

I honestly haven't noticed a difference with any of my juices buuuuut... doesn't mean that it doesn't actually happen. I might just not be able to taste the subtle differences

Hey, Ping. The differences we're talking about aren't that subtle, for the most part. Ripening is most noticeable when DIYing from flavorings, but can occur with suppliers who handcraft their juices, and even sometimes with suppliers who sell so much that their supply is fresh. Curing (leaving the bottle open) can be a very big difference, but only on certain juices/people. Aging is more subtle and requires actually keeping a juice around long enough to age, and it only happens for some juices.

Ah ok. Ya I haven't really found the need for any of my juices to ripen. They all seem to have a good strong flavor and I don't really diy. Although I have been contemplating buying only 0nic juice from now on and getting a bottle of unflavored nic to make my own mg level. It sounds like it would be much easier to achieve 1-2mg juice that way than diluting down 6mg juice and losing flavor.

[Evil Ernie]

Keep in mind folks that nicotine starts oxidizing when exposed to open air and UV light. Don't be suprised if your juice starts losing it's potency from leaving it uncapped. Keep your juice capped and in a cool spot out of direct sunlight. You'll notice that within a few days the juice may start to darken up, depending on what flavor it is, the amount of nic used, and how many impurities are in the nic base. 30mg juice will get really dark compared to the same size 8mg bottle.
It seems apparent that most rich flavors such as coffee, chocolate, toffee, caramel, and various pastry flavor bases contain an element that reacts with the nic causing a moderate to severe color change. The flavor and TH may change as well. Usually fruity flavors won't experience that much of a change.

And Dave, there is already a line of preaged juice. Its offered by those big juice companies that mix in a 55 gallon drum, bottle it, then throw it on a shelf for 6 months until someone buys it.

[icanhazvapor]

That's good to know as well EE. Though I generally only vape very light to zero nic.

I did try leaving the Coocoo Coconut uncapped over the last 24 hrs or so. It's actually pretty decent now, whereas before I found it pretty well unvapable (for my personal taste). I also found that it pairs really nicely with a good dark coffee.

[thevapinggun]

Thanks, EE. Its nice when the pros chime in. I've got a bottle of Bananas Foster that turned black. Not really suprising since thats what bananas do. Tastes as good as new, maybe even a bit better. Kinda weird though, during the course of 3 drops just now, I tasted Bananas Foster, Banana Cream Pie, and fresh green Banana.

[Shred909]

Freshly made juices with a significant portion of coconut flavoring will frequently benefit from being "aired out"

As Shado suggested, some flavors do indeed benefit more from ripening that others.

With some it is a light to moderate improvement. with others it can be quite dramatic.

Hmmmmm... Wonder why no one has come up with a "aged" series of ejuice yet?

They do it with liquor, right?

Funny you should say this because my Uncle had a bottle of menthol sitting around for almost 2 years that i decided to use up. Tasted like ass, but i wouldn't expect all flavors to benefit from this. Who is going to do the research?

[Evil Ernie]

TWO YEARS?!?!? You are a brave soul indeed. Eliquid definitely has a shelf life. Once mixed you can expect a 6-8 month period until it skunks. Think of it as beer: it has a born on date, and a date that it should be poured down the drain. Granted, some eliquids have longer shelf lives than others, menthol for example consists (usually) of a good amount of PGA therefore won't spoil as quickly; it's already self pickled.
I had some chocolate that I bought from Terry Brazil over at PEC last march. I rediscovered the bottle this january and did a few drops. It was DISGUSTING!!! The nic had completely oxidized and the VG had started to turn nasty. Remember, VG is an organic ingredient with no preservatives; it will sour and go bad.
Some vendors (such as Volcano) put a 'use by' date which I've actually tested. I had a half bottle of the classic V tobacco which was near it's date. I took a hit and it was still vapable, but I could definitely tell it was getting a little long in the tooth and needed to be disposed of. Point is, V's dates are pretty accurate give or take a couple weeks.

[ping279]

So I have noticed change in one of my juices. I have some bwp with some loranns creme de menthe in it. Originally I put about 9 drops in a 3ml bottle of bwp. The longer it sits, the stronger the creme de menthe gets. I keep adding more bwp whenever I can to try and even out the flavor. Next time I'll know better and only add a few drops!