The Virtue of Patience: Steeping Your E-Juice
Steeping E-Juice 101
Steeping! The term is simple, but misleading. Technically “steeping” means submerging a solid substance in liquid to extract its flavor - like soaking a tea bag in boiling water. As far as we vapers are concerned though, steeping e-juice will kick your DIY skills into high gear and help your juice’s flavor blossom into its fullest potential. So what exactly is it, then?
The process of steeping is backed by a simple science. When e-juice is first made, the molecules of flavor concentrates may not have time to completely absorb into the PG and VG by the time the juice is fully mixed. Letting e-juice sit untouched for a while ensures that its flavor fully absorbs into the PG and VG. Leaving your e-juice alone is the essence of steeping, but there are a couple useful techniques you can use to expedite the process. We’ll cover them in just a bit.
How Long Does Steeping Take?
E-juice flavors are as unique and subjective as a fine wine or a gourmet meal. You may prefer the taste of a fresh bottle of Strawberry Banana with no steep time at all, while your buddy may prefer the same bottle after two weeks of steeping. Our point is, there is no definitive rule for how long e-juice should steep for. The general consensus throughout the vaping community is that lighter/simpler flavors require less time to steep while heavier/more complex flavors require more. Consider these tentative guidelines:
Fruit, light drink, and candy flavors: 2-5 days.
Tobacco, custard, and heavy cream flavors: 1-3 weeks.
Some companies also include “born on” or creation dates on their labels to indicate their e-juice’s age. Commercial e-juices almost always come pre-steeped to assure satisfaction.
Are There Faster Ways to Steep E-Juice?
Leaving e-juice alone will get the job done just fine, but there are other ways to cultivate flavor faster. Namely: heat and agitation. When VG is exposed to heat, it becomes less viscous and allows for easier binding with the flavor concentrates. Running your bottle under moderately warm water for thirty seconds to a minute will thin the VG and speed up the chemical process - like vape alchemy!
Periodically shaking your bottle also turbo-charges your flavor by forcing all the ingredients to mix with each other. This technique is extra efficient after warming your bottle, since the temporarily thinned VG is more porous. So! If waiting three weeks to enjoy a new delectable e-liquid is just too long, consider warming and shaking your juice once or twice a day to get that 100% flavor faster.
Breathing Method
Breathing and steeping e-juice often go hand-in-hand, but the two are different techniques. “Breathing” e-juice means taking the cap off your bottle and exposing the juice to open air. Some flavor concentrates contain a small amount of alcohol so the idea is that breathing a bottle will evaporate any lingering aroma of alcohol, leaving the juice with a well-rounded flavor. After you’ve let your bottle breath, put the cap back on and give it a vigorous shake.
Conclusion
Good things come to those who wait - and the notion applies to e-juice too. Whether you’re concocting DIY juice or prefer the taste of store bought, steeping can help squeeze the most flavor out of whatever you choose to vape. Steeping isn’t a cure-all for subpar juice, but it’s a useful practice every vaper should add to their repertoire.