The Basics of Vaping: Steeping E-Juice

Vaping is catching on at a lightning fast pace as many people cotton on to the fact that electronic cigarettes are better than tobacco cigarettes for a number of reasons, including the five below.

1. Although e-cigs contain nicotine, they don’t contain thousands of chemicals like tobacco cigarettes do, including chemicals like formaldehyde that shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near the human body
2. Electronic cigarettes are much more affordable than cigarettes in most countries and switching to e-cigs can therefore save you money
3. E-cigs don’t harm others by emitting an equivalent of secondhand smoke, one of the reasons why smoking is now banned in many public places
4. Electronic cigarettes are used by many as cessation aids, enabling them to knock their nicotine habit on the head once and for all
5. E-cigs don’t smell as dirty or unpleasant so you can kiss your better half without him/her grimacing at your smoker’s breath

In addition to being better than tobacco cigarettes in a myriad of ways, vapers generally find that they can derive even greater pleasure from vaping by steeping their e-juice.

What is steeping e-juice, why is it done and how does it work?

Steeping e-juice can simply mean storing it in a cool, dark place so as to let the aromas develop over time.

This is a practice that has been used for centuries with alcoholic beverages and as you’re probably aware from experience, a bottle of brandy, port, wine or whisky generally tastes better over time than it does upon being opened for the first time because the molecules break down giving it a more full flavoured and richer taste.

This is known as oxidisation and it’s a method used to develop the flavours of many foods, like cheese and Christmas puddings for instance, as well as alcoholic beverages and now e-juice.

Most e-juices will darken as they steepen and for the most part this is fine; however, bear in mind that there are limits to how long you should leave e-juice to steepen and that some e-juice varieties will fare better than others – there’s often a healthy amount of trial and error involved.

How to steep e-juice

In addition to the method above, the ‘time method’, i.e. leaving e-juice in a cool, dark place so as to allow the oxidisation process to work its magic, there are actually quite a few steeping methods that vapers have used to derive even more pleasure from their e-cigarette, including the following four e-juice steeping methods that you may be familiar with.

The agitation method

This doesn’t mean annoying your e-juice into taking on a richer flavour, as the agitation method simply involves some vigorous shaking/stirring of the e-juice so as to get air bubbles circulating throughout the liquid.

Shake/stir the e-juice vigorously, wait for the bubbles to rise to the top and then repeat.

The microwave method

This is a risky method because heat evaporates and eliminates the nicotine content if it gets too hot.

If you’re going to try the microwave method:

a)      Try it out with a small amount of e-juice just in case

b)      Use a low heating setting on your microwave

c)      Take the cap off the bottle before placing it in the microwave

Some vapers are of the mind that this steeping method is the best because it manipulates the molecules in the e-juice in ways that other methods can’t because it’s being blasted with microwaves.

The ultrasonic method

Due to what’s involved – combining vibrations from electronic pulses of energy and/or ultrasonic frequencies with warm water – you probably won’t be able to try this e-juice steeping method at home because of the required equipment, though many believe it offers the best results.

The warm water method

This is one of the easiest methods and simply involves placing the container of e-juice in warm water where the liquid is thinned to enable fusion at a molecular level.

Not all vapers have fallen in love with these e-juice steeping methods; in fact, some consider them to be a complete waste of time, though most vapers, upon trying one or more methods, find that they result in a more satisfying vaping experience.

Tags: Electronic cigarette

Category: Health