Steeping, possible accelerator.

[Ment]

This seems so obvious it must have come up before, but I don't recall ever reading about it.

I made up a batch of my tobacco mix and found I'd run out of VG. With my stocks in the shed I thought I'd leave it till the next day, and then forgot about it.

A week later, with just the flavourings, nicotine and PG, the mix has gone from a light tinge to this:

I've now added the VG and it's the same colour as a mix I made 6 months ago, but it smells more advanced. I'll leave it for a few days for the VG to blend in a bit and test it.

 

[ZT]

This seems so obvious it must have come up before, but I don't recall ever reading about it.

I made up a batch of my tobacco mix and found I'd run out of VG. With my stocks in the shed I thought I'd leave it till the next day, and then forgot about it.

A week later, with just the flavourings, nicotine and PG, the mix has gone from a light tinge to this:

View attachment 166712

I've now added the VG and it's the same colour as a mix I made 6 months ago, but it smells more advanced. I'll leave it for a few days for the VG to blend in a bit and test it.

This is a similar technique that we use when building new flavours for testing - as advised by Paul form The Druids Brew - its very similar to this .. just nicbase and the flavourings in a warm place overnight or a day or two before adding the diluents.

 

[phleabas]

@Ment Very interesting, thanks for sharing. How do you explain it, everything interacting at closer proximity and the presence of a large volume of air in the bottle perhaps.

 

[ZT]

@Ment Very interesting, thanks for sharing. How do you explain it, everything interacting at closer proximity and the presence of a large volume of air in the bottle perhaps.

its because nicotine reacts with the flavours .. we make shortfills that never change colour ..

but the Nic'd up stuff we make does ... more importantly the higher the nicotine strength the quicker and darker it goes ..

that to me says its the reaction with the nicotine.

hence using no PG/or VG and letting it sit for a day or 3 can really speed up the final destination process .. very useful when developing new flavours for us.

I view most speed steeping techniques such as frothing as pure bro science drivel - and leaving the top off I find ridiculous (especially with all the cries for cleanrooms) - but there is from our experience some merit in applying gentle heat and using the above technique.

 

[zouzounaki]

I used to sometimes mix this way, flavours and nic only then add the vg and pg after about a week. It definitely works. Not sure why I never do it anymore.

 

[zouzounaki]

its because nicotine reacts with the flavours .. we make shortfills that never change colour ..

but the Nic'd up stuff we make does ... more importantly the higher the nicotine strength the quicker and darker it goes ..

that to me says its the reaction with the nicotine.

hence using no PG/or VG and letting it sit for a day or 3 can really speed up the final destination process .. very useful when developing new flavours for us.

It’s interesting eh? I found this was a problem with salt nic as well, it seemed to stop the steeping process for flavours that have a pronounced colour change and need freebase nic to steep. I started a thread a good while back. I’m not sure if it’s the same with all salt nic but definitely the two I’ve had. I think the amount of benzoic acid added might be a factor in this, and whether or not the nic is fully converted. It seems to me the salt is more stable and less reactive.

 

[ZT]

It’s interesting eh? I found this was a problem with salt nic as well, it seemed to stop the steeping process for flavours that have a pronounced colour change and need freebase nic to steep. I started a thread a good while back. I’m not sure if it’s the same with all salt nic but definitely the two I’ve had. I think the amount of benzoic acid added might be a factor in this, and whether or not the nic is fully converted. It seems to me the salt is more stable and less reactive.

possibly correct - for us time will tell .. I shall make note during the sitting periods of our NicSalt stuff

 

[zouzounaki]

I have planned a little experiment. The batch of salt I have at the minute has too high a ratio of benzoic acid. Someone recommended mixing it 50/50 with freebase, so the loose benzoic acid in the solution would react with the freebase and “salt” it, while also getting rid of the excess benzoic. My plan was to steep some flavours in the freebase for a couple of weeks first, before adding it to the salt. But it’s only a thought at the minute, need to get round to working out amounts and ratios etc.

Potentially you could also steep flavours with freebase nic before converting it to salt, too.

 

[Horrand]

As far as I'm concerned nothing beats time for a steep. You need the time for the flavours to homogenise with the pg and vg. If they steeped without this you'd never need to steep one shots or bottle shots.

 

[Ment]

As far as I'm concerned nothing beats time for a steep. You need the time for the flavours to homogenise with the pg and vg. If they steeped without this you'd never need to steep one shots or bottle shots.

They don't contain nicotine, and that's what determines steeping rates. I too believe that nothing beats time, which is why I was making a mix to vape in 6 months,

We don't know enough yet so I have no idea if VG breaking down is part of the steeping process or it just sits there and inhibits everything, but I'll soon find out if this has helped or made no difference.