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Liquid separation in FW Black Licorice and FW Extreme Ice problem
submitted over 9 years ago by MiniDemonic

I'm not sure where to post this to get some information or help, so hopefully this is the right place. I'm relatively new to DIY eJuice, mixed a couple juices before this but never had any problems until now.

So, as the title says I'm getting liquid separation when mixing Black Licorice and Extreme Ice from Flavor West.

I have tried mixing in both plastic and glass bottles but both have liquid separation, the one in a plastic bottle is cloudy and you can't see through it.

The one in the plastic bottle seems to mix when shaking for a bit, but it only takes an hour or so before you can see the liquid separation again.

The glass bottle sample just form millions of bubbles when mixing and if you let it sit for a couple minutes it starts to clear up and separate again.

Here's some photos of the two bottles:

  • Plastic bottle, separation is there but not visible on the image.

http://i.imgur.com/i38I07B.jpg

  • Glass bottle before shaking

http://i.imgur.com/WN6MrCV.jpg

  • Glass bottle a minute or so after shaking

http://i.imgur.com/UTeVYiQ.jpg

The glass bottle sample was mixed just recently so maybe it will fix itself with time or with heat steeping. But the plastic bottle sample was mixed around 24 hours ago and has been treated with heat steeping but with no change.

Both samples are mixed the same way:

  • 70/30 VG/PG

  • 14% Black Licorice

  • 1% Extreme Ice

The really weird thing is that I mixed a slightly different juice with Black Licorice and Extreme Ice prior to these and that one didn't have any separation, it was mixed in a plastic bottle and it was also cloudy but you could still see through it. That bottle is empty now though so I can't show a picture. It had the same VG/PG but with 13% Black Licorice, 3% Extreme Ice and 4% Key Lime as flavoring.

Links to flavors used:

http://flavorwest.com/index.php/black-licorice.html

http://flavorwest.com/index.php/extreme-ice.html

Comments
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3 points
 
by altneuroseover 9 years ago

Anise, citrus and cinnamon flavors are prone to separation at very high percentages/high VG and cloudiness when they do mix well. No real fix to it but lowering the flavor or VG. I think someone somewhere sometime suggested trying 1% ethyl alcohol to make strong solutions stable.

1 points
 
by MiniDemonicover 9 years ago

Tried by diluting with some more PG and it seems to have mostly fixed it. Guess I will have to find more flavors to mix with black licorice if I want 15-20% flavoring.

Took some time for me to test and respond because I had to order more PG.

2 points
 
by GunslingerDudsover 9 years ago

Are you shaking your concentrates really really really well before you add them to your mix?

Also, heat steeping will ruin a lot of mixes. Please look at skiddlzninja's DIY Mythbusting post

1 points
 
by MiniDemonicover 9 years ago

Yup, I always shake the concentrates before adding them to the mix.

I already did some quick googling on liquid separating and most posts I found recommended heat steeping to help the liquids mix.

1 points
 
by frings_demiseover 9 years ago

If I were to make a list of every single flavoring I have ever seen and ranked them in order of most likely to try, I cannot think of one that would rank below those two. YUCK! GL with your issue tho.

2 points
 
by MiniDemonicover 9 years ago

The one juice that didn't separate with them tastes like the Extra Salty Licorice gum.

2 points
 
by not_rocs_marieover 9 years ago

do you happen to be from a Nordic country?

3 points
 
by MiniDemonicover 9 years ago

My love for salty licorice gave it away?

1 points
 
by wh1skeyk1ngover 9 years ago

14% Black Licorice seems extreme. Honestly I would lose the Flavor West flavorings completely and try some TFA Absinthe/ FA Anise with some TFA Koolada. FW doesn't deserve your business.

1 points
 
by nerdsrsmartover 9 years ago

I'm genuinely curious, why does FW not deserve one's business?

1 points
 
by Paleone123over 9 years agoProud Sidebar Reader!

They've been caught lying about what's in their concentrates a few times. First about diketones, more recently it was discovered many of their concentrates contain sugars like fructose that are probably unsafe to vape, but they didn't disclose this as an ingredient anywhere but the MSDS, while it should have been listed as food ingredient along side "PG, natural and artificial flavors, etc."

1 points
 
by nerdsrsmartover 9 years ago

Ah, I see. I wonder if the legality of things sorted everything out.

1 points
 
by fuctfuctover 9 years ago

This happened to me with these two flavors. WAY more so with licorice. 20% Flavoring and 80 VG. I would shake the living shit out of them and within an hour they would look just like your pics. I just make sure to shake them really well before i put in a tank.

1 points
 
by MiniDemonicover 9 years ago

I noticed it helped by diluting with more pg, need to do more tests and see what the maximum percentace of licorice I can use is. Currently it seems to be around 10% in a 70%VG blend.

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