On the two separate occasions I've bought 4oz+ amounts of a flavor from this retailer and gotten it re-packaged, within a week of using it I started getting thoughts that it just didn't seem to taste as good as I'd remembered... upon realizing this with my newest order I realize it's a trend now and am hoping to find if anyone's ever found reason for real concern when a retailer is re-packaging capella/flavor west/etc, I mean the first time I got a 4oz from them I figured that the flavor just wasn't how I remembered it from the small bottle I'd gotten before, but I just recently got another larger (re-packaged) bottle of another flavor from this retailer and, after vaping it a couple days, started thinking 'this isn't nearly as good as I remembered it being' - at which point I realize that this is the 2nd time I've had this feeling and that both times were different flavors / shipments but both were the same retailer's re-bottled stuff.. Has there been issue with retailers pulling shenanigans like this, like adulterating flavor concentrates? I could always be imagining stuff but it's not like I had a suspicion then confirmed it, I just had the 'I remember it being better' feeling happen a 2nd time and realized both times were under this same circumstance, it's never been the case I get juice in OEM packaging and think it tastes any different than in the past!
I think you just set some kind of record for longest sentence there, but no, not really. Any problems I've encountered has been about neglect, like oxidized nicotine, leaking bottles, shitty packaging etc.
What you're experiencing could be explained by a number of factors, but if it is indeed the exact same flavor and it's the fault of the vendor, it's going to be failure to shake the bulk container before dispensing into smaller bottles rather than anything like dilution or whatever.
I've had thoughts of that before, not altering them, just not being well handled. I think most places have a good system down now though. could be the difference of you having older stock before in the small bottles, and fresh stock in the big ones. the flavors by themselves can kind of "steep" and change.
If that's the case though I'd imagine the smaller OEM bottles would be worse as they'd be fresher / less-steeped than the product they'd gotten gallons of and have been using to fill DIY bottles with (though I cannot really say I notice much difference from my concentrates over time - I do notice an aging effect in juices like if I mix up 240mL of something and it's sat a while it's better, but for my 'core flavorings' I've gotten 2nd rounds of them multiple times and the only times I've gotten the feeling 'this doesn't taste as good as I remember' were the these two instances wherein they were re-packaged (I'd gotten smaller OEM bottles of the same flavors as well and didn't notice them tasting different to the last OEM bottle, my newest one is a re-bottled Flavor West concentrate and is the 2nd time I've been vaping some juice and thought 'damn this isn't nearly as good as I remember why'd I buy a larger bottle?' and then realized I've had that feeling twice now, both times being with re-packaged concentrates from the same retailer... Two times isn't really enough to be sure but I'm not ordering re-bottled concentrates from this retailer again.
> I've had thoughts of that before, not altering them, just not being well handled.
I'd wager that malice would be far more likely than incompetence, I mean it's really not hard to shake & re-bottle if they'd bought a gallon of Capella, it is easy (and the reasoning obvious) to add 1/4 gallon 'shitty orange from defunct Flavor Co.' to a gallon of Capella orange and sell it as un-adulterated Capella :/ I'd like to think the #'s are too small to make that a worthwhile thing for a retailer to do...
For any of the big ones, it definitely is. Contact them about this and see what they have to say about it. I've seen one of the larger sites running behind the scenes and they definitely don't have time (or financial reason) to go mixing top shelf concentrates with cheap old stock or whatever. Now a small outfit that made some bad buying decisions? Totally possible. I wouldn't categorize any of the usual suspects as small outfits though.
No problems here , as long as the bottle is full, (no almost full BS) then i'm happy.
What's funny is that I've never had, or at least noticed, a shorted bottle from a repackager. However, both times I've bought Rich Cinnamon (in its original packaging) it was short. Damn you, Flavorah! Charging me $145, a testicle, and two goats for 13ml, and then shorting me down to 9. Why, I oughta... :)
Very rare these days , been happy with the re bottling lately . EcigXpress sent me Tasty Puff flavoring that had only a 1/4 of the bottle full . Those flavors i believe came in the original bottle .
I sent pics complaining and they sent another one, ( did not even check it before sending) and it also had 3/4 of the flavoring missing .
The lady told me they are fazing out Tasty Puff flavoring lol.
Haha, that totally figures. Maybe she was being literal and most of the TP had actually been phased out of the bottles. Beam-me-up-Scotty-like. I didn't know TP was used in e-liquid. I remember ten years or so ago gas stations around these parts sold bottles for "cigarettes." I tried a drop on a joint once. Can't remember what flavor it was, but it sure ruined the taste of that joint..
What brands of concentrate do you use, and what retailer do you buy through? I've really only tried capella & flavor-west, have been satisfied enough with them that I haven't really ventured out to other brands but would like to expand my collection :)
Last year I bought a 5ml bottle of Lotus Flavors (Medicine Flower) White Cherry from ECX, and couldn't get a tester to work at 1.5%. It had a weird chemical taste even after a month's steep in 50/50 base (no nic).
Diluted the tester to 1% and let that steep for at least a week. Still had an off taste although fainter. Tried 0.5%, still no good.
After that I ordered directly from Medicine Flower.
I'm not saying this is happening in your case, and I have nothing to back this up other than anecdotal evidence, but in my opinion there is a certain amount of confirmation bias that happens with repackaged product.
When it's not labelled as people are used to, direct from the OEM, people are concerned about what has happened to it between the OEM and their mailbox, and maybe start to look for, then find, differences that aren't there.
Now that's just my personal opinion (not that of BCF), it may well be that the product you've received is old and has lost some of it's potency, it's certainly possible.
As for adulterating concentrates, it would really be more hassle than it's worth to do (assuming you want all your adulterated batches to taste the same at least).
That's before you consider the risk of one disgruntled ex-employee spilling the beans and your business is suddenly over. I'm not saying it's never happened, but I think it's pretty unlikely, certainly with the more established vendors.