I ordered 100mg/ml salts in vg from Carolina extracts as well as enough 15ml polycone caped ember glass boston bottles to break it down into smaller units. I plan on filling the bottles to the top as soon as i get the nic and putting my excess bottles in an ember mason jar in my freezer between uses. I believe a 15ml bottle of nic would last me about about 6 months if I mixed and consumed everything perfectly (although I doubt my mixes will turn out that quality initially). Depending on which size I get (check previous post) I should have enough nic salts to last me between 3 and 20 years depending on which size. I also dont plan on using an argon gas preservative because I plan on filling them to the brim as soon as I get it and I’ve read things about argon not being as effective of preserver in low volume environments when mixed with atmospheric air due to density of the two gases (basically the oxygen will be in contact with the solution due to it being heavier then any remaining oxygen in such a low volume container resulting in similar decomposition rates regardless of preservative)
Estimates on how long 100mg/ml vg nic salts would last being stored in top filled polycone topped ember bottles in an amber mason jar?
I'm slightly worried I decanted my last bottles wrong and don't know what to do. I did not fill them to the top so there is air in the bottle. All were filled up to the neck or past that. Should I be worried there's to much air in them?
Idk my thing is atmospheric gas (the air we breath) is only about 23% o2 the rest is most co2 and nitrogen. Also layering of nicotine because the air is likely not moving around while in storage. So if you have like a ml or 2 of atmospheric gas in it would that cause oxygenation for the whole bottle or just for the top layer? From my incredibly basic understanding of chemistry and physical properties the air would only oxidate the very top layer of nicotine because liquid is denser than air and if its not physically being exposed to it through movement oxidation should be minimal similar to an inert gas like argon. I have no fuckin idea and theres not enough research/too complicated/ behind a paywall to understand nicotine degradation under the conditions diyers store it in. Imo you should be fine as long as its being stored in uv blocking, air sealed bottles, in a freezer or other stable low temp environment but keep in mind I’ve never stored nic and I’ve only done research so take with how ever many grains of salt that is worth.
Don't open them. That head space is not a bad thing.
It only oxidizes once. If the bottles have been sealed for 2 or 3 months, oxidation has already completed.
I'm new to this whole diy and storing nicotine thing too. Always bought commercial, so i really don't have answers for you based on any experience other than the research i've done.
I'm doing the same thing as you. Just breaking down into smaller amber glass bottle and storing in the freezer until my commercial juice runs out in a year or two.
As far as the argon, i was on the fence about it and whether i should use it or not. Most recommend it based on my reading. Maybe it's necessary and maybe it's not, but you can buy a can of the stuff for $10 on amazon, so why not use it? $10 is worth the insurance of hopefully helping the nicotine stay fresh, so I'll be using it once my shipment of cnt nicotine comes in and i start breaking it down.
I'm too lazy to look it up, but argon probably does nothing to extend the life so long as your bottles are nearly full. Gases are constantly moving, and even though argon is "heavier" than the gas in the atmosphere, it would need to be at temperatures much colder than a home freezer to form a protective layer. If you have some type of vacuum sealer with nitrogen that might be another story.
Edit: Argon is sold to preserve wine because you're displacing a decent amount of gas in a wine bottle that's 2/5 full.
>Gases are constantly moving, and even though argon is "heavier" than the gas in the atmosphere, it would need to be at temperatures much colder than a home freezer to form a protective layer
This actually isn't true. The argon is heavy enough that, if done carefully, it will effectively completely displace the atmospheric air on top of the liquid, and remain nearly pure once the cap is in place. Please see my comment above:
https://www.reddit.com/r/DIY_eJuice/comments/m91uj0/storing_nicotine_without_a_vacuum_sealer_in/gro44ct?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share&context=3
https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/213903/behavior-of-two-gases-in-a-closed-container
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that's the behavior of two ideal gases. Any chemist worth their salt will tell you that that's a major consideration.
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that scenario isn't applicable to this one. The argon and the air mixture aren't sealed together and allowed to sit. The argon immediately displaces the air, forces it to not be present any longer, and the container is sealed.
I'm literally telling you that this is something that everyone in the field of synthetic chemistry knows and does. Why are you trying to argue with that? I'm simply trying to provide helpful information.
Suggestion....Carolina extracts are on the extremely high end price wise for nicotine. You don't have to pay that much for good nic. Liquid Nicotine Wholesalers...$49 for one liter. There is also River Supply and a few others. Shop around. Another tip...get your nic in PG next time, much easier to work with when it's cold. Another opinion...if I were to put it into small bottles, I'd go for 60, or 120 ml bottles. Myself I use 240ml bottles. Argon is helpful, but not necessary. My thought is you don't need to store little tiny bottles of nic in mason jars for protection...way too much work. You can ace your bottles in freezer bags or a cardboard box or what have you
I get it, my biggest concern is any kind of extraction process/additives. I dont have any kind of evidence to suggest that any other nic brand so I dont want it to seem like Im suggesting anything negative. From my research CE is supposed to be the smoothest and purely extracted nic. My goal is to quit eventually and reduce potential harm by using as few additives and flavors as possible as the long term health implications of inhaling aerosolized flavors are not known (again not suggesting its bad just that the long term effects of inhalation are objectively unknown because vaping is so recent). In doing that I want to use the purest ingredients possible and it seems like CE would be that company. Im also not to concerned with the work bc its a lot of initial effort to insure that nothing within my control will cause degradation.
You will want bigger bottles for breaking down into your working bottles probably, just because depending on how much you're breaking down 15mL bottles is going to be a huge pain in the ass. I break down into 120mL bottles, but it sounds like I go through more nic than you. Don't fill them to the brim, my understanding is you want a little room for expansion due to freezer storage. No one can specifically say how much the argon mix is going to help because there are so many variables. But I use it because it makes perfect sense to me. Some people say it doesn't form a barrier and absorbs, okay, but if it forces the air out of the bottle before I cap it- it's done its job.
Argon shouldnt absorb because its a completely inert chemical and at that volume of container it would make a lot more sense to use it then in my case because you would probably have more potential air filling to the cap then I would leaving a neck of air in a 15ml container
>Some people say it doesn't form a barrier and absorbs, okay, but if it forces the air out of the bottle before I cap it- it's done its job
A very small amount of the argon will indeed eventually dissolve into the liquid, but its purpose is to displace the air containing oxygen from the top of the liquid, which it will do. Argon is heavier than air, and if done carefully and slowly without forming turbulent eddies to mix the gases, it will indeed form a pad of almost pure argon over the liquid and displace the air.
I used to do this when I was working in an organic chemistry laboratory when I needed to run an anaerobic reaction (without oxygen present); first I would bubble argon through the solvents to completely degas them, and then once the reaction was set up, I'd place a pad of argon over the top of the reaction by slowly airing it into the reaction vessel. It's the standard method for anaerobic synthesis throughout the field.
Damn thats fucking sweet thanks for letting me know
👍👍
Like you, I'm not sure how much it actually helps in the end. If you seal normal air in there, then just a thin bit if the top of the liquid will likely be oxidized. All I'm saying is that if you really want to go as far as possible in preserving the nic, then displacing the air with argon is indeed very possible. I plan to do this after splitting my nic into probably 30mL bottles, then use Parafilm (look into it, we used to to seal everything in the lab) to coat the threads of the bottle, close the top really tightly, then use more Parafilm to wrap the top and neck of the bottle to form a barrier impervious to oxygen. Then I'll wrap each bottle in foil, use masking tape to seal it all up, and keep it in the back of the freezer. That's about as good as it can get, doing this at home 👍