I just got a new liter of nicotine and thought maybe some pictures could help some people starting out. You hear about oxidation and wanting to limit oxygen exposure to nicotine/juice, but sometimes pictures can tell the story better.
Basically I got my first liter of 100mg nicotine over five years ago. I was kind of nervous about working with it so I just took the cap off, got a few ml's out, and closed it up. I've been doing that ever since with the same bottle for five years now. Now that I just got a new bottle (and from the same vendor), I have some confirmation of what the first bottle used to look like, so I thought I'd share some pictures (sorry, can't upload them directly in the sub): https://imgur.com/a/K2aXxn0
Everytime you open the big bottle you expose it to air. Easier to work with little bottles. Keep a small bottle out and use it for now, but I remind inxesting in some 250ml and 120ml boston rounds with pilycone caps. Cheap on ebay. Get brown blue or black or if you get a great deal on clear put them in brown paper bags in you freezer or something else that won't allow light through. I even go as far as topping mine with argon. Blogger is what I am using this time but there are a few other aerosol argon brands
Sorry but what is decanting and why is it important? I've never done it before but only recently heard about it.
Taking out what you need for a few months and putting in a smaller bottle. This is done because freebase nicotine reacts with the oxygen in the air in an undesirable way. Opening the big bottle less keeps out oxygen making the nicotine big bottle useful for longer periods of time.
Obviously too late for your initial bottle but, FWIW, I always decant litters into 4 ounce boston rounds, filled to the top. Wrap the neck with electrical tape and store in the deep freezer. I'll take one 4oz bottle out at a time and decant that into one 2oz bottle. Both the open 4oz and the 2oz bottle are stored in a small fridge in my office with my flavor concentrates. I mix from the smallest 2oz bottle. The opened 4oz is only taken out of the fridge and opened when I need to refill the 2oz mixing bottle. I just finished some nic I had stored for 5+ years, it was as clear as when I initially stored it. I realize not everyone has the ability to do this but, it has worked great for me. I had enough confidence in this storage method, I purchased 3 250mg liters before the PACT went into effect. Considering I vape 6mg, I should be good on nic until.... I'm dead.
Thank you for sharing! Have you made any juice from the new bottle yet? Just wondering how peppery the old one is compared to the new, and if you notice the old one distorting flavor at all? Thank you again!
No I haven't, and I'm kind of curious, too, but I also wanted to leave the new bottle alone until I needed it and try to do a little better with it. I'm sure if there was any change in taste with the old one over time, I probably wouldn't have noticed because it would have happened so gradually.
Ok. Just checking. Yeah definitely don't crack it open until your ready to decant it. It's best to mix it before breaking the seal because most places package it with an inert gas so those bubbles won't hurt it. Either way you mostly only need to turn it upside down and rightsjde up again a little bit to mix it. Anyway I'm surprised with it that dark and old it's still good. I'm glad to hear that. Makes me less worrieed about if my stash will be ok
Did you store it in cold?
No, not the old one. Well, I stored it in a cupboard in the house, so it was usually pretty dark and room temperature (so not cold like refrigerated, but I didn't keep it out in the garage all summer or anything either).
I have one small bottle (50ml) and one big bottle. The big one is in a freezer and I usually also squeeze it to remove excess air. The smaller one is in a fridge and used when mixing. I have it like this for years and the liquid looks still the same as when bought. Maybe a liiiitle darker. But nothing like yours. Only downside to mine system is the worry that it might contaminate food. So I'm extra careful and use multiple plastic zipper bags, paper towels and some plastic box.