The world of vaping is evolving incessantly with the introduction of e-liquids and advanced vape mods. Since the introduction of these products in the market, serious vapers are trying to know how to steep e-juice.
Steeping e-liquids has become common for many vapers who are passionate about enjoying the best vape possible. Well, there are many ways to steep these flavorful liquids, of which some are gradual but more effective. This post reveals the most famous ways.
What Exactly Steeping Means?
Steeping has been an integral part of handling food products, beers, and beverages such as teas for either extracting the nutrients or making it more flavorful. When it comes to steeping-e-liquids, the meaning is a bit different. It means to age your liquid for enjoying a better flavor.
So, steeping e-juice is a technique of aging the liquid for extracting any unforgiving bottled tastes and alcohol, which are unstable. Steeping combines ingredients such as flavors and VG/PG base and then oxidizes it to remove the items mentioned above. This oxidation process also darkens the liquid’s color.
For some, steeping involves allowing the liquid to rest for some specific duration, just like the aging wine. Yes, no single method exists to do it; several ways are there. Your patience is required for its successful completion.
Why Should You Steep E-liquids?
Vapers who opt to steep do so because they believe that it intensifies and improves the liquid’s flavor. Well, that is the usual aim of steeping. Not only does it make up for a better flavor but also smoothens the liquid, alleviates the burning sensation in the throat or lungs, and introduces more versatility in the aging process.
Thus, if you have a flavor that is not working for you, perhaps it is an indication that you should try steeping it. Partly, the reason behind this is that the chemicals in the liquid are likely to separate while shipping to give you an inconsistent flavor at the time of vaping.
However, if the flavors are adorable, steeping will be of no or little use. This is because it is more inclined toward improvement than fixing something.
In case of a few e-liquids, the taste is like an unpleasant perfume, or the flavor is quite strong or seems off. Steeping such liquids is likely to aid in neutralizing these effects.
For example, if the taste is too sweet, steeping methods reduces sweetness. Further, as the resultant vape juice is mellower, you will not get cough or pass through other negative effects related to the liquid’s strength.
However, steeping lighter flavors such as those from light fruits can trigger a negative impact. It can result in flavor loss.
It is also wise to mix flavors and then soak for enjoying a surprisingly delicious experience. For instance, mixing mint and coffee flavors prior to steeping results in an extraordinary flavor. Thus, the purpose of steeping is to blend of juice flavors to form a more delicious flavor.
When Should You Steep E-juices?
There is no exact steeping time. Those who make their e-liquids tend to steep them the moment they are made. Similarly, those who buy from a shop or a manufacturer steep it instantly after buying. Still, for better quality, it is best to steep the e-liquids as soon as you can.
Different Ways to Steep E-juices
Before exploring the different steeping methods, it is worth comprehending that each vaper prefers a distinct taste in terms of strength as well as a unique tolerance ability for throat hit. Thus, steeping ways are subjective. No one process applies to all vapers.
You need to know that e-juices with more PG base content need less time to steep than those with less of it. There are broadly two types of methods namely, slow and heat-based quick methods.
Slow Steeping
It is a simple way to steep juices that takes time but the wait never goes futile. For this method, a cool and dark place is required where you should place the liquids such that nothing disturbs them. Any kind of sunlight exposure or heat can make the process unsuccessful.
You start by shaking the juice bottles once or twice daily and then taste them after a week. Menthol and fruit flavors or mixtures typically do not consume more time than a week.
Dessert and tobacco flavors are likely to improve from steeping them for almost a month. In case of flavors of creams and custards, quality gets a boost after soaking them for two to three months.
Some people regularly replace the cap. However, others believe that the outcome is the same without doing so. Also known as breathing, removing the cap allows the air to accelerate oxidation.
Some guides suggest breathing mixtures but this can result in flavor loss or expose the liquid to contamination. Further, depending upon the quality, a few liquids may react badly to breathing to spoil their flavor. Thus, it is essential to replace the cap fast for breathing prior to shaking.
Heat-based/ Fast Steeping
The accelerated ways rely on a heat source for quickening the steeping process. As a tip, never try to speed up the process by applying more heat or air exposure, especially if there is nicotine in the liquid. For nicotine, the slow method is ideal.
Following are the most common methods of heat-based steeping:
- Warm Bath: You start by adding warm water and liquid bottles to a pan and retaining for a minimum of five hours. Avoid heating on the stove. If you do, allow it to cool until the thermometer is between 130- and 150-degrees Fahrenheit.
- Slow Cooker: Fill the cooker with warm water, add the bottles with tight lids to it, and turn it low. Consider shaking them once during the process with hands under rubber gloves. Fruit flavors soak it in half an hour, menthol in about an hour, and a few flavors require four hours prior to checking. Just check the consistency and color of the liquid every hour.
- Rice: The basic idea here is to heat some rice and flank it with the bottles. You might have to heat the rice again if steeping takes several hours. If heated in a microwave, rice will not remain hot. In that case, the steeping time is eight hours.
Conclusion
If one vaper prefers to steep fast, another may opt for a slow method for steeping for a longer time. Further, e-liquids tend to differ as per flavor and ingredient composition. Thus, the solution when it comes to how to steep e-juice is to stick to the basic steps and duration recommendations and taste the liquid often to know what suits your taste buds. Also do not forget to maintain your vape clean to avoid any hassle and bad vaping experience!
This is bad information. Steeping is steeping: it is the process of homogenization, which takes time. PERIOD. There is no “fast” steeping. There is no “slow cooker” steeping”. Any attempt to alter the process by using heat or vibration is causing oxidation, not homogenization.
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