Quality Nicotine

I just wanted to make a quick post about nicotine quality for all the new DIYers. When selecting your nicotine base look for a completely colorless liquid. Quality nicotine with no contaminates and that has never been exposed to air, will be either completely clear or the slightest tan hue. Anything darker is either not good quality, old, or has been exposed to contaminants. The more times a bottle is open, the more air it is exposed to and will get darker over time. My containers are amber glass to keep down the exposure to light down as well. I drew some up in a syringe to demonstrate the proper color. My camera is not good and the picture quality suffers but you can see that the nicotine solution is clear. Hope this helps.

 

Decent advice... Kind of cant go wrong starting with a clear or slightly tan color to start. But just to counter point slightly, darkened color does not mean in and of itself that the liquid is contaminated. It is certainly oxygenated - but not necesaarily contaminated.

Agreed that amber or othe dark colored glass bottles ought to be used for storage away from light. You might even want to separate a small portion to be used every so often and keep the larger portion stored away long term to preserve it. Each time you unseal the container you are exposing it to oxygen at least and probably some light depending.

If the liquid is darkened and not contaminated it is perfectly fine to vape. There is little to no affect on taste, just color. Assuming the darkened color is from exposure to oxygen only... Basically the same thing as @Lotta is saying - with just the small clarification.

For example, if you buy pure nic and it is clear when you store it but darkened upon next use, you dont have to chuck it if you know its been sfae from exposure to anything but air the whole time.

Or, better still, IF you are gonna chuck it send a PM to Darth for a hook up on a great price for professional, safe, on site oxygenated nicotine removal services. Throwing such material in the trash or down the drain could potentially hurt little animals or even leak out and kill your neighbors. For peace of mind and accidental homicide risk management, better call Darth!

 

Agree 100%. But it takes a long time for mere oxygen to turn it brown, especially if the bottle is only opened for a short time and only as necessary. I should have also been more clear on my intent to state that this post is for the initial purchase of new nicotine. Here is a pic from Hi Liq that gives you an idea of what coloring looks like over time with pure 99.9 nic. The time frame would be different for nicotine that has already be diluted with PG or VG. If the nicotine has already been diluted, the third picture is a little deceptive in my opinion. I would expect that color after 3 months and I see no reason to dispose of it. As far as the last picture, definitely time to go. But new diluted nicotine still should look like the first or second picture.

 

To each their own, suppose. It's a nice little chart but just remember the old tatooine adage: the salesman is your good friend, not always.

Of course the nicotine vendor will encourage you to throw away the product, gotta buy more!
Before this comment is disregarded as just cynicism, keep in mind there are plenty of freaks in this world and beyond. Some people prefer the taste of deep brown oxygenated nic, contaminated or not. And still others actively cultivate strains of rare extraterrestrial bacteria in glycerol specifically for the flavor as well as other metaphysical enhancements they add to the vape.

There you go. Now the comments can be disregarded for an entirely different reason.

Cheers.

 

For new nic it should be colourless as @Lotta says. We'd assume it's manufactured in lab conditions and it's the pure article, and their resultant extract is what turns up in our mail.

Heat, light and exposure to UV usually from sunlight are often the cause for darkening via oxidisation. It's possible reduce the speed of darkening by keeping in a cool dark place, like a dark glass bottle in fridge or freezer.

The graphic from hiliq seems to indicate that after 3 months, nic might be dark brown and past it's use by date (perhaps if stored in clear plastic bottle on windowsill with the lid off) . Luckily they'll sell you a new bottle, which might turn up in land of smiles, or not.

Nic in freezer is still as colourless as the day it arrived after 6 months, so not convinced with hiliq-time. Some reckon 6 years or more in freezer.

If it was my nic then I certainly would question it not being pure as the driven snow on arrival. But as our esteemed fellow vaper Mr @Darth Vaper pointed out, darkened doesn't mean bad, necessarily, for him. My experiences tend to concur.

I think if I had any advice for someone new to nic, would be to extensively research storage and handling of their nic, and then come up with a plan to extend its shelf life as long as possible.

 

The intention of this thread was to educate people on what new nicotine should look like. Maybe it will keep someone from being sold an older batch as new. Many things will change the color of the nicotine over time, oxygenation, sunlight, heat, contaminates. The picture I posted was just a reference and I even posted that I didn't necessarily agree with it. I personally wouldn't use something that looks like picture #4 but to each his own. Vape black nicotine if it suits you, I'll pass. The shelf life of PG based nicotine is generally accepted at 2 years and VG based nicotine 1 year. The freezer would make a difference in this time. Sorry @Scuba Vaper but you will have to look up the sources for yourself, I'm not doing it for you anymore.

 

No worries mate, already done my own research some time since. Have sources and (some) personal experience. "Anymore", dunno mate, confused by that, I thought we'd agreed to disagree elsewhere on TV. If there's an ongoing issue, happy to discuss on PM with you to resolve.

Hiliq data cited above, they say was an experiment, and it also forms part of their marketing, which their job is to sell more nic to you et al. From what they said seems far from ideal storage conditions for nic, so likely it would completely deteriorate rapidly in those conditions. So we can agree that it's possibly a little misleading, but useful to see what colours nic will go given bad storage conditions.

Black nic, never vaper it, never would, I think @Darth Vaper was talking about early stages of nic oxidisation which is much lighter brown. I had no adverse affects or problems with it, third nut hasn't sprouted yet and haven't yet found a need to wear gloss black full face helmets that scare kids, except when I'm welding ... But, never say never ...

This is a vaping forum, and comments are relevant to any vaper interested in buying nic and using in his/her own vapes, if the topic is buying new nic. Appreciate you were trying to help uninitiated, as was my intention also, vapers helping vapers innit ?

 

60 mg in PG basis, purchased in October 2015, kept in the refridgerator. Just reporting back, it's clear as water.

 

Good to hear. It vapes ok? No third nut hatching or despotic tendencies starting to manifest ?

 

HiLiq nicotine is trash. Def do not recommend! YMMV. I only order/use nicotine from USA.

You can have tanned color and still have great product. The color I receive is always tanned and is 1st class USA Nicotine, I it arrives tanned because of temperatures in transport because it is clear when it is sent.

 

I ordered once and received trash, although customer service was very good.
The liquid went bad quickly but more importantly had a horrible taste from day 1.
That was the first nicotine I ever get my hands on and didnt realise (because i didnt know any better) until I got my USA supply that this was what was ******* up all my liquids.

Maybe I got a bad batch but for me that is an indicator of poor quality control and not good enough. Never again.

 

Maybe I got a bad batch but for me that is an indicator of poor quality control and not good enough. Never again.

I never questioned them about it as it was not until a long time after my order that I knew any better and the price vs hassle was not worth it.

Indeed, YMMV.

I never use anything Chinese when it comes to e-liquids. I only use BAT US Nicotine.

 

I've used Hiliq nicotine and have vaped liters of their juice - always tasted fine to me, but maybe we all have different tastebuds.