Here’s a question; have you ever made a soup or chili or sauce? If you have, you’ll know that getting the flavour just right depends on allowing the various tastes to blend, coalesce and congeal. Put simply, that’s steeping. Technically, steeping is any process in which a solid is placed in liquid to soften and/ or emit flavour – and yes, that absolutely, undeniably includes e-liquid you want to vape. So then, here follows everything you need to know about steeping e-fluid for a smoother vape…
Why might you steep e-liquid?
The why is simple: it can make your e-juice taste better. It better allows the PG and VG molecules to soak up flavour and makes the vaping experience smoother. The extent to which it will do this varies from blend to blend. For example, some e-liquids contain alcohol, which can greatly benefit from steeping.
How do you steep?
Steeping e-liquid is simple. Place your closed e-juice bottles in a cool, dark place for an extended period of time. If you’re the impatient type, you can shake your bottles as frequently as possible to help accelerate the steeping process. Steep for at least two weeks. The exact length of time you should steep depends on the blend itself and is influenced greatly by what general type of e-juice (possibly purchased either from an online store or a vape shop London) you’re steeping.
Fruit flavours tend not to need to steep too long whereas tobacco flavours take quite a while. Dessert flavours typically require the longest steeping time. However, it’s all subjective. The exact degree of steeping needed for an e-juice varies from fluid to fluid and person to person. Some vapers like to let their liquid steep for months before they use it.
Speed-steeping – what is it?
Speed-steeping is an attempt to quicken the steeping process by running your e-liquid bottles under warm tap water. If you don’t want to wait around at the sink, fill it with warm water, place your e-juice bottles in a plastic bag and submerge the bag. Leave them there for a few hours before returning them to the cool, dark place you’re letting them steep.
Important things to remember
- One very important fact to keep in mind is you should always use glass bottles, should you plan on using any steeping method that involves heat; while plastic bottles might not be a problem, there’s a small risk that hot water (especially very hot water) could cause them to melt – this would ruin your e-liquid; it may even generate a health/ safety risk!
- If you plan on steeping e-liquids quite regularly, you might want to keep a few glass bottles to hand.
- Some flavours might actually taste better when consumed quickly, while others definitely benefit from sitting for a week or two; this is really a matter of personal preference and will require a bit of experimentation to get right
- If you end up finding an e-liquid that you like, it might definitely pay to steep a bottle of it to see if you can further improve the taste; you should also pay close attention to the colour of the fluid, as this can be a pretty sure-fire way to determine its age – newer e-liquids will probably tend to be clearer or brighter, while older bottles will tend to take on a darker, more caramel hue
- Sometimes steeping simply isn’t needed, but it almost always helps – so giving it a try might benefit your vaping experience more than you’d ever expect!