How to Properly Store Your Vape Juice

Vape juice container in hand of adult vaporizer user

Whether you’re a vaping vet or an absolute beginner there’s one issue you can’t ignore: how to keep your vape juice fresh and enjoyable. Vape juice is pretty simple stuff, typically comprised of propylene glycol, vegetable glycerin, some type of flavoring (either natural or artificial) and, in some cases, nicotine.

If left sealed in its original container in the Denver vaporizer shop or in your home, it might last 1-2 years. However, once opened the shelf life takes an immediate hit. And if it’s left lying around haphazardly that shelf life can be reduced to just a few months.

We asked around the shop to find out the steps our crew take to store their vape juice and what tips they might have to offer the average vaper. Here’s what we came up with:

Tips to Keep Your Vape Juice Fresh

Tip #1 – Never leave it exposed to direct sunlight – The sun makes life possible but it’s also one of the enemies of food and, in this case, vape juice. Leaving your vape juice in the sun is like leaving chicken in the sun; neither one will stay good for long. With chicken, you risk debilitating food poisoning. With vape juice you risk losing the flavor and neutralizing any nicotine that was in it, essentially rendering it useless as a smoking cessation product for your vaporizers.

Tip #2 – Keep your vape juice away from heat – This is related to tip #1 in a way, but is a separate point because you don’t have to leave your juice in the sun to overheat it. If you leave it near the stove, or on the shelf in a pantry that gets hot in the summer the heat will cause the ingredients to break down. That’s just basic chemistry. In short order, you’ll have nasty tasting vape juice that’s devoid of nicotine and needs to be tossed.

Tip #3 – Choose glass bottles – Plastic bottles look like glass from a distance and they’re a fraction of the cost. So many vape manufacturers use them, and that’s perfectly understandable from a business standpoint. But plastic is a man-made substance that can interact in an unfavorable way with your vape juice, altering the taste and perhaps shortening the shelf life. The effect won’t be extreme, but it is something to keep in mind. If you have a choice, spend a little more and get vape juice that’s stored in real glass bottles.

Tip #4 – Don’t leave the bottle open – You won’t see any open bottles of liquid for vape devices laying around our vape shop. That’s because leaving a bottle open and the vape liquid exposed to the air is asking for trouble. Or, to be more precise, asking for oxidation. Oxygen in the air reacts with and breaks down the nicotine in your vape liquid rendering it useless. Once this happens nicotine becomes cotinine and changes the color of the liquid. But it’s not just the nicotine that will break down if exposed to the air. Even if there is no nicotine in your vape juice, exposing it to the air will cause the flavor to break down, leaving it tasting bitter or foul.

Tip #5 – Don’t store it where the kids can access it – Little kids are curious types and if they see a bottle of vape juice just sitting in the fridge it’s a pretty safe bet they’ll try and drink it. While a lot of the alleged “dangers” of vape liquids are overblown by anti-smoking zealots in the media, the danger of little kids drinking vape liquids is very real. The concentrated nicotine in some vape juices can pose a serious health risk if ingested by a young child, while drinking the juice itself will typically be enough to make them nauseous. Always store your vape juice in a cool place where little kids can’t access it.

Tip #6 – Keep an eye on the expiration date – Vape juices have an expiration date just like most other products and it’s important you keep an eye on them. The expiration date in this case is more of an approximation, as the juice won’t go from perfect to foul the day after the expiration date. But by that time it’s already started to break down, and if you don’t plan on putting it to use in your vaporizers soon you should dump it and get some new stuff. Of course, the expiration date is predicated on you storing the juice properly. If you leave it open on the counter next to the stove all the time then you can toss the expiration date out the window.

Tip #7 – Don’t think you can store your vape juice in the freezer – Some people buy huge amounts of vape juice and then stuff most of it into their freezer, thinking they’re all set for the next decade. But freezing vape juice is problematic at best and generally discouraged. First of all vape juice uses a base of propylene glycol and vegetable glycerin, not water. The freezing point of those liquids is much lower than that of water so they likely won’t freeze, just get thicker. That is, before the ingredients begin to separate, rendering the juice useless.

Get in Touch

If you have questions or concerns about storing vape juice and you didn’t see the answer you want here give us a call or stop by. Just Google “vape shop near me”. If you’re in Denver we’ll come up in the local search results.

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