ok…my nude nicotine nicotine came in the mail last week (in its plastic bottle) and i immediately put it in the freezer…now i’m seeing people say it should be in glass…
can anyone give me proper storage protocol? and what about when i need to mix? do i keep a small amount separate? in glass? at room temp? under a pillow? on the third floor?
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Break it down to smaller glass bottles in the amounts that you want to dilute. That way you don’t have to keep opening the big bottle. Make sure to shake it good before you split it, Bag them up and put in the freezer. Use dark color bottles.
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ok, so all i have for dark bottles are bottles with droppers…is it safe/ok to store my nicotine in these 1 oz Amber Boston Round with Orange/Black Child Resistant Glass Dropper in the freezer?
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You need something with a very tight seal. The VG will absorb any moisture and freezer smells. Some even Double bag it to keep odors out. I use the 60 ml amber bottles with the fitted tops. I’m not sure how well a dripper top seals.
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thanks, brother…i’ll just get some bottles with tight fitting caps…i have enough nicotine left over from before that i can leave this bottle sealed til the bottles come in…
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ok, the order has been made…i ordered amber bottles with Phenolic caps in 1, 2, and 4 oz…they will be here within a week…should get me in order…thanks, guys!
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Phenolic cap = tight seal!
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IMO you need a good bottle double bag just in case but a dark one? idk when i close the freezer the light does go off!! 
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As we approach the date when the FDA regulations on ECigarettes take effect I thought it might be a good idea to revisit this thread and we discuss the possibility of us having to store nicotine for not just a year or 2 but for 15-20 years. I sat down and figured out today that being I use 2mg nicotine in my personal blends and use approximately 100ml every week to 1 1/2 weeks (for ease let’s say per week) 2000 mls of 100mg nicotine would last me approximately 19 years. If my calculations are correct. That being said what is everyone’s thoughts on Vacuum Sealing say 250-500ml size amber bottles just as they do with meats and other foods. They could then be put into the freezer if we felt this is needed. I think we all know that the biggest worry we have with the spoiling of Nicotine Solution is oxidation. Take away the oxygen and there will be no oxidation. Do you even think we would need refrigeration if Vacuum Sealed? Will the VG spoil if not exposed to Oxygen? Any other things we should worry about? What’s everyone’s thought of this?
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Ok, maybe this topic doesn’t interest anyone but regardless I have done a little talking and question asking of Kurt from Ecf forum. Kurt has been a chemist for 35 years and is in the know about nicotine. Here’s my letter to him, and his reply to me…
I Hope this answers a few questions for all of us !!!
Click on picture twice to enlarge…
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They are. I have 500 ml in my freezer, 200 ml PG and 300 ml VG. The VG is frozen solid. I’m also down to 2 mg, started with 18 in februari so that is gone down quite a bit. I don’t know how much I vape in a week exactly but I’ve only used 30 ml of nicotine in the last couple of months and most of that is standing in bottles waiting to steep or ready to vape but haven’t gotten round to it yet. It will take me months to vape everything I have made so far. So this 500 ml will last me a long time. I’m also planning to reduce the nicotine even more so I haven’t decided yet if I will buy more nicotine in the future to be on the safe side, or just keep what I have, reduce it and eventually vape 0mg. I don’t want to end up with a shitload of nicotine in my freezer when I don’t use it anymore. I made that mistake buying a lot of tobacco just to be ahead of the raise in taxes and then spontaneously started to vape and now I have 17 packs of tobacco lying around. Decisions, decisions…
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Very good questions, and his his answers are very helpful. I broke my nic down to 120 ml. bottle. I’m planning on buying more so I’ll make sure to break my next package down to 60 ml bottles. This really make me wonder about the nic I had that I thought went bad. It was stored in a dark cabinet at room temp for 6 months. I wonder if I mixed from a nic hot spot. I’m almost certain I shook it before I diluted it. My second bottle was never opened. I’ll try a retest on it because my first dilution was good.
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Information obtained from Pirate Vapes
http://piratesvape.uk
Nicotine WILL NOT degrade if it is 100% pure and nitrogen sealed in dark glass bottles and kept at a low temperature. That’s how professional labs keep it so it’s as close as a fact as you will get when it comes to nicotine storage! Obviously you aren’t going to be able to achieve all those criteria at home (you wont have 100% pure nicotine being the main one) BUT majority of us could accomplish two of those important criteria.
Once you add other chemicals such as PG or VG into the bottle and can’t remove all the oxygen then degradation occurs. At what rate and the effect is open to question as no one has actually kept PG or VG nicotine base in a freezer for more than about 5 years so far but it will degrade to some degree even if you do keep it in your freezer. The issue really is with the oxygen either from air trapped in the bottle or through energy put into the chemical system via light (UV) breaking down the dilutant (PG or VG), which unfortunately being organic compounds have oxygen in their make up. It’s fine normally because the oxygen in the dilutant is attached to a hydrogen, making a diol (O-H) and will not compete for the nicotine but if you add energy into the system the one single covalent bond between the oxygen and the hydrogen can be broken and you have the issue of the spare oxygen running around causing problems. This is the reason to keep the nic base in amber glass bottles and is the same reason that nicotine is kept nitrogen sealed in labs - so there are no spare oxygen atoms. Keeping the nicotine base at low (freezer) temperatures also slows down the movement of the molecules, which obviously slows down any chemical reactions.
Oxygen is nicotine’s main enemy,
Oxygen converts it to nicotine oxide in an oxidation reaction and nicotine oxide being a charged molecule has free electrons, this is why the colour change occurs (free electron movement between the atomic energy levels). These free electrons can also target other substances in e-liquid such as flavourings and changes their chemical structure, which coincidentally is the reason why e-liquid has a shelf life.
Storage Basics
Always buy the highest % nicotine base you can buy (currently 7.2% legally in the UK) as the less PG/VG you have in the bottle the better and always buy the best quality, freshest base you can find to start off with.
What to store it in?
Nicotine base should be stored in dark amber glass bottles to stop UV degradation and potential chemical leaching caused by plastic bottles.
How to store it?
Depending on your usage if you bought 1 litre+ bottles then you should decant it into smaller quantity bottles containing the amount you would probably use in 3 or 4 months so that you aren’t exposing the majority of the nicotine base to more oxygen every time you want to use it. Once you open a bottle it’s best to store it in a fridge if possible rather than just a shelf at room temperature and ALWAYS out of sunlight. It is worth noting that PG nicotine base remains fairly free flowing even straight out of the freezer but VG base turns into a gel and will need several hours at room temperature to be useable.
Where in the freezer to store it?
Purely from a safety point of view it is best to store it at the bottom of the freezer so that if it does leak it doesn’t contaminate anything else in the freezer. I know that some people have a separate freezer for their nicotine base but plenty just stick it in with rest of the families shopping! Make sure that the bottle is clearly labelled, not for you but for the other people using the freezer. If you have young children it would be very wise, if not essential, to buy a small freezer to keep in the garage or similar just for your nicotine stocks.
What’s better, PG or VG as the Dilutant ?
A personal preference really but with regards to degradation then VG has an extra O-H functional group (3 compared to 2 in PG) so it is possible that if degradation did take place it would be quicker in the VG. However VG has a better shelf life than PG, 2 years compared to 1 year generally AND VG’s viscosity works in it’s favour for once as the more viscous a liquid the less the molecules move about …… so it’s probably 6 of one half a dozen of the other really as to which is best!
How long will it last?
It would be expected to possibly see and experience noticeable degradation after 5 -10 years storage either in taste or colour. Strength drop would need chemical analysis once someone has stored it for that long to determine but it is believed by many that it won’t be anywhere near half.
What not to do
Leave the bottles alone! The less they are disturbed the better. DO NOT open the bottles if you don’t need to and never shake them as this introduces oxygen to more of the nicotine base rather than just the surface.
NOTE: Piratesvape Ltd are not qualified Industrial Chemists. This information has been obtained from conversations with qualified Industrial Chemists and personal experience and is for information only. We recommend you use this information as the basis for your own research rather than the definitive guide to Nicotine Base storage.
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In considering long term storage and such, one “trick” that people that use kegs as a storage and serving medium when home brewing beer was to purge the keg prior to filling with co2. You would slowly add co2 to an empty keg and it would displace the air in the keg… the co2 being heavier than air, after which you would then add in the beer you were in the process of kegging.With beer you didn’t want oxygen in the mix as it also leads to spoiling the beer. Any idea if co2 is more or less harmful to nicotine than air?
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This I do not know, however you are on the right track. This is indeed how some nicotine suppliers package nicotine. I was trying to quickly google and see what gas they use, quickly, NOT.
However short of buying equipment to purge and add gas to eliminate O2 (which is available in the wine making industry) the reaction of the nic and o2 will be small in the freezer. Once the reaction takes place, it will not continue to react UNLESS you again expose the nic to O2. This is one reason you put the nic in glass. O2 can get into plastic containers…
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Why not use medical grade pre-sealed bottles? Add in the nicotine, then use a syringe to remove the air/oxygen and create a vacuum inside the bottle. They do sell unsealed bottles and crimper devices so adding in the nicotine mix would be easier.
http://www.gpzmedlab.com/store/p/70-100-ML-Presealed-Amber-Vial.aspx
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Great information! Thanks for reaching out to a professional for the answers. I am also making sure I have an ample supply to last for an extended period of time and I feel at worst it is a great hedge against inflation (i.e. taxation/tariffs etc). I have a good amount of nic (100% PG) on ice currently but the sales as we speak are pretty hard to pass up. One for instance is for a liter of 100mg for under forty bucks, we may never see prices like that again. I am still debating purchasing VG over PG but considering the longevity factor and thinking about leaving the VG batch for last use seems to be the way to go. This information has changed my rationale on the 100pg for cold storage.
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This topic is so old that I didn’t have time to read all of it but here’s my situation and basic question: How can you tell if your nic is still good?
I always transfer my nic into smaller, dark glass bottles and put in freezer. Yesterday, I discovered a 30ml bottle that I had obviously transferred, put in a ziplock bag and in a brown box under my drafty, cold window. I don’t remember how it got there or why. Regardless, my knowledge of stale nic would be that it darkens and smells. If it’s clear and odorless do you think I’m good?
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If it is clear and odorless it is prob good, you could also mix a little of it and titrate the juice to be sure you can mix to a known strength. I.E.: mix a 10ml to a 10mg e-liquid, titrate and see if it is 10mg, or something lower. if you mix something your used to you can then taste test the liquid.
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Thx. It was clear as water and odorless. I used it in a mix and it seems okay. I do know that it wasn’t sitting for a year but definitely several months. I’m going to try and figure this mystery out because I’d like to know how long nic can hold up outside a freezer but in dark, cool conditions. I know it was NicRiv.
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