I was wondering when you have a juice that needs steeping for over a couple weeks. Do you add the nicotine after its done steeping? Or is it added when its initially mixed? What does everyone do?
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It’s up to you. The only real difference is it might a bit smoother if you add it at the beginning…and you will get more colour change on some liquids.
You can add it in at the end…useful if you make a large batch and different mates want different nic strengths. Just make sure to REALLY shake it well.
Whichever way you choose…it’s a good idea to say on the label if you did or didn’t add it…or you could end up adding it twice.
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Personally I add when I’m mixing. I steep between 3-8 weeks depending on my mixing sessions with an average of 4 weeks. Never had an issue with overoxidatio.
The thing I though about is…think how long a store bought juice sits there. If there was that much of an issue with oxidation the. Their stocks would be kept much lower and a lot more people complaining about over oxidized vapes.
Of course…to each their own. But for me…after mixing for almost two years I’ve never had an issue adding my nic when I first mix.
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From my experience there is a direct correlation between amount of flavor used and the speed of oxidation / degredation. The “zero nic” thread(s) adress this issue. It is not just total % of flavoring also (should be 20% or less IMO) but also percentages of individual flavors that play a part. Too much of one or even two flavors and the E liquid will turn dark and “die” after as early as 3months. Cap V1 is a good flavor to consider here. At 3% SF it is a deep amber after 8weeks but seems to stabalize. I dont believe 3% is the threshold but wouldnt go past 5% etc as the optimal window of vapable juice will be narrowed as % are increased. To answer your question @Jazzy_girl i would add my nic while mixing…
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Thats a very good point you make! I thought about that too with the store bought juice. I’ve been mixing it in there right from the start but i started to see all this stuff about oxidizing and it made me wonder if I was doing it wrong.
Thanks @mixologist13 for the insight. That made me think that if the Nic was put in afterwards it could possibly ruin the flavors of the juice actually because all the flavors have basically meshed together after steep.
I’ll continue to add it while I mix
Thanks 
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I add it when I mix it. Two reasons:
Main reason: I am lazy ^^
Second reason: I taste and try during steeping because I am still in the “recipe finding” phase, and I want my lil bit of Nic in there for that.
Currently I have 10+ recipes in the status of “watching how recipe changes during steeping”, which means that they make most of what I vape…
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Those are pretty much all of my reasons for adding nic from the get go. [quote=“RobynRye, post:6, topic:145498”]
Currently I have 10+ recipes in the status of “watching how recipe changes during steeping”, which means that they make most of what I vape…
[/quote]
Yep, me too. Between sf testers and new recipes I have well over 100 bottles of new stuff right now. I probably vape 25% juice I already know I like and 75% new recipes and flavors.
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I’m not that far along yet I only have about 10-15 bottle steeping. I only found 6 favorites so far in the past five months. It does seem like the farther I get in the process the better my juice gets though. I’ve only made a few of my own recipes that have actually turned out so far. Thanks to Help from ELR! My favorite stop of the day
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I do a premix of VG with nicotine in it already. I do it at 4mg/ml then when I mix my flavors in it I can mix as much as 25% flavor and be at my target of 3 mg/ml, otherwise I add VG to compensate when I’ve got the recipe down. It speeds thinks along when mixing and allows the nic and VG to meld so it hopefully speeds the steeping process. below are my steeping guidelines they change often but are a good starting place. You may have read them someplace else here on the forum as I’ve posted them multiple times.
OOPs Guess I ought to put the in
Fruits punches and sodas 7 to 10 days with a taste at ( if I can make myself wait that long) 3 or 4 days for initial taste.
Fruit mixes with alcohol flavors ie bourbon champagne, and rum 10 to 14 days. ( if I can make myself wait that long) a week for initial taste
Creamy things like milkshakes or cream pies pudding flavors 2 to 4 weeks depending on how creamy they are with a taste at ( if I can make myself wait that long) 2 weeks for initial taste
Creamy things that have custard flavors in them or alcohol flavors in them 2 to 3 weeks then evaluated and at least one more set of two weeks.
Bakery type items cereals, cakes, cookies, bars and bakery with fruit like jam flavors in them 2 weeks to evaluate and another two weeks for a final decision as to how much longer. Or to vape away
Anything that sucks leave for 6 to 8 months then give to wife to see if she likes it. lmao
I know it seems like it takes forever but remember
GOOD THINGS COME TO THOSE THAT WAIT
and my self guidelines have changed about ten times since I started down the DIY path and will probably change that many more in the next two years or so. I’ve got what I thought was an epic fail a “Hostess” lemon pie with ice cream that I made last September, wifey grabbed it by mistake the other day filled her tank took a few vapes and says to me WTF is this and why haven’t you been sharing it with me. I was as usual in the dark took a few vapes asked her what she put in she goes I don’t know the one with the light blue lid in the third row. I was pretty sure what it was and had been meaning to dump it out. Well we’ll keep that one around. However it is one of those flavors that after vaping a couple tanks you’ve had enough for a while. I’ll keep it in my active file but probably won’t make it very often. It’s almost 100 ml but only because I kept adding a little of this and a little of that trying to make it WOW well WOW time did it for me. Well enough of this book. Sorry I rambled on and on.
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You didn’t ramble at all! Awesome post! You actually helped put some things into perspective for me. I have the same issue with waiting. I put a couple aside from Feb and came back and realize I have at least one new favorite.
I never realized how long some of the flavors take to “meld” together. It really is an Art to mixing juice. I totally fell in love as soon as I started. I’m trying to slow down on buying concentrates until I can get a handle on what I have now. I somehow accumulated a little over 100 in a few months! It seems like I’m seeing alot of people here like to have alot of concentrates too, so it must be a vape/mixer thing. 
Thats awesome that ur wife loves to vape too! My hubby hates it for some reason :(. Hes still stuck on smoking! Yuk! I’m working on him tho. I keep telling him how much hes missing but nope, hes stubborn. He likes those little blu eciggs tho. So maybe someday ill find him something he likes.
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