I am afraid I have to respectfully disagree with you. And your follow-up:
The wine comparison is flawed because this is desirable at the end of storage/ immediately before consumption. NOT at the time of bottling. The truth is exposure to air (oxygen in particular) is one of the classic “wine faults.” Likewise, oxygenating (e-liquid is usually considered undesirable, unless one is intentionally trying to oxidize nicotine, for flavor, or throat hit.
The desired intent of “breathing” e-liquid (and heating, and stirring to a point as well) is to off-gas, or release unwanted volatile compounds, such as ethyl alcohol, and others that can lend an artificial, harsh, unwanted, or chemical taste to our mixes. However, we have to weigh the accelerated loss of these unwanted components, with the loss of wanted ones like aromatics.
Just like most things in life; there are “right” and “wrong” times for most everything. Same with various mixing methods. Heat, violent stirring/shaking, and exposure to air, may indeed benefit a tobacco, or custard, or chocolate recipe (esp. if it has a high alcohol content). But it will absolutely destroy a light fruity, or floral recipe. So “yes” it can hurt when applied in the inappropriate situation.
That darn watermelon that is never strong enough, or that lemon that always seems to fade after a week and a half, may give you better results if you just give it a good shake and commence to vaping.
It drives me nuts to read posts of “I just age everything a month before I even taste it!” WHY? How can you know how it has changed, or even IF it has changed, if you don’t know how it tasted in the beginning? If I did that with my lemon recipes I might as well be vaping an unflavored blend. Because, for me, they are over the hill and all but gone before the end of the second week after mixing. I stopped mixing large batches of those for precisely that reason. I’d get through 15-20% of the batch only to find the primary flavor had left the building.
If it works for you; God bless you! I am genuinely glad for you. But I don’t understand how anyone can understand what they are truly doing if they don’t taste, taste, taste, and taste some more. I follow a tobacco thread on another forum and tobaccos are notorious for needing weeks and weeks before they are ready to vape. But, even within that flavor class, people are routinely commenting that they prefer certain tobacco flavors fresh because they do indeed change. Just not for the better (to their palate). They would never learn this if they were not tasting early and often.
I have been through most of the “speed steeping” methods, and it wasn’t until I started tasting my mixes fresh after mixing, and then again after treatment, and even dividing my fresh mixes in two and treating half while allowing the other half to age naturally, that I realized (for me) that they more often did nothing, or hurt, rather than helped, my mixes.
Don’t get me wrong. I believe they can have their usefulness and I still use some to this day. I always use the little Badger hand paint mixer to blend my newly combined mix (for convenience; not because I feel it adds anything to the end product. And I chose the Badger specifically because it introduces less air than a regular frother). I will still use a gentle, slow heat (e.g. open crock pot or even thermos w/ warm water) on a stubborn custard or tobacco. I have even been playing with seed steeping which seems to actually offer some benefit to those same long-wait custards and tobaccos… though it doesn’t offer anything noticeable (for me) for those mid-, short-, and no-steep recipes.
And, of course, it all depends on what the individual’s desired outcome is too. Am I willing to sacrifice (if any) flavor and/or depth for speed? What do my own taste buds tell me? Am I satisfied by the results? When does all the fiddlin’ stop being a passion and start to become a PITA? Each of us has to answer these questions for ourselves.
I would think any real secrets would be protected under the most stringent Intellectual Property guidelines at E-Juice Corp HQ.
You put the time in, you found what worked for you, and you are now able to apply it for repeatable satisfying results for you! I have no problem with that what so ever and wouldn’t dream of trying to change your mind.