Should concentrates be stored in the bottles they come in or should I transfer them into glass bottles. I have around 80 30ml flavors, about 2,4 months old and would hate for the flavor profiles to change because of age or oxidation. I saw in another post that tpa said there concentrate are best when used within 3,4 months. I know there are many variables, they don’t technically expire but can change flavor. Would it be worth the effort to re bottle 80 flavors? And which bottles/caps would be best?
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I’m sure glass is always best, but is it worth the trouble ? I have all of mine in the stock bottles, with the exception of my Real Flavors SC’s which were not in needle top bottles. Switched them to PET with needle tips.
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How much money do you have invested in flavors?
To me, especially when you start dealing with flavors that are $4-$9 (or more) per 15ml… It’s not even an option.
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I have a large Coleman type cooler and several layers of flavors fit nicely into it (like 100), some of the flavors are over a year old and there has been no noticeable loss of vitality. It also is a good place to keep the open nicotine I use frequently. The remainder of my nicotine is in the freezer much to the ire of my wife because of all the space I am taking up with it (4 or so liters).
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I thought this was a good post
SHELF LIFE FLAVOR INFORMATION TFA’s reply
Concentrated flavors do not spoil, or go rancid, like fruit juices can. But under certain conditions they can change. In other words, you will notice that a “fresh” bottle might seem different from an older bottle. Basically, what my flavor manufacturer tells me is that the flavors have a shelflife of at least three to six months , when they are not continuously opened and are stored in glass. It is not necessary to store them in the refrigerator, but I don’t think that this would hurt them. But sometimes refrigeration can cause re-crystallization of flavors that have a lot of the crystals like ethyl maltol in them. Here’s some background. Every concentrated flavor is a mixture of raw materials, and every flavor blend can act differently. For example flavors that have a vanilla characteristic are going to have slightly different storage capabilities than fruit flavors. Here’s the reason. Vanilla and caramel flavors are mostly made of large molecules like vanillin, ethyl vanillin , etc. These molecules are not very volatile, and tend not to escape the bottle when you open it. They will be fairly stable. Fruit flavors, on the other hand, are made of much smaller molecules in general. Whenever you open a bottle, it’s the lightest and smallest molecules that escape and reach your nose quickly. Over time when you open a bottle over and over again more and more proportion of these lighter molecules leave the bottle and eventually the character of the flavor will be changed. This doesn’t mean the flavors spoiled, it’s just different. So this is one piece of advice, if you are going to store a flavor for a long period of time, transfer the flavor to smaller bottles that will you will not have to open over and over again. also, when a flavor is warm, like if it’s a hot day, when you open the bottle even more of the volatile molecules will escape, much more will escape than if the flavor was cool. This is true for all liquids, when liquids are heated the molecules are much more easily converted to their gaseous state. So in general it is a good idea to keep the flavor cool though I don’t think refrigeration is necessary. Also, in general, it is best not to store these flavors long-term in plastic. The plastic that we ship our larger sizes in ( 4 ounces and above), is HDPE plastic, which is very resistant to interaction with the flavors. but even with HDPE plastic, I really wouldn’t recommend storing them for longer than a month or so… It’s much better to store things long-term in glass. also, it is not a good idea at all to store the flavors with the plastic eyedropper caps on the bottles. The rubber that’s used with the eyedropper’s is extremely soft and interacts with a great many materials. If you try to store your flavors with these rubber dropper caps attached you will most likely ruin both the caps and the flavors. i hope this helps, linda
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Yes… this! 
I learned the hard way on this issue. Having to throw away at least 50 bottles of concentrates because they eventually all smelled and tasted like the rubber eye dropper cap was not a happy event! Even making sure there was no concentrate in the glass eye dropper, upon storage, didn’t help; the flavor of the plastic will eventually permeate/contaminate the concentrate.
Glass, cone caps, and a cool dark place is the way to go for long term storage of concentrates. 
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I almost ordered some a few days ago and was still contemplating the purchase, not anymore.
What are some good alternatives?
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Here’s what I ordered most recently
And they’ve held up well. Poly-cone caps, on bottles similar to what Wizard Labs uses. Perfect for smaller flavor amounts. For larger just look for normal 15ml or 30ml glass, but with the Poly-cone lid being the important factor (as he mentioned before).
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… above is a good place to start.
It’s been a while since I’ve had to purchase bottles, due to the kindness of vaping friends who saved their bottles for me or diy folks who passed on used concentrate bottles to me. 
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Concentrates should be in glass if you keep them longer than 3 months or so. I had emails from Capella, FA and TFA stating this but it makes sense as plastic leaks / breathes.
Plastic droppers are an issue too as they react with liquids, so I order glass droppers.
Don’t freeze, but putting them in the fridge when temps are over 74 deg is a good idea. (Let them come to room temp a bit before use) For added protection, I place them in lock n locks (tupperware) too.
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@Sprkslfly I lost count. I have (4) 5 layer nail polish racks full and overflowing at this point. For me, PET (the stiffer plastic) seems to work better. Some of mine came straight from the manufacturer in LDPE which I’ve not switched over. I guess the money, and hassle is what stops me from moving ALL my flavorings into glass at this point. If I had a much smaller stash, I might consider it.
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Has anyone tried using a translucent heat shrink tube around a plastic bottle to reduce light and oxidation? I wonder if a quick blast with a heat gun would have much effect on the flavor.
Just my opinion, but if our batteries can handle a quick shot of heat when they’re rewrapped, I can’t imagine that it would be enough heat to damage a flavor. That being said, I don’t know if it would actually help to wrap your flavor bottles… But it probably wouldn’t hurt them.
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You could always empty the flavor from the bottle, put the heat shrink on, then pour the flavoring back in
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