It's time to talk about breathing and steeping. Too many times I have read the phrase "I just bought this juice from x vendor and it tastes bad! They must be a bad vendor!" or some variation thereof. Sure, maybe the vendor has made an e-liquid that doesn't match your taste buds, or maybe they have just thrown some ingredients into a bottle and shipped it off to you, but that's very unlikely unless you bought e-liquid from a vendor at the third reply page on the shadiest forum you could find. Chances are, you just need to learn a little about steeping; with this breathing and steeping guide, you'll have great tasting juice in no time. Steeping is what creates a full flavour, eliminates the perfume taste, and generally improves your vaping experience. This is because shaking and mixing an e-liquid alone will not entirely combine every single molecule in the mix and instantly create the intended flavour profile. Rather, time has to be given for the juice to naturally blend and allow the necessary chemical reactions to take place. Before we get into the best method of steeping, the first thing you should know is that there is no best method of steeping; if you google best steeping method, you will return with about 99 different tricks to try. What I will do is give you the simplest method of steeping your e-liquid along with a few rules of thumb, and you can develop your own super steeping process from there. We will also talk about breathing, which is controversial in itself, but worth a mention.
How to Steep Your E-Liquid
Now we understand what steeping does and why we do it, let’s get into how to do it and even where to do it. So grab your newest bottle of e-liquid and place it in front of you. It looks clear to an extent, maybe a little cloudy, and may have a very slight yellow tinge. Give it a shake. Now there’s bubbles in it! After a while, these bubbles will float to the top and you’ll have a clear juice again. Notice how the juice wasn’t ‘ready’ right after you shook it, you had to give it time until all the bubbles disappeared. This is similar to steeping, but on a much larger scale, and much more visual; you won’t be able to see the steeping process happen with the naked eye. Here is the easiest way to steep your e-liquid. I like to have a ‘steeping box’ to keep all of my future juices in. This could be a shoe box, the box from that mod you bought a few months ago, or even a biscuit tin. Place your juice in your ‘steeping box’ and then put the box in a cupboard, or anywhere else that is dark. We use a dark place because direct sunlight can cause the nicotine and flavour concentrates to lose potency. Now once a day, or every few hours, open the cupboard and shake the box. This will disturb all of the liquids that you are currently steeping and speed up the process a little, but even this is arguable as some mixologists prefer to simply leave them to steep naturally. I’d recommend steeping for at least 2 days; but any time over a week and you are golden. I’d also recommend trying out new steeping tricks and asking for other DIYer’s opinions on the best steeping method until you find what works best for you.
What is Breathing?
Breathing is where you allow oxygen to come into contact with your e-juice for an extended amount of time. While I personally do not do it, many mixologists would recommend it as it reduces the perfumey taste and smell from your e-liquid, however it can also reduce the potency of your flavour concentrates and nicotine. In order to breath your juice, simply take the cap off of your bottle and allow it to stand for 2 or more hours. Try it and see if you taste an improvement! As I said before, it isn’t for everyone so you may prefer to steep without breathing. If this article helped you to understand the process of steeping, share the knowledge on your social media with the buttons below. If you are already a master mixologist, comment your favourite steeping method in the comment section!