Have you ever noticed that your e-juices have the expired dates? Or do you feel the e-juice from one bottle doesn’t taste the same any more? E-juices do go bad, however, if e-liquids don’t be placed or sealed properly, it can be expired much sooner, even before the expire date. The ingredients of e-juice are PG, VG, flavored concentrates and nicotine.

What changes of e-juices you can tell directly?

Changed color

Nicotine can react with oxygen and the color slightly changes as well, which you can hardly prevent this from happening. Don’t worry about this, it is typical to see the oxidation such as slight color changes. But if the change is considerable, you have to stop vape with this e-juice.

Does your e-juice turn brown but taste not weird? While the e-juice may not expire, but the sweet e-juice caramelizes and changes its color as well as the texture. Don’t be panic.

Separation

If you find the e-juice doesn’t mix up any more though you shake it a few times, then it may be expired. It is normal for good e-juice to have heavier parts sink to the bottom if it steeps for a long time. But if there are solids in the liquids, you’d better not vape with it.

Smell and Taste

The e-liquid doesn’t smell like its flavor any more, just like food expiration. Once vaping with expired e-liquid, you will find the flavor is drastically different or gross, and the nicotine fades away, then just throw it away. On the other hand, some vapers prefer the ‘steeping’ flavor. as Some flavors become stronger if they were not opened for a long period, it depends on individual preference.

Flavors like vanilla and caramel, are relatively stable, because of larger molecules. They are not volatile to escape from the bottle. Some fruity e-juices may become less flavored, since the raw materials of fruit flavors have smller molecules, which can escape from the opened bottle. I would recommend to transfer the fruit -flavored e-liquids to smaller bottles if you can’t finish them quickly. But there is an exception. If your coil ‘expired’, the taste can decline as well. This is because the coil can’t vaporize the liquid sufficiently as before.

Thickness

Both PG and VG have an estimated duration of one or two years, as base liquids. The e-juice may become much thinner if it is high VG, and vice versa. The high PG becomes thinner when it has expired. A trick to tell if the juice has gone bad, is that e-juice should drip from the bottle, no matter how thick they were at the beginning.

How to avoid expiring your e-juice?

Storage

Keeping the juice under the strong sunlight or high temperatures can expire your beloved juices easily. You’d better place them in a dark and cool place, or store them in the tint glass bottles. The plastic bottle, however, is not ideal enough for long term storage, or you can use it up within one month.

Boxes, shelves and drawers are the ideal places in your home to store the e-jucie. Refrigerator is also the right place to store e-juice, but it is not necessary. If you have already stored them in refrigerator, do seal the caps tightly, or other food in the fridge can stain the e-juice flavors. But do pay attention to your young kids, who may reach the juice bottles and intake the e-juices mistakenly, especially your e-juices smell fruity or package like the real juices. Some are afraid of the crystallization of the flavors once e-juices were stored in the fridge, I would suggest that you had better use your e-juice as soon as possible.

In addition, don’t mix up your old and new e-liquids, even if they are exactly same(brand and product). The old one may contaminate the new liquid with bacteria.

Sealing

Leaving the lid off after filling the e-juice, and exposing the juice sufficiently in the air are the perfect methods to expire your e-juice quickly. This is because the oxygen can react with the flavored concretes or nicotine in the e-juice. By saving the juice, you should remember to turn your caps tightly after using, and never leave them off for extended period of time.

Time-period

Some vapers do e-juices hauls so frequently that the amount of juices exceeds the consumption. They may be shopaholics and hoard the e-juices from different brands for different combined flavors. Every time when the vapers often find e-juices expire, they shall record the daily consumption on the e-juice. As a result, they can not only save the e-juice from expiration but also save money.

Is it safe to vape with out-of-date e-juice?

Numerous questions on the forums ask if it is safe to vape with expired e-juice. FSIS (Food Safety and Inspection Service) says the expired date indicates the quality not the safety. There is no standard that you should stop using the e-juice if it has passed the expired date on the label. Sometimes, the ‘used by’ date has reached, vapers may find the juice hasn’t diminish flavor or tastes weird. This is because the expire date may not be accurate, the external factors can affect the quality of e-juice. Manufactures will print the ‘Best Before’, ‘Used By’ or ‘Expired By’ only to estimate the expired date. If you store the liquids in the right way, they may not expire at that date. You can observe the e-juices to see these things:

The solids in the separated liquids.

E-juices gel together

Offensive taste or smell, like peppery flavor.

I would suggest you to dispose the e-juices immediately if the above situations happen.

If you prefer to DIY your own e-juices, the DIY process should be safe and clean, and the label for date should be added on the bottle. Watch out for the PG, VG and nicotine that you are using.