Nicotine Storage.

jno547

Thought this would benefit from it's own thread.

Nicotine WILL NOT degrade if it is 100% pure and nitrogen sealed in dark glass bottles and kept at a low temperature. That's how professional labs keep it so it’s as close as a fact as you will get when it comes to nicotine storage! Obviously you aren’t going to be able to achieve all those criteria at home (you wont have 100% pure nicotine being the main one) BUT majority of us could accomplish two of those important criteria.

Once you add other chemicals such as PG or VG into the bottle and can't remove all the oxygen then degradation occurs. At what rate and the effect is open to question as no one has actually kept PG or VG nicotine base in a freezer for more than about 5 years so far but it will degrade to some degree even if you do keep it in your freezer. The issue really is with the oxygen either from air trapped in the bottle or through energy put into the chemical system via light (UV) breaking down the dilutant (PG or VG), which unfortunately being organic compounds have oxygen in their make up. It's fine normally because the oxygen in the dilutant is attached to a hydrogen, making a diol (O-H) and will not compete for the nicotine but if you add energy into the system the one single covalent bond between the oxygen and the hydrogen can be broken and you have the issue of the spare oxygen running around causing problems. This is the reason to keep the nic base in amber glass bottles and is the same reason that nicotine is kept nitrogen sealed in labs - so there are no spare oxygen atoms. Keeping the nicotine base at low (freezer) temperatures also slows down the movement of the molecules, which obviously slows down any chemical reactions.

Oxygen is nicotine’s main enemy,
Oxygen converts it to nicotine oxide in an oxidation reaction and nicotine oxide being a charged molecule has free electrons, this is why the colour change occurs (free electron movement between the atomic energy levels). These free electrons can also target other substances in e-liquid such as flavourings and changes their chemical structure, which coincidentally is the reason why e-liquid has a shelf life.

Storage Basics
Always buy the highest % nicotine base you can buy (currently 7.2% legally in the UK) as the less PG/VG you have in the bottle the better and always buy the best quality, freshest base you can find to start off with.

What to store it in?
Nicotine base should be stored in dark amber glass bottles to stop UV degradation and potential chemical leaching caused by plastic bottles.

How to store it?
Depending on your usage if you bought 1 litre+ bottles then you should decant it into smaller quantity bottles containing the amount you would probably use in 3 or 4 months so that you aren't exposing the majority of the nicotine base to more oxygen every time you want to use it. Once you open a bottle it’s best to store it in a fridge if possible rather than just a shelf at room temperature and ALWAYS out of sunlight. It is worth noting that PG nicotine base remains fairly free flowing even straight out of the freezer but VG base turns into a gel and will need several hours at room temperature to be useable.

Where in the freezer to store it?
Purely from a safety point of view it is best to store it at the bottom of the freezer so that if it does leak it doesn't contaminate anything else in the freezer. I know that some people have a separate freezer for their nicotine base but plenty just stick it in with rest of the families shopping! Make sure that the bottle is clearly labelled, not for you but for the other people using the freezer. If you have young children it would be very wise, if not essential, to buy a small freezer to keep in the garage or similar just for your nicotine stocks.

What's better, PG or VG as the Dilutant ?
A personal preference really but with regards to degradation then VG has an extra O-H functional group (3 compared to 2 in PG) so it is possible that if degradation did take place it would be quicker in the VG. However VG has a better shelf life than PG, 2 years compared to 1 year generally AND VG’s viscosity works in it’s favour for once as the more viscous a liquid the less the molecules move about …… so it’s probably 6 of one half a dozen of the other really as to which is best!

How long will it last?
It would be expected to possibly see and experience noticeable degradation after 5 -10 years storage either in taste or colour. Strength drop would need chemical analysis once someone has stored it for that long to determine but it is believed by many that it won't be anywhere near half.

What not to do
Leave the bottles alone! The less they are disturbed the better. DO NOT open the bottles if you don't need to and never shake them as this introduces oxygen to more of the nicotine base rather than just the surface.

NOTE: Piratesvape Ltd are not qualified Industrial Chemists. This information has been obtained from conversations with qualified Industrial Chemists and personal experience and is for information only. We recommend you use this information as the basis for your own research rather than the definitive guide to Nicotine Base storage.

nkav86

Off topic I know and I apologise, but you may know the answer, what's the best way to discard of a nicotine base if needed

chipfox

nkav86 wrote: »

Off topic I know and I apologise, but you may know the answer, what's the best way to discard of a nicotine base if needed

In the bin. Do not pour it down the drain. Waste water plants will not remove nicotine and it will end up in our rivers or the sea.

jno547

nkav86 wrote: »

Off topic I know and I apologise, but you may know the answer, what's the best way to discard of a nicotine base if needed

Good question,liquid nicotine of 72% content is the strongest form that we can purchase here and is considered to be toxic so flushing it down the loo or down a sink/drain is not advised,however if it's a small quantity then this method of disposal could be used if lots and lots of hot water follows it in order to break it down.
If it's a large quantity then really your best option is to contact a liquid disposal firm,this may seem over the top but in reality liquid nicotine is potentially fatal if ingested.

nkav86

jno547 wrote:

Good question,liquid nicotine of 72% content is the strongest form that we can purchase here and is considered to be toxic so flushing it down the loo or down a sink/drain is not advised,however if it's a small quantity then this method of disposal could be used if lots and lots of hot water follows it in order to break it down. If it's a large quantity then really your best option is to contact a liquid disposal firm,this may seem over the top but in reality liquid nicotine is potentially fatal if ingested.

Is less than a litre considered large, it's 54%, I'd hate to dispose of it in a hazardous way, its a poison or at least has the potential to be one, thanks for the advice

nkav86

Also realised I basically repeated your comments on poisoning and hazard there sorry!

jno547

nkav86 wrote: »

Is less than a litre considered large, it's 54%, I'd hate to dispose of it in a hazardous way, its a poison or at least has the potential to be one, thanks for the advice

For myself anything over 100ml of 54% nic is a lot,if you consider that amount of nic will make approx 2000 ml of juice with a 3mg nic content.
You could also contact a chemist and enquire as to whether they could dispose of it for you.

nkav86

jno547 wrote:

For myself anything over 100ml of 54% nic is a lot,if you consider that amount of nic will make approx 2000 ml of juice with a 3% nic content. You could also contact a chemist and enquire as to whether they could dispose of it for you.

Great idea, I don't know if I'll use the lot I have so it's handy to know the best way to go about it

jno547

nkav86 wrote: »

Great idea, I don't know if I'll use the lot I have so it's handy to know the best way to go about it

Dont forget that you can freeze it also

Tickityboo

jno547 wrote: »

Dont forget that you can freeze it also

Or ask someone if they would like to buy it off you or swap for something.
There's plenty of diyers here that would use it.

JH_raheny

I bought 1L of 72% and just keep it in the fridge, might be an idea to freeze some of it

nkav86

JH_raheny wrote:

I bought 1L of 72% and just keep it in the fridge, might be an idea to freeze some of it

jno547 wrote:

Dont forget that you can freeze it also

Didn't know about the freezer excellent, that works out great, I can use it when I can afford to experiment more!

glicster

Got 100ml of nic from picknmix today and wanna freeze it. These bottles wont burst when froze anyone know?

And off topic.. got some pre mixed concentrates from them aswell. Are they shake n vape since the flavours are already combined?
Dragons blood,sucker punch and key lime cheesecake.

Thanks in advance for any replies

jno547

glicster wrote: »

Got 100ml of nic from picknmix today and wanna freeze it. These bottles wont burst when froze anyone know?


Thanks in advance for any replies

Dark glass bottles are recommended for 2 reasons,they reduce exposure to light and oxygen which can effect the nicotine quality.
Also chemicals can leak from plastic over a prolonged period which will also effect the nicotine.
Me,I'd go with the glass bottles just to be on the safe side.

glicster

jno547 wrote: »

Dark glass bottles are recommended for 2 reasons,they reduce exposure to light and oxygen which can effect the nicotine quality.
Also chemicals can leak from plastic over a prolonged period which will also effect the nicotine.
Me,I'd go with the glass bottles just to be on the safe side.

Yeah i knew about the amber bottles and nic but wasnt sure if it was necessary when freezing. Cheers. Ebay it is so,unless you got a linky?

jno547

glicster wrote:

Yeah i knew about the amber bottles and nic but wasnt sure if it was necessary when freezing. Cheers. Ebay it is so,unless you got a linky?

Cant do a link but Ampulla in the UK do them, there was a post in another thread about this so might be worth checking out.

jno547

jno547 wrote:

Cant do a link but Ampulla in the UK do them, there was a post in another thread about this so might be worth checking out.

Just went on their site and it's £0.33 for a 50ml amber glass bottle but £4.50 postage, might be worth your while maybe checking out somewhere closer to home.

glicster

jno547 wrote: »

Just went on their site and it's £0.33 for a 50ml amber glass bottle but £4.50 postage, might be worth your while maybe checking out somewhere closer to home.

Thanks for that jno. Ill have a good look online next time im at my pc