100mg nic from Heartland.... problem...

Today I got in an order of FA flavors and tried out a couple of HIC recipes from next door. I mixed flavors exactly as instructed, and added the flavor mix to my base which is 3mg, 80/20. The resulting juice was quite harsh on my chest. I thought it was because I had to sub one FA flavor for the FW I have, until I made a different recipe using the same base and the resulting juice tasted almost exactly the same, even though it was two totally different recipes for totally different flavors. I keep my base, vg, and pg in mason jars. My bulk nic is kept in a cool dark place. I cleaned my coils, changed wicks, and vaped JUST naked vg. It was lightly sweet but otherwise flavorless. I changed wicks and cleaned coils again and vaped JUST naked pg. It was flavorless, had a slight chest hit, and next to no cloud, so I considered it fine. Then I vaped my 80/20 base and it had that harsh chest hit. So I set it aside on my counter to dispose of it. I made a new 200 ml batch of base, in a 70/30 blend this time. Same harsh hit. So, I believe my nic went bad. This was from Heartland, I received it right around Valentines day of this year so it's not even old. What should I do? I'm not sure if I should bother contacting them over the issue, or if the nic is fixable or what course of action I should take. I really liked the $45 price for 100mg 1L of nic, but if this is gonna happen with heartland I'm gonna need recommendations on new nic vendors and whether I need to store the nic differently. Please offer your advice, and thanks for your time.

Ps, ignore any misspelling, strange words or grammatical errors. Did this all from my phone, which thinks it's smarter than me.

This is what I buy: http://www.vaperstek.org/1-liter-eu-sourced-throat-hit-nic-100-mg-usp-ep/ I was used to the harsh throat hit that I got from WL nic. When I started buying this one, my flavors started tasting better. I still get throat hit, but not like being punched in the throat.

When I get my nic, I split it up into multiple amber bottles, label them with the strength, lot# and date. I wrap them in bubble wrap and either put them into a box, or in a large ziploc, whichever I have space for. I only leave out a small bottle at a time that I'll mix with. I use that to make a base with my preferred ratio of Pg/Vg. When my small bottle of nic is about gone, I get another out, allowing it to come to room temp before I mix with it.

After I mix a base, I store it in a cool dark cabinet. The rest of my nic is happy in the freezer.

Thanks for the info. This issue I'm experiencing is more in my chest/lungs themselves rather than throat. I have a couple juices I made that I'm guessing have overpowered the lung burn, that I made about 2 weeks ago, but the flavored juice AND unflavored base I worked with tonight blew my mind when I vaped it and it tasted the way it did, it was all the same and bad bad bad.

You tried 80/20 and 70/30. Have you tried a 50/50 mix? I'm curious if you're sensitive to the PG? PG does vape more harshly for a lot of vapers. I'm sensitive to VG and can't use more than 20, it causes my lungs to feel really heavy. Kinda like a super bad chest cold. Though, based on all the testing you did, I'd have to agree it's likely the nic. I've made a lot of HIC's recipes, too, so I know it's not too much flavoring causing it.

Have you had success mixing with this batch of nic before, or is this your first go-round with it? I wouldn't expect such a serious problem to rear its head over the course of a few weeks...

Yes we have mixed several batches and we started noticing quite a strong "throat scrape" 2 batches ago. I had a suspicion it was the FW flavors I have, so I dropped 75 bucks on FA flavors and tried a brand new batch of base last night and pretty much every juice I tried to make all tasted the same with quite a burn/scrape down in the chest instead of the throat now.

For questions on sensitivity, I have a max vg juice from bulldog vapors here that I can vape all day and it doesn't bother me at all. I dripped my bulk vg all by itself last night to test it's quality. I also dripped my pg, to test it as well. I can't test the nic before dilution.... I enjoy life a little too much to attempt to drip 100mg nic solution

My mixes are 3mg nic.

When my nic went bad it was very peppery. I have a pg sensitivity and the symptoms you described sound exactly like mine when the pg goes above 30. Good luck. I hope it's not ur nic. I have always used nude nic. I realize they have had some bad publicity, but they aren't the first or last to make a mistake.

Just a question (or 2) that may or may not mean anything. Is it VG nic? Did you shake it up before using it?

50/50 nic, shook it like hell before I used it.

I emailed heartland using the form on their site this morning, and havent gotten a reply yet. Since I am only home for a couple days then I go back out on the road for a few weeks (I am a truck driver), I tried to call them about 5 minutes ago to just talk over the phone about the issue, however I didn't get an answer at the phone number on their website. :/ I'll keep the thread updated.

Has the nic turned colors, pinkish/orange/other? If the nic was fine to begin with the only thing it can really do is oxidize. If it has began to oxidize it will start get a color to it. BTW, shaking the hell out of it will speed up oxidation.

I've had my Heartlandvapes liter of 100mg nic for 9 months now. It's still the same. No change in color/taste/feel. That's not to say yours didn't go bad, though.