As with any new or old adventure, safety is number one priority. This chapter will give you a complete understanding of the nicotine you use and how to store and dispense it safely and easily. Please keep all nicotine, materials, equipment, etc., out of the reach of children and pets.
Before handling your nicotine or transferring it into smaller bottles, please set out some paper towels on the surface and PUT ON SOME NITRILE GLOVES. The last thing you need is it being your first time handling nicotine and making a huge mess everywhere and you end up not feeling too well. So please, for your sake, your family's sake, your pets sake, wear the gloves until you are a genius with this stuff. Then wear gloves still. All it will take is one time and you'll believe.
Be very careful to not get the nicotine on your clothes. Do not wear long sleeves and pay attention to where every single drop goes. I have a story about this you don't want to hear. Let's just suffice to say it wasn't pretty.
TYPES OF NICOTINE SOLUTIONS:
PG:
I prefer my nicotine at 100 mg/ml in pg for several reasons. It is easy to shake up causing less chance of spots, easy to use, easy to dispense. This is my everyday user. I keep a 50 ml bottle in my refrigerator in the very top of the door. (I am blessed to have a side by side fridge.) If this isn't going to work for you, I'd recommend keeping the 50 ml in the freezer (freezer is above fridge) and pull it out a few minutes before you start mixing; allowing it to warm up a little.
Nicotine suspended in PG/VG:
I always recommend 100MG/ML in PG for every beginner. I know it's the strongest you can buy from a standard vendor, but due to the math, it's also the easiest to use. If you are making max VG juice then obviously you would want to use nicotine suspended in VG.
VG:
While I have quite a bit of vg nicotine, it is rarely used anymore. It is much thicker and much tougher to handle but can also be very smooth if you get quality nicotine, and if it is shaken properly and handled correctly. Otherwise. I'd say go PG. This is just personal preference and opinion. While I cannot personally prove that there is a thing such as hotspots since I do not have a chemistry degree. I have done the following:
Poured NOT SHAKEN 100mg/ml VG nicotine from the SAME bottle into identical dishes.
I have tested each of these, from multiple locations of these dishes and received different levels of nicotine reading from 79mg/ml-115mg/ml. There seemed to be no consistency to the level of nicotine throughout the bottle. Hence "hot spots." So if you are not willing to shake the heck out of your VG nicotine, and then shake it some more, please get PG nic.
When I do have to work with my VG nicotine, I simply bring the bottle (usually a small one) out of the freezer, about a half an hour before mixing. This will allow it to come to room temperature and be much easier to shake and mix together. This is a VITAL part of this process as cold VG nicotine will not mix well due to the thick viscosity of it. Then when you go to put it in your mix, it's possible you won't be getting the intended strength of nicotine in your bottle.
Colored and harsh nicotine
When you first receive your nicotine there are several things going on. I first recommend testing it. A nicotine test kit should be purchased for around $8.00 at most vendors. Please do yourself a favor and get it. Shake and test your nicotine. Whatever it reads; should be put into your calculator. What this will do is eliminate any mistakes on the nicotines' part. You know exactly the concentration of nicotine in the base of pg/vg or both. Why do you have to do this? Because while most companies have good quality control, it's impossible to be perfect 100% of the time and you just don't want to be that guy that can't figure out why his juices are harsher than what they should be.
Why is my nicotine yellow or pink? Many times you will get nicotine that while it is clear and looks great, it might have a very very slight pink or yellow tint to it. This is natural and occurs in naturally extracted/distilled processes of nicotine. It's all in the processes. The ones with no smell and taste whatsoever are processed differently and have more chemicals involved. The final product is bleached to give it that perfectly clear color. Chemnic, Carolina extract, and others are distilled from tobacco naturally, multiple times, so while the coloring sometimes can be pink or very lightly yellow, you technically are getting a purer product. Most of the companies now have good nicotine consistently and it's up to you to test it, and to store it correctly in order to preserve it for a long period of time.
Before handling your nicotine or transferring it into smaller bottles, please set out some paper towels on the surface and PUT ON SOME NITRILE GLOVES. The last thing you need is it being your first time handling nicotine and making a huge mess everywhere and you end up not feeling too well. So please, for your sake, your family's sake, your pets sake, wear the gloves until you are a genius with this stuff. Then wear gloves still. All it will take is one time and you'll believe.
Be very careful to not get the nicotine on your clothes. Do not wear long sleeves and pay attention to where every single drop goes. I have a story about this you don't want to hear. Let's just suffice to say it wasn't pretty.
TYPES OF NICOTINE SOLUTIONS:
PG:
I prefer my nicotine at 100 mg/ml in pg for several reasons. It is easy to shake up causing less chance of spots, easy to use, easy to dispense. This is my everyday user. I keep a 50 ml bottle in my refrigerator in the very top of the door. (I am blessed to have a side by side fridge.) If this isn't going to work for you, I'd recommend keeping the 50 ml in the freezer (freezer is above fridge) and pull it out a few minutes before you start mixing; allowing it to warm up a little.
Nicotine suspended in PG/VG:
I always recommend 100MG/ML in PG for every beginner. I know it's the strongest you can buy from a standard vendor, but due to the math, it's also the easiest to use. If you are making max VG juice then obviously you would want to use nicotine suspended in VG.
VG:
While I have quite a bit of vg nicotine, it is rarely used anymore. It is much thicker and much tougher to handle but can also be very smooth if you get quality nicotine, and if it is shaken properly and handled correctly. Otherwise. I'd say go PG. This is just personal preference and opinion. While I cannot personally prove that there is a thing such as hotspots since I do not have a chemistry degree. I have done the following:
Poured NOT SHAKEN 100mg/ml VG nicotine from the SAME bottle into identical dishes.
I have tested each of these, from multiple locations of these dishes and received different levels of nicotine reading from 79mg/ml-115mg/ml. There seemed to be no consistency to the level of nicotine throughout the bottle. Hence "hot spots." So if you are not willing to shake the heck out of your VG nicotine, and then shake it some more, please get PG nic.
When I do have to work with my VG nicotine, I simply bring the bottle (usually a small one) out of the freezer, about a half an hour before mixing. This will allow it to come to room temperature and be much easier to shake and mix together. This is a VITAL part of this process as cold VG nicotine will not mix well due to the thick viscosity of it. Then when you go to put it in your mix, it's possible you won't be getting the intended strength of nicotine in your bottle.
Colored and harsh nicotine
When you first receive your nicotine there are several things going on. I first recommend testing it. A nicotine test kit should be purchased for around $8.00 at most vendors. Please do yourself a favor and get it. Shake and test your nicotine. Whatever it reads; should be put into your calculator. What this will do is eliminate any mistakes on the nicotines' part. You know exactly the concentration of nicotine in the base of pg/vg or both. Why do you have to do this? Because while most companies have good quality control, it's impossible to be perfect 100% of the time and you just don't want to be that guy that can't figure out why his juices are harsher than what they should be.
Why is my nicotine yellow or pink? Many times you will get nicotine that while it is clear and looks great, it might have a very very slight pink or yellow tint to it. This is natural and occurs in naturally extracted/distilled processes of nicotine. It's all in the processes. The ones with no smell and taste whatsoever are processed differently and have more chemicals involved. The final product is bleached to give it that perfectly clear color. Chemnic, Carolina extract, and others are distilled from tobacco naturally, multiple times, so while the coloring sometimes can be pink or very lightly yellow, you technically are getting a purer product. Most of the companies now have good nicotine consistently and it's up to you to test it, and to store it correctly in order to preserve it for a long period of time.