Ejuice taste and steeping are personal choices or preferences. One ejuice flavor might be the favorite of one or few vapers, but not everyone. In the same manner, not all vapers want or need to steep their ejuices.
Steeping is a term that refers to the act of soaking in liquid so as to extract or to cleanse and soften an element. With ejuice steeping, you are basically extracting more flavors from the eliquid and making the ejuice taste better. Steeping ejuice is like aging wine.
Additional Flavors and Storage
Steeping improves not just the ejuice flavor, but also the throat hit. Some say that steeping is ideal for tobacco-flavored ejuices. Flavor dopes not simply depend on the number of drops or percentage of flavoring added to the eliquid.
Storage is also important in ejuice taste. It helps keep the eliquid in good condition. It is recommended that an ejuice is kept in a dark and dry place; away from direct sunlight and at an average room temperature.
Some suggest that eliquids are kept in the basement or cellar temperatures. Tobacco flavors can become richer, darker more intense in taste over time when it is stored under the ground. Some also say that the taste will become better when stored in slightly cooler temperatures.
Steeping
When an ejuice is freshly made, the complex flavors are not yet apparent. This is when some people recommend that the freshly made juice is steeped in order to allow the other flavors to develop.
If the ejuice that has just been delivered to your doorstep seems to lack in flavors that you prefer, give it time to age and to steep and you might end up liking the flavor. Thus, you would not need to swap or to throw it away.
There are various methods of steeping that vaping aficionados have championed. Which method a vaper users will also depend on the personal choice or preference of that vaper.
A simple method involves giving it a simple bottle shake before it is used. Giving the ejuice bottle a shake, the ingredients are evenly distributed in the eliquid and automatically steep it.
There are also some vapers who say that the eliquid should simply be left inside a cool dark place for a few weeks. Some recommend that ejuice bottles are shaken everyday while allowed to stay in the dark and cool place. Shaking allows the heavier particles that have fallen on the bottom of the bottle to be mixed with the other ingredients again. Shaking and swirling will help loosen the steeped particles to create a stronger and more even flavor. Another method of steeping is leaving off the lid of the ejuice bottle.
There are definitely more methods that other vapers use in aging their ejuices. It all depends on the type of ejuice that vapers prefer to use. Steeping is giving sufficient time for the ejuice flavorings and other ingredients to be absorbed completely into the carrier of VG, PG or both.
The lid off is the most popular method as oxidation that appears to hasten the process. You could have some experiments by taking off the lid for a few weeks at room temperature could help get the desired results.
An Apple shisha, for example, can taste quite differently when it is steeped. It becomes a flavor that tastes more of aniseed and mint making it closer to the shisha flavor instead of just the tart aniseed, caramel like flavor when the ejuice is fresh from the bottle. It will also become darker in color rather than a cloudy light tan in flavor.
For eliquids that are heavy in VG, you first need to boil some water and then placing it in a bowl. Allow the water to cool for several minutes. Place the fresh bottle of eliquid in the bowl. Leave the bottle surrounded with water at room temperature. Place this bottle in the dark and somewhere that is cool for up to 6 days. The flavor will become generally deeper and more rounded.