Thinking of switching from cigarettes to vaping? We don’t blame you, it’s often referred to as an alternative by medical organisations such as the NHS as a tool to quit smoking for good. This is because it can improve your health, your mind, your sense of smell and taste, as well as prove cheaper in the long run.
But before people switch, a common question that gets asked is about e-liquids. Mainly, how long does vape juice last? What is its expiration date, how can you tell when it ‘goes off’ and what’s the general amount of time e-liquid will last you?
As a smoker, although you may recognise now you want to quit, for whatever reason that may be, it is still an uphill battle for many because of the addictive nicotine levels within a packet of cigarettes and the frequency you smoke. Roughly, you will know how many you smoke a day and will need to find out the equivalent when you pick up a vape juice.
Then when you understand what vape juice you need and how long that will last, all of the questions above will be answered too, ensuring your vape juice not only lasts as long as possible but keeps its consistency in terms of flavour and potency.
Below, you’ll find everything you need to know with our brief guide.
Can E-Liquid Expire?
It most certainly can, sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but this key bit of information is important to ensure you’re not vaping gone off liquid. However, bear in mind that an expiry date, which should be on every packaging from a respected brand, is just a guideline. Like some perishable food items or canned goods, you can sometimes go past the expiration date. However, like with those, it’s best to judge the product based on how it looks and smells.
You’ll certainly know when a vape juice is expired – trust us! Generally, any vape juice will have a shelf life of two years. This is pretty standard in the industry. Providing it’s not been opened, and correctly sealed upon acceptance of the product, if you keep it in a dark area where no sunlight is allowed into the vape juice, it should keep its core qualities and flavour.
What About the Other Ingredients That Make Up the Vape Juice?
However, bear in mind that all of the ingredients degrade all the time. Ingredients such as Propylene Glycol (PG) and Vegetable Glycerine (VG) take longer than most (between four to six years) but nicotine begins to degrade much faster (roughly one year), as well as flavourings, which won’t keep as long. All the time they will mix together and determine the life of that product.
Once opened, you should be able to see and smell for yourself whether it still holds value. Within two years, and even in some cases beyond that point, you can vape and test whether it still tastes as expected. It won’t do you any harm.
Just bear in mind that the nicotine will begin to lose its quality from production to the expiry date. Over time that degradation will impact the quality of the e-liquid and most importantly influence the throat hit, meaning it may feel too harsh on the throat over time.
With Regular Use, an E-Liquid Lasts How Long?
This depends on several factors, such as the strength of the nicotine and type, the frequency that you vape, the ingredients of that e-liquid (VG and PG especially) and how intense the puffs are.
- A higher intensity of nicotine means you should not need to vape as often, especially if it contains nicotine salt and not freebase nicotine (nic salts are smooth and have a lower PH level, meaning smoother on the throat and able to have higher intensity).
- If you have a 10ml e-liquid containing nicotine (the highest possible quantity per TPD regulations), how long this lasts depends on how often you vape. If you chain vape, surprise-surprise, it won’t last you as long!
- The ingredients count big time! A higher concentration of VG means bigger clouds, a warmer vape and therefore more e-liquid needed. A higher concentration of PG is thinner in consistency and cooler, prolonging the coil life and just as importantly minimising the amount of e-liquid used, meaning a longer expectancy in the bottle!
- Our advice is to try to take small puffs with less of a draw, to keep that vape juice going as long as possible. If you want to puff big clouds, that’s going to sap your e-liquid real quick, unfortunately.
Final Thoughts
As you can see, there is a lot to think about with e-liquids, but once you get the general gist, it’s actually quite simple. A 10ml bottle of nicotine e-liquid will always have a two-year expiry date. After those two years are up, it’s advised to buy another and not use it but it will not do any damage to try. Providing it looks and smells okay, give it a try and see for yourself.
E-liquids are not designed to last longer than this period and will naturally degrade over time. Therefore, it’s best to use within the date as soon as possible for maximum freshness and to ensure the level of nicotine is at its highest to achieve the desired effect.
If you plan on vaping a 10ml bottle of nicotine (there are different levels from 3mg up to 20mg), the higher the strength, should ideally mean it lasts a bit longer, provided you were not a chain smoker in the past.
Try to take short puffs on a low nicotine level e-liquid to maximise the results, reduce your spending and hopefully quit vaping altogether in the future to remain nicotine and most importantly cigarette free.