Picture this: You’ve found a great deal on some bottles of vape juice somewhere. You know that the e-liquid must have been on the shelf for a while, though, because there’s no way the price would be so low if the e-liquid wasn’t getting old. Or, maybe you’ve discovered an old bottle of e-liquid in a drawer somewhere, and you’re wondering if it’s still okay to use it. Does vape juice expire?
The basic answer is that vape juice generally expires about a year after it’s made, and you should be able to find the expiration date on the box or on the bottle’s label. The one-year rule isn’t hard and fast, though, and it’s possible for vape juice to go bad more quickly than that – or to last much longer – depending on how you treat it.
So, when does vape juice really expire? You’ll find the answers here in this comprehensive guide.
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When Does Vape Juice Expire?
As we mentioned in the article’s introduction, vape juice generally has an expiration date about one year from when the bottle was produced. It’s usually more accurate to consider the expiration date more of a “best-by” date, though, because there’s usually no reason why you can’t use e-liquid that’s a little past the date. We’ll explain that in greater detail as the article continues
For now, though, the most important thing to understand is that you can generally find an e-liquid’s expiration date printed on the label. If you’re using a vape juice that has an outer box, the expiration date may also be on the box.
If you’re not sure when a particular bottle of vape juice expires, remember that the expiration date isn’t a hard and fast rule, and it’s usually fine to use “expired” e-liquid. Just make a note of when you bought the bottle and try to use it within a year.
How to Store Vape Juice for Maximum Shelf Life
If you want your e-liquid to last as long as it possibly can, the important thing to remember is that air, light and heat are the main reasons why e-liquid goes bad. Those environmental factors cause oxidation and other chemical processes that ultimately result in a vape juice losing its flavor and nicotine content. To prolong those things as long as possible, follow these simple rules when storing your vape juice.
- Store the bottles in a cool, dark place. A closed cabinet in an air-conditioned room is fine.
- Always keep a bottle of vape juice tightly closed until you’re ready to use it. Opening the bottle exposes the e-liquid to air, which speeds up the process of oxidation. If a bottle of e-liquid is opened and then put away, it may actually begin to lose its flavor and nicotine potency well before the expiration date.
If you need to store e-liquid longer than a year, it’ll have the best chance to maintain the maximum possible quality if you put it in your refrigerator or freezer. Some people claim to have stored vape juice in their freezers for years without any noticeable loss of quality. Your mileage may vary, of course, but you can almost definitely expect vape juice to last longer if it’s stored in a cold environment.
How Long Does Vape Juice Last Once Opened?
You can expect an e-liquid’s shelf life to be greatly reduced after you open the bottle because exposing the vape juice to air causes it to oxidize more rapidly. After a bottle has been open for a few months, you’ll probably notice that it tastes very different than it did when it was new. Depending on how much nicotine is in the vape juice, you may also notice that the liquid has begun to turn yellow. The yellowing indicates that the e-liquid’s nicotine strength has decreased.
Oxidation causes the nicotine in the e-liquid to yellow and degrade, and it also hastens the chemical processes that cause the flavors to break down. The compounds that give vape juice its flavor are often fairly volatile. They intermingle with one another easily, and they can also evaporate when the e-liquid is exposed to air. These processes make the e-liquid’s subtle flavor notes more and more difficult to detect until they eventually fade away completely.
Once again, although these changes do indicate that the e-liquid has “expired,” you’re still free to use it if you enjoy it. Unless the e-liquid has undergone major changes to its appearance or flavor – which we’ll discuss in a moment – there’s no reason why you can’t use it as long as you enjoy it. You will definitely notice major changes in e-liquid, though, after the bottle has been open for a few months.
Is It Bad to Use Expired Vape Juice?
If it isn’t too long past the expiration date, there’s generally no reason not to use expired vape juice as long as you still enjoy it. If the flavor still pleases you – and you still find the vape juice satisfying to use – you can go ahead and use it.
Once again, it’s important to note that vape juice manufacturers put expiration dates on their bottles for a reason – it’s because once a year or so has passed, the e-liquid will no longer meet the maker’s standards for flavor quality and nicotine delivery. After about a year, in other words, the e-liquid won't give you the same experience that it would have when it was new. The nicotine content will probably also have decreased slightly, although you can always use more to make up for it. As long as you still like the e-liquid, though – and you don’t notice any of the major causes for concern that we’ll describe below – you should feel free to enjoy it.
How Can You Tell if Vape Juice Has Gone Bad?
Although you can generally be confident that vape juice will last a year or even longer before it begins to seriously degrade, there are some cases when an e-liquid definitely won’t be enjoyable to use and could even potentially be unsafe. If you notice any of these things in a bottle of vape juice, you should discard it.
- You see a major color change. It’s normal for e-liquid to turn slightly yellow with age as the nicotine oxidizes, and yellow vape juice is nothing to be concerned about. If an e-liquid is dark brown or black, though, that indicates severe oxidation. The vape juice may have almost no nicotine left. The color change could even be a sign of potentially dangerous microbial growth.
- You see evidence of solid substances in the e-liquid, such as cloudiness, flecks or blobs. There should never be anything floating in a bottle of vape juice, and you should assume that any solid substance in the bottle is a definite sign of microbial contamination.
- The e-liquid tastes wrong or smells foul. A vape juice should always smell like the flavors that are in it – and although the flavor profile will definitely change as the e-liquid matures, it should never reach the point where you smell or taste something outright unpleasant. This is another potential sign of microbial growth – and even if the vape juice isn’t contaminated, it’s definitely a sign that the flavor quality has degraded too far for the e-liquid to give you an enjoyable experience.
- You don't feel right when you use the vape juice. Again, you should definitely avoid using expired vape juice if anything about the experience is unpleasant or abnormal. If you don't feel right when using the e-liquid, it's possible that it has very little active nicotine remaining. It's also possible that the vape juice has gone bad in some other way. Whatever the case is, you should discard it.
- It’s well past the e-liquid’s expiration date. Although it’s completely fine in most cases to use vape juice if it’s a little past the expiration date, you shouldn’t even consider using e-liquid years after buying it unless you’ve been keeping it in your freezer. Although the ingredients of vape juice do help to prevent microbial growth, there’s no way to keep e-liquid fresh forever. If it’s very old, you should throw it away.