Do vapes expire? YES! They do—both e-liquids and disposable vapes degrade over time. If you've ever picked up an old vape and noticed it tasted horrible or was weak, the expiration date is likely the issue.
Generally, unopened e-liquids are fresh for 1 to 2 years, and opened e-liquids last 6 to 12 months. Disposable vapes last up to a year unopened. The bulk of the deterioration is caused by oxidation processes in the nicotine, which darkens the liquid and creates a harsh taste. The flavourings fade over time, and the entire product may separate. Those earth-shattering contacts with heat, light, and of course, air! They were your vape juice’s worst enemy.
Keep reading!
Do Vape Juices (E-Liquids) Expire?
Vape juice does expire. The shelf life of vape juice depends on the percentages of its ingredients and base ingredients. Each ingredient has a different rate of breaking down, which results in the overall quality and performance of the juice. Familiarising yourself with these timelines will help vapers use their juices before they lose their optimal flavour and nicotine delivery.
Understanding the Lifetime of E-Liquid Ingredients
Vegetable Glycerin (VG) is the ingredient responsible for pure vapor production, and usually lasts 1–2 years. VG is a thick, sweet liquid with a stabilised consistency that lasts longer than other ingredients, but it will thicken over time. Propylene Glycol (PG), which carries flavor and throat hit, lasts 1-2 years before it degrades. PG will also degrade faster due to consistent exposure to heat.
Nicotine is the most unstable ingredient in any vape juice and can begin oxidising pretty quickly, between 6–12 months, depending on the concentration. Nicotine will turn dark and adopt a harsher, peppery taste. Nicotine salts (salt-based nic), common in disposable vapes, degrade cleanly than traditional freebase nicotine gears.
Flavorings have a life of their own. Artificial flavors will stay potent for 2–3 years, while natural extracts degrade more quickly, often within a year. When estimating the expiration of an e-liquid, you have to consider the chemistry behind these ingredients and how they react to one another.
Factors That Cause Vape Juice to Expire More Quickly
Several environmental conditions will cause vape juice to degrade more quickly. The primary element is heat. Storing e-liquid in hot places, such as a glove box in your car, for example, will cause the e-liquid to oxidise more quickly. Sunlight is also a time thief. The UV rays generated by sunlight break down the nicotine and flavor molecules, further destroying the contents.
Air exposure is also detrimental to shelf life once the seal is broken and a bottle is opened. Each time you remove the cap, oxygen is introduced to the liquid, and, needless to say, it will oxidise and degrade the nicotine. The more nicotine is in a vape juice (like 50mg of salt nicotine, for example), the more it will degrade quickly than lower-strength vape juices like 3mg freebase.
Signs Your Vape Juice Has Expired
It's essential to know when your e-liquid has expired, because no one wants an unpleasant vaping experience. Several obvious indicators show when vape juice has degraded past the point of being usable.
Visual Signs of Expired E-liquid
Fresh e-liquid typically has a clear or light yellow tint. As nicotine decomposes and oxidizes more, it will develop a darker and darker tint until it eventually appears amber or brown—this color change represents the chemical breakdown happening in the liquid. A warning sign may also be visible, especially with higher viscosity liquids that may have floating particles or look cloudy. You may also see the bases (VG and PG) separate, and they will not completely remix when shaken
Flavor and Sensation Changes
Once an e-liquid has expired, it develops a harsh, peppery taste due to deceased nicotine. Eventually, some or all of the original flavor will diminish or change (e.g., chemical or metal notes), and the throat hit is likely to feel sharper rather than smooth. Menthol flavors are also normally the first choice to lose the cool menthol aspect.
Performance Problems in Your Device
Expired or degraded vape juice produces dramatically less vapor as a result of the change in VG/PG ratios. Thickened liquid also provides poor wicking, so you can expect to have dry hits and burnt, horrible taste. Old juice usually gunks up coils, which you will have to replace more often, if using expiring vape juice. Some people experience a decrease in nicotine satisfaction after switching to expired or degraded products and they excessively use the vape to search for that satisfaction.
Safety of Vaping Expired Juice
Expired e-liquid will not poison you, however it might perform poorly. Depending on how poor it is, you could experience a harsh throat hit or coughing. If your coil gunked up because of thickened juice, this could create performance problems with your hardware device. When using a vape made with expired juice, nicotine might not be delivered properly (never over-using the device) could also lead to satisfaction problems. After getting multiple signs that vape juice enjoyable has expired, getting a new product will reduce your chance of getting poor quality and your device will also last longer.
How to Store Vape Juice to Last Longer
There are ways to store bottled e-liquids and disposable vapes to significantly increase their shelf life. Following these steps to proper storage will help retain flavor quality and performance.
Best Way to Store Bottled E-liquids
The best storage place for a bottle and/or disposable vape is a dark and cool area, like a cupboard or drawer. While it is most important to keep the bottle at a constant temperature, rather than an extreme one (e.g., cold), room temperature (20°C or 68°F) is preferred. Always keep vape bottles sealed tightly. The process of refrigeration creates condensation in bottles that mixes in with the vape juice diluting the flavor and allowing the flavors to separate.
Smaller bottles help habitual vapors keep freshness. For users who only vape occasionally, try a 30ml bottle or smaller. Ideally, it helps minimize oxidation, which happens when you repeatedly open a bottle. I also like to write the purchase date on the bottle to monitor time. Dark glass bottles protects from light better than plastic if the liquids have been transferred.
Preserving the Life of Disposable Vapes
Unopened disposables are at their best in original packaging, and should be stored upright to keep the integrity of the wick. Try to avoid high or extreme temps on disposable vapes, car glove boxes or in direct sunlight can ruin devices and battery life along with e-liquids.
For disposable vapes, battery components are damaged by both cold environments and heat. A consistent moderate temperature maintains e-liquid and prevent the functionality of the device amongst consistency. In general keeping disposables in packaged condition until it’s usage keeps air from compressing and moisture lost from evaporation.
If you rotate your inventory regularly, it will give an indication of freshness. Be thinking about expiration dates at the time of purchase and use older purchases before newer. If you properly storing e-liquids double there’s rate (if not more) of travelable life for all types of vapor products while maintaining freshness the original demonstrated flavor of the e-liquids.
The Top Five Juices To Try
While we didn’t have access to the actual site listed, these five amazing e-liquids are currently hot products and offer a variety of flavors to suit any vaping style!
Naked 100 Hawaiian POG
POG takes your taste buds to the tropics, this blissful medley of passionfruit, sunset orange and guava will not disappoint your palate. POG has juicy sweetness with a tangy finish that is especially refreshing while you enjoy your smooth vapor with Naked 100’s quality ingredients.
Vapetasia Killer Kustard
Killer Kustard is our favorite dessert flavored e-liquid. Killer Kustard is a delicious rich vanilla custard treat that delivers creaminess and just the right amount of sweetness. Leaving you with a smooth finish, authentic bakery flavor, this product should appeal to most vapers who enjoy a sweet indulgent dessert vaping experience after they eat.
Sad Boy Butter Cookie
Sad Boy has captured the same delicious nostalgic flavor of a buttery shortbread cookie with a light version of lemon cream flavor. Authentic and well-balanced bakery notes along with the sweetness to consider for a dessert, make this one of the best vapes for dessert enthusiasts that want something comforting, but not too sweet.
Air Factory Mystery Flavor
Willing to experience one flavor, the mystery flavor from Air Factory is a moment. The flavor may be blue raspberry one day, then watermelon candy another day, so the taste at any moment will always be a surprise. This ever-changing character is a fun experience, however, Air Factory manages to retain the signature smooth flavor of the other Air Factory e-liquids.
Juice Head Pineapple Grapefruit Freeze
Juice Head Pineapple Grapefruit Freeze features an interesting blend of juicy pineapple, tart grapefruit, and menthol that hits icy cold. This was a fresh flavor to target when it’s hot out as well as any other time a vaper wants to enjoy a refreshing palate purging fresh fruit flavored vaping experience!
Can You Use Expired Vape Juice?
Using expired vape juice comes down to whether it's of bad or not-so-bad quality. Given that expired vape juice is “technically” not dangerous, the thing to realize is how terrible the experience will be. The decision is up to how the e-liquid has now aged along with your own tolerance for less than quality experience.
Slightly expired e-liquids, that had little change in color and still tasted pretty much the same as fresh, could still be vaped. If the flavor tasted pleasant to you and the vapor seemed normal, then the juice has not aged significantly. Heavily oxidized liquid that turned dark’ western style, dark colors, separation happening in the juice, or a muted, harsh flavor means you need to dispose of it. You will know nicotine has broken down when you taste peppery tasting juice, and thickened liquid if you put it in a build could ruin your coils.
After the usage itself expired e-juice won’t not could make you sick from it however the reduced nicotine delivery will make it less satisfactory on a per-vape-session basis. The flavor alteration would often ends up being more unpleasant than enjoyable vaping. When in doubt, you can always do a little taste test of the juice - If it tastes significantly worse than a fresh product, than replacement for taste quality is a good recommendation.
Final Verdict: Do Vapes Expire?
The answer is clearly yes - e-liquids and disposable vapes do have an expiration period shelf life. The mechanism for expiration is mostly from nicotine oxidation, which solely darkens the liquid and makes it harsh in flavor. Expired products will not hurt you but you may notice a sizable drop-off in quality, as it relates to muted flavor or muted and thin vapour production.
Storage is the most important factor to maintaining longevity. Vape products that are stored in cooler, darker environments with minimized air exposure will nearly double their usage life. If you have access check manufacturing dates before you purchase a product, and remember to use older stock first. I would recommend replacing e-liquids when you notice multiple factors of expiration of the e-liquid like dark coloration, separation, and peppery taste, - you will always have a better experience!
