e mesh vape kit

Why has my vape juice gone black (Affnix banana ice)

Why has my vape juice gone black?

I recently put affnix banana ice (20mg) in my smok novo 4. I had put in a new coil the night before. However, it was less than 1000 hits before the whole juice and the coil went black, weirdly the amount of juice in the pod had also increased slightly since the last time I had checked it and it had been in my pocket the whole time. But despite all this it didn’t taste burnt. At first I thought it was because of the sweetness of the juice, due to the sweeteners caramelising and causing it all to look black, but my friends tried the juice in their vapes and it wasn’t a problem. I also knew it wasn’t burnt, it didn’t taste like it was and I had been hitting it at 20W open airflow for less than 1000 hits on new coils, which I had primed. Does anyone know what the reason could be?

Solution

I think I found the problem. I forgot to mention that the pod was slightly cracked at the top, but not leaking. Because of this oxygen was able to get into the pod, leading to oxidisation of nicotine, turning the juice brown. If this happens to you, replace the pod or find out how oxygen is getting in. Sunlight can also lead to photolysis and subsequent oxidisation. Don’t hit the dark brown vape juice. The nicotine won’t work and it has dangerous chemicals instead.

Other possible causes

Some juices contain flavors that will turn dark as they age quicker than others, especially when in close proximity to a heat source. A cracked pod will not instantly oxidize the nicotine, nor does dark juice have dangerous chemicals.

Update

It’s not a problem with the juice, it’s either the coil or the pod. I replaced both and it’s not happening anymore. Another thing that I forgot to mention is that I wasn’t getting nicotine rushes anymore. I thought I had just built up a tolerance, but as soon as I switched the pod and coil and used the same juice I got rushes again. To me, this suggests that the nicotine had chemically changed. It didn’t instantly oxidise it just gradually got darker over time. Oxidised nicotine is also not safe to vape.

Nicotine is photosensitive and will gradually turn brown when exposed to light or air. Anyone who's vaped for any while knows that. It doesn't affect the potency, only perhaps the taste if brown enough. It's still nicotine, though and makes a great pesticide when no longer vapable. Pour it on anthills.