Concentrates in Glass Bottles - Why?

[YeOldeOke]

Since returning to ZA all the concentrates I've bought from different vendors are in glass bottles, and I wonder why.

Personally I find them to be a pain. The droppers they have in cannot be used as droppers, so everytime you have to pry off the dropper, use a pipette - I haven't yet jumped on the weigh bandwagon - and rinse the pipette for the next bottle.

Leave the dropper out and the bottle leaks if shaken, not a good seal on the top. All round a messy and tedious exercise.

LDPE/HDPE dropper bottles are used widely everywhere else. Easy and clean.

So why glass?

 

[Spydro]

Maybe some possible glass marketing factors?

Because being in glass makes them appear to be in better packaging. Many end users reuse the bottles, they are easy and safe to sterilize for reuse, provide a good gas barrier so will protect from oxidation better/longer and are unaffected by anything used in e liquids. Glass negatives... Besides not being as user friendly for some uses, the glass bottles and droppers cost more so the e liquids in them almost always cost more.

LDPE/HDPE is intended for single use, require EtO or gamma radiation sterilization so possibly not a best idea to reuse long term, have a poor gas barrier so generally not deemed as good for long term storage (although there has been some new inroads improving that I'm testing for a vendor), and while they stand up the best of the poly's to e liquids might still be compromised by some ingredients.

Regardless, my first choice for long term storage is still glass right now. From the storage bottles I refill my 30ml LDPE needle bottles with a dedicated joose in each of them to refill my in use vape gear with. I use up 30ml fast, so do wash and refill them until if I think a bottle needs it I replace it and the LL needle with a new one. If 30ml premades are bought in poly that do not have an acceptable nozzle they are transferred to a new needle bottle... if larger than 30ml are bought the excess is transferred into glass bottles for cold storage. YMMV

 

[YeOldeOke]

I'm more concerned about concentrates in glass bottles, it makes it a mission to do mixing. I used to buy INW o/seas and they always came in plastic with nozzles. Much easier to use. Never had an oxydisation problem, even after more than 18 months.

But yes, I get the marketing/feel good thing. Glass actually doesn't cost that much more. % wise compared to plastic yes, but not as a % of product cost. But then there's also the weight factor if shipping is involved.

But they leak, useless droppers, generally a pain in practice.

 

[method1]

I've never received any concentrates in glass bottles, other than from skyblue, and those are the 15ml that come directly from tfa. Where are you ordering from?
Personally I'd prefer glass, I've had flavours packaged in hdpe go bad or fade out.

 

[Spydro]

Droppers are still not as easy, but were usable back in my dripping days. Now I detest them for any use.

Cost wise, the SA e liquid folks I've visited the web sites of so far are nowhere near as greedy as they are in general over here. Case in point, I talked another very well known liquid company owner here into offering me 1 liter bottles as well. His cost was R5490 per liter (more per ml than it costs in his 60ml dropper bottles) plus shipping... verses the R1066 my main supplier charges me for a liter with free shipping.

 

[YeOldeOke]

I've never received any concentrates in glass bottles, other than from skyblue, and those are the 15ml that come directly from tfa. Where are you ordering from?
Personally I'd prefer glass, I've had flavours packaged in hdpe go bad or fade out.

I've bought from 3 vendors here in the Jhb/Pta area, all glass.

Most concentrates I know are sold in LDPE/HDPE o/seas. I've never experienced, or heard of flavours fading in it.

 

[Cespian]

Thus far I've only received concentrates in glass bottles from Skyblue and Geoff. I usually order from Valley Vapour and Atomix and both supply in HDPE bottles. I cannot speak for Blckvapour, Fog machine and those other new guys (I forgot their name).

You could always run over to Bonpak/Mocopak or the likes and get a butt load of HDPE bottles, and transfer accordingly... those bottles are quite cheap so it wont hurt your pocket.

I agree on the use of glass bottles having a more premium look and providing better storage life, however, I go through concentrates too quickly and I store them in a closed box under my desk (cool dark place) and have never had a concentrate gone bad in my HDPE bottles (recently used a marshmallow that has been lying in there since mid last year and it was absolutely fine).

 

[Andre]

I have only bought from Valley Vapour and BlckVapour and all concentrates were in plastic. I would actually also prefer glass.

 

[daniel craig]

I also prefer the glass bottles over the HDPE. For storage I prefer the glass. I mix using syringes and pipettes because I have a lot of syringes so glass is easier for me.

 

[RichJB]

I have only used TFA concentrates so far so all glass for me. When I started mixing, I bought a variety of glass and plastic mixing and storage containers. I only use the glass ones now. My initial plan was to mix/steep in 50ml or 100ml amber glass bottles and then transfer to 30ml plastic dropper bottles. But no matter how carefully I used the plastic dropper bottles, I'd always get a drop of liquid on the exterior of the tank when filling. Always. So I switched to refilling with a syringe and I never spill a single droplet now. As there is no need for a bottle with a dropper anymore, I just transfer liquid directly from the amber steeping bottle into my tank via the syringe.

That said, I work at home so I never have the need to take a refilling bottle anywhere with me. If I go out to visit friends, I refill the tank just before leaving the house. If I had a job in an office, I'm not sure that having a syringe on my desk would give a good impression.

 

[SAVaper]

[QUOTE="YeOldeOke, post: 372589, member: 6431 ...... use a pipette - - and rinse the pipette for the next bottle........

[/QUOTE]

Hi,
What I found very useful is 1ml insulin syringes from the pharmacy. Just buy the one without the needle. If I can't get the one without the needle, I buy the one with the needle and I take pliers and break the needle tip completely off. I use one per flavour and I can clean all of them when I am done. They work perfectly because when I mix 3ml at a time, I need something that can measure fractions of 1ml accurately.

 

[YeOldeOke]

Interesting observations. Looks like most may prefer glass. I hate 'em, but that's just me.

I'll look into the insulin syringes, thanks for the suggestion.