This review on the back of a couple of recent nic base orders with
cigeliquid. As I was extremely impressed with it, I posted it on their website and meant to post it here soon afterwards but completely forgot so here it is with a few edits!!
I did have high hopes for this nic base, given that firstly they go the extra mile by filling dead space in the bottles with argon, which I think only cig-eliquid do here in the UK afaik and secondly, they also offer up to 74mg/ml. I believe that most shops only do 72mg/ml to take into account any errors in their production but giving the option of 74mg/ml, in my view, means that they’re confident in producing nic base extremely accurate in strength as they may well have problems if they sold over 75mg/ml.
Packaging with the cig-eliquid nic was impeccable; double boxed and the two decent quality childproof capped 500ml bottles inside were vacuum sealed in black plastic . Whether you think introduction of argon is overkill or not, it's your choice but the fact that they go to such lengths gave me confidence that they wanted to ensure their nic was as well protected from further oxygen exposure as possible. If any of you don't know what that does, the introduction of argon forms a barrier between the liquid and the remaining oxygen in the bottle as its denser than air so any further oxidation would only occur with oxygen that's already dissolved in the liquid rather than that in the space left in the bottle.
I am always hesitant when first inspecting nic base as often it arrives oxidised to some degree and sometimes accompanied by a very strong smell. I've had nic ranging from a fairly deep brown colour to 'water clear', smell from that of wet plaster to almost odourless. This nic base (100% PG based, 74mg/ml) was as clear as water and almost zero odour. Here's a pic i took after I had rebottled in glass and funnelled the remaining drops from the bottles into a small plastic bottle. As you can see, clear and colourless as water:
There is always going to be a very faint smell with even the best nicotine base but this is as odourless as it gets. I rebottled mine in 500ml amber bottles with polycone caps, using an argon/nitrogen mix wine preserver to achieve a similar goal, again overkill you may think but i wanted to take steps to decrease the chances of nic degradation over the years. I am very particular (most may say '****** retentive') about how I choose to keep and store nicotine, flavours and other e-liquid constituents.
Another bonus is that each G28 childproof-capped bottle contained just over 500ml; assuming this was to further reduce dead space. One contained 516ml and the other 524ml making an extra 40ml. Furthermore, the bottles themselves are very handy. They're square shaped and very sturdy so great for mixing large batches juice so long as it's not a plastic eater.
A lot of thought, effort and precautions have clearly gone into ensuring this arrived here in such top condition. For the price, even though it appears to have increased of late, this is an excellent choice if you really want to be confident of getting nice, clean nic base. Yes, you can get cheaper nic in the UK or China but i very much doubt it'll be on par with this stuff. I really I can't see how it can be improved upon, apart from one possible issue I mention later.
Having bought nic base from a fair few vendors in the past, (UK and USA suppliers) I can say with confidence this is the best nicotine I've ever owned (Nude Nicotine’s was close but I had quite a few problems with the order and the customer service was slow to respond and deal with the situation - eventually resolved.)
They’ve really left me with very little room for criticism here! My only thought was I'm not really sure over a period of several years, if the bottles aren't kept completely upright, whether the foam inserts on the underside of the provided caps would be an issue so for that reason I use all plastic polycone caps with my amber bottles. They're not childproof but the way I package my nic, it'd take a classroom of children playing pass the parcel half a day to get to the nic in my bottles
Also perhaps offering the litre in glass bottles for an additional amount to cover the extra expense would be a good idea, again using argon, would be perfect as it'd be straight out of box and into the freezer as many of us are preparing for long term storage.
A hearty thank you to cig-eliquid for all the small touches, going the extra mile and sending nic that, being a fussy DIYer, I’m extremely happy with. I felt the urge to write this because when a vendor/manufacturer really provides something special, vapers need to know! !
Keep up the excellent work and standards others should aspire to
cigeliquid. If I ever need or recommend nic again, it’d be this stuff without hesitation.
tl;dr - superb nic base
Richly deserved!!
