Double Whammy

[PuffnStuff]

So let me set up the scene for ya (and this may take a sec, I have been drinking).

Last night I was cleaning an atomizer, this one happens to be my favorite of the 3 I have (it just hits a little better than the others). So I grab my bros canned air to blow it out, checking the BACK side of the label for bitterants.

for those of you unaware, in the US they add something that taste like a$$ to the canned air to deter kids from "huffing" it.

I see no indication of bitterants so I blow the atomizer out with the canned air and as I put the can back down on the table I see in big bold letters on the FRONT label "Contains Bitterant". DAMMIT, why wasn't that piece of info on the back label as well.

So here I am hoping I didn't do to much damage and I think to myself; "well let's take a drag off this and see; how bad could it be".

Well it doesn't hit, the light on the end of it starts flashing and here is my thought proccess...

"oh the battery is dead, I'll just walk inside and get the fresh battery off the charger"

as I walk inside; "hmm that light is flashing longer than normal, I wonder if... OH ***** cleaning cycle!"

well I didn't get the battery off before the self cleaning completed, now my favorite atomizer has not only been doused with bitterant but immediately after has gone through a self cleaning cycle.

hoping against hope that everyone on these forums was wrong about what self cleaning and bitterant does to the flavor of an atomizer, I loaded up a new cart and took a puff...



words cannot describe just how badly my mouth was violated in that one puff.

I know, I know, you all warned me about the unpleasant taste of cleaning with bitterant. You all warned me about the unpleasant taste following the cleaning cycle. Next time I will have more faith in my fellow forum members and just throw the atomizer away. I would gladly have paid for two more atomizers to avoid that flavor had I only known just how bad it was going to be.

(feel free to point and laugh at me now, I earned it)

[tribalmasters]

I think its time to chuck that one away!! It soesn't sound like its gonna be an easy task bring that one back to life

[mEtoke2]

Wow, that is a stroke of bad luck! Since the atomizer still works and it's you favorite you would have nothing to loose by boiling it. It's worth a try.

[phylo]

I would blow out all the liquid that is in the reservoir of the atomizer and then boil or steam clean the atomizer.. There is a good chance it can be resurrected and you will have your favorite smoker back!

Phil

[Schroedinger's cat]

After one experience with the self-cleaning, I now I move VERY fast when the battery starts flashing (even thogh 99% of the time it's the battery that is discharged).

Since then, however, I had problem with a flavor that I REALLY did not like, and that atomizer seemed polluted beyond repair (and ruined one perfectly good cart of RY4). I decided to go for broke, and I did the following:

1. Canned air (a bitterant sounded like what I needed, because the flavor I wanted to get rid of was horribly sweet)
2. A good steam (I use a saucepan with a lid with a hole near the top that can be opened to let out "concentrated" vapor, with something to hold the atomizer in my hand, because it gets hot). Both the cart side and the battery side got exposed to steam, for a couple of minutes.
3. After the atomizer had cooled, I blew into it with all I had, while tapping it (cart-side down) with some strength against a wad of paper, and observed with great satisfaction globs of the hated liquid coming out. When I was just about to pass out for excessive blowing, I put two drops of some strong liquid in the atomizer, and the loathed taste had almost entirely gone. I am not sure that this can help your atomizer to recover from its experience, but trying won't do any harm, at this point....

[Grumpysanta]

Having read through some other threads I purchased a mini steamer. To coin a fraise I read elsewhere on this forum, my atomiser was beginning to draw like a McDonalds Milkshake. After using the steamer, three blasts in both directions and leaving it to stand for 5 minutes cartridge side down, my atomiser is back to normal.

[PuffnStuff]

Well I used some alcohol to clean out my atomizer followed by rinsing with water a number of times, then a blast of steam from the espresso machine and left it to drain over night.

A little juice to prime the atomizer with a fresh cart and it appears my favorite atomizer is saved.

Thanks to everyone for your helpful advice.