Replacing cartridge wool

[Enfield]

Greetings.
I am currently a fan of the tea bag method: the draw is fabulous, filling and topping up are quick and easy (even more so if you use a syringe), and the cart stuffing process is ridiculously simple. I tend to fill carts with liquid in a batch of five or six, swap them out with full ones as they need topping up, and then top them up (with syringe) in a batch, so I can't really claim that a cart needs to be re-stuffed every x days. My best (conservative) estimate is that a single tea-bag stuffing would be good for maybe two days of continuous use. If that seems very short, bear in mind that it only takes a minute (two max) to prep a tea-bag stuffing plug and the only tool required is a part of sharp scissors.

I use these empty (Finum brand) tea bags here. I am a long-time fan of Upton Tea and everything they sell: Upton Tea Imports: Teaware - Cup/Mug Filter Bags (AI42)

Here is a brief summary of my procedure for stuffing 510 carts with tea-bag material:

1. Trim and discard the side seams. The fastest way to this is to fold the bag in half one or more times, just to shorten the length that you need to cut thru with scissors (think of strings of folded paper dolls to get the visual).
2. Cut the bag in half parallel to the side seams that you just removed. When unfolded, you should have two long strips of material, enough to fill two carts. I usually tear off and discard about two inches off of each strip to get the right amount for a 510 cart.
3. Start at one end of the strip and begin folding the paper up into a plug. I use my fingers back and forth to do a sloppy accordian pleat, as I feel that the pleats result in an airier structure than rolling it up like a carpet. Make your pleats roughly as wide as the intended mouthpiece.
4. Tidy up the plug into a shape and size to fit your mouthpiece, then trim a small bit off of one end to make it flush for the bottom end of the mouthpiece.
5. Slide the plug into the mouthpiece all the way, then pull it out about 1 mm, and trim the excess off across the open end of the mouthpiece. Tuck the plug back in, and you're done.
6. Fill that baby up with liquid--the fastest and best way IMHO is to fill from the bottom up using a syringe.

Please give a holler if I've been unclear or if you have any questions.

[miketr]

I have had trouble finding the teabag material around here. Probably the easiest thing to find has been the polyfill, and I've had a lot of luck with that.

I thought I would try following the directions and videos on the forum to stuff an old 510 Cartridge, and it came out well, I think. Here are my directions with pictures following. They are just meant to augment directions already online.

First, get a bag of plain 100% polyfill polyester, from a hobby store or hobby department of a mega-store. (Picture 1) Open the bag and pull out a little polyester. Uncompressed, you should have a little ball maybe an inch in diameter. Now, I think it’s a good idea to have most of the fibers going the same way, and right now they are going in all directions. Here is how I try to improve this: Grab the ends of the ball in either hand, and pull it apart into two pieces. Put the pieces together on top of each other and repeat the process over and over (say 5-10 times) until it looks like the “direction” of the polyester threads is generally straight, going from one end to the other.

Now roll the polyester briskly between the palms of your hands, like you might do to turn a ball of dough or clay into a cylinder. You should end up with something that looks like Picture 2.

Now, get an Exacto style hobby knife, or a sharp razor or scissors (small cuticle scissors work well for this kind of detail work and are less dangerous than a razor). Evenly cut off one end of the polyester where it begins to taper. This must be done quickly and firmly or the threads won’t all get cut evenly. See Picture 3.

Now remove the stuffing from an existing empty or old dried-out cart using tweezers or (my favorite low-tech standby) an unbent paperclip as in Picture 4. Use it as a length guideline to cut the other end of the polyester off so it is the exact same length as the existing cart stuffing, see Picture 5.

( max pic attachments hit, so continued in next post)

[miketr]

(Continued from previous post)


Roll the polyester a little tighter with your fingertips, and stick the end in the cartridge. Carefully use your fingertips and the old standby (paperclip) to carefully push the new polyester stuffing all the way down into the cart. Clip away any stray polyester threads that may be sticking out with a scissor or cuticle scissor. Attached picture shows the resulting stuffed 510 cartridge.

Add some eLiquid, and your newly stuffed cartridge is now ready for vaping!

[gyrixx]

So I'm guessing its not a "good" thing that I've been washing (really just rinsing and squeezing) and re-using my original 801 filler since July 10???!!!

I have noticed that now my batting is quite stiff... But then again I'm a constant re-dripper!

Anyone thing this is a bad idea?

I'm thinking of pulling into the next grocery store I see to pick up some tea bags!

I'll make my decision in the next 30 min if anyone thinks I should!

Thanks.

[gyrixx]

Is this how it's supposed to look?

[starling]

So I'm guessing its not a "good" thing that I've been washing (really just rinsing and squeezing) and re-using my original 801 filler since July 10???!!!

I have noticed that now my batting is quite stiff... But then again I'm a constant re-dripper!

Anyone thing this is a bad idea?

Bump - good idea?

[Geezer]

I just started using the pyramid tea bags in a m-402 and they work way better than stock.

[Lothar]

Bump for tea bags!

[mn shutterbug]

I have my first PV on it's way and after spending a couple hours reading thru this thread, I'm wondering if these methods work just as well for cartomizers.

[wave42]

I've only been doing this for 4 days and I switched over to the PTB method today. The poly fill just wasn't doing the job wicking the liquid down the cart. It would be dry on top and wet on the bottom. The tea bag method was fast, easy and so far, works much better.