I still dont quite get it?!

[cooperidol]

Hello... Right, i have just recieved my first E-Cig on the road to quitting the fags. i purchased the Riva 510 after recommendations on here, and i can safely say i'm very happy with it and amazed at the replication of a real cig in terms of throat hit and vapour.

there are a couple of things that as a newbie im not quite understanding:

My Riva 501 came with a battery,atomizer,cone and pre filled cartridge... now im looking to stock up on e-liquid, but the thing is im not sure what the quantities mean and how much carts can hold etc.
for example on one site i can buy 5 pre filled cartridges for £2.30 and on another i can buy a 30ml bottle for £12.... so how much is in the pre filled carts? because if it is 3ml for example then i could only fill 10 carts therefore making the pre filled a much cheaper option?

also am i right in thinking i would need some sort of pippette to transfer the liquid from bottle to cart?

sorry for the long post, but i may aswell throw in my last 2 questions:

blue foam cart filler? would this enhance my experience?

protective case? is there some sort of metal test tube type case i could slip my e-cig into to protect it in my pocket?

thanks again...looking forward to your advice.

Cooper

 

[Rosa]

carts usually hold about 0.5ml, it's always less expensive (and yummier) to refill your own carts. And it's easy too, and you don't need a pipette:
YouTube - Mooby's Guide for Noobies: How to Refill Carts

Blue foam would certainly enhance your vaping experience (rinse well before you use it) it wicks better so you don't have to top off the liquid as often, you can usually find it wherever aquarium equipment is sold. It's called "Marineland Rite Size U" and you use it like this:
YouTube - Marineland Filter Cart MOD

I don't know if there's a small sized case for the Riva, but many people like the eGo case. It will hold all your vaping supplies for the day and many vendors sell it:
eGo case - Google Search

 

[swedishfish]

I don't know exactly how much juice is in a pre-filled carto but it's just been my experience that buying your own carto and filling them yourself, the carto holds more and tastes much better. Plus, if you have a bottle of juice, you can top off your carto.

I have never used the atty & carts, just cartomizers so I can't help with that. Just want to wish you good luck with your pv!

 

[dormouse]

cartridge = cart = the plastic/juice/stuffing part of a 3-piece (battery+atomizer+cart)

cartomizer = carto = a disposable combined cart&atomizer that screws on (battery + cartomizer)

cart usually holds about 1/2 ml
standard carto holds about 1ml

 

[cooperidol]

Bloody hell! thanks for the quick replies!
sorry if i caused any confusion..its Carts i have, not Cartos.... when you mention topping off the carts, what does that entail?
sounds like i should defo go with the filling my own cartridges option.
im going to be cheeky and ask for any other advice you can throw my way... i've just orderd 2 30ml bottles of e-liquid, one cigar and one menthol flavour and a pack of foam fillers for my....oh yeah, how long would a standard Riva 510 cartridge filled by myself (with 0.5ml u say) last me, considering i am a 20 a day real cig man?
thanks again

 

[swedishfish]

It's easy to confuse the two because companies use both words. For example, when you get a starter kit they say your getting 'prefilled carts' when your actually getting prefilled cartomizers.

 

[Sugar_and_Spice]

That would depend on how often you 'Hit' your atty(puff on it). I would say when the vapor and taste start to diminish, put another 10 drops or so. Don't let them run dry.

sas
oh btw welcome to ecf and the world of vaping.

 

[Rosa]

Unfortunately, I found that I had to top off my carts quite often - maybe every 20 puffs or so (and that's with the blue foam mod).

Topping off is just when you pop off the cart and add more liquid to it, so my normal supplies whenever I left the house included; two batteries, two atomizers, two carts, a paperclip (for squishing the filler around, it helps get more drops in), a paper towel (to dab up any extra liquid), and a bottle of e-liquid.

The eGo case came in really handy.

Most vapers use about 3ml per day (for you, that would be 6 carts). If you wanted to you could pre-fill a bunch of carts and bring them with you, but I find that it's more convenient to just bring the liquid because you may want to drip a few drops into the atomizer on occasion as well as into the cart.

Many vapers end up forgoing the carts and just drip liquid directly into the atomizer. If you decide to do this then you must do it more often (you'll only get about 7-10 puffs before having to re-drip) but you don't have to carry as much gear around with you. This is what drip tips were designed for:
Mods - Drip Tips

Another option (also compatible with your Riva batteries) is the Boge 510 cartomizer, it is a cartridge with a built in atomizer. Cartomizers hold about 1ml of liquid and can be filled at home and switched out for fresh ones throughout the day. They are much easier to use than carts, IMO, but they are technically disposable so even though you can refill them several times they still must be thrown out and replaced with new ones quite often:
Electronic Cigarette - Cartomizers - Boge Cartomizers

The majority of vapers will either use drip tips or cartomizers rather than the carts that come with the kits (though the carts are still a very good option until you get your bearings).

Good luck!

 

[dormouse]

No way to tell. It depends on how big your drags are, how much your atty vaporizes on each drag. I would guess somewhere around 1.5 to 3ml per day? I go through 1.5 and have a fairly small mouth/lungs.

A cart may seem dry to vape before it is empty. Then you "top it off" by adding 2 or more drops on top of the stuffing until it looks damp but not a puddle on top. If the top is damp it will work better. Eventually it will need a full fill. A full fill is pretty easy with blue foam - you can use an unbent small smooth paperclip to remove the blue foam, fill the cart 1/2 way with juice, insert the blue foam tapered end first, push it down into the juice to get it wet. Reposition the blue foam even with the top edge of the juice cup and top it off with 2-3 drops so it looks damp on top. Then you can vape that and just top it off when needed until topping off doesn't help - then it needs a full fill.

Now I am mostly using cartomizers (for 510, Boge soft-caps) - they hold twice as much and don't need juice added as often. And less likely to dump juice in your mouth! You may not have experienced mouth-full-of-juice yet since prefilled carts are usually somewhat light on juice.

 

[BiancaMontgomery]

I'm going to suggest 2ohm Boge cartomizers if you're a heavey vaper, just for the sake of less fussing with stuff. They are great on a Riva (or eGo) and hold a ml of liquid (or a little more). And the soft white cap just comes right out...and can be replaced with a drip tip to add length (with the cone on the Riva, it might be short) and ease of refilling. You would just pop the white top out and drip in 30 or 35 drops directly into the white filler (you know it's full when the liquid stops soaking in and starts pooling on top), put on the drip tip instead of the white cap and you're done for a couple of hours of fairly heavy vaping. Nice for taking out too, don't have to take so much gear with you.

 

[mylose64]

I think if you found a portable ashtray tube, that would work. you can probably fit a e cig and a bottle of juice in it.

 

[satelliteguy]

I'm going to second the vote for boge 2.0 cartomizer, when I go out I just carry my pv and a bottle of juice in my pocket, maybe a spare battery too. I use my pv as both a cigar like device where I just puff but dont inhale and just do it for the flavor, or I inhale at times too like a cigarette(mostly after meals), the boge 2.0 heats up nicely and I like the warm draws, and a freshly filled one will last 20-30 minutes of steady puffing on it like a cigar, or up to 2-3 hours if i'm inhaling them and using like a analog(4-5 puffs and put it away), but when it start losing flavor you just drop 4-5 drops in the back of it, and keep going.
adding a bit of vg to your juice will also enhance the cigar like effect, or just buy juice with vg in it already, taste is subjective so your going to have to try things to find out what you like,