PTB Straw Mod: PTB Made Easy!

[DaveP]

I just tried your mod, Kristin, and I definitely like it. I've been using the PTB (rolled, frayed) for quite a while and have been very pleased with it, but all the rolling, etc. is time-consuming. Your mod is much easier and so far it's worked well for me. Your pics helped immensely.

I haven't wanted to try the blue foam plug because I have to wonder what makes it BLUE!

I wondered about that at first, but I had a 55 gallon aquarium for over 20 years and the stuff you buy is tested SAFE for the fish. Filter materials won't have any chemical residue that can leach into the water. If it's safe for the fish, then it probably doesn't contain anything that would hurt you. You can kill your fish easily just by dropping a couple of pennies in the water. They will also die from just about anything that is coated with an unapproved chemical, including soap film. I wouldn't be worried about the blue foam.

Given that, if you burn it and inhale the products of combustion, all bets are off.

 

[MlrGrl]

Kristin I just gotta jump in here and say that this is still the best cart mod I've found and used for my 510. I now cut and fit them exactly as you have described. Every few days I clean them when they appear to have darkened in color and the visible portion of the PTB feels a little hard. I pull the PTB out, open it up completely, run it under warm tap water while working it thoroughly between my fingers. I then flatten it out and tap it dry with a paper towel and have found that when I re-install it in my carts that I may have to trim a little here and there but this only seems to improve its fit and performance.

I've been using the same PTB's for months now and never have a flooding problem at all, not even close. I can take the atty off of my battery and there's barely any fluid on top of the connector.

Simply the best cart mod there is in my opinion.

Ditto what Shortstuff said!

I'm at two months with the original filler and it's still going strong.
I love this so much, I just tossed out all the old Fluval I had stored. Yes; PTB is that good...

 

[DaveP]

Kristin, I just tried the PTB mode you described and used two halves since I'm Vaping some thin PG RY4. It looks good and is working great. I got 12 drops in and good vapor. I'll probably do a couple with half a PTB and use them for thicker VG.

Nice mod.

 

[kristin]

Kristin I just gotta jump in here and say that this is still the best cart mod I've found and used for my 510. I now cut and fit them exactly as you have described. Every few days I clean them when they appear to have darkened in color and the visible portion of the PTB feels a little hard. I pull the PTB out, open it up completely, run it under warm tap water while working it thoroughly between my fingers. I then flatten it out and tap it dry with a paper towel and have found that when I re-install it in my carts that I may have to trim a little here and there but this only seems to improve its fit and performance.

I've been using the same PTB's for months now and never have a flooding problem at all, not even close. I can take the atty off of my battery and there's barely any fluid on top of the connector.

Simply the best cart mod there is in my opinion.

Awesome! I've found that occasionally I cut the straw or vents wrong and then it doesn't refill right, leaks or dries out too fast & makes the liquid taste funky. But a quick couple of snips usually solves the problem!

Ditto what Shortstuff said!

I'm at two months with the original filler and it's still going strong.
I love this so much, I just tossed out all the old Fluval I had stored. Yes; PTB is that good...

Never did try fluval...never had to!

Kristin, I just tried the PTB mod you described and used two halves since I'm Vaping some thin PG RY4. It looks good and is working great. I got 12 drops in and good vapor. I'll probably do a couple with half a PTB and use them for thicker VG.

Nice mod.

Thanks - if it's nothing else, it's easy and efficient!

 

[DaveP]

Don't use double PTB! It gives you inconsistent vapor and taste. I switch back to single layer. Just make sure to roll the PTB over your inserts before you push it in. This should spread out more layers and prevent the leak.

I'm using the entire piece of material from the PTB in my 510 carts. I tried the single (half the PTB) and it worked fine until I filled one to a slushy state and left it in my pickup while I loaded up some stuff to haul off. When I drove off and hit the 510 I got a mouthful of juice. Granted, it was thin juice and a 90 degree day, but the full PTB works fine with my thicker 555 VG and other VG juices. I only get 8 drops in the cart, but the taste is great and no more juice out of the mouthpiece!

Either way is fine. If you get juice in your mouth, try the full PTB material. If not, stick with the half piece. I'd try the half piece first and go from there. Experimentation may be necessary.

Kristin's PTB mod is sound and works very well. The only caveat is that some thinner juices need more absorption material to seal the cart end, thus the full sheet from the PTB instead of just a half. The full sheet does increase the draw resistance a little over the half sheet, but after days of vaping on a full sheet PTB I have yet to draw liquid through the mouthpiece and I 'm getting good taste and wicking of the juice from the bottom of the cart.

 

[smilin0117]

I LOVE THIS MOD!! Thats really all there is too it. Thank you Kristin!

 

[bassnut]

Last post for me tonight (this morning).
Somebody said that "All cart mods don't work all of the time".
I understood that on a certain level. Now it's religion. I've tried everything within my narrow 901 whistle tip cart range. Everything leaks sooner or later. Everything drys your atty sooner or later. There is no "Holy Grail" of cart mods. (Don't you say it! Don't say "drip"!)
I'm back to the PTB mod sans straw this night and it's good. Ask me tomorrow, I might say something else.

There is no way that children are going to like this. You can nip that idea in the bud right now, Mr. FDA!

 

[derek88]

Loving this mod between this and the BFM I think there is nothing that will be able to top them. Excellent capacity with no flooding issues which is great for my thinner juices.

 

[kristin]

Last post for me tonight (this morning).
Somebody said that "All cart mods don't work all of the time".
I understood that on a certain level. Now it's religion. I've tried everything within my narrow 901 whistle tip cart range. Everything leaks sooner or later.

I admit I do occasionally get leaking with this mod. Every time it seems to clearly be one of 2 reasons:

1. The atty isn't screwed on tight to the battery.
2. The cart edge has melted back a bit, so the edges are uneven and I think this seems to cause it to leak. The deformation also makes the cart fit too loose, where it pops off easily & that could certainly cause leaks. If I move the old PTB to a new cart, it stops leaking.

I seem to melt a lot of carts! LOL!

But that's the only time I have any problems - which is more the cart itself than the filler, I guess.

 

[MlrGrl]

I admit I do occasionally get leaking with this mod. Every time it seems to clearly be one of 2 reasons:

1. The atty isn't screwed on tight to the battery.
2. The cart edge has melted back a bit, so the edges are uneven and I think this seems to cause it to leak. The deformation also makes the cart fit too loose, where it pops off easily & that could certainly cause leaks. If I move the old PTB to a new cart, it stops leaking.

I seem to melt a lot of carts! LOL!

But that's the only time I have any problems - which is more the cart itself than the filler, I guess.

3. I've been lazy and I should have rinsed the PTB out sooner. LOL
4. I'm trying to get the last bit of life out of my battery before it starts flashing at me.

Not in any way trying to make the list longer, but to point out that the VERY few times it's leaked, it's been due to operator error.

Still lovin' it after almost 3 months of exclusive use!

 

[d4rqk0n3]

Thanks for the thread! I will give it another try when I get my 510.
In my tiny m402 carts, the straw & PTB does not seem to be any better than just the PTB alone.

Funny you should say that...
My wife and I have a JoYe 510 I bought from TheVaporPro.com, an RN4081 I bought from local headshop, and we both use the Revolver Elite (m702) which uses the 401 carts. Now, these (401) carts have small interior cart which I was afraid would not hold a straw too well, so I just omitted it and viola no leaking problems, no juice in the mouth, just nice flavorful vapor. As far as viscosity of the juice goes I use Revolver's juice from their site and it seems no thicker or thinner than the VG I got from Miststix and the PG I got from TheVaporPro. Either way I don't have a problem with this mod and I will be spreading the word to all of the other vapers I know.

In closing, I think that the main difference here is the way that the PTB is put into the cart, so long as it goes in like an upside-down closed umbrella and not a rolled up tube, I think the PTB does a fine job itself holding the juice, but you know as always ymmv.

-d4rqk

 

[DaveP]

I've been using the Kristin PTB mod now for about a month and transferred it to a Joye Ego with the Mega cart and atomizer. The Mega cart holds about 26-30 drops of juice and I get that with a full PTB. The mod is working very well and I go a long time without filling. I'm able to get 20 drops in on a top off or 25 when I pull out the PTB, wash it, and dry it by pressing on a paper towel.

I have blue foam, Walmart polyfill, and the PTB. I've settled on PTB as my filler material. It's probably the best I've used in any form or mod. I seem to get full flavor with PTB because of the efficient wicking and flow of the liquid.

 

[dirtracer]

Brand new to vaping. 4 days since last analog, the same day my 510 arrived. Kristen, your PTB straw mod works better than anything else I've tried. Top notch instructions and photos. A newbie thanks you!

 

[kristin]

I'm glad it's working well for you!

 

[Surf Monkey]

Good thread! I'll have to try the mod. I've been using PTB fill for months and months. It's by far the best filler. I've never felt the need to enhance it with a straw mod, but I think I'll give it a go none the less...

 

[Bahnzo]

As a new vaper, I've been trying out some different cart mods, and this is my favorite so far.....

I first just started out with pulling out the filler and cutting 75% of it off and just plugging the top after filling it. That works well.

Then I tried the Zero Filler Mod....couldn't cut the top like was needed...so it stopped there.

Then I tried this...with a bit of modification. What's the purpose of the straw? It seems to me like it's not needed. Actually, I just used the straw to push in the teabag...I couldn't get it to go in w/o tearing with whatever I used. But a straw works well to push it in there...then just fluff the end a bit and fill.

Flavor seems a little better, will be easy to refill. Have to see how well it wicks to the atty, but so far, so good. Thanks!

 

[Ru42]

Tea bag question: I saw on youtube somewhere where a guy demonstrated using an every day 'regular' lipton tea bag. I notice you use a pyramid tea bag. Having never actually purchased a pyramid tea bag before I was wondering why use the pyramid over the regular.

I am 6 hours old with my 510 so I haven't begun to try any mods yet, but I can see this as one of the first I will need to do. In theory, I like this mod better then dripping.

PS - I have read your other guides and I have found them very useful. Thank you!

RU

 

[Mindfield]

Tea bag question: I saw on youtube somewhere where a guy demonstrated using an every day 'regular' lipton tea bag. I notice you use a pyramid tea bag. Having never actually purchased a pyramid tea bag before I was wondering why use the pyramid over the regular.

The material PTBs are made of is different. Regular tea bags are paper fiber. PTBs are different, kind of a slick nylon material. The important difference here is that what you ideally want is to trap and hold the liquid and have the filler material wick it towards the top. That doesn't work well with materials that absorb liquid like paper or cotton. PTBs don't absorb liquid, but they have thousands of tiny perforations and are highly malleable so you can fold them into the carts and they will trap the liquid very well and hold it. Capillary attraction helps wick the liquid towards the top of the cart. Because PTBs don't absorb, the liquid doesn't get trapped as much so it wicks more freely.

I'm about to try this mod myself, having tried a couple variations of the fold-and-roll mod, which isn't working very well for me.

 

[Mindfield]

Well, I've tried a few filler variations of PTBs now, and I have to say it's not working out as well as I'd hoped. So far I've tried:

- Fold-and-roll method, where you take a whole PTB cut open, fold over 1/3" at the top, roll it up, cut a slit in the bottom of the roll to give it some bounce, and stuff it in. Didn't work well; liquid didn't wick up quickly so I either had to stand my eGo on end to give it a boost with gravity or refill 3-4 drops frequently.
- Shorter fold-and-roll. I reasoned that it was packed too tightly so I cut about 1/3rd length from the strip and did the same thing. Worked about as well.
- The method in the OP of this thread, both with and without straw. Worked a little better; without the straw had some leaking problems, but I still wasn't getting near what others are reporting out of it.

So after those didn't work well I tried something else: I used a whole bag with the two seams cut off so it was effectively doubled in thickness and shoved it into the empty cart. No straw. This is working best of all, though it is still not ideal. Now, the stuff I'm using right now is all VG so I'm thinking the viscosity is what is causing the problems. I'll have to order in some 80/20 PG/VG and see if that works better.

Either way though this is working better than other mods I've tried, so I'll stick with this, maybe experiment a bit more and see if I can't work out something better. I have a feeling I might be cutting them a tad short; they settle about 1.5mm down in the cart, so maybe if I cut a little less off they might settle closer to the top and put more pressure on the bridge.

 

[Ru42]

Hmmm, interested in your outcomes.

Most vids I have seen when they stuff the cart the tea bag sticks out pretty far and then they use scissors to cut it even with the top of the cart. If it is too recessed then you will not get good contact with the bridge.

I have not played with the PTB yet since I dont have any of those on hand; and I currently experimenting with cartos too. But in thinking about the PTB I wondered is a Z approach might work better. Maybe a 1/8" wide and zig zag the material. You can fill the cart but not stuff it and (at least in my mind) it seems like it would make better contact with the bridge.

Just my thoughts.

D