Gone and done it..

[Newbie2]

Well I just received my first real liquid order from Halo. I had ordered the Tribeca and Midnight Apple flavors and a 5 pack of fresh cartos. I filled em up per instructions read around the web. I load it on up take the first two or three vapes off of it and it tastes like pure burnt crap.. might of burned my carto.. but I doubt it. So I go ahead and fill another carto up of Midnight Apple. This time being cautious I only take one good size vape and ... tastes disgusting like potpourri.. real bad. Truly nasty.

I figured I need to let the bottles steep?

Did I ruin the cartos by putting un steeped juice in there?

Off to the local mall I went to the TecheCig kiosk and grab a cheap looking clearomizer (says e-smart on the bottom), some caramel and menthol juice. (Please tell me the flavors get better!) At least the workers were cool and let me try a lot of ehh.. flavors. I really hope that my Halo juice makes a turn a for the better. I also read about using warm water baths to help steep faster? Just looking for some guidance..

Thanks!

 

[Peppie]

I did the same thing with an order from MTBV.
Tasted like perfume.
Now when I get an order I set it aside for min 10 days. That way I can tell if I really dont like it.
Some say that certain flavors are good right away, I'm not taking that chance.

 

[MikeJA]

Wish I could help, but it's difficult to do so on a forum.

Sounds like your first carto may not have been saturated enough. Once that polyfill burns, the carto's dead flavor-wise. Second one sounds like a juice that is simply not to your liking. Steeping has no effect on the carto.

 

[FlamingoTutu]

Is it possible you didn't let the juice soak up into the wicks/cartos long enough?

 

[lisancentraltx]

It'll take awhile before you figure out what your preferred flavor profile is - what kind of juices you like. It could be sweet pastry types, tobacco only, spicy, or sweet, tart, sour like myself.

For now, boil a bowl of water, pull it out of the microwave and put your bottles of juice in a plastic freezer bag, and put the freezer bag of juice bottles in this hot water. Let the juice get heated up and SHAKE, SHAKE, SHAKE it! Take the bottles of juice from the freezer bag and take the lids off and let them sit and cool. This is a quick type of steeping and I've read it is equivalent to 3 days of steeping. The heat and shaking gets the VG, PG, nicotine, and flavoring to mix and meld while the airing of the juice with the lids off gets the perfume smell and alcohol to dissipate.

Next - the burning... what are you vaping with? What kind of mod? What kind of atomizer? Tank, cartomizer, clearomizer? It all depends...

 

[ckquatt]

I've read that attys sometimes have a primer substance in them from the manufacturing process that takes a few (6-7) puffs to burn off. I know my EVOD attys taste like burning for the first 5-6 puffs then it breaks in nice. That may be your problem.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S3 using Tapatalk now Free

 

[permafrying]

I'd boil the cartos to get the juice out. Works good even for strong menthol juices ime. Then let the juice steep and give it another shot in a week or two. Preferably two

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[Newbie2]

All of these factors could play a role.. I read the card that came with the juice and it said it will dramatically change flavors between 24-48 hrs. But these were truly horible. The Tibeca tasted nothing like caramel and the apple tasted like.. well not apple. Im using a Halo G6 with cartomizers from Halo. I just bought the clearomizer? for use of the cheap caramel stuff. Just wanted to see the difference between the cartos and the clearomizers.

 

[pianman6954]

If I'm not mistaken Halo pre steeps their juices. Filling a carto for the first time takes a little while for the fluid to reach the coil through capillary action.

 

[pianman6954]

All of these factors could play a role.. I read the card that came with the juice and it said it will dramatically change flavors between 24-48 hrs. But these were truly horible. The Tibeca tasted nothing like caramel and the apple tasted like.. well not apple. Im using a Halo G6 with cartomizers from Halo. I just bought the clearomizer? for use of the cheap caramel stuff. Just wanted to see the difference between the cartos and the clearomizers.

I agree about Tribecca, it and Silverthorne from Johnson Creek are similar and neither have much of a Caramel note at all, more like an RYO than and RY4. I would say it was akin to the flavor of mid/low grade plain pipe tobacco.

 

[dice57]

Welcome to REALLY, that's what this supposed to taste Like!! Finding the right juice can be complicated, first you have to find a flavor you like, usually more than one, then you have to find the right VG/PG ratio. I found that for me, high PG content tasted like Crap. 50/50 was pretty good, and love my 80% VG mixes. Also, there is getting the nic level for ones desired mg. And just because you liked one flavor from a certain Vender, doesn't mean all their flavors will be good. But wait, there's more... All these things can change as you get your full sense of taste back and you develop better vape gear. Upgrade to a more efficient/better atomizer, and you get more flavor and more nic delivery than you've grown to expect. Sometimes a good thing, sometimes not. Also can come to find out that your favorite flavor you vaped last month does not taste so good now.

These are just a few reasons that I have started DIY juice, I can customize all factors to my preferences. And I can make a small sample first to see if I like it, if it's crap, only out 50 cents or so.

Hang in there, play with everything, try different juice vendors and flavors till you find what pleases you. Don't buy to large of a bottle, cause if it sucks, you ain't going to be happy. At least I still have the bottles I can use on the juices that sucked for me, that I can fill with my own brew, lol.

Vape long and Prosper!!

 

[RubyRoo]

Yep, you've got to fully saturate those cartos and let them sit for 15 minutes before vaping them. 15-20 drops and you're good to go. Unfortunately, you might have burnt the ones that you first filled. Once that polyfil burns, it pretty much toast.

Halo's juices do need some serious steeping time, regardless of what anyone from the website says. The flavors do change quite a bit. Let them steep with the caps off for a few days and try again with fresh cartos. I'd also highly recommend the mini tanks from Halo with the G6. They produce way more flavor than the cartos. Be sure to get a few as they are disposable and don't last forever.

I've actually gotten the best performance out of my G6 when I use higher VG juices (50/50 blends.) Just some advice. The G6 kit is a good buy for a cig-a-like style and once you find better juices, it really performs well. Good luck and happy vaper trails to you!

 

[RubyRoo]

Welcome to REALLY, that's what this supposed to taste Like!! Finding the right juice can be complicated, first you have to find a flavor you like, usually more than one, then you have to find the right VG/PG ratio. I found that for me, high PG content tasted like Crap. 50/50 was pretty good, and love my 80% VG mixes. Also, there is getting the nic level for ones desired mg. And just because you liked one flavor from a certain Vender, doesn't mean all their flavors will be good. But wait, there's more... All these things can change as you get your full sense of taste back and you develop better vape gear. Upgrade to a more efficient/better atomizer, and you get more flavor and more nic delivery than you've grown to expect. Sometimes a good thing, sometimes not. Also can come to find out that your favorite flavor you vaped last month does not taste so good now.

These are just a few reasons that I have started DIY juice, I can customize all factors to my preferences. And I can make a small sample first to see if I like it, if it's crap, only out 50 cents or so.

Hang in there, play with everything, try different juice vendors and flavors till you find what pleases you. Don't buy to large of a bottle, cause if it sucks, you ain't going to be happy. At least I still have the bottles I can use on the juices that sucked for me, that I can fill with my own brew, lol.

Vape long and Prosper!!

Thumbs up! LIKE!

 

[WellAdjustedAndroid]

I feel ya, I bought my first juice (that didn't come with my starter kit) from Highbrow vapor. Perique Tobacco flavor. At least it was supposed to be. It was the most horrifying taste. Like super sweet nail polish! I can't even look at it without getting a touch nauseous. I have it steeping now, and I hope it gets better because it really can't get any worse. I've read online to let it steep for a month!!!

I also order the Halo G6 for a cigalike. It hasn't come yet though (tracking says Monday.) I got it with some blank cartos and Torque56 eLiquid. I also got a 5 pack of prefilled Tribecca cartos. I really hope they are not terrible. Otherwise I'll be scrambling for ejuice by Monday!

 

[Susan W.]

I agree with dice57. It's difficult finding the flavors you like and then finding the vendors that supply ones that you like too. If you're expecting it to taste just like smoking a cigarette, it's not. I'm totally opposite of dice57 as far as pg/vg. I like higher PG so I go for 80%PG and 20%VG if I have my choice. I don't like 100%VG at all. I was lucky to find that I like coffee and minty vapes so Halo's Gourmet line I really like. There are other vendors that have good coffee flavors that I use too but I have tried some that aren't so good.

 

[kittybite]

How many drops did you put in the cartos? If you put at least 20, then I'm not sure why they would taste burnt. Granted, taste is subjective (this is the vaper's mantra), so it could just be that you don't like the juice. But, I've vaped a lot of different flavors in my three months of vaping and there's a big difference between a juice having an inherent burnt flavor vs. a burnt carto (burnt flavors are rare, in my experience). The reason I bring this up is that I read a thread not too long ago about someone experiencing burnt flavors with everything they tried but they were only putting 5-8 drops in their cartos - yikes! Anywho, you're in the right place for troubleshooting so you WILL get an answer that you can work with. Good luck and welcome to ECF

 

[alisa1970]

All of these factors could play a role.. I read the card that came with the juice and it said it will dramatically change flavors between 24-48 hrs. But these were truly horible. The Tibeca tasted nothing like caramel and the apple tasted like.. well not apple. Im using a Halo G6 with cartomizers from Halo. I just bought the clearomizer? for use of the cheap caramel stuff. Just wanted to see the difference between the cartos and the clearomizers.

If I'm not mistaken Halo pre steeps their juices. Filling a carto for the first time takes a little while for the fluid to reach the coil through capillary action.

Halo's juices do need some serious steeping time, regardless of what anyone from the website says. The flavors do change quite a bit. Let them steep with the caps off for a few days and try again with fresh cartos. Good luck and happy vaper trails to you!

+1 to all of the above.

OP, if it makes you feel any better, I bought a Halo tobacco sampler and I had the same reaction to the juices as you--times 5! I ended up "PIF"ing all but one because even after a month of letting them sit, they weren't getting any better for me. I will say that the Tribeca was one that I kept--it's now about 2 months old and all the heaviness of the flavoring (I believe they use a tobacco extract called Tobacco Absolute to create a smoky taste) have mellowed and it's not bad. Before it was overpowering everything in the juice.

I won't be ordering again, as it has a flavor that is similar to other vendors that I like better, but maybe in a few weeks you too will be able to tolerate it.

All of the above is funny because I really liked their gourmet sampler, and I had been vaping for about 4 months when I got the tobaccos. So it doesn't happen just with noobs. Sometimes it's hit or miss, but there are so many vendors out there you can be sure you'll find something that hits the spot.

Good luck, and just enjoy the journey (as much as possible!).

 

[InTheShade]

Most people have covered the main points about steeping and filling the carto.

I'll make a recommendation for you though. It's a great idea to buy a simple straight-up menthol juice and some sweetener (from say Mount Baker Vapor) and have a bottle of VG around the place. With these three ingredients, you can often make a juice that you wouldn't wish on your worst enemy taste vapeable.
You can put a mil or two in a small glass and add a few drops of menthol and then try it. Sometimes you'll be lucky and end up with something you can vape. Other times, it'll still taste like paint thinner - but you haven't really lost anything other than a few drops of menthol.

I used to be a big Tribeca fan, the good news is it does get much better over time. The bad news is, you're probably not going to get much caramel out of it. To me, it's not a 'true' RY4 in that respect, it has more of a tobacco / vanilla flavor with an undertone of sweetness and maybe some hazelnut in there somewhere.

Finding your juice is the part of vaping that is the most frustrating (and the most fun). Best advice is to visit a local B&M where you can sample a lot of juices from different vendors.

 

[RubyRoo]

I ended up "PIF"ing all but one because even after a month of letting them sit, they weren't getting any better for me.

Yep. I actually, in anger, threw out all of my Halo tobaccos after steeping them for a MONTH because they were still perfumey as heck and I just couldn't stand that weird "Halo chemical, aftershave" flavor. Oh well, I've moved on and found some more juices that are WAY better IMO.

 

[Newbie2]

Thank you for so much advice! Has anyone ran across an online store that sells pre-steeped juices? I really dont like the 100% pg that TecheCig offers. At the moment I do not have any choices.

I will wait a week for the flavors to steep and give it another go with some fresh cartos.