A thread for all things cartomizers -Zen specific

[ARCHMAN]

I thought it may be helpful to start this specific Q&A thread to hopefully get a little organized here. I know it has been really difficult for me to find my Zen specific answers since they are hidden within 600-2,000 page threads (at least on tapatalk) even though I've been using similar forum layouts since 2001!

Unfortunately for now, but fortunately for the future, I pretty much only have questions!

First topic: I'm not super stoked with my battery life. I'm using the 18350 CT w/ boge pre punched LR cartos. How much improvement would I get with a higher resistance carto? What would be the typical loss of vapor? Is the trade off (in your opinion) worth it?

2nd: I left my Zen CT on its side through the night last night & this morning around 1/2ml had leaked out through an intake hole. The carto was bubbling and gurgling like crazy. I just blew the juice out through the intake holes and it was vaping fine. Is this typical?

3rd: What, exactly, are any and all cons of "flooding" the carto other than wasting a bit if juice? Does it effect battery life?

 

[DemonCow]

Well 18350 is pretty small battery, you can always get one of the bigger tubes. I wouldn't use higher resistance to save battery I would just get a bigger tube. I already put a kick2 in mine because I think it's a bit too weak without it.

When it flooded did you fill it then turn it up-side-down and exposed the carto hole to air before you push cap all the way on? Otherwise you force juice in the airtake. It shouldn't really flood unless an o-ring is broken or you miss filled it or over primed it. Flooding is mostly just wasted juice but it can clog up your air system if you cant get it all blown out.

 

[ARCHMAN]

So far I'm finding the unit fairly unreliable or at least finicky. It seems REALLY particular on the draw. Too light and there's not much vapor...too heavy and they flood. I thought it was the cartos themselves but I'm on my third boge 35mm LR pre punched & they seem to go way downhill in less than 24hrs/vaping only 2-3 mls. of 50/50. Also once the batt drops to 3.8 their not producing very well at all, requiring a solid 6 second press on the switch. I'm on the up and up of the particulars of getting a good connection with the switch & I've taken apart & thoroughly cleaned the switch just to see if that was the issue.
Thanks for your help folks!

 

[ARCHMAN]

Well it seems as though folks aren't particularly interested in contributing to this. I imagine it's 'cause this info is available elsewhere but, again, IMO it's certainly hard to find! I'll keep contributing my own trial and error!

So I popped in carto #4 yesterday and I did a few things differently. I'm still not sure if user error is the issue or if it's the cartos but this one is performing a zillion times better so far.

1st I cleaned every single nook and cranny of the device & let it dry. I primed the carto, dripping only 15 drips down the top/side over about two minutes (I was doing 30-35 drips over 5-10 mins). I screwed the carto into place to where it only just made contact w/ the + screw. Hardly snug at all. I would not call what I was doing overly snug but I'm still new at this. As before, I filled up the tank, flipped it over to make sure the carto's punched hole was in the air bubble and pushed the top cap into place. I let it sit for about two minutes. I then experienced by far the best vape I've gotten out of this thing so far. I've gone through about 3mls of 50/50 and it is still performing perfect. No gurgling, no leaking and much better vapor as the battery drains. I can't really explain it but the thing seems to be working perfectly.
Some other changes I've made: I flipped the battery tube around. I can get a much better grip on the thing with the grooves in this position ( I have XL hands). PLUS I was having a problem with the switch unscrewing causing poor contact. The threads on the "top" of the battery tube are grabbing the switch much tighter. I'm chalking it up to slight variations here. Also previously I was concerned with squeezing the button too tight, denting the battery, causing connection problems in the future. I've been squeezing the ever loving pee pee out of the thing and I'm certain this is helping. I would liken it to a -very- firm handshake. I feel it should be unnecessary but it is making a difference.
Again, I'm still not sure if it was the previous cartos or these changes in technique what are making the difference but the performance is night and day from poor to excellent.
I'm really interested to hear what you seasoned vets have to say about all of this and I hope the info is useful for other newbs like me!

 

[tyleris12]

I think it's great you started this thread, so keep posting! I personally don't use Zen's carto tank, but I'm sure this will be helpful to others.

 

[DemonCow]

Glad to hear you are having some success with your CT. Don't be afraid to press the .... out of that switch it's a pretty stiff switch, it does lighten up after a while though (or my hand is getting stronger!!!!). If it's still not quite up to what you expect I would really try getting a kick, clone kicks are like 20 bucks or the real kick by evolv is 45 bucks I think. I usually vape at 4.5 volts on my cartotank, same cartos as you.

 

[ARCHMAN]

It's still working frikkin great. Somehow I'm also getting WAY better battery life too. Maybe juice getting all over the positive battery screw area was causing a short? Other than the gurgling/flooded cartos I'm also thinking that the less than excellent vape quality may have had to do with poor connections in the battery tube's threads. There was a good bit of grime/ black pieces of delrin or something in them when I got it and I did not clean them super duper well at first.

 

[DemonCow]

Yea I cleaned my tube and switch when I got them they were both very dirty.

 

[Hrathor]

I'm using 1.7 ohm resurrector xl's. They are about 1.5 mm too long for the top to sit flat. Fixed that with a thin o ring. I like them way better than the boge cartos. No flooding or gurgling. I add a few drops in the top every few hours, but I don't think it's necessary. I tried a diver V2 which is also just a hair too tall, but my build sucked and (cut the wick too short) it kept flooding. I tried wrapping some wick around the two holes and it kept it from flooding but gave me some dry hits. When I get some NR wire I'm going to try the Diver out again. It did have better taste than the carto's, but it was way too finicky. I hope the next attempt works better.

 

[ARCHMAN]

For the past several days I've been using the Zen2 510 adaptor and a 22mm W x 35mm L IBTanked with this & I can say that the Zen tank certainly has better air flow BUT it is much more picky with the draw and easier to flood the carto. I'm not sure if cartos are for me. My buddy, who got me into vaping and my live-in GF both use EVOD/Clearo setups. I'm getting ONE good day out of my cartos so far. They laugh (& I must admit it is funny) that their $30 setups work & taste better than my $200+ one. I only have Boge cartos but in searching long and hard I can't be convinced that there's a huge difference between any of them. I don't mind spending money but I HATE wasting it! I was about to pull the trigger on a few dozen Ikenvape platinums but I just couldn't do it. Instead I spent 10x the cash & ordered two "Sophia" RBAs & all the doo dads to rebuild them for a long time. Not to mention I feel better with that than burning & inhaling these cranked-out Chinese disposable -who knows what's even in there- cartomizers.
I've also realized that I need more to form an opinion with. I don't wanna go all buck wild buying gadgets but I also would like to try out different things and see what works best for me. I have another very nice Mech. Mod on order, & a couple more nice tanks & the two Sophias in transit. The main reason I picked the Sophia was to use on my ZEN 2 CT. Once I tried the IBTanked though I've realized that I really appreciate its much lighter weight, shorter build & high quality fit & finish.

Which brings me to another thing. I used to be reeeeally into high end flashlights, so a Mech. mod is not new for me with keeping everything clean. Still I would have never thought such slight build-up/oxidation would effect vape quality so much! I certainly notice a downgrade if I don't clean all of the threads/contacts every other day. In my review I mentioned the not-so-stellar machining quality in the threads of my Zen2. They are SUPER difficult to clean! I clean the threads but then it takes much more time/effort to get all the little strands of cotton out that are pulled off by the sharp threads.

 

[Peter_C]

Which brings me to another thing. I used to be reeeeally into high end flashlights, so a Mech. mod is not new for me with keeping everything clean. Still I would have never thought such slight build-up/oxidation would effect vape quality so much! I certainly notice a downgrade if I don't clean all of the threads/contacts every other day. In my review I mentioned the not-so-stellar machining quality in the threads of my Zen2. They are SUPER difficult to clean! I clean the threads but then it takes much more time/effort to get all the little strands of cotton out that are pulled off by the sharp threads.

I am no expert in either the vaping or flashlight areas, but I remember reading a post a while back on the Sophia thread, where one of the posters was talking about how on some mods, he had to clean very often, but on other mods he didn't need to clean nearly as often. The general flavor of the post came across as the better the quality of the mod, the less critical perfect cleaning was regarding quality of vape - as in they still got just as dirty, but it didn't impact quite as much on what was/wasn't noticed while vaping - hope I am making sense here?

Again - I have zero knowledge - just a post I read a while back.

 

[joeaux]

Glad I found this thread. My Z2 Carto Hybrid (18650 Gun Metal) is doing great for a carto. I've found that if I prime the carto using the "condom method" and then use Mikes method to fill the tank all works well. No flooding, no dry hits. Getting good vapor until the tank is empty so far. As far as the battery is concerned I'm using an 18490 with a kick set to about 10 watts with Boge XL LRs. Getting good battery life and a great vape. I punch or slot them a little towards the bottom to get every drop of juice. All I can say is I love this thing. Easily worth the price in every way. And I can use the tube on my ZNA! Great stuff.

 

[joeaux]

Dang. This thread reminds me of Dr. McCoy. "It's dead Jim."

 

[ARCHMAN]

Dang. This thread reminds me of Dr. McCoy. "It's dead Jim."

No doubt! I've got two item in route that should shed some light on what's going on. So far I've decided I've been potentially overcomplicating things. Item 1: a nice multimeter. Item 2: a (real) Chi You. I've been mostly using only the Z2 18350 tube w/ 510 adaptor as a regular mech mod w/ Sophia and IBTanked. Everything seems to work -ok- but it still needs constant cleaning. I've been carrying a handkerchief just for the purpose and it seems to be pretty much a necessity at this point. I would say at this point the number one dislike I have about the CT hybrid is the weight. Either way, this thread should be about Zens and Cartomizers/tanks. But whatever's clever I reckon!


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[joeaux]

Yeah, good to see someone is still looking in here. My CT Hybrid is going great. No flooding, no clogging. I vape mostly MBV Hawk Sauce in it. 50/50. Vapes well. I use the tube occasionally for other things but I dig the CT Hybrid a lot. Man I love the weight of the thing. Just makes it feel more substantial to me I guess. I've got a zilliion other attys of some sort or another. My favs are the Z-Attys from Zen. They just taste great. But I always find myself coming back to the cartos. Simple, bulletproof and taste great with a good vapor production.

 

[joeaux]

HEY! Man, listen to that echo.

 

[joeaux]

Dang. I can still hear the echo from the last post.

 

[Hrathor]

I keep up with this post, but I'm really not into cartos. I'm still deciding if I want to sell my CT or try to get some custom glass so it will fit the length of a diver v2 better. I love the mod but cartos are just not my thing. Plus, while I am not a fan of the 510 connection, I can use something like a SnP that won't leak/spill, and its interchangeable between pretty much everything else I own.

 

[joeaux]

Welp, just checking in. Still digging my Carto Hybrid from Zen. It's the absolute best tasting carto device I have. Not fanboi speak either. Same juice with the same type of carto in other tanks just don't taste as good. It's got to be the air flow and the way it comes in the bottom (like Mike describes). Yeah, I'm keeping mine.

 

[ARCHMAN]

A lil' update. I've bought a few more mods and a few more carto tanks... Oh, and a few more cartomizers. I've determined that it is the Cartos that I'm not very find of. The difference between a carto and my Sophias By Leo is huuuuge. The cartos work ok for 24 hours/ around 3mls of juice then Peter out pretty quick. I may buy a Diver V2 to try out in my Zen but until then it's gonna be a $200 paperweight. YMMV!


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