Am I doing something wrong?

[quiva2011]

Hi there. Today's my second day on my e-cig and haven't touched a real cig!
I'm very happy but I'm afraid the cartomizers are not lasting me for as long as they're supossed to. I bought the smoke tip which I chose after reading lots of reviews. They say each cartridge should last the equivalent to 1.25 packs or about 25 real cigs.
Well, I've already used 3.75 cartridges in 2 days!! And I used to smoke about 1 pack a day of Marlboro Lights. So I'm either using this more than real cigs, or cartomizers don't last as long as they claim!
Calculations are that you inhale like 10- 12 times on a cig so a pack should be 200-240 inhales right? Each of my cartomizers allows about 150 inhales on a fully charged battery. (yeah I kept track on the last one because I was frustrated at how fast they're gone!)
PLEASE tell me what I could be doing wrong or if this is how it is.
Thanks so much and while I'm a bit frustrated I still am super happy about not smoking real cigs! Yaaay!

 

[Rudy33]

IMO they never last as long as expected. I blew through mine in no time. That is the reason I started filling my own and then graduated to dripping and bigger cartos that I can fill myself which is cheaper (most of the time).

You can always refill them with juice but only if you don't burn them... Once the filler gets burnt it is more difficult. There are many videos on how to refill cartomizers using the condom method...

Congrats - I quit after the very first vape and that was 4 months ago. It is awesome!!! Keep up the good work.

 

[Rosa]

Yes, what Rudy33 said. When I used cartomizers I would go through about 3-4 per day (and I know I wasn't vaping the equivalent of 6 packs of smokes). I believe each carto holds about 1ml of e-liquid and the average vaper uses 3ml per day.

 

[quiva2011]

Thank you guys, this forum is awesome. I wish I had found it before ordering because I see there are many more choices for e cigs than I thought I'm pretty satisfied with mine because it feels like I'm actually inhaling smoke, although the taste is something I'm getting used to day by day. This is the greatest invention ever! Can't understand why it took me so long to find out these things even existed.
So I guess that unless I fill my own cartridges I will end up spending as much $ as on regular cigs right?
Well at least I'm not inhaling all those chemicals.
I am very happy about that.

Forgot to add:
I love not smelling or tasting like cigarette!!!

 

[dormouse]

Many "name" brands on the web lie, especially the ones with "live help" and "testimonials" and especialy ones that don't sell blank carts/cartos and juice. They don't want you to know how long they actually last. They just want to hook you as a customer.

Add eliquid to them, and if your ecig is a 2-piece add juice to them before you run them dry because you could singe the stuffing. Keep a cartomizer damp and it can work well for days and sometimes longer. And if you have automatic batteries be careful - a juice drip could kill your battery or gunk up the drag sensor. make sure the carto is clean on the threaded and and air channel clear and not dripping before you put it back on the battery.

For 3-pieces with cart+atty, carts can be reused a long time if you add new stuffing when the stuffing gets old and cranky. The atomizer is what can get gunked up or burn out.

 

[hairball]

In my opinion, you vape heavily when you first get your kit. We all did. You are anxious to get started and nervous at the same time. Nervous meaning that you're hoping that they will get you off analogs once and for all. At first it's a vicious cycle. Look into another ecig or mod that you can easily get parts and other goodies for then everything settles down. Make sure you stock up on juices also. Even if you don't care for them at first, don't get rid of them. Put them aside just in case you don't place an order in time before you run out of your favorite.

If a cart were actually equivalent to what some websites claim, I wouldn't be here right now. I was so nervous at first that I vaped a 30ml bottle in 4 days.

Enjoy your new ecig and welcome to the forum.

 

[NaOH]

You're going to find about the only thing cigarettes and pv's have in common are nicotine and a cylindrical form factor (sometimes). Rate of consumption, flavor, overall experience is just not comparable. When you get in your groove you'll figure out how much juice you need keep on hand, how often you vape (I think for many of us its a steady intake throughout the day unlike sparse smoke breaks), and you'll see that retailer promises of X milliliters equals X cigarettes is just not applicable.

 

[Bijou]

So I guess that unless I fill my own cartridges I will end up spending as much $ as on regular cigs right?

I've read that an analog cigarette has the equivilent nic of .1 ml of juice, so 1 filled cartomizer would = 8 cigs or 2.5 cartos per pack of cigs. (That's been about right for me.) If you pay $2 per carto that would be $5 per pack of cigs. Even figuring in the amortized cost of batteries it would still be less than regular cigs cost (in Seattle anyway).

But filling your own cartos gives you more flexibility, too.

 

[DaveP]

Check out the Ego-T tank cartridge system. You get 5-6 hours on a battery and 1ml in a cart. Taste and vapor are right up there and it's simple to refill with a syringe.

 

[Master Rawl]

My theory on the consumption of e-juice relative to analogs is that the estimates on ecigs is measured by what the average draw on an analog would be, but as you know by now, most of us take 4 to 6 second draws on e-cigs verse 3 to 5 seconds on an analog. Just my theory of course. Welcome to vaping.

 

[quiva2011]

(Darn, can't believe the message I just wrote completely dissappeared!)

Basically I wanted to thank everyone for their great advice.

I know I'll eventually end up refilling my carts, that seems to be the way to go $ and flavor wise.
I have a 2 piece, it's supossedly the KR-808D1 or so I hope because I just ordered 15 carts from a supplier (my e cig vendor was out of all the good flavors in my strength 12 mgs)
for now I want to keep it easy and simple until I'm more comfortable with it. There's a lot to learn!

I just want to make sure I don't run out of carts and go crazy buying the Marlboros again.
Here in Miami I can get a carton for about $47 tax incl. Hope i won't need reg cigs again.

Can't believe the huge industry around e cigs, where was I?

Well for now I'm in my living room having my coffe and my e cig. No need to go out to smoke.
No more stinky anything.
This is good. Very good

 

[Sugar_and_Spice]

(Darn, can't believe the message I just wrote completely dissappeared!)

Basically I wanted to thank everyone for their great advice.

I know I'll eventually end up refilling my carts, that seems tone the way to go $ and flavor wise.
I have a 2 piece, it's supossedly the KR-808D1 or so I hope because I just ordered 15 carts from a supplier (my e cig vendor was out of all the good flavors in my strength 12 mgs)
for now I want to keep it easy and simple until I'm more comfortable with it. There's a lot to learn!

I just want to make sure I don't run out of carts and go crazy buying the Marlboris again. Here in Miami I can get a carton for about $47 tax incl. Hope to not buy reg cigs again.

Can't believe the huge industry around e cigs, where was I?

Well for now I'm in my living room having my coffe and my e cig. No need to go out to smoke.
This is good.

Hello and welcome to ecf.
Here is what another posted wrote that makes a lot of sense.

Stosh posted this on 3-8-2011

The amount of nicotine in a cigarette and in a e-cig cartridge aren't directly comparable.
The cig is what you are actuallly inhaling, the e-cig is what's in the juice and it's generally
accepted that you only get about 40%. Also the cig is a rush of nic (straight shot of whiskey)
and an e-cig (pint of bitters) so the effects on the user is different. The e-cig allows us to
maintain a comfortable level of nicotine in our body to ward off the nicotine fits.

I hope that this will help to explain what is happening and it is a good representation of what is happening when we vape non-stop.

sas

 

[Master Rawl]

I'm on my second week vaping. I quit analogs the day I got my Tornado Tank, and even though I went through some Marlboro cravings the first couple days, I still have left the 2 packs of Reds in my desk alone. Good luck.

 

[cactusgirl]

I think that 100 puffs per cartomizer is a more realistic picture...so, if you consider 10 puffs per analog, a cartomizer is equal to about 10 cigs...not a whole pack! Also, when you first get your kit, you're most likely vaping much more regularly than you smoked simply because you have the freedom to do so 'anywhere' (ie., in the house) so it's easier to just pick it up and vape away whereas previously, there was probably more prep to have a cigarette...if you smoked outdoors, you had to get bundled and then go out and you knew when you were 'done' because you had smoked it down to the filter and it was time to stub it out. Now, you have to figure out when you are 'done' because there aren't the same cues.

 

[quiva2011]

You guys are right and that's the way I'm looking at it: you can't compare it to a real cig side by side. It's an excellent substitute, period.
I don't feel the need to smoke and that's what counts to me.
And it's true I seem to be vaping more frequently than I used to smoke. I'm even doing it at the office. Hahaha it's wonderful. I guess I'll calm down a bit as time goes by. Now it's the novelty of having the freedom to inhale anywhere at any time. I'm going through these carts like crazy!
Hope they last me through the weekend.

One question:
I'm very curious to see what's inside a cartomizer, are there any pics or vids out there? I still don't understand the 'anatomy' of e cigs. Well the battery part I do, pretty simple, but not the cart part.

Thanks again!

 

[Oxyfast]

Im guessing its a combination of two factors:

1. Cartomizers and even a regular cartridge / atomizer combination simply do not last as long as a pack of cigarettes. They just don't. Saying they last 1.25 packs of analogs is mostly just a marketing scheme to entice a customer to use pre-made cartridges, get some juice and fill those up yourself. You'll be much happier, and a 10ml bottle of juice is probably equivalent to 5 maybe 7 packs of analogs and are as cheap as 5 bucks; you also have a far greater variety of flavors.
   
   
   
2. When you first start using your e-cig and transferring off analogs you are likely to smoke the e-cig far more often then you would spend smoking analogs. This is partly because of the nicotine dosages and partly because of the psychological effects of quitting. As you adjust to the e-cig you will likely use quite a bit less. Using a higher dosage juice may also help.
   
   

That all said, I have been using a Tornado-Tank for the last few days and the tank is incredible, really a breakthrough. The tank cartridges are probably the first to actually last as long as a pack of analogs.

 

[Erfmann]

Cartos are not too complicated. I have seen videos about them on utube. Some have a soft rubbery tip on the mouth end which pops off easily using an unbent paperclip or something similar. Others have a hard plastic tip that is more difficult, but not impossible to remove. I made a little hook tool to reach inside and pry them out. Once the cap is off, you will see a center tube that houses the wick, which leads to the atomizer at the bottom battery connection end. Around the outer portion of the barrel there is a foam like stuffing material. When you refill, you want to drip your liquid onto this stuffing, be careful not to drip any into the center tube...tilt at an angle and drip onto the sides of the barrel, and let it run down and soak into the stuffing. I usually put 12-14 drops around the outside, replace the cap, and let it sit and absorb for a bit...good to go.

 

[DaveP]

Milliliters per day is a good way to judge how much you vape. I smoked about two packs a day and I vape 3 Ego-T carts a day and will fill the last one before I go to bed. It's still almost full the next morning. Knowing how many ml you vape is a good indicator of how much to order when you place an order for juice.

Two 30ml bottles plus a 10ml bottle or two of another flavor will last me a month. I always have a few partial bottles around of something I tried that didn't impress me at first. They get better after they sit in the box for a while and I will search through them for backup. Sometimes I find something that I really enjoy after steeping!

 

[Secti0n31]

In my opinion people do indeed vape more than they smoke. You may have gone through "4 packs" in 2 days indeed without even knowing.

That being said. I smoked a pack a day for 10 years and I could easily rip through 4 cartos in 2 days. I got some new cartos recently and I'm waiting for today's mail which includes some PG based juice to fill them and see how long they last. Still, carto's never last as long as people say they do.

 

[tierrataz]

All great points. The nice thing is that you can adjust your nic level to customize your vaping. If you start DIY, you can really tweek it. Nic levels seem to be as subjective as flavors.

I can't say I'm vaping less than when I started in Dec 2010. My eGo came 2-26 and my vaping really increased. It's is just so effortless and enjoyable. However I was topping carts so much, I have a eGo T waiting at the PO today. LOL. And then there are the Stormy tanks coming, and......

Enjoy finding your groove and congrats!