Another carto cleaning question....

[WOW]

...On another thread, I got a lot of very helpful answers about cleaning cartos and want to thank everyone who responded.

I'm slightly stuck on the using-vodka-to-clean part (I did buy a small bottle today) and hoping someone can clarify this for me....

a) How many minutes do you let your cartos soak in the vodka? (and this is with the plastic caps off, right? If w/ caps off can you still use this method on cartos w/ stuck on caps?)

b) What I read was that the next step is to rinse them until the water runs clear but, I don't see a change in the water color to begin with. I have a few soaking in hot water but, not sure this is correct next step. (I did this because the recommendation was to run them under hot water but it made the cartos to hot to the touch) What do you do after x# of time has elapsed soaking your cartos w/ vodka, rinsing-wise?

c) Is it okay to keep/re-use the vodka you just used (I don't drink vodka & know nothing about it) or do you throw it out & does an open bottle have to be refridgerated?

d) How do you know you got all the vodka out?

and

e) There are three dif. recommendations on drying time ranging from zero to 1-2 days to 2 weeks. Which one is accurate and can you safely use a blow dryer or set the completely rinsed cartos near a space heater to dry faster? (worried if I don't get it all out & I don't have my full sense of smell back to 'sniff-test' if even trace amounts of vodka are in any way combustable in direct heat???? - sorry - I'll eventually get past the total ignoramous condition I'm in now but, plain rinsing with water didn't help w/ a two-day air dry and a cleared w/ paper clip air hole - no taste or vapor on 9 out of 10 cartos, using the condom refill method.

Whatever I'm doing wrong, I'm going through a lot of e-juice trying(also tried the syringe top re-fill - these are first-refill cartos & I only got 2 of 10 to work...(for 10-15 minutes tops but very little vapor).

Any and all additional recommendations, if these questions are pointed in totally the wrong direction to correct, would also be very much appreciated!!!!
(I just ordered a ton of e-juice + blanks and need to fix this so I don't mess up brand new stuff or go overkill w/ the vodka. )


TIA and happy weekend and happy weekend!



(btw, I ordered the CoolCarts but for now, using both premium and have 4 WOW cartos in this mess, incase that makes a difference?)

 

[GrannyM]

Hello Cupcake-dog!
Sorry to hear you're having problems. Let's see if we can get this to work for you. I'm trying to answer your questions, but also trying to understand why your washed out cartos aren't working.

1. No matter which way you clean, you HAVE to take the caps off. If you have glued-on caps, try holding the end in just off boiling water for about 45 sec to a minute. Use a tongs or something similar to hold the carto - it does get hot. The glue will now be softened enough that you can remove the cap with some sort of tool. I use the arm of a binder clip. See this thread about removing the caps: http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...ble-w-hard-tip-premium-carts.html#post1288334

2. You don't have to use vodka. I hardly ever do. The only time is if I really want to remove a stubborn flavor from the carto. Mints/menthols are examples of stubborn flavors. But I generally refill those with another mint/menthol type juice, so I don't bother with the vodka soak. If you do soak w/vodka, blow it out just like you do the water. Don't worry about any vodka residue - it evaporates quickly. (In fact, I often thin some thicker VG juices with vodka & I haven't started on fire yet ) Don't save the vodka you used for soaking. Your bottle of vodka does not have to be refrigerated. Just put the cap back on & store in the cupboard.

3. When you are washing the carto, the goal is to flush water through the carto. So if you're soaking in water, make sure to blow them out.

4. Drying - looks like this is causing you fits. Important: The premium type cartos all have filler that is packed more tightly than the old standard type cartos. Subsequently, they will take longer to dry.
I blow from the mouth end till nothing else comes out, let it sit awhile, then blow again. Mine generally dry further for a few weeks (I have lots of cartos), but I've read about numerous methods of speeding up the drying process. Hair dryer, oven, etc. The reverse Taryn spin, Leaford linked that video in one of your other threads. While I haven't tried it, a number of people swear by this method: put the cartos in a ziploc bag with uncooked rice. The rice absorbs the moisture, but this too will take a few days with the premiums. When you do refill, give the juice a little time to soak in before vaping.

5. Running the paper clip through the air tube....be gentle with this. If the tube is centered & you can see light through the tube, don't even mess with it. Sometimes I think we do more damage by being too zealous.

6. Understand that we all went through a learning curve at the beginning - don't get discouraged. Try to relax & enjoy. You will soon find what works for you.

Edit to add: Just read another thread where you said: "Mine have been getting really hot really fast (some of the plastic caps are now welded to the sides of the carto!!)"
If these are the cartos you've been washing & trying to re-use, then I'd say just toss em. If they've gotten that hot, the filler is probably useless & no amount of washing is going to resurrect them.
You can't let the cartos get that hot! You need to slow down or alternate between 2 or 3 of them. If you constantly vape the same one, you're not giving the juice time to wick. And thus no longer vaporizing the juice, but instead "burning" the wick & filler. When I find myself "chain" vaping, I always alternate between 3 different battery/carto combos.

 

[WOW]

Hi GrannyM!

I did see Leaford's vids but thought was to catch extra juice. I didn't consider it for drying. Cool though that you can cook rice and dry at the same time!

I'm starting to wonder if maybe it was juice I got. I got the Dunhall Menthol on a quick order, just to keep me off analogs but didn't taste test it first. It's too light for me. This flav doesn't have much vapor. I tried the special menthol sampler in the 5mil my 1st order and loved it. Maybe it's also trying to re-fill pre-filled vs blank cartos, though I got 1 of those to work well. They don't have the extra plastic inside.

The one's that are stuck are the pre-filled Carmel Mocha Frapiccinno but I really over-vaped those (yummy!) I'll try the hot water again.

I'm trying to not to get discouraged but I'm worried. The 30mil is lasting other people weeks! I just got my first 30mil on Wednesday and this trial and error has left me w/ a half full bottle in 3 days! (I'm praying it's the liquid not the cartos) I'm worried if the other e-juices don't refill right, I can't afford this. At this rate it would cost at least twice more than analogs! I was over 2 packs on really stressful days. Per week on pre-filled is more than I can do. 8-o

I can see through the cartos and only had to throw away 1 when the paperclip didn't work. The inside of that one just collapsed.

Good idea about using something the hold the tops under hot water! (I never get hot coffee at MceeD's cause I hate things I have to add ice to!!!)
Thanks also for the no-hazard on the vodka! Wine coolers are more my speed and very occasionally, tropical drinks out. I'll keep the vodka around just incase - in my head it does seem like a cleaner-clean than water but, again, I'm praying it's just this particular e-juice w/pre-filled refills is just not happening. At least for the rest of month, I don't have much room for much more trial and error and very seriously, my addiction is stress-related so I have to keep it as low key as possible. I'm not even close to find 1 carto=1 pack of analogs on any flav except the Wowboy - pre-filled and the peppermint and have the Wowboy in my next order, I hope!

Yes, the drying-time is stressful. I have approx 24 cartos and am trying this 5 at a time after the last one gives out. As a former chain smoker, I'm not leaving myself enough leaway but, as a noobie, I'm trying not to wreck anything at all, let alone, in bulk, lol!

I'm going to check out your link and watch Leaford's vids again, try to get the caps of the stuck ones, the intelligent way and be sure to ditch the used vodka.

Seriously though, not that I'm not serious - I'm just falling asleep - whether soaking or the dreaded boiling how long can you let these cartos soak without wrecking them? Is it closer to a 3-min egg or a chicken?

Also, can you salvage an overfilled carto? I did that to one and should
have poured the e-juice directly into my mouth for all that one was worth.

Thanks so much for "hangin' in there" with me. I appreciate it more than you know!! Will try to relax GrannyM -
Thank-you.

ttyl & have a fantastic Saturday!


<<< no vodka in my beer!

Hello Cupcake-dog!
Sorry to hear you're having problems. Let's see if we can get this to work for you. I'm trying to answer your questions, but also trying to understand why your washed out cartos aren't working.

1. No matter which way you clean, you HAVE to take the caps off. If you have glued-on caps, try holding the end in just off boiling water for about 45 sec to a minute. Use a tongs or something similar to hold the carto - it does get hot. The glue will now be softened enough that you can remove the cap with some sort of tool. I use the arm of a binder clip. See this thread about removing the caps: http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...ble-w-hard-tip-premium-carts.html#post1288334

2. You don't have to use vodka. I hardly ever do. The only time is if I really want to remove a stubborn flavor from the carto. Mints/menthols are examples of stubborn flavors. But I generally refill those with another mint/menthol type juice, so I don't bother with the vodka soak. If you do soak w/vodka, blow it out just like you do the water. Don't worry about any vodka residue - it evaporates quickly. (In fact, I often thin some thicker VG juices with vodka & I haven't started on fire yet ) Don't save the vodka you used for soaking. Your bottle of vodka does not have to be refrigerated. Just put the cap back on & store in the cupboard.

3. When you are washing the carto, the goal is to flush water through the carto. So if you're soaking in water, make sure to blow them out.

4. Drying - looks like this is causing you fits. Important: The premium type cartos all have filler that is packed more tightly than the old standard type cartos. Subsequently, they will take longer to dry.
I blow from the mouth end till nothing else comes out, let it sit awhile, then blow again. Mine generally dry further for a few weeks (I have lots of cartos), but I've read about numerous methods of speeding up the drying process. Hair dryer, oven, etc. The reverse Taryn spin, Leaford linked that video in one of your other threads. While I haven't tried it, a number of people swear by this method: put the cartos in a ziploc bag with uncooked rice. The rice absorbs the moisture, but this too will take a few days with the premiums. When you do refill, give the juice a little time to soak in before vaping.

5. Running the paper clip through the air tube....be gentle with this. If the tube is centered & you can see light through the tube, don't even mess with it. Sometimes I think we do more damage by being too zealous.

6. Understand that we all went through a learning curve at the beginning - don't get discouraged. Try to relax & enjoy. You will soon find what works for you.

 

[GrannyM]

OK - 2 things.

First the easiest. When I overfill a carto, (doesn't happen much anymore - you get an eye for it after a while), I use a tissue & gently put it in the mouth end of the carto (cap is off) Let it absorb for a few minutes. After I remove it, if I still can't see through the carto tube (i.e. juice is in there) I do it again. This is generally harder to do with the premium cartos than the regulars because the "wire" is often higher up - which is why I say do it gently.

Secondly, regarding your juice consumption. I know you want to be economical here. You have to remember everyone is different. That being said, I was a pack a day smoker & generally vape about 2 to 3 ml. a day. So a 30 ml bottle will last me 10-15 days.
But I never use a carto just once & then wash to refill. I will continually "top off" my cartos for about 4-5 days until they just aren't performing well anymore, then wash em out to use again. I think you will get much more satisfaction if you use this topping off technique. This is the way I do it.
If the carto has a hard cap, I remove it & replace with a condom that I have punched a hole in. If it's an easy to remove soft cap, I just keep that there. Every few hours (it varies by how much I've been vaping & which type of carto I'm using), I will remove the cap, put a condom (& plug if applicable) on the battery end & drip some juice onto the filler on top. The amount to drip varies - you will get an eye for it eventually - but generally if the top looks "squishy" you probably overfilled. If you continually top off, you really don't have to be worried about getting that last drop in. In other words, don't get greedy. If you overfill, you just have to remove it & end up losing it. Every so often I will do the Taryn spin, but not always. A thermometer shake works well too. By using this topping off method, your cartos will always be at least half full & make for a much better vaping experience.

ok I guess there is a 3rd thing, lol. Soaking the cartos when washing out. I do the reverse spin before soaking to try to remove as much residue as possible. I then pour boiling water over the cartos just to cover. (I use distilled water just to avoid the residue from tap water) While they're soaking, I'm usually washing out the caps & condoms so I never really timed it. But every so often, I stir them up a bit just to circulate. So I'm guessing 15 min. tops? You just want to soak them long enough to do the job. Then I blow them out, then I do the hot water flushing & blowing out. I've soaked some really bad ones in vodka for at least half a day & had no bad results. So I don't think you will hurt them by extended soaking, it's just not always necessary.

 

[Stoked!]

WOW-
First off...I can totally relate and I ASSURE YOU THINGS WILL GET BETTER SOON!!! There is just something about being a newb that causes everything to seem to go wrong. Now that things are working well with all of my products I look back and can only think that at least 50% of my broken cartos in my first month of vaping were caused by strange things I was trying. I was breaking the cartos when I was a newb. Things will get more affordable And I'm sure what ever it is that you are doing, many of us did when we were newbs...but I can only put my finger on: 1) using paperclips "in the wrong way" (other than just trying to straighten the wick) can break them and 2) over and under filling can make them seem broken. I PROMISE!! JUST KEEP TRYING!! KEEP ASKING QUESTIONS!! CARTOS WILL START WORKING FOR YOU!!!! Not just that but the one that has been working for you has the potential to work for many months if not longer!!! YAY!! Some of them have very long lives...its hit or miss. Hang in there!! It is a serious pain in the wallet when you first start!! I remember!! I must admit this though: I had 2 boxes of Pear Premiums in different strengths and all but 2 of them died with in a week (or a few lasted 2 weeks) of use. I'm not buying pear carts again...unless I know for sure they have a completely different batch I'd rather use a blank premium or cool cart ANY DAY!!! I LOVE PEAR JUICE!!!! Don't get me wrong. And the pear juice works just fine in the blanks I'm happy to say since its in my top 4 favs.

It's most likely not the juice specifically if its from V4L in premium and WOW cartos....from my experience. What I CAN tell you is that sometimes my cartos get an attitude after refill and I pull all of my different batts out and try the non-working refilled cartos on each batt and eventually I will find one it works on. Sometimes vaping it on the batt that the carto "likes" for a while (maybe half of a fill's worth...refill) fixes it. Sometimes thats the only batt it will ever vape on. I find that the Passthrus and the manuals are more likely to work with finicky cartos. I tend to throw out cartos after trying 2 GOOD cleanings if still having problems (I shoot grain & water through with a syringe to clean mine-posted about in on either "2questions" or "more questions"). But remember, they will stop breaking so frequently on you soon. Is just a newb thing. SORRY!!! Also, I tend to put my cartos by a mini heating source of some sort for 12 hours to a day to dry (I use my cable box top vents cause that thing gets VERY WARM). Never had a problem. I don't overkill on getting the grain out of the carto but rinse well. I love using alcohol in cleaning. I feel like the process is much more thorough and the method I use makes it super fast...and talk about "flushing water through it"...nothing beats the method I use. Check it out if you haven't.

It could be as easy as having overfilled them. Have you tried blowing a little juice out through the battery end? If you had the caps off I we could tell you what it should look like. Maybe its under filled? Anyway the use of tissue works!!

Warning...just as the paperclip can damage the carto to the point of no return (had the same problem as a newb, I have had bad luck with syringes. Be VERY careful not to squash the batting. That's how I killed about 3 of my cartos before I switched to dripping.

Other Members-Please check out Wow's stuff here because I'm a "top-drip refiller" and Wow is a "condom refiller" so the answers to the questions may be different than what I would experience. I decided to "top-drip" instead of condom or syringe refill (after one month of trying everything) due to my experience breaking cartos using those methods....I also drip because I find that it makes a smaller mess than condom refilling, in my opinion (which leads to saving juice). You could break some of your hard caps off of your cartos (if hot water trick doesn't work--please let us know how that goes) and I'll send you some spare ones off of my old cartos. CAP SHORTAGE....: I had that problem when the premiums first came out but I have a small stockpile now.

The "reverse taryn spin" doesn't work for me for drying purposes any better than blowing it out, with all of my might. I guess it works if you don't blow it out but I never tried it. Blowing it out seems faster to me. The Taryn Spin DOES work for catching juice you want to remove and save!!!

I have had lots of pre-filled and blanks. RE the pre-filled that have glued on hard caps...THOSE CARTOS ROCK AROUND THE CLOCK BUT YOU HAVE TO GET THE CAPS OFF!! SERIOUSLY I'll send you some spare caps...PM me. I haven't had ANY of those old beauties die on me as a top dripper!!! And they do that "popping" thing that I love so much. Those things last forever. You gotta get the caps off...unless they are electrically broken. Then just chuck 'em. I sorta wished that when they picked a supplier for premiums that it would be like those premiums, but with rubber caps. I have a stock pile of the english toffee ones that are made like that. YUM!

Vape on!!! AND GOOD LUCK!!

 

[WOW]

OK - 2 things.

First the easiest. When I overfill a carto, (doesn't happen much anymore - you get an eye for it after a while), I use a tissue & gently put it in the mouth end of the carto (cap is off) Let it absorb for a few minutes. After I remove it, if I still can't see through the carto tube (i.e. juice is in there) I do it again. This is generally harder to do with the premium cartos than the regulars because the "wire" is often higher up - which is why I say do it gently.

Ok. This is also giving me some idea of why not all of my cartos survived soaking. It seems without that air hole the fiber inside some of the other 8 bunched up. I thought it was cause I didn't get all the e-juice out so tried the vodka. ----- I didn't think to use a tissue when after blowing them out and using the paper clip, to help soak up excess water, same as an over-flowed carto. (This part is the same on the 401 I had been pulling my hair out to use but not the reason the 401 didn't work for me)

These are definitely sensitive, though sturdy cartos and I'm like basically trying to say I think I didn't get enough water out fast enough. In the ones that 'died' the wire wasn't visible and the paper clip seemed to hit a bunched up area of fiber. I'm glad I didn't do this on a large # of cartos to start. I do get what you're saying about refilling but definitely didn't take it the right way (I just woke up from a two hour nap but really need to watch the vids again and read this post again 'til it makes sense to me in all areas of both cleaning and refilling. Right now, they still seem too disjointed.

Secondly, regarding your juice consumption. I know you want to be economical here. You have to remember everyone is different. That being said, I was a pack a day smoker & generally vape about 2 to 3 ml. a day. So a 30 ml bottle will last me 10-15 days.

If I get this right b4 using any more e-juice then my e-juice could make it well into next week or about 1/2 for smoking double until I gain some control and lower the amount. I want you to know, GrannyM. what you are sharing here is helping me put it in perspective each over # of cartos and the time frame. That's one thing (of many) analogs did to me - was make me easily loose track of time and how many analogs I was going through.(The V4L + checking my cc, helped me figure that out) There were numerous things that hit me all me all at once that just told me, I either quit or I'm going to die. I don't say this for the drama but, to tell you, I'm not mentally over/in control of that part with vaping and appreciate you offering something I can gage again. It makes sense. I'm not going through too much - just maybe slightly more than I will when I go through these links again and pay more attention/take notes - whatever it takes. I think the will fall into place. The way you put that still puts vaping around $20 3x/month - not close to
the cost of analogs. I need to write this stuff down because I do panic at making this change. May be I'm fighting it on some level when it gets complicated.....Ryan told me to go slow and I think I'm trying to go too fast on this one. (Man, it was easier getting my driver's liscence! )

But I never use a carto just once & then wash to refill. I will continually "top off" my cartos for about 4-5 days until they just aren't performing well anymore, then wash em out to use again. I think you will get much more satisfaction if you use this topping off technique. This is the way I do it.
If the carto has a hard cap, I remove it & replace with a condom that I have punched a hole in. If it's an easy to remove soft cap, I just keep that there. Every few hours (it varies by how much I've been vaping & which type of carto I'm using), I will remove the cap, put a condom (& plug if applicable) when would you need to put a plug on? Another mistake...I've been throwing those out on the battery end & drip some juice onto the filler on top. The amount to drip varies - you will get an eye for it eventually - but generally if the top looks "squishy" you probably overfilled. If you continually top off, you really don't have to be worried about getting that last drop in.While the condom method is easier I've gotten better results from the syringe (is this what you mean by 'topping off'?)In other words, don't get greedy. If you overfill, you just have to remove it & end up losing it. Can't argue with that. I didn't know you could do that so I was blowing the liquid out - another likely part of the prob!!! Every so often I will do the Taryn spin, but not always. A thermometer shake works well too. ??? By using this topping off method, your cartos will always be at least half full & make for a much better vaping experience.

ok I guess there is a 3rd thing, lol. Soaking the cartos when washing out. I do the reverse spin before soaking to try to remove as much residue as possible. I then pour boiling water over the cartos just to cover. (I use distilled water just to avoid the residue from tap water) While they're soaking, I'm usually washing out the caps & condoms so I never really timed it. But every so often, I stir them up a bit just to circulate. So I'm guessing 15 min. tops? You just want to soak them long enough to do the job. Then I blow them out, then I do the hot water flushing & blowing out. I've soaked some really bad ones in vodka for at least half a day & had no bad results. So I don't think you will hurt them by extended soaking, it's just not always necessary.

Thank-you so much for taking so much time to explain and help me clarify. After I fully wake up, again, I'm going to through that first thread again, including Leaford's vids and take it slowly as Ryan suggested.

Incase you haven't noticed, I get just a little excited when ordering new things. I think I'm afraid if I slow down I won't feel as excited which is the wrong way of looking at it. If I learn how to use my PV by paying more attention, I'll be more excited because I'll develop confidence in myself that I can do things I'm worried I can't. (I had such a bad experience off-line and I just got lucky or something to find V4L. You're all the best. This is like both an information group and a support group at the same time)

I'll be on-line later GrannyM and I'm not going to get ahead of anyone but, for now, it's ok to just learn and try to catch up with those who keep showing me the light at the end of the tunnel is still there - I just have to open my eyes!

 

[WOW]

Hey Stoked!

Do you have a vid of your method?

I don't think it's the liquid now either. I'm getting all mixed up with the spin thing - the 'male' end goes on ??? end to get the carto to hold more juice and the 'female' end.....goes on the carto in both vids but only one end to pull juice out, blah, blah, blah and I'm filling the blasted things with the 'male' end condom and there's no juice. Like duh but where'd it go? It had to go somewhere and it didn't spill out onto the table!

Right now I got all of my cartos cleaned, a few dry and several air drying. 1 I can get vapor out of but no taste, the second - nada, the third was cool - I did get the top of the Carmel Mocha Frappicinno after cleaning it w/ just water and added menthol. It came out like the CMF with a hint of mint and is vaping wildly! My fourth carto is a prefilled, thank heaven! (The 2nd CMF carto has the sizzle noise but no flav or vapor) So out of 5, I'm at 1 working properly and if I want to suck my lips into my pituitary gland, one of my BLANKS might work)

I'm willing to try a different method. I don't care about the mess. This is nothing compared the 401 I had! I just want to see higher results. This is more miss than hit and taking up a lot of time, just to try to have working extras so I can go out!

For all the analogs I went through, I could never roll an anolog either.

I have all the caps and condoms drying out so next time I have the energy to try again, everything is set to go and organized. I can't believe I just ordered 3-30mil e-juices. I'm going to drive myself nuts! 8-o So, yes, I welcome any re-filling suggestions for dummies you have along with being very interested in how you re-fill yours. Thanks for understanding!

WOW-
First off...I can totally relate and I ASSURE YOU THINGS WILL GET BETTER SOON!!! There is just something about being a newb that causes everything to seem to go wrong. Now that things are working well with all of my products I look back and can only think that at least 50% of my broken cartos in my first month of vaping were caused by strange things I was trying. I was breaking the cartos when I was a newb. Things will get more affordable And I'm sure what ever it is that you are doing, many of us did when we were newbs...but I can only put my finger on: 1) using paperclips "in the wrong way" (other than just trying to straighten the wick) can break them and 2) over and under filling can make them seem broken. I PROMISE!! JUST KEEP TRYING!! KEEP ASKING QUESTIONS!! CARTOS WILL START WORKING FOR YOU!!!! Not just that but the one that has been working for you has the potential to work for many months if not longer!!! YAY!! Some of them have very long lives...its hit or miss. Hang in there!! It is a serious pain in the wallet when you first start!! I remember!! I must admit this though: I had 2 boxes of Pear Premiums in different strengths and all but 2 of them died with in a week (or a few lasted 2 weeks) of use. I'm not buying pear carts again...unless I know for sure they have a completely different batch I'd rather use a blank premium or cool cart ANY DAY!!! I LOVE PEAR JUICE!!!! Don't get me wrong. And the pear juice works just fine in the blanks I'm happy to say since its in my top 4 favs.

It's most likely not the juice specifically if its from V4L in premium and WOW cartos....from my experience. What I CAN tell you is that sometimes my cartos get an attitude after refill and I pull all of my different batts out and try the non-working refilled cartos on each batt and eventually I will find one it works on. Sometimes vaping it on the batt that the carto "likes" for a while (maybe half of a fill's worth...refill) fixes it. Sometimes thats the only batt it will ever vape on. I find that the Passthrus and the manuals are more likely to work with finicky cartos. I tend to throw out cartos after trying 2 GOOD cleanings if still having problems (I shoot grain & water through with a syringe to clean mine-posted about in on either "2questions" or "more questions"). But remember, they will stop breaking so frequently on you soon. Is just a newb thing. SORRY!!! Also, I tend to put my cartos by a mini heating source of some sort for 12 hours to a day to dry (I use my cable box top vents cause that thing gets VERY WARM). Never had a problem. I don't overkill on getting the grain out of the carto but rinse well. I love using alcohol in cleaning. I feel like the process is much more thorough and the method I use makes it super fast...and talk about "flushing water through it"...nothing beats the method I use. Check it out if you haven't.

It could be as easy as having overfilled them. Have you tried blowing a little juice out through the battery end? If you had the caps off I we could tell you what it should look like. Maybe its under filled? Anyway the use of tissue works!!

Warning...just as the paperclip can damage the carto to the point of no return (had the same problem as a newb, I have had bad luck with syringes. Be VERY careful not to squash the batting. That's how I killed about 3 of my cartos before I switched to dripping.

Other Members-Please check out Wow's stuff here because I'm a "top-drip refiller" and Wow is a "condom refiller" so the answers to the questions may be different than what I would experience. I decided to "top-drip" instead of condom or syringe refill (after one month of trying everything) due to my experience breaking cartos using those methods....I also drip because I find that it makes a smaller mess than condom refilling, in my opinion (which leads to saving juice). You could break some of your hard caps off of your cartos (if hot water trick doesn't work--please let us know how that goes) and I'll send you some spare ones off of my old cartos. CAP SHORTAGE....: I had that problem when the premiums first came out but I have a small stockpile now.

The "reverse taryn spin" doesn't work for me for drying purposes any better than blowing it out, with all of my might. I guess it works if you don't blow it out but I never tried it. Blowing it out seems faster to me. The Taryn Spin DOES work for catching juice you want to remove and save!!!

I have had lots of pre-filled and blanks. RE the pre-filled that have glued on hard caps...THOSE CARTOS ROCK AROUND THE CLOCK BUT YOU HAVE TO GET THE CAPS OFF!! SERIOUSLY I'll send you some spare caps...PM me. I haven't had ANY of those old beauties die on me as a top dripper!!! And they do that "popping" thing that I love so much. Those things last forever. You gotta get the caps off...unless they are electrically broken. Then just chuck 'em. I sorta wished that when they picked a supplier for premiums that it would be like those premiums, but with rubber caps. I have a stock pile of the english toffee ones that are made like that. YUM!

Vape on!!! AND GOOD LUCK!!

 

[syndicate2083]

Hello,

figured I would chime in here. I think the cleaning/drying is coming together for you, so congrats!

As for filling, I tried the condom fill method and found it fairly messy and just not very good for me.

I usually take the bottle and straight drip into the carto while it is at an angle (say 90 degrees / ) If the carto is really dry/clean you will notice it start to bead up and it will very slowly make its way into the filler *so dont overfill at this juncture or it will simply leak into the tube and you just lose juice. Once the initial filler has been soaked a bit it will take allot more juice/more quickly. Now fill it with that method until you start to see liquid floating just above the filler (I usually rotate the carto during this process to get equal juice on all sides). The first time you see that liquid line forming just above the filler stop filling, grab the top/mouth end of the carto and shake it with good force (like you made a paper fan and your trying to fan yourself, but harder). You may want to use a napkin and put it at the bottom of the carto just in case some liquid comes out.

After say 2-5 seconds you should see that the carto looks basically dry again (with whatever color the liquid was). Repeat the process.

After 3 repeats I usually find it is well filled, maybe needs a top off of a few drops, and I am good to go. You may find you only need 2, if you are slinging it around and it no longer looks dry dry on top you can probably top off and good to go.

I found this works very well for me, its not really messy, and I dont have to deal with the condoms all over the place and crap like that.

The ones Ive cleaned and filled and have 0 taste have usually ended up having allot of water still in them, this can be deceptive because you will see a very dry top, but the very bottom which you cant see is still soaked with water. Some cartos just take longer to dry. Sometimes I will grab some by the female end and do the "fan" in reverse to get more water to the top of the filler before I let them sit and dry to help this out.

As the others have said, it can be quite daunting, but it DOES get easier, you stop breaking all your carto's, you start getting a real fix on what you use and how often you use it.

Personally I go through about 45-60ml a month (I get it for about 15$ a bottle) and I have had the same carto's now for about 3 months without really losing any (2 so far out of 25). I used to smoke about a pack-pack and a half a day and I chain vape all day myself. I know how disconcerting it can be to get that 30ml bottle in, and start vaping away and suddenly its empty haha.

This is why I fairly early on got a backup bottle, something I dont exactly love, but certainly dont hate. This lets me not automatically want to vape it, and have something in reserve if I ever simply dont get my next order in on time, or totally blank and find myself out of my usuals.

You will get a system down eventually and everything will fall into the pure enjoyment category. It takes some time, but I think it's worth it.

Hope this helps some, and good luck!

 

[Desertfremen]

Just as a note: I've left cartos soaking in Vodka for over a week before with no harmful effects to the operating condition of the cartos. In fact aside from getting them very clean the only thing it did was loosen the labels a wee bit.

 

[Brooke1975]

WOW you guys are awesome, you really are kicking out all the answers! I love reading these because I always learn something new!