Actually, that's exactly what I was doing that led to the discovery of the black gunk lol stripped a few Q*tips down & cleaned it up...Not I'm not sure if I'm getting better vape production bc I cleaned everything out really good, or if any of the juices I used were at fault lol regardless it's working better! The one thing I haven't gotten an answer on is why sooo much juice in the air holes....has this not happened to anyone else? & thanks everyone for all of your input!