Bad cartos out of the package

[mgdguy]

First of all - two full weeks with no analogs and going great!

So I went through the Bloog starter kit cartos and orders another 5 pack. I went through two of them no issue. However the third seemed to taste 'off' and kinda chemically/burned. I couldn't put my finger on the taste exactly, but it definitely wasn't right. So I tried the next carto. Same thing! The remaining three all tasted bad. So I ordered another 5 pack from a different supplier. SAME THING. First two were ok, last three were all bad - so bad one of the left a nasty taste in my mouth the whole night. ECH. What is going on?? When it happened with the second batch, I tried my other remaining batteries on them with no change. I tried a different carto (my wife's) on my battery and it's fine. I took the cartos in question apart. They had liquid in them but also had a little brown 'burnt' spot at the coil.

Any ideas? Are cartos this unreliable?

 

[carpedebass]

First of all - two full weeks with no analogs and going great!

So I went through the Bloog starter kit cartos and orders another 5 pack. I went through two of them no issue. However the third seemed to taste 'off' and kinda chemically/burned. I couldn't put my finger on the taste exactly, but it definitely wasn't right. So I tried the next carto. Same thing! The remaining three all tasted bad. So I ordered another 5 pack from a different supplier. SAME THING. First two were ok, last three were all bad - so bad one of the left a nasty taste in my mouth the whole night. ECH. What is going on?? When it happened with the second batch, I tried my other remaining batteries on them with no change. I tried a different carto (my wife's) on my battery and it's fine. I took the cartos in question apart. They had liquid in them but also had a little brown 'burnt' spot at the coil.

Any ideas? Are cartos this unreliable?

You can get a few duds here and there with any supplier, but that regularity you posted is beyond ridiculous!! That said, what juice are you running through them? If the juice is too high in VG it won't wick properly and you'll get that burning.

 

[mgordon1100]

Bassman, He said he ordered the Bloog kit. He's probably buying pre-filled cartos from them. My guess is that he just doesn't like the juice that they sell. Either that, or they had a bunch of bad refills that came out of the same production batch. By the way, I like my new nickname for you. IF you don't, too bad. Ha ha!

MGDguy, I recommend that you put down that vape, and go buy yourself some tried and true cigarettes. Apparently, they're more accepted in society than the safer alternative of e-cigs. Plus, you can't beat that true smooth taste of a genuine Camel. Of course, I'm only kidding. I'd tell the company that their cartos suck ..., and deal with it until you get yourself something better to vape. Look around here and figure out what you want to do moving forward. There are plenty of options to buy your own juice that you'll like, and fill some blank cartos with it.

 

[carpedebass]

Bassman, He said he ordered the Bloog kit. He's probably buying pre-filled cartos from them. My guess is that he just doesn't like the juice that they sell. Either that, or they had a bunch of bad refills that came out of the same production batch. By the way, I like my new nickname for you. IF you don't, too bad. Ha ha!

Didn't realize they did the prefilled thing. ...And by the by there mister/miss mgordon1100 fancy pants...only my GRANDMOTHER is allowed to call me that.

Seriously, I don't really care.

 

[dormouse]

mgdguy - are these prefilled cartos or blanks?

If prefilled, contact them with the problem and they should send you replacements.

If blanks - what PG/VG juice did you use in the problem ones, how (and how much) did you fill them, and did you let them settle?

 

[mgordon1100]

Oh, I forgot to mention. I HATE cartos. Well, at least the ones that I used. Before switching to an ego-t, I was using the Njoy Npro. After buying a couple of refil packs, I started buying liquid and re-filling them. Thing I found is that they burnt really fast, regardless of how much juice was in them. My cartos had three components. The coil, wick material wrapped around that, and larger filler material wrapped around the whole thing. The wick material always developed a burn mark, and subsequently the filler material burned. They tasted horrible. I noticed that Bloog offers a variety of flavors in their refill packs. Which one did you get, and was it the same as the kit you ordered?

 

[dormouse]

I love cartos. And I am vaping a Bloog blank right now and I find these very resistant to singeing because of their bottom coil. I use thin clear juices - PG w/ 20% or less VG, often 10% or less, and a couple of Vapor4Life WOW juices (the ones I have tried are thin and clear). I avoid all juices that drop flavoring sediment in the stuffing (really clogs up a carto or atty coil). I have been vaping this carto at least 1/2 the time for over a week and it's still great.

However - it's the first Bloog carto I ever tried. I will reserve final judgement until I've used the rest of the pack which I expect to take another 2 months if they are all good.

If you put thick juice in a carto you will have more trouble with singeing, especially if you chain vape. Thick liquids are sluggish and move slowly through the stuffing. Also, when you fill with a thick liquid you need to let a carto settle a lot longer. With the thin juices I use, I just make a 1ml-ish size carto take 18+ drops, clean it up then lay it on different sides fro 15-20 minutes on the first fill.

 

[GIMike]

I think the people that hate cartos, don't know how to use them. Tanks are easy. You fill it, put it in, vape away. Nothing to learn there. You have to know how much to put into cartos to use them properly. Me, I just put in juice until the cotton stays looking wet. If I put in a few drops, and the cotton soaks it up and it looks dry, it needs more. Repeat until the cotton stays "moist". Not much to it really. I know people use syringes to put the juice in a certain way, with so many drops, and let it sit for a certain period of time. True, if I don't put a couple of drops in the bottom end, I have to let it sit for a minute to soak in. If I just squirt a little bit into the threaded end of the carto, I don't have that problem. Of course, now I have a carto tank and don't have any of those problems anymore

 

[mgdguy]

Yes they are prefilled cartos. The first was from Bloog, the second from Volt. Bloog CS is sending a replacement pack without issue. I guess we'll see! I liked the flavor of the two cartos that worked...

I also ordered some blanks and juice from Bloog today, in the hopes it works better.

 

[dormouse]

I am really enjoying the Bloog blank. I use a plastic or delrin drip tip in the end instead of the end cap - not to drip into, just as a comfortable and easy to remove mouthpiece - makes it a lot easier to add juice. LiteCigUSA.net has a good selection under KR808D-1 - black delrin, clear colored plastic and some new flat tip ones I haven't tried. What will rarely fit are those fancy hand-turned acrylic drip tips.

And always take the carto off the battery when adding juice.

When I fill the first time (and whenever adding a lot of juice) I hold tissue against the threaded end hole of the carto. Tilt and drip in 18 drops slowly (wait after the first few which may take longer to soak in). Then I wait 15-20 seconds. Then I see how many more drops the stuffing will soak in easily. Then I do cleanup of the threads, then tilt open end down into a tissue and puff into the threaded end hole to make sure the air channel is clear, then while still pointed down I touch soft tissue to the top of the stuffing to sop up any excess (helps prevent leaks). Then to settle it I let it lay on different sides for 15-20 minutes to spread the juice to every area of the carto. 15-20 minutes is more than enough settling with the thin juices I use. Only the first fill needs some settling time (to make sure every bit of stuffing is damp).

As I vape, I keep it damp. If the vapor seems light or dry or tastes even a tiny bit off or if the carto is getting abnormally warm, I see if it could use some juice. And you can also check the top of the stuffing - if it has gone white you could probably add a bit of juice before heading out or putting a new battery on it etc.

As I said above I use thin juices, PG w/ 20% or less VG and a couple of Vapor4Life WOW juices. The Bloog cartos may be able to handle a bit more VG than that since their stuffing is a bit looser than the Vapor4Life cartos. If a get a juice that drops a lot of flavoring sediment, I find a different juice.

And I never put untested juices in cartos. If you have a KR808D-1 manual battery (Bloog, Vapor4Life, Volt etc) you can put a standard resistance DSE901 atomizer and drip tip to test juices (if you have auto batteries, dripping is not recommended so you could use DSE901 cartridges). The same drip tip fits in Bloog cartos. Both the atomizer and drip tips can be found at LiteCigUSA.net.

 

[mgdguy]

Thanks for that info dormouse, very helpful! I'll post more if I have any issues with the blanks.