Cartomizers: Underfilling as bad as overfilling.

[sevenplus3]

Hey all,

I'm new to this and would not have gotten anywhere without the e-cig forum. A week in though, I think I already have a tip that will alleviate some frustration.

I must have had incredible dumb luck to begin. I ordered a couple blank cartomizers and some juice, dripped about 20 drops from the top, screwed them in to the battery and inhaled. Amazing hits. Life was beautiful. Fast forward a week, and I've burned through a dozen cartos. I was wondering if it was the juice, the cartos, or me.

It was me.

Fortunately I dissected my failed cartos and learned that the juice wasn't always seeping all the way to the bottom. The filler was often wet on top and dry on the bottom, hence burning/burnt cartos. My lesson? Underfilling can be as bad as overfilling!

What I've been doing lately is filling from the mouth, more than the often cited 20 drops -- going btw 30-40 (drop size can vary depending on bottle tip), and blowing lightly on each end into a paper towel to get out the excess. With a little practice I'm hoping to only blow out a drop or two. If I'm not blowing anything out, I'm concerned that the filler isn't fully saturated.

For reference, I'm using an RN4081 with cartos I ordered from Good Prophets (unsure of the brand), though I think this technique would be generic to all cartos/models.


Hope this saves someone from a bunch of burned cartos and frustration!


Thanks to e-cig forums for getting me this far...


-Mike

 

[Uncle Willie]

I started letting mine sit for 24 hours after filling a new one .. seems to let the liquid wick into the whole fiber ..

 

[nerak]

It really helps to spin to get the juice to the bottom of the filler. They call it the taryn spin. I use an old Rx canister, put a hole through the top and connect a shoestring or similar roping, and tie a knot. Put in up to 5 cartos and give it a good whirl. Don't even have to replace the tops till you are done. After spinning add some more juice and spin again. If the filler looks wet on top you are done.

 

[nanovapr]

Hi, welcome to ECF! Yup, you are learning what many had to. Search for Taryn Spin, this is an easy quick way to make sure the carto is well soaked. Using a syringe run along the inside of the shell is also a good way, you can literally fill it from the bottom up. In a pinch, a paper clip slipped into the inside can also be a help. Just drip the juice down the paper clip, and it will make it to the bottom faster than soaking from the top.

Whenever you are poking anything inside there, don't poke it in the middle where the coil(s) are, just slip it between the carto and filler. Make sure the air tube is centered, if that gets bent over that can make a kink and it will draw too hard. Happy Vaping!

 

[Iffy]

Underfilling can be as bad as overfilling!

It's much worse! I've never burnt a wet carto.

 

[sevenplus3]

I'm going to give the waiting 24 hours a try a shot. I also ordered a syringe, but it didn't come in yet. Question about the 24 hours.. do you do that for refills, too? I'm assuming (and hoping) once you get the carto saturated once, it should be well primed for a refill unless you suck it dry.

Thanks for the tips. I'm looking forward to getting my filling consistency down. I swear I had luck on my side on my first fills.. If I didn't, I'd probably think everything tasted like burnt plastic and would have given up and thrown it all out.

 

[swedishfish]

Are you using really thick juice? I do about 5 drops, shake like a thermometer, add 5 more, repeat until it won't take more juice.

 

[dormouse]

yes - too little juice, too thick juice, or not letting the freshly filled carto settle and absorb the liquid everywhere can cause problems.

I make a blank cartomizer take at least 18 drops per ml of capacity. I do not fill them blindly. I take off the soft cap, hold a bit of tissue against the threaded end, tilt it, and drip 18 drops into the stuffing (I use 1ml cartos) while rotating it and going as slow as it needs to soak it in. Then I wait briefly then try to drip in more - whatever it wants to easily soak up since it already has the 18.

Then I clean the threaded end, tilt the open end down into the tissue and puff into the threaded end to clean the air channel (I only use cartos with a defined center air channel - I want to see light through that). if juice seems pooled above the stuffing, I softly touch some tissue to that so that won't end up sputtering into my mouth later.

Then since it was a fill of a blank, I let it settle - 15-20 minutes laying it on different sides to make sure every bit of stuffing is wet. I use thin clear juices, 20% VG or less, so that amount of time is enough settling.

 

[wyojoe]

Are you using really thick juice? I do about 5 drops, shake like a thermometer, add 5 more, repeat until it won't take more juice.

Yes I agree, that does work. As a side note Aceofvapes has a neat unit for doing the Taryn spin, and you can use it upside down to get E-juice out of a bad cartomizer, if you put a condum under it. You should use a condum under your cartomizer either way to trap extra juice. Just for general information, it is very well made, and its called (Cart "O" Copter) I have 2 of these and they work great, but be careful that you don't hit anything while you are spinning it around. LOL

 

[WomanOfHeart]

Are you using really thick juice? I do about 5 drops, shake like a thermometer, add 5 more, repeat until it won't take more juice.

I use either a 60PG/40VG or a 50/50 mix with my cartos and both work just fine for me. I'm not what type of batting is in your particular cartos (it varies between manufacturer), so if the batting looks really thick or a lot is stuffed in there, you might want to stick to mixes that have no more than 40% VG.

 

[Twoflower]

I've started using the condom fill method through the battery end and that seems to work better for me. It gets the liquid in from the bottom and then once I see juice bubble from the tube I add a few drops to the top to wet it too.

 

[Iffy]

I've started using the condom fill method through the battery end and that seems to work better for me. It gets the liquid in from the bottom and then once I see juice bubble from the tube I add a few drops to the top to wet it too.

 

[Ralikar]

I use Bloog cartos for the 808d--hypo 1ml into new ones and vape right away. Hypo less or drop fill into refilled ones and vape right away. Just posting brand here for new peep because the Boge cartos suck and their filling is like rocks; really doesn't make sense to buy cartos that you have to wait 24hrs to vape or you have to spin in a baggie unless you have no choice.

 

[BWG707]

Once you start using a syringe you'll see it's the way to go. You can start vaping immediately and there is no mess, just rinse out the syringe under hot tap water. I've used the same syringe for over 4 months. You should lube the rubber tip of the plunger with a little e juice before you use it.

 

[Bozzlite]

I use Bloog cartos for the 808d--hypo 1ml into new ones and vape right away. Hypo less or drop fill into refilled ones and vape right away. Just posting brand here for new peep because the Boge cartos suck and their filling is like rocks; really doesn't make sense to buy cartos that you have to wait 24hrs to vape or you have to spin in a baggie unless you have no choice.

I agree that you shouldn't have to wait 24 hours. I don't use the T-spin or wait 24 hours. Just slide the hypo down the side of the carto between the filler and the tube and inject. Give a short blow from the top of the carto into a tissue until you get some juice out the connector end. No juice?, add some and repeat till you get a bit on the tissue. Carto is ready to go then.

ETA: Wow, look at that. My sig says I've been vaping 364 days and 23 hours. Not one analog in there either

 

[Messa]

When refilling, I shake them down like you would a thermometer or tap them on the counter. Seems to give me plenty of room for more juice.