Cartridge filler gets stuck on atomizer

[hangwire]

I'm still a newbie, just over 3 weeks into vaping. I've got a 510, using atomizer and cartridge.

Sometimes the white filler stuff in the cartridge gets stuck (melted?) onto the atomizer. I've tried poking the white stuff down into the cartridge a bit with a paperclip, but it doesn't stay down once I start using it. I've started topping off after 3 or 4 drags because whenever this happens it tastes really awful. The problem with this is I guess sometimes I overfill and I get leakage out of the atomizer which either comes out onto my hands or into my mouth through the cartridge.

Is there a better way? Should I start looking at a cartomizer, or maybe even a tank setup? Or am I missing something or maybe refilling it wrong?

I appreciate any advice.

 

[brianishiwa]

Hi hangwire.

Yes, look into cartos. Get some Boge LR's and never look back. They are ~$7 a 5-pack and you don't have to worry about flavor mixing with your atty. Flavor/throat hit/vapor will be much improved as well. I actually use SmokTech dual-coil cartos, but the Boge's are a nice intro to cartos to see if you like them.

You can also try one of the old-school mods (Pyramid Tea Bag mod is one of the better ones) but I think it's not worth the trouble, unless you actually have some in your cupboard already. The money you spend on the tea will be better spent on cartos.

All is not lost with the atty though. But a drip tip and you can use the atty to sample flavors by dripping. They will prove useful in this regard.

 

[brianishiwa]

Not trying to buffer post count, but for some bizarre reason I cannot edit my post and wanted to add a few things you may find helpful:

That poly filler sure is disgusting when it burns on the mesh. You're refilling them a lot because they are terrible at wicking your juice to the atty and keeping it saturated. In the meantime while you wait for your cartos, you can try either of the following: remove the poly filler entirely and use the cartridge as a "drip tip", meaning you drip 2-3 drops directly onto the mesh, pop your empty cartridge back on as a means to draw, and vape. You'll only get 5-15 "hits" before you have to drip again, but you won't have to worry about that burnt taste. OR, you can cut 1/2 off the poly filler, fill the cartridge with about 15 drops, then put the a half-size filler back on. This seems to help keep the atty moist so you don't have to worry about that dry burnt hit.

Report back & let us know how you're doing.

 

[hangwire]

Thanks for the info.

With cartomizers, can you clean them/blow them out like with an atomizer? I got the impression they were a bit more "throw-away" than the cartridge/atomizer setup. As in, you toss it when it stops working so well and grab another. Or maybe I just didn't fully understand.

Also, I read somewhere that the Boge's don't work with the default joye 510 batteries. Is that the case?

Thanks again!

 

[Sugar_and_Spice]

Thanks for the info.

With cartomizers, can you clean them/blow them out like with an atomizer? I got the impression they were a bit more "throw-away" than the cartridge/atomizer setup. As in, you toss it when it stops working so well and grab another. Or maybe I just didn't fully understand.

Also, I read somewhere that the Boge's don't work with the default joye 510 batteries. Is that the case?

Thanks again!

Hello,
Welcome to ecf. A cartomizer regular 3.0 ohms would be your best bet....if you get an lr carto, it will cut your battery time terribly and you will spend a lot of time charging instead of vaping.
You may want to upgrade to an ego or a riva510. These batteries are bigger and hold charges longer, but they are less work. and they can handle lr cartomizers ok.
Or you can continue to drip onto the atty, but that is a lot of work too.
Cartomizers are meant to use with one flavor and can be refilled sometimes 7 or 8 times, depending on the ejuice....They can be cleaned and flavors changed but if you stick with one flavor per carto, it is not necessary.
Happy vaping....

 

[brianishiwa]

Hello,
Welcome to ecf. A cartomizer regular 3.0 ohms would be your best bet....if you get an lr carto, it will cut your battery time terribly and you will spend a lot of time charging instead of vaping.
You may want to upgrade to an ego or a riva510. These batteries are bigger and hold charges longer, but they are less work. and they can handle lr cartomizers ok.
Or you can continue to drip onto the atty, but that is a lot of work too.
Cartomizers are meant to use with one flavor and can be refilled sometimes 7 or 8 times, depending on the ejuice....They can be cleaned and flavors changed but if you stick with one flavor per carto, it is not necessary.
Happy vaping....

Damn, S&S is totally right, whenever I see "510" I always assume that it's a "fat batt" (i.e.-eGo, Riva, kGo, etc.) that someone is using, I keep forgetting that there are the <280mAh slims.

Yes, Boge SR 3.0ohm cartos will be apropo, and will still give you a better vape with your current batteries. I have a buddy who uses a "Green Smart Living" slim battery and this works fine for him without problems. If you try the LR cartos, I think they may even kill your battery because of the low resistance current draw.

A new Riva set (2 batteries) would cost you all of $30 in a kit, and you'll be able to try some of the more fun cartos out there. If you can spring a little more the kGo arguably rules all of the fat batt setups.

With regards to carto life, this varies wildly between juice used, vape habits, and maintenance. You always want to keep the carto moist, otherwise you can potentially burn the fill and that taste is there forever. For me, I just keep them topped off the moment I taste a slight change, and every 3 days or so, I blow them out into a napkin. You'll see that even with your clear juice, the juice that comes out is dark and syrupy. This is leftover flavoring and old juice, which will muck up the carto and shorten its life. This may feel like you're "wasting" juice but it's worth it to keep the flavor nice. Once it blows dry, refill with juice again. I get 2 weeks to a month out of my cartos just by keeping them moist and removing the old juice twice a week, and I chain vape like a mad man.

 

[hangwire]

Thanks folks! I've been looking online at carto's for the batteries i have, as well as the Riva batteries. Do all the carto's require a syringe to fill? That seems like a big pain to me. Though, arguably, perhaps not as big a pain as leaking everywhere.

 

[dormouse]

If you use cartridges, try blue foam stuffing instead. Precut blue foam stuffing for 510 can be found at strictlyejuice.com cheap (10 pieces for under $1). Search there for foam.

But most people use cartomizers for their favorite thinner juices. A slim battery can use standard resistance atomizers and cartomizers (about 2.5 to 3 ohms). The most popular are the Boge 3 ohm cartomizers. I use PG juices w/ 20% or less VG in them.

 

[Rickajho]

Hi

I'm a bit stubborn. And my philosophy about this is it's better to figure out/fix what problems you have with your existing hardware when you can, before moving on to something else - that has new parameters and potential problems that also need to be figured out.

Several things come to mind here.

Check your vaping style. If you are using manual batteries you may be turning on the battery too long before you start to draw, drying out the end of the polyfill in the process. There are several videos and links to videos on ecf about proper vaping technique. It's something to look into.

Polyfill does kinda suck. And it getting stuck on the atty occasionally wouldn't surprise me. But if it's happening a lot then something else is going on here.

You said "I've tried poking the white stuff down into the cartridge a bit with a paperclip, but it doesn't stay down once I start using it." Ok, it should - and should not - "stay down." The polyfill needs to be in contact with the atty bridge. If it didn't make contact the liquids wouldn't transfer and everything would be dry and nasty. Normally one would pull the polyfill up with your paperclip, so it's flush with the open end of the cartridge. Once you put the cart. in place the bridge of the atty will push it back down a bit. And after a few vapes you may even see an indentation in the polyfill from the atty bridge making contact with it. That's good and what you want to see. But if you are pushing the polyfill so far down into the cart that it's making no contact with the atty and juice is leaking out then you most likely found your reason for liquid leaking onto your hand and out the mouth piece. The polyfill is so smooshed that it's too compressed to hold the liquid in place. Pull the fill up and let the bridge of the atty push it back into the cart - no more than that.

Another possibility is you just got a bum fill. I have purchased many cartridges and some are filled much better than others. If you have a cartridge with a skimpy piece of filler in it nothing will fix that, short of replacing the filler with something that's sized better. If it's too small it would be a lot easier for it to pull out and be stuck onto the atty bridge. If it's too small it can also be the source of leaking.

If you want to stay with what you have before moving on to new stuff with other things to figure out, do a google search on ecf for the "blue foam mod" The foam material works so much better as a cart filler. Early on everybody said I should try cartos. I caved. Found them a mess to fill and not tasting as good as attys. Then I was told "buy more cartos instead of those cartos..." All I'm saying is you see where that can lead. I bought the blue foam instead and it fixed any issues I had about using carts with attys. Stays in place, doesn't shrink over time like polyfill, holds more liquid, requires less topping off and you can vape it practically dry without burning.

Rick

 

[hangwire]

Thanks so much everyone. I'm going to play with the polyfill a little but I'll probably try that blue foam stuff too.

Anyway, I really appreciate it. Thanks again!

 

[JD1]

I've just ordered some of these to try, based on some recommendations from others here at the ecf. I have a lot of problems with filler type cartos because of the way I vape. I tend to singe them too fast to get much use out of them. BreezEsmokes - Premium Electronic Cigarettes

 

[dormouse]

Where did you see good reviews for those? Aren't those the brief failure of tank cartridges for use on a normal atomizer? Good luck. What most people talk about here (love or hate) are the tank atomizers and their tank cartridges (special atomizers with a spike plate which poke a hole in another kind of tank). Many have problems with those too.

 

[JD1]

Cags and a few others use them. I missed trying them when they first came out because I was mostly dripping back then and using carts for out and about. A few months back, I decided to try cartos again and tried the ce2s, and started using those along with attys. I've also tried the duel coils and I like them fairly well also, but not as well as the topcoils. I popped my last good atty a few days ago, so all I have at the moment is the topcoils, but I've got some attys coming in and I decided to order some of those clear carts to try.

I seem to remember some negative reviews on the clear carts but as I remember, it was mostly because they only hold one ml and because they were not wicking thicker juices very well. The ones I ordered have two holes, which I think is a later design. I guess I'll find out soon how they work lol.

 

[hangwire]

I just wanted to followup, since another newb might find this through search.

Per a suggestion, I adjusted where the filler was sitting. I've realized that it was leaking because the fill was too far down into the cartridge, and wasn't holding the liquid on top of it. The filler had been sticking to the atomizer because I don't think I had filled the cartridge enough (or it had gone dry). I guess I expected to get more out of a cartridge than I was getting. So, I still think the white polyfill sucks, but I'm having far less problems now that I better understand whats going on.

Thanks again everyone, especially Rick!