I'm just past the one month mark smoke-free and loving it. I'm fully into the "vaping routine" and the other day, while trying once again to wrestle with a bad tasting 510 atomizer, it occurred to me...
Have I missed incorporating something important into my routine?
Since cartridge filler is cheap, and it's become very quick and easy for me to re-stuff my carts, I keep about 6 or 8 carts stuffed but not filled with e-liquid in my vaping box.
When I'm finished using a cartridge, I pull out and discard the used filler material and throw the empty cart into one of the compartments in my box. I grab a new one, fill it and go. I'll keep refilling a cartridge for a day or so most of the time. Sometimes more, sometimes less depending on if it's a "perfect cart", wicking well, etc.
When I refill carts, I grab the empty ones and just re-stuff them.
I was having a "hard draw" problem with my atomizer and ran a mental check-list of what, beside the atty itself might cause it.
I pulled an empty (previously used) cartridge from my box and examined it.
I was shocked at what I discovered.
Upon examination with a bright light and magnifying glass, at the bottom of the cartridge I saw a layer of "white stuff". ??? I stuck my trusty opened paper clip in and scraped at it thinking it was probably bits or particles of filler material left behind.
I started looking inside the other cartridges. Same thing. What is it? It really started me thinking...
I have extensive medical laboratory and healthcare training and experience and I'm usually very aware and careful. It's rote and knee-jerk to me. I wash my hands, I sanitize my kitchen and bathrooms... I treat my home the way I do the workplace. Why didn't this occur to me sooner?
The inside of my cartridge is a potential petri dish, a breeding ground for all kinds of microbes. Could the white-ish coating I saw at the bottom of the cartridge be colonies of various bacteria? Perhaps some strain of mold? I was so grossed out and a little ashamed of myself for not taking any of this into consideration from the start!
I put the tips of those cartridges in my mouth, pacify myself by holding it between my teeth a lot, inhale frequently from it... my tongue touches it, I exhale a bit into it if I "puff" quickly on it... I am transferring my saliva and the normal microbial flora to the cartridges. There are many bacterial strains that are aerobic (require oxygen) which could easily thrive inside a cartridge.
I grabbed all of my cartridges (and the silicon caps) and threw them into a Listerine bath. I swished, shook, and swirled them often to make sure the antiseptic liquid would penetrate and reach all the inside surfaces and left them soaking for about an hour.
After soaking them all in the mouthwash, I rinsed them thoroughly in very hot water, put them in a wire-mesh strainer, covered the strainer with a clean towel (so they wouldn't fly out) and dried them with my blow-drier.
I examined them again under a bright light and magnifying glass. The white film was gone.
I had washed some carts out occasionally in the beginning - I just didn't incorporate cartridge cleaning into my routine.
After re-stuffing the now disinfected and clean cartridges, I noticed better air flow. Had the questionable white-stuff been impeding air flow and contributing to the "hard draw" issue? Perhaps, but it really doesn't matter. What matters now to me is that I keep my cartridges clean and disinfected.
I should have swabbed one and cultured it. Or, maybe I really don't want to know what might have been growing inside it
This has probably been brought up here before, I just didn't see it...
So... Food for thought
Has anyone else thought about this? Do you clean your cartridges on a regular basis? If so, what's your method?
Remie
Have I missed incorporating something important into my routine?
Since cartridge filler is cheap, and it's become very quick and easy for me to re-stuff my carts, I keep about 6 or 8 carts stuffed but not filled with e-liquid in my vaping box.
When I'm finished using a cartridge, I pull out and discard the used filler material and throw the empty cart into one of the compartments in my box. I grab a new one, fill it and go. I'll keep refilling a cartridge for a day or so most of the time. Sometimes more, sometimes less depending on if it's a "perfect cart", wicking well, etc.
When I refill carts, I grab the empty ones and just re-stuff them.
I was having a "hard draw" problem with my atomizer and ran a mental check-list of what, beside the atty itself might cause it.
I pulled an empty (previously used) cartridge from my box and examined it.
I was shocked at what I discovered.
Upon examination with a bright light and magnifying glass, at the bottom of the cartridge I saw a layer of "white stuff". ??? I stuck my trusty opened paper clip in and scraped at it thinking it was probably bits or particles of filler material left behind.
I started looking inside the other cartridges. Same thing. What is it? It really started me thinking...
I have extensive medical laboratory and healthcare training and experience and I'm usually very aware and careful. It's rote and knee-jerk to me. I wash my hands, I sanitize my kitchen and bathrooms... I treat my home the way I do the workplace. Why didn't this occur to me sooner?
The inside of my cartridge is a potential petri dish, a breeding ground for all kinds of microbes. Could the white-ish coating I saw at the bottom of the cartridge be colonies of various bacteria? Perhaps some strain of mold? I was so grossed out and a little ashamed of myself for not taking any of this into consideration from the start!
I put the tips of those cartridges in my mouth, pacify myself by holding it between my teeth a lot, inhale frequently from it... my tongue touches it, I exhale a bit into it if I "puff" quickly on it... I am transferring my saliva and the normal microbial flora to the cartridges. There are many bacterial strains that are aerobic (require oxygen) which could easily thrive inside a cartridge.
I grabbed all of my cartridges (and the silicon caps) and threw them into a Listerine bath. I swished, shook, and swirled them often to make sure the antiseptic liquid would penetrate and reach all the inside surfaces and left them soaking for about an hour.
After soaking them all in the mouthwash, I rinsed them thoroughly in very hot water, put them in a wire-mesh strainer, covered the strainer with a clean towel (so they wouldn't fly out) and dried them with my blow-drier.
I examined them again under a bright light and magnifying glass. The white film was gone.
I had washed some carts out occasionally in the beginning - I just didn't incorporate cartridge cleaning into my routine.
After re-stuffing the now disinfected and clean cartridges, I noticed better air flow. Had the questionable white-stuff been impeding air flow and contributing to the "hard draw" issue? Perhaps, but it really doesn't matter. What matters now to me is that I keep my cartridges clean and disinfected.
I should have swabbed one and cultured it. Or, maybe I really don't want to know what might have been growing inside it
This has probably been brought up here before, I just didn't see it...
So... Food for thought
Has anyone else thought about this? Do you clean your cartridges on a regular basis? If so, what's your method?
Remie
