I've tried a dozen different atty cleaning methods with varying success. I've recently made a concious decision not to worry about it and just stick with pre-emptive cleaning by the occasional overnight soak in water. Otherwise I make sure I'm stocked up with new gear ready to go.
Why? The cost/benefit doesnt pay off. In addition, I dont want to add to the unknown health effects. I've smelt some very funny smells coming from my atomisers when dry burning. Probably harmless but I dont want to take that risk.
I justify my ecig purchases by thinking of them as a 'nonsmoking' tax. Even if I had to purchase a $10 atty every week (in reality its about 1 per month) I'd be WAY ahead of what I'm spending on cigarettes. A pack of cigarettes in Australia costs about $15 now. As a (former) pack a day smoker its false economics to spend time and effort reviving attys which will gradually decline in performance no matter what I do. Not to mention the fact that by using sub-par attys I'm more likely to fall back to smoking dirty analogs. I've had two major lapse periods and both were due to being stuck without a decent ecig setup. Never again.
I keep all my used attys just in case some super easy and reliable cleaning method comes around. I understand that for some people a $10 atty is a significant purchase. I also understand that people like to get the most of any product they paid for and I salute those who manage to keep their atty running at 100% by whatever method.
In any case, I urge everyone to please consider the potential cost of not having a top quality, fully functional ecig at all times. For me, the cost of regularly purchasing ecig equipment and trying new juices is INSIGNIFICANT compared to the cost of lapsing back into smoking, both to my health and my wallet.
Interestingly, what has paid off is investing in some higher voltage vaping gear. I'm not too shabby with a soldering iron and made a desktop mod out of a power supply module and some spare parts. Atty starting to wear a bit thin on the ego? No probs, jack the volts up a bit and it will vape at excellent levels for a bit longer. Got a bunch of standard resistance attys sitting around that you've never used because the LR attys are so much better? Apply a few more volts and they'll vape just like a LR, if not better. I also save money on batteries with this mod as they only get used when I leave the house.
