Ding, ding, ding.... round 3 of stupid newbie questions! :)

[Wintering]

Ha... that title sounds like a David Letterman bit!

Since I'm having so much fun with my healthy new hobbie, I have a few more "File this in the stupidest questions ever asked" folder.

1) How often to you clean your cartos? I've been refilling the same juice in the same (color coordinated carto, of course) but am curious if I need to clean them every so often? I haven't noticed a burnt taste ..... but the batting just looks a little discolored. (light in color - all PG)

2) After watching SnowDragon's videos (thank you!) I have tried the 'condom' method and 'syringe' method for refilling. (I have some old syringes from when my dog - the one in my avi - was diabetic) But I notice the batting inside my blank cartos is almost glued to the sides. Is that normal? Is it okay to inject directly into the batting, instead of scraping the needle along the side?

3) Drip Tips - LUV 'EM! (gotta stock up, since we're having a sale!) May I ask what you do with the removed white tips? Do you save them for another purpose?

4) And finally .... (you're welcome!) a silly / but just curious question ... when using your Manual Batt's - are you a finger or thumb presser?

 

[Darrigaaz]

1) How often to you clean your cartos? I've been refilling the same juice in the same (color coordinated carto, of course) but am curious if I need to clean them every so often? I haven't noticed a burnt taste ..... but the batting just looks a little discolored. (light in color - all PG)

If refilling with the same juice, I only clean my cartos when they either get hard to pull, or start to have a "dirty sock" taste when still mostly full. When using darker juices, the "dirty sock" taste manifests itself a lot earlier on.

2) After watching SnowDragon's videos (thank you!) I have tried the 'condom' method and 'syringe' method for refilling. (I have some old syringes from when my dog - the one in my avi - was diabetic) But I notice the batting inside my blank cartos is almost glued to the sides. Is that normal? Is it okay to inject directly into the batting, instead of scraping the needle along the side?

I haven't noticed that my v4l cartos have any sort of adhesive along the sides of them, but admittedly, it's been a while since I've syringe filled. I've gotten lazy and just have taken to topping off. Injecting directly into the batting is fine, but keep in mind that there's a much bigger margin of error when it comes to messing up the batting.

3) Drip Tips - LUV 'EM! (gotta stock up, since we're having a sale!) May I ask what you do with the removed white tips? Do you save them for another purpose?

I put them into a little bucket for no real reason other than I'm just a packrat. I haven't really found a good use for them since switching to drip tips.

4) And finally .... (you're welcome!) a silly / but just curious question ... when using your Manual Batt's - are you a finger or thumb presser?

Thumb pusher. Tried the finger pushing when I first went to manual, but I felt like I was sticking my pinky out like I was having a cup of tea with some english people. The thumb push is a much more manly position, imho.

See my answers above in red.

By the way, your questions are not stupid in any way, and pretty soon you won't be able to label them as newbie questions.

 

[SnowDragon]

Darri is pretty spot-on-target about the only thing I could add that I used to keep to the white rubber mouth inserts for a few of the older hard caps I had lying around. But I finally just tossed those deeming them unworthy of refilling. A little discoloration especially around the wick tube is no big deal, however it does indicate that you are getting a lot of resin on the atomizer.

One trick for lighter juices is if you take that carto, put it on a papertowel (no condom) and place a single drop down the wick tube, if you see a dark brown fluid drain out the battery hole with some small black flecks in it, it's a sign that you should be thinking about cleaning to restore the carto to peak performance.

 

[FantWriter]

Cleaning cartos when you're not changing flavors is about reducing the build-up on the coil. Some flavors create a thick layer quickly, other flavors leave little. Soaking/washing/boiling/etc. can only remove part of it. Eventually, the crust on the coil will become so thick no method of cleaning will budge it.

You can get the maximum life out of a carto by cleaning it before every refill. You get the least out of it if you only clean when you notice a problem, but you'll have saved yourself a lot of time, hassle, and mess along the way.

It's all a balancing act where you weigh how much your time is worth, how quickly your favorite juice kills a carto, and how much new cartos cost.

There's no one right answer for everyone.

Sorry I can't help you with the other questions, but I don't use those methods to fill, I don't drip, and I can't use a manual.

 

[Wintering]

Thank you! I sure hope I won't be a noob to much longer. Maybe after I've been doing this for a few months.... or, I get to 100 posts! (which ever comes first!)

I just thought of one more question for all you V4L pros. Since I'm only able to use 100% PG, when I purchase my next batch of blank / empty carto's .... should I stick with the Premium Cool Carts, or would the WOW Vaper King Carts give me a little more oomph? (I find with the all PG, I'm not getting much of a vape on the exhale) Do you think the WOW's would help, or are they mainly for juices with VG?

Wintering

 

[Macks]

Thank you! I sure hope I won't be a noob to much longer. Maybe after I've been doing this for a few months.... or, I get to 100 posts! (which ever comes first!)

I just thought of one more question for all you V4L pros. Since I'm only able to use 100% PG, when I purchase my next batch of blank / empty carto's .... should I stick with the Premium Cool Carts, or would the WOW Vaper King Carts give me a little more oomph? (I find with the all PG, I'm not getting much of a vape on the exhale) Do you think the WOW's would help, or are they mainly for juices with VG?

Wintering

You can try the WOW cartos with PG juice, some people like them better. It's just personal preference.

From my understanding you will never get as much vapor with 100% PG juice as with juice that is at least part VG; the VG is primarily what produces the vapor.

 

[typocinnamongrl]

I guess Im an odd one but I never ever clean my carto's. They never vaped right after trying various methods and I just ended up wasting juice trying to prolong their life. I drip as much as I can when Im at home (Im a variety vaper lol) That way my carto's last quite a long time because they arent constantly in use

It depends on what kind of carto you're using... but I dont mess with syringes... I just drip down the sides around 20-30 drops right onto the batting and Im good to go.... no muss no fuss.

WHOOOO DRIP TIPS!!!! Only way to use a carto IMHO. I throw the soft caps away

Thumb and finger.... just depends... more with my finger i guess.

I guess I should also note that I use a 510 and I just realized this is a V4L thread LOL de da de...

 

[SnowDragon]

I'd have to agree with Macks, Wow Cartos are Low Resistance which produces much warmer vapor and seems to serve some flavors well especially on 3.7v battery. If you have never tried them I would recommend giving them a shot just to see if you like them. Some say they produce more vapor than a Cool Carto, but I find the increase of vapor production to be slight at best.

That being said I have some 100% VG that is similar in vapor production to a fog machine.

 

[EleanorR]

Wintering, excellent questions, and excellent answers. (And you are neither stoopid nor a newbie!)

"Extreme" vapor production is highly reliant on VG content, which I know is verboten to you. The Wow blanks run warmer than the CoolCarts, however, and so while they probably will not actually increase vapor production, they will produce a warmer vapor, which may seem more voluminous (or at least more satisfying).

Try it and let us know what you think!

EDIT: Cross-posted with SnowDragon! GMTA!

 

[SnowDragon]

Holy Vapes El.....what kind of advice is that?

 

[been there]

And might I add that the only stupid question is the one you dint ask and finger but I make sure I don't lift my pinkie.

 

[EleanorR]

Holy Vapes El.....what kind of advice is that?

Umm . . . semi-educated guess? Besides, I'm a cat, how'm I supposed to have all the answers? (I know, I know, cats just look like we have all the answers . . . )

And might I add that the only stupid question is the one you dint ask and finger but I make sure I don't lift my pinkie.

I, OTOH, always extend my pinkie finger. (Thumb pusher here). It's the lady-like way!

 

[been there]

I might have to start using my thumb just to be on the safe side.

 

[kittypie]

Umm . . . semi-educated guess? Besides, I'm a cat, how'm I supposed to have all the answers? (I know, I know, cats just look like we have all the answers . . . )

Ooooh, make no mistake, cats *do* have all the answers.

 

[incantius]

Ooooh, make no mistake, cats *do* have all the answers.

unfortunately they don't know the questions

 

[AG51]

unfortunately they don't know the questions

 

[lujin4]

unfortunately they don't know the questions

Yeah but some don't know how to ask the question.

 

[incantius]

please phrase your answer in the form of a question...(that always killed me...sounds like a circular reference but hey it's jeopardy right?)

 

[Lisa66]

1) never; I toss them. I'm lazy. Plus they seem to last so long, and when I consider how much I spent on a pack of analogs, it's a minor deal.

2) I don't use either method - I just drip and "thermometer" shake. Works fine for me, although sometimes I wonder if I'll get carpal tunnel syndrome from it!

3) +1!!!!!!!!!! I have quite a collection of drip tips.

4) Thumb, always. I get better leverage.

 

[Wintering]

I just drip and "thermometer" shake. Works fine for me, although sometimes I wonder if I'll get carpal tunnel syndrome from it!.

Hi Lisa, thank you so much for mentioning the "thermometer" shake! That's exactly what I'm doing, and it seems to work fine. Yay, I'm glad I'm not the only one.