Easy way to fill cartos too good to be true?
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*grin* Let me see. In the just-about-two-months that I've been vaping, I've gone from a cheap Chinese convenience-store type ecig to a Joye 510 mini, then to an ego-T, buying more attys & such for the ego-T, then to buying tankomizers for said ego-T, to picking up Riva batteries to experiment with, and most recently to buying a variable-voltage tube mod (which hasn't gotten here yet). I've got my eye on an inexpensive ($30ish) box mod, too. I figure in component parts, I've probably laid out about, uh... $300, rough figures, not counting juice (juice expenditures are in their own category, because I started trying a little of this, a little of that, and now have a nice collection of samples and no clue how much I've spent on 'em).
But I'm also not smoking analogs anymore, which - after 25 years of doing that, roughly - is a major thing to me, and worth the money I've spent. Patches didn't work, the gum tasted like... well, we won't go there... but this worked. And unlike my brother-in-law, I am not experimenting with the really weird stuff like hypnotists. (I keep telling him he needs to stop going to quacks and try the ecig again, but he's convinced they're all like the convenience store models. Sigh.)
I figure that once I've gotten my VV, and possibly that box mod, I'll stop buying PVs for a bit and just pick up the essentials I need to keep going. I've got enough juice samples right now to hold me for some months as it is.
Friends don't let friends condom fill cartos. Actually by the time you clean up the mess and wasted juice, it's quicker to drip it in.
Hi & Welcome to ECF! First, here's a better video (IMO): A Great Way To Fill Cartomizers - YouTube I would add to this, I do this more slowly than he does & watch the inside of the carto. As the juice comes up the center, sort of roll it around to let it absorb into the filler. Once the filler is saturated I like to let it sit upright for a few minutes, then remove the condom, wipe off any excess with a tissue or paper towel, then blow thru it from the mouth end into the paper towel to get any excess out of the tube, wipe threads again & you should be good to go.
As to carto life, don't think "refill", think "top-off" and they'll live a lot longer. I don't know what brand or setup you're using but I like the Boge cartos very well and they last very well. I rotate several with different flavors so I'm guessing here, but I'd say probably a couple of weeks' use at least from one if I used it exclusively & kept it topped off. *Your Vapeage May Vary*
What kind of PV / cartos are you using, if I may ask? Anyway, best of luck & Happy Vaping!
Yo what up my Friend Warren. Yup I saw this video about a month ago and started doing my cartos this way and it transformed my filling experience. I would add one thing to it. If you can let the condom stay on the carto for an hour, or even a day is better. Here is why. First, it is just good to let the juice soak into the polly fill. But, more important I found something happens when the atty is "flooded" with a ton of juice just sitting there on it. The juice acts like a natural cleaner and actually begins to loosen up a lot of the gunk that has built up on the atty from use. So, when you take the condom off and blow through the mouth end - out the threaded end - dark gunky liquid will come out. Which is the stuff that has built up on the atty and been disolved from all the juice soaking it overnight. Thus, the carto has a "newer" taste to it and actually lasts longer. I have been getting double to triple the life out of my cartos by just doing this last "soak" step.
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I guess I've tried about all the ways I've heard of (so far) with plain ol' filler-stuffed cartos, and they all have advantages & disadvantages. The only disadvantage I can think of with drip-filling like that is time. It is *so much* neater than any other way I've tried, and with a fairly thin (80PG/20VG) juice I'd probably still do it sometime. But lately I've been mixing thicker, heavier-on-the-VG juice and it would probably take forever for that stuff to gravitate down to the atty in a Resurrector XL carto. Besides, I've gotten to the age I've begun to realize, even if I'm getting low on paper towels I might be getting even lower on time. So I'll just go ahead & make a mess, & Lord willing my time & paper towels will hold out long enough to clean it up.
Happy Vaping!
I'll have to check out the Nomad tapes. By "number of topics", are they all over the place, sort of like the T.E.D. Lectures? Some of those blow me away.
Far out... thanks for the tip! I'll definitely have to play with this. Up until now I've only used the condom method to fill new or newly-cleaned cartos, & just topped off from there. I'll mix some especially clear juice for this & try it next time I have a carto in need. Come to think of it, might just go ahead & mix the juice tonight if I can decide what I want, & fill one. I just tried a cleaning trick on all my used cartos with denture cleaning fizzy tablets (unflavored, of course), then rinsing, boiling & drying. Using the first of them now & so far, so good. Picked those denture tablets up fairly cheap from Walmart (their 'equate' brand) so if they work out that'll be pretty cool.
Sorry Warren, just looked them up (they used to be in the stickies) and evidently Cassie (MistressNomad) requested the videos be pulled as she was moving onto to other things. You may be able to find some lingering around somewhere- perhaps on YouTube. By various topics, she had one on 510 types, carts, cartos, dripping, beginning DIY, vaping for broke vapers, etc. There were about 6 or 7 think- none very long, but each was short, fun and to-the-point.
The condom method need not be messy. Once you get the hang of eyeballing how much juice to put in the condom, you can fill 'er up in one go and end up with a small bubble on the battery end and a dry condom. I always stuck the mouth end in the condom and ended up with virtually no waste. I used that method exclusively when I started. I never thought of leaving used ones to soak, though. That sounds like a good idea.
To clean them, first I soak 24hrs in 91% alcohol, then rinse well under hot water. Then several hours in hot water with the denture tablet in an ultrasonic jewelry cleaner. About an hour of that is with the machine on, the rest off. Then a couple 15 minute boils and rinses to get the denture cleaner taste out. (theres no such thing as "unflavored" denture cleaner. I use the "smokers" type). Then lay them out either on a cookie sheet in a small oven at 150 degrees, or in a strainer sitting on top of an air purifier fan, depending on how quick I want them. If you soak them one last time in alcohol, it will displace any water and they'll dry faster.
The thought of $8/pack cigarettes makes me shudder. The last time I bought pre-made analogs, they were just hitting $4.50 and that was the straw that broke this camels back. I started stuffing my own tubes. I got the price down to just over $1 a pack with very high quality tobacco. Then they added $25/lb tax!! My 'baccy went' from $14 to over $40 a pound. Enough already!! I was smoking 2-3 packs a day for the best part of 35 years. The savings in my sig. is based on $4/pack I think. I've probably saved closer to $9 or $10,000 in the last couple years.
To clean them, first I soak 24hrs in 91% alcohol, then rinse well under hot water. Then several hours in hot water with the denture tablet in an ultrasonic jewelry cleaner. About an hour of that is with the machine on, the rest off. Then a couple 15 minute boils and rinses to get the denture cleaner taste out. (theres no such thing as "unflavored" denture cleaner. I use the "smokers" type). Then lay them out either on a cookie sheet in a small oven at 150 degrees, or in a strainer sitting on top of an air purifier fan, depending on how quick I want them. If you soak them one last time in alcohol, it will displace any water and they'll dry faster.
The thought of $8/pack cigarettes makes me shudder. The last time I bought pre-made analogs, they were just hitting $4.50 and that was the straw that broke this camels back. I started stuffing my own tubes. I got the price down to just over $1 a pack with very high quality tobacco. Then they added $25/lb tax!! My 'baccy went' from $14 to over $40 a pound. Enough already!! I was smoking 2-3 packs a day for the best part of 35 years. The savings in my sig. is based on $4/pack I think. I've probably saved closer to $9 or $10,000 in the last couple years.
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I don't understand this. Did you use some juice you hadn't tried? Did you leave your filled cartos on the dashboard? I prefill cartos all the time, sometimes a week in advance. It doesn't affect the taste at all. I don't understand.
Oh well, thanks for your effort Bradder... maybe I can find 'em on Youtube. There are lots of good vaping vids on there, mixed in (unfortunately) with loads of garbage to sell garbage. Oh well, that's the Intertubes for ya.
I wouldn't mind the mess of condom filling cartos if that mess wasn't made of delicious juice. I don't like wasting juice. It is an easy process though. I'd rather drip thin liquids or use a syringe for thick liquids, but to each their own.
Sailorman sounds like you've got this carto-cleaning thing down right! Just wondering, for alcohol are you using grain or high-test rubbing alcohol or something else entirely? As to the flavoring of the denture cleaner I could only presume it to be unflavored; it's the one that didn't say "fresh minty taste!" or some such. I have no sense of smell so didn't smell it when it was bubbling my cartos and I guess I got them rinsed out enough so there was no tongue-flavor left in them. I love the idea of using an ultrasonic jewelry cleaner for these things... got that on my list.
Lately I've been using a syringe more often, partly because I usually have at least one right here handy with an 18ga. 1.5" needle on it. I don't worry much about wasting juice since I've been mixing my own, both because it's cheap to make & because I waste very little of it. The syringe fill really is fast & efficient for the (roughly) 50PG/50VG stuff I'm mostly mixing these days. But yeah, whatever works best for the individual... almost exactly like in real life, ain't it?
Sailorman sounds like you've got this carto-cleaning thing down right! Just wondering, for alcohol are you using grain or high-test rubbing alcohol or something else entirely? As to the flavoring of the denture cleaner I could only presume it to be unflavored; it's the one that didn't say "fresh minty taste!" or some such. I have no sense of smell so didn't smell it when it was bubbling my cartos and I guess I got them rinsed out enough so there was no tongue-flavor left in them. I love the idea of using an ultrasonic jewelry cleaner for these things... got that on my list.
Sorry, I should have clarified, but it was late. For the first soak, I use 91% Isopropyl only because it's cheaper and easier to get around here than Everclear. Everclear might even be illegal anymore. I haven't seen it since my "stupid drinking" days. For the last soak, to displace the water, I usually use some cheap hi alcohol vodka, only because it might be safer. I dont know if that's really the case though. Isoporopyl evaporates incredibly fast and doesn't leave any residue, AFAIK.
I've never found anything but "Relatively" unflavored denture cleaner. So I just use the "smoker" variety, on the presumption that it's stronger. It gets pretty thoroughly neutralized during subsequent boiling. If it doesn't, the cartos are not clean enough to reuse anyhow.
I wouldn't even bother with the alcohol part, or the swab part for that matter.
I would just use a tissue or a napkin or my shirt.
I like the condom method works perfect when you get the hang of it. Its the first time in my life i actually like condoms, thats why i have 3 kids!!!!
well as a newbie im very hesitant to start refilling my cartos, hell i just realized i was smoking cartomizers not cartridges today. anyway i wanted to know if this method would work. it involves filling the condom with your juice and slowly pressing the carto down until the juice pokes through the other side. Seeing as nicotine is poison could this method be problematic?
Refill Ecig Cartos Quick and Easy (CCFM) - YouTube
video demonstrating this method
I do it the easiest way possible, I drip right into the threaded end. Voila, done. Gives me a nicely filled carto everytime. I used to do it the way you are in your vid, but found it was messier and dripping into the threaded end for me is just quicker.
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