Finding out how long (dripping with a) new cart lasts (PT)

[Belletrist]

yesterday in jebey29's killing-a-cart thread, i posted this...

i actually have not managed to 'kill' a cart by vaping unless it dried out. i used one cart on my PT for the past 4-5 days (wish i'd kept track better, might have been longer) with topping off. last night it just got gunky, thick gummy juice in it, and needs to be washed, but i'm quite sure it's not 'dead.' maybe tomorrow i'll throw a blank on the PT and track how many days it takes. :hmm:

i work at home, freelancing, and have gotten into the habit of using the PT/ condom mod/topping off rather than rotating carts. for those who are unfamiliar, here's my whole process:

condom mod:
cut a cart-condom in halfish, leaving a 'lid' and a 'sleeve'

cookie-cut a hole in the top of lid with a metal retractable pen

pop plastic cap off & remove O ring from a cart

slide condom 'sleeve' down over cart

put lid on top on dripping end

screw cart onto manual PT

whenever flavor drops even a tad (or just when i take a break) top off with a few drops of whatever flavs i'm mixing. to my surprise, the first time i did this without rotating carts, the cart lasted 5-6ish days. didn't die at the end, just needs washing. the cart i started with wasn't a new cart, it'd been washed a few times.

so, since V4L sent me some blanks as a freebie, today i got one, filled it with my current mix, & screwed it on my PT. i'll be using it while working/at home for however long it lasts. i'll post (briefly) in here each day with any observations, and will make a note when it needs a wash. i'll wash it that evening, let it dry overnight, and start it again the next day.

i shoulda filled the cart with a syringe and let it sit overnight like i usually do. but i was lazy last night, and then this morning it was freakin' COLD. so i grabbed laptop and juice and curled back up in bed and filled it by dripping, and overfilled. anyhow.

 

[Darrigaaz]

condom mod:
cut a cart-condom in halfish, leaving a 'lid' and a 'sleeve' <-- Huh?

cookie-cut a hole in the top of lid with a metal retractable pen <-- understand

pop plastic cap off & remove O ring from a cart <-- understand

slide condom 'sleeve' down over cart <-- same as below?

put lid on top on dripping end <-- same as above?

screw cart onto manual PT <-- hard to vape without

I don't understand why you are cutting a condom in halfish, or maybe I just don't get what you mean by doing this. I haven't tried the condom drip method, so maybe there's something I'm missing in this.

I kinda figured just remove plastic cap & o-ring, put condom with hole on, and voila!

I'm just looking for clarification, not judging your method.

 

[Belletrist]

oh, it doesn't really change the functionality much. i just cut it so that i can pop the lid off with one hand.

 

[Darrigaaz]

Oh I see, it's just to make it easier to take the end off without having to take the whole condom off.. Now why didn't I think of that?


____
l . . l <--- easy to pull off part?
l . . l <--- cut here on condom?
l . . l <--- stays on permantly to prevent burned lips?
l . . l <--- stays on permantly to prevent burned lips?


I'm a visual person, so is that basically the reasoning behind it?

 

[Belletrist]

yup, exactly.

 

[Tenebrae]

ooo that is a much better condom mod.

Happy Friday and thanks for the tip.

 

[Belletrist]

screw cart onto manual PT <-- hard to vape without

darrigaaz, i just noticed your lil commentary there. smartass.

tenny, yeah, i'm just THAT lazy.

& probably some can do w/out leaving the 'sleeve' on, but with the li'ler lid, and me chain vaping on the PT, the cart does get awful warm, and i have a tendency to jump and end up with condom-lid-in-mouth instead of on-cart.

 

[kdcaines]

I have been using this method for quite a while. Monday through Friday while at work, this method is all I use. At night and weekends I tend to grab the new carts and use those. When they are empty I put them in a zip-lock baggie and just take them as I need them for the dripping method.
Anyway......I do have a point to this post lol!
My concern is that these carts last so long, and I have so many empties just sitting in that plastic bag waiting for some attention. I'm afraid that the empties will dry out to the point of no return. Some have probably been there for months at this point. So far I haven't had a problem with any of them. But I have heard some people say they can dry out and the juice will harden to the point where they can't be cleaned.
If this is the case should I clean them all out first before I throw them in the bag for storing?
Any thoughts??

 

[Adrenalynn]

I doubt that "synthetic wool" is going to "dry out beyond return" in any reasonable lifetime. I've seen real wool that would still soak up water that is several hundred years old. There's no reason to suspect the synthetics have any shorter life span.

The coil in the cartomizer may oxidize, though. The faster it dries out the less oxidation you should see. The lifespan should be substantially longer than yours on a new unwetted cart.

 

[Darrigaaz]

I think Kdcaines is asking more along the lines of whether the leftover juice in a leftover cart could dry to the point of being unable to remove, thus making less room for the new juice, or clog it in a way that you'd have to replace the filler completely.

I myself am wondering this as well, since I don't immediately wash out my old carts, but leave them in a bucket until I want to refill one.

 

[kdcaines]

I doubt that "synthetic wool" is going to "dry out beyond return" in any reasonable lifetime. I've seen real wool that would still soak up water that is several hundred years old. There's no reason to suspect the synthetics have any shorter life span.

The coil in the cartomizer may oxidize, though. The faster it dries out the less oxidation you should see. The lifespan should be substantially longer than yours on a new unwetted cart.

Thanks Adrenalynn.
I know that I read a post where someone said they had to throw used carts away because he/she had stored them too long, and the juice hardened to much to be washed out. I wouldn't think this could happen even if you stored them with no condoms?
It all seems to be working for me so far, so if it aint broke don't fix it I guess.

 

[kdcaines]

I think Kdcaines is asking more along the lines of whether the leftover juice in a leftover cart could dry to the point of being unable to remove, thus making less room for the new juice, or clog it in a way that you'd have to replace the filler completely.

I myself am wondering this as well, since I don't immediately wash out my old carts, but leave them in a bucket until I want to refill one.

Yes, exactly!

 

[Adrenalynn]

I guess it depends how you washed it. α-propylene glycol is a solvent itself, and is fully miscible in water. So a α-propylene glycol and water solution would certainly wash the PG out regardless of time, as long as it was left to soak and dissolve.

The flavoring compounds, on the other hand, are, I suspect, oil-based. It should take a long while for the oil to evaporate leaving only the essentials behind. That said, since PG is a solvent, if left to soak it should dissolve those solids back into solution. Warming a little and agitating should probably help. I'd probably use an immersion circulator, but I'm a freak. I'm also not a chemist. I did ok in organic chem, but barely managed to preserve my 4.0 through a couple years of inorganic chem...

 

[Darrigaaz]

darrigaaz, i just noticed your lil commentary there. smartass.

Who? Me? Never!

 

[Belletrist]

an immersion circulator would probably be a lot more efficient than my method of holding carts submerged in near-boiling water and then using a syringe to draw the water through the filler, eh?

 

[Adrenalynn]

Yeah, I've got an old surplus Haake with a bath and 1500wt heater. It's not one of the fancy new digital style ones, but man it works great. I bought it when a college was remodeling their physical sciences labs, bought it at one of their warehouse sales for a song. It'd been abused when I got it, but I refurbed it and it is one sweet piece of 1960's tech...

 

[Belletrist]

i probably won't be invited to any university lab garage sales anytime soon, and it's a damn shame, *she says after looking up "immersion circulator" prices online*...hmm, i could use it for hot water bath canning right? if i can think up a few more applications maybe i can justify buying one.

 

[Darrigaaz]

Well, it's the next day... Where's the update?

 

[Belletrist]

oh, yeah, smarty? the next update is... it's nearly 3 AM, no developments. just topping off and vaping as per usual.

 

[Adrenalynn]

I've seen some of the commercial-grade units, like you'd use for sous vide or such, go pretty cheaply at used restaurant supply places...