First Cartomizer Experience - didn't go so well.

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I'm laughing because after getting my mini protank 2 about 2 weeks ago and mastering rebuilding microcoils and building heads for it, and getting better by the day with my IGO-S RDA I got a couple of days ago, I figured the BOGE 510 SR cartos would be "point and click". Nothing to do but fill 'em up and vape, right? Well...not so fast...

Of the various ways to fill a new carto, I decided to go with the old school way and drip it from the top. I plugged the airway hole by cutting off the spike in the rubber piece that the carto is shipped with (that is inserted into the battery connection thread). I decided to use a steeped batch of Dunhill 60/40 I recently bought. I took the white cap off, tilted the carto, put the tip of the juice container ont eh side of the carto, and proceeded to put a few drops in expecting them to roll down the side and into the fill material. Strangely, the juice would not roll down the side! (No, I don't do drugs and I was not drinking). Magic! The drops formed little pools on the inside just below the edge of the carto rather than drop into the fill material and get soaked up. Defying gravity, basically. lol. Not a problem - I took a syringe and pushed the pools down - but I thought I'd mention that to see if anyone knows why.

When the vaping posters all over the net say that it should take about 20 to 30 drops, they obviously aren't referring to the juice bottles my juice has come in. That particular juice comes in a needle nose-ish bottle top, so the drops must be smaller. So I just kept filling it until the juice was all soaked up, and then would fill it up some more. After three rounds, it looked good and "slushy" at the top, and I waited about 15 minutes before attempting my first vape. Two problems: First, it was the most god-awful burnt taste I have ever experienced in my few months of vaping. Second, the draw was so tight that I could hardly pull anything in. It didn't seem to be firing properly, but since it was my first time, I had no idea if it's supposed to sizzle like the other stuff I use to vape with. (ANswer: it is). Checked the ohms, the battery settings, looked inside to see if it was still wet. So I filled it some more, waited another 10 minutes, but juice started coming out. Tried again. Pretty much the same thing. Not even remotely vapeable. What are the odds of the very first carto order and the very first carto out of a five pack being bad? Something like that had happened to me when I ordered two packs of 5 coilheads from FT for my iclear16's. The very first one I tried - randomly selected from 10 - wouldn't work properly (it was shorting). The next one didn't work either. The other 8 were fine. lol. Anyway, I figured I'd put that carto aside and try my luck with another one, hoping that all five weren't duds.

Carto number two. This time, I decided to use the condom method. The priming went smoothly. Waited 15 minutes. Gave it a try. Not as horrible as the first carto, but not good either. The taste wasn't so much burnt as dry and flavorless, but the draw was impossibly tight. Checked the airhole - clear. Topped it up yet again. Waited. A little bit better, but still way too tight and not at all like I have read people describe the carto vape. Then I thought why not try my drip tip from the mini protank 2? Stuck it in. Vaped. Whoa! Hello! Finally. Pretty close to what I expected. I then tried the mpt2 mouthpiece on the first carto, but it still tasted burnt. Decided to put it aside to be opened a little bit later for inspection/curiosity. I believe what happened is that this juice (a somewhat dark tobacco) did not saturate the first carto (which I filled from the top) down to where the coil sits, and I burnt the innards. From that point on, I guess it's a lost cause.

But what I don't understand is why the rubber cap stock mouthpiece won't work (no draw) but the mpt2 mouthpiece works fine? I have an itaste vv battery. Could it be a bad fit (i.e. not enough air) w/ the Boge carto?

So now that I have a carto working, my first impression is that the flavor is very nice. Different from the other. I like the MC head w/ cotton on the mpt2 best. It's vaping wonderfully. Lots of vape and flavour. (Still trying to get the IGO-S to work as well as it should, so I can't fairly judge that one yet). The carto gives a different taste, and I can taste "notes" in the juice that aren't there in the mpt2 and the RDA (and definitely not in the iclear16! heh). The carto vapor production is a bit lacking, but not too bad. I don't want clouds. I do notice that the filler at the top seems to dry out pretty quickly. I'm topping off quite a lot for fear of burning something again inside. I wonder approximately how many drags you're supposed to get from one of these cartos before having to top it off?

All in all...pretty good! I bought the cartos because I want something light, small, unbreakable, and that won't leak...to stick in my back pocket when I go for walks. I'm going to buy a mini battery just for the cartos to make the combo as small as possible.

 

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Updates...

1) I opened up the original carto, and as suspected, I burnt the inner pad (diaper - or whatever it's called). Killed it on my very first carto vape. Live and learn. What I also found interesting is that even though I thought I had soaked that sucker throughout, upon inspection, even though the majority of the filler was soaked (because I unfortunately wasted juice by filling it up multiple times after it was already burnt) - there were a number of "dead spots" (places that were dry)! Very surprised to see that.

2) I found a post that spoke about adjusting the airflow in some cartos - and it works! There is an inner ring where the battery connection threads are that you can turn. To the left opens up the draw and vice-versa. Wonderful.

 

[Sally_]

http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...-5-baditudes-cartomizer-tank-setup-guide.html - Baditude's blogs are a wealth of info on carto/cartotanks, to the point where I just have his blog list bookmarked to save time.

There's a couple other ways I've used to prime my carto's with varied results. The best so far is to use a syringe to fill the carto essentially from the bottom up, it tends to saturate the filler around the coil better in my experience. Here's a video, I queued it up where he inserts the needle Syringe Carto Refill - YouTube

The other way, is best with a tank to pull liquid into the carto to make sure there's plenty of juice in the carto. Take the tank off your mod, place your finger over the bottom of carto, with your finger plugging the carto, take a couple primer puffs. When you take your finger off, you'll see the carto pull liquid in, releasing bubbles. I know you didn't mention using a tank, but thought I'd throw that in just in case. How to prime and fill a DCT (dual coil Cartomizer tank) - YouTube Personally I don't recommend this method to prime a new carto as it's kind of a pain, and results varied. Mostly to ensure the carto doesn't dry out as you vape.

Hope it helps.

 

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Thanks for the reply and advice, Sally.

I had read Baditude's blog just before I had bought my first kit (in doing my initial "research"). I'll go back and read some of the entries again. Yes, the syringe method seems very good. Makes sense. I'll try it as soon as I get a syringe (here in Canuckistan you can't even buy syringes at the drug stores. No, I'm not kidding).

I've tried a few different ways of doing the condom method too (mostly variations of what I've already seen). Going slow makes a lot of sense rather than flooding it (which is what most videos show). When you flood it (push down quickly), and the juice comes up and out of the airhole, while you'll certainly get the top soaked, the juice doesn't go through the entire wadding first. It comes up the sides against the tube and through the airhole (up and out). Reminds me of a whale exhaling through its blowhole. It does NOT soak all the way through the area as it makes its way up to the top. Too much pressure (too fast). But if you do it very slowly, you can see it seep through to the top wadding. Hope I explained that clearly?

I'm aware of the benefits of using carto tanks, and I might end up with one anyway (for home vaping), but the purpose of getting the cartos was to have a small and simple setup for when I go on my daily long walks or small trips. I will buy a smaller battery that goes well with the cartos now that I have an idea what the cartos are about. Good enough to stick in my back pocket. Something easy that I don't have to think about. Grab and go. I'd like to have a few different setups for the various situations I will want to vape in. I just don't trust my mini protank 2 or even the iclear16s to stick in my back pocket or jacket pocket and not break or leak. At home, where I spend most of my time, I will use the mpt2 or an RDA or something similar.

I bought a lanyard my first week of vaping because I had no idea what I was doing. lol. I guess some people like them. I hate it! No way would I put it around my neck, but even in my winter coat pocket, it's just too much of a pita for me. I suppose I could get a little bag or case of some sort, I see them on FT, but then I'd have to hold it.

One last thing. I'm finding that the cartos "dry up" quite quickly. I'm not concerned with how long they last till I have to toss 'em. But after being primed or refilled, I find that if I take 3 or 4 puffs, the top wadding is already looking dry. I've searched for how many puffs I should be getting before topping up, but haven't found solid answers. Can you give me a ballpark figure? I realize everyone vapes differently, etc., but what range of puffs is reasonable to expect before having to top up?

 

[Sally_]

That's a touch call, when I first tried vaping the big thing was replacing polyfill with the mesh of a Lipton pyramid tea bag. I never got the hang of using cartos on their own, either they'd dry out and burn or I'd over compensate and flood them, it wasn't long before I went back to smoking. As far as I know, as long as your filler along your coil is moist you're good, but it's normal for the top to dry out as you vape. I don't think it could hurt to add a few drops every so often to keep things on the up and up. I'll keep an eye out for any info that may help with that or fingers crossed someone who knows what they're talking about will come along and be of more help in that regard.

 

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when I first tried vaping the big thing was replacing polyfill with the mesh of a Lipton pyramid tea bag.

heheheh. Classic.

 

[RoseB]

Hello The diaper comment made me laugh I use cartomizers for the most part. Boge XL, and I also use 100% VG e liquid. The condom method seems to be the best way to fill those. It takes a while for them to wick up the e liquid. When I use this method I flood from the bottom up, and let it sit for a while. After the liquid is soaked up, I push the rest of the condom on. After the carto is fully sheathed with the last of the e liquid..I let it sit a while longer. Very few things on this planet taste as disgusting as a burnt carto. Sorry you had that experience.

 

[r77r7r]

Updates...

1) I opened up the original carto, and as suspected, I burnt the inner pad (diaper - or whatever it's called). Killed it on my very first carto vape. Live and learn. What I also found interesting is that even though I thought I had soaked that sucker throughout, upon inspection, even though the majority of the filler was soaked (because I unfortunately wasted juice by filling it up multiple times after it was already burnt) - there were a number of "dead spots" (places that were dry)! Very surprised to see that.

2) I found a post that spoke about adjusting the airflow in some cartos - and it works! There is an inner ring where the battery connection threads are that you can turn. To the left opens up the draw and vice-versa. Wonderful.

Can you post that? If you're talking about the post on the bottom,IIRC, it reads that it's no more than a slight turn, correct? Otherwise you risk ripping out the electricals.
I've done that on an old atty, but never needed to on a Boge.

 

[RoseB]

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Can you post that? If you're talking about the post on the bottom,IIRC, it reads that it's no more than a slight turn, correct? Otherwise you risk ripping out the electricals.
I've done that on an old atty, but never needed to on a Boge.

Is this in reference to the circular connection inside the threaded part? I've turned those before several times, when it seemed like I wasn't getting a good connection. Never had the guts spill out.

 

[r77r7r]

Is this in reference to the circular connection inside the threaded part? I've turned those before several times, when it seemed like I wasn't getting a good connection. Never had the guts spill out.

I only tried it on an atty. I guess I wrongly assumed that the same would happen on a carto.

I wasn't meaning to criticize the post, just didn't want people to be turning the posts on cartos all around and ruining them.

Did it improve the connection then for you? Does it help much with the airflow?

 

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Can you post that? If you're talking about the post on the bottom,IIRC, it reads that it's no more than a slight turn, correct? Otherwise you risk ripping out the electricals.
I've done that on an old atty, but never needed to on a Boge.

Yes, that's what I was referring to. Just turn it a little bit! A quarter turn clockwise or counter-clockwise. I don't know, but it seems unlikely that it is intentionally there for airflow purposes. It is connected to the wire/coil. Don't want to be twisting it too much. I probably won't do it again on my next carto. Better to leave it, I think. As I discovered after, the mouthpiece makes a big difference. Better to control airflow that way. And by how you take your drag (gentle/steady).

Like most of my new vaping experiences so far, it started of not-so-great, but once I got familiar with it after a few days of use, things improved greatly. Even though I had read a lot of posts on cartos beforehand, and thought I knew what I was doing, I still burnt my very first carto on my very first vape off of it! lol. Dumb. Maybe it was a so-called "bad carto"? I don't know. I put a lot of juice in it and waited, but in hindsight, I think I was not patient enough (especially with a tobacco juice). I was so used to the speed of absorption of the clearos, the mpt2 stock heads, and especially my cotton build heads - that my frame of reference was way off for a carto. So while 15 or 20 minutes seemed like a long time to wait (dripping from the top), as I have seen since then, it really isn't.

Check out this article. Look at the pictures. Very interesting.
http://www.totallywicked-eliquid.com/blog/769/the-importance-of-priming-your-cartomizer-and-why-things-go-wrong/

PATIENCE! I see now. Fill 'em up and put 'em away for awhile. You can't just fill it and vape when they are new. Plan ahead. Two nights ago, I topped it off w/ a good amount of juice and left it overnight. The next day, it vaped beautifully. I seem to have hit a sweet spot now. Also, I'm using lower wattage. Surprisingly getting quite a bit of vapour (gentle, steady, long drags) and plenty of flavour. Nice.

If you use the condom method, after letting it sit awhile...flip it over to the other side. Let gravity move the juice back through the filler material. Those so-called condoms produce quite a vacuum - which can be both an advantage and a disadvantage depending on what you are trying to do.

I think the syringe method will prove to be best. You should be able to more precisely control the location and quantity of the juice when priming. The condom method floods certain parts too much, and from that point forward it's hard to keep the airway clear, you get dripping out the battery connection hole (depending on the viscosity of the juice). It isn't a balanced and even saturation. e.g. I look through the airhole, it's blocked, so I puff or blow out the juice gently until it's clear. A few seconds later, the juice seeps into the airway and it is blocked again. Even after a bunch of puffs the same thing keeps happening. There's just too much juice there (even though the top section is dry and you'd think the bottom section would be thinning out).

I'm getting the hang of it. There are people who have used hundreds and thousands of them. I'm only on my first one! lol. But I'm a quick study. . I am definitely going to try some other types of cartos. Overall, for the reason I got them (vaping outside the home), they are going to be just fine.

 

[r77r7r]

"so I puff or blow out the juice gently until it's clear. "

That's probably where the drops on your battery post are coming from. I blow out cartos like the Big Bad Wolf, lol.