First time filling my own cartos

[Astemus]

Hi, newb here with another question.

I just got my first supply of e-juice to fill my own (the pre-filled were bad bad bad to me). I have not recieved the blank cartos I ordered from litecigusa yet, so I emptied a pre filled cartridge that came with my starter kit and used some blue foam for a quick and dirty fill up of one of the new flavors. Well, I couldn't get around the burn taste from the atty/cart combo (probably my fault since I just stuffed a bit of blue foam in the cart without a straw to support it), so I decided to try rinsing out one of the pre-filled cartos I had.

So last night I cleaned them out with cold and hot water till I was satisfied (just a wiff test, I wasn't expecting spotless). I put them in a bag of uncooked rice as I've seen suggested overnight. This morning I filled them carefully with some of the new fluid I got. I filled them till I had a drip out the bottom, then I let them sit for a few minutes and put 2-3 more drops in to be sure they were full.

Well, I took a drag and while I can taste the vapor, i'm not really getting much at all out of it. I had to take like 10 drags to even feel the nicotine, and I never saw any vapor when i exhaled. Basically I'm only getting a slight whiff of vapor per drag.

I am wondering if maybe the carto didn't dry out completely, or maybe I am filling it wrong? I am just confused, because I am excited to try these new flavors and my mouth is salivating at the small taste I already got.

BTW I ordered the sample set from DIYflavorshack. I am really happy so far with them, just want to figure this thing out.

 

[Astemus]

Oh, a couple more observations.

I had them in the sealed bag of uncooked rice for ~8 hours.

When I activate the e-cig, I get a bit more hiss than normal and the vapor is slightly warm and moist tasting. This is what led me to think it might have still had water in it.

 

[jayhawk]

I'm sure this has been said a thousand times but my best advice is to get a good drip tip and start vaping ! I always had problems filling carts , even if you do it right they are a pain and they never last that long without some fancy set up. Have you tried blank cartomizers ? They really have been the longest lasting hassle free cart I have found and I have spent and looked hard for the answer .Maybe try the mega carts from janty or totally wicked if you are gonna stay with carts good luck. Sorry I just realized you were talking about cartomizers sounds like they are still a little wet or overfilled.

 

[BiancaMontgomery]

It does indeed sound like they just hadn't had enough time to completely dry out. I use cartomizers all the time, but I don't ever wash them out...I just refill until they stop working or the taste goes off. I've read other posts about people washing them out and letting them sit in rice for up to two days to dry. I hope one of them will come along and help you out.

 

[ChuckB]

Yes, they do sound wet. I rinse mine in hot water and dry them in a warm oven for a couple of hours. Be sure to never run them dry and burn them and they should last a pretty good time, I've had some that have lasted a couple of weeks and I've heard of a lot of people that use them a lot longer, but if they start tasting a little off or the filler is discolored I pitch them.

 

[Buzzy]

My guess would also be that the carto wasn't completely dry, meaning that you were trying to vape water mostly, or at best a water/eliquid mix. That wouldn't give you much vape, flavor or th.
I have read of people putting a washed carto in the oven on a low temp for a while to accelerate drying. I haven't tried it myself, but I don't see why it would not work. Just use a relatively low temp.

 

[Astemus]

I wanted to bump this as I recieved my blank cartos over the weekend and spent the weekend trying out all the different flavors using fresh new cartos.

I ended up with about 8 samples from DIYflavorshack, half of them were very light colored (clear except for some were slightly tinged with color), and the other half were very dark colored (blackish dark brown or purple depending on the flavor). I decided to try 2 of the dark ones first, grape and root beer.

I filled them up and I experienced the same issues I had before. Very low to no vapor and hardly any taste (i had to exhale out my nose to even tell i had inhaled anything). I moved to cherry and cotton candy which were clear, and amazing flavor and vapor the first time. I filled them both the same way, so I am really confused.

So I filled one carto with each flavor, 8 in total, and tried them all. All the dark colored were very weak and all the clear were very strong. I am kind of disappointed because all the dark colored ones were the ones I was looking forward to the most. They all hiss alot more, and pop when activated. I get splatter inside the carto (i remove the plastic cap and spatters are all over it). I think that I am getting splatters in my mouth as well via the small hole.

What is confusing is I ordered them all the same, so why are some flavors crazy like this? Should I contact the vendor to see if there is something I am missing here?

 

[markfm]

Are these the cartos you had cleaned? If so, when you're done rinsing them, blow into them before they go in with the rice; you want to clear out the major part of the water, so that the bag of rice is just "dehumidifying", not the bulk drying.

Check the next day, try blowing into them again -- if water drops are coming out the battery end they aren't dry yet; you may need to change the rice, too.

 

[Astemus]

I am experiencing the same issue I had with the blank brand new cartos I recieved in the mail over the weekend. I am thinking I will probably throw out the old ones I tried to clean as I can't get the smell out.

However, for the moment I'm trying to nail this crazy dark flavor stuff out. I have some time to consider the fate of those cleaned out cartos later

 

[Astemus]

I should say that I am using blank cartos I purchased from litecigusa. I am assuming that they are all identical in the batch i received. The vapor from a flavor like cherry for instance (my favorite so far that I can taste) is so significant that I have coughed from it like I took a huge drag from a cigarette.

 

[friskyweasel]

hi Astemus - just a thought here...as far as your dark liquids go, i think if it were me, i might try ditching the cartomizers entirely (at least temporarily)....grab a standard cart that uses that "poly fill" stuff, and if your e-cig supports it, try out the little cartridge mod that HighPing has posted here:

http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/cartridge-mods/79418-highping-cart-mod-simple-gets.html

The concept is so simple, but I've tried it with my Joye 510, and so far it's very effective...basically it consists of cutting away about 1/2 of your polyfill insert, and just putting a small little "plug" of polyfill material in the tip....the rest of your cart is filled with pure juice

it sounds to me like your clear liquids are less "thick" and therefore, even if your carto's are still wet with water, the clear liquids blend with the water better....maybe the thicker dark liquids just won't do it....but with this mod there is very little poly fill material (or, "liquid flow preventive" material, if you you will) involved, so pretty much anything should soak into it

fair warning...this method might require some tweaking...if you get leakage, you'll need to insert a bigger puff of poly fill, making for a tighter fit....if you're experiencing drying out issues (burnt taste, etc..), then you'll need to use less polyfill in the tip for better liquid flow....but once i found the sweet spot it was on! Even if you're not using a 510, the concept is pretty simple, and I would tend to think it should work with just about any PV.

best of luck!