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OK, so you've got your new e-cig and everything is great, except... refilling all of those cartridges is such a pain! You vape so often, the regular poly-fill can't keep up with you. Besides, every time you look at that cotton-y looking stuff, it feels like a hair is in the back of your throat (ack, thhp!) You've tried some of the cartridge mods, but nothing seems to work for you. You don't like fiddling around with stuff like that, anyway. It's like having a part-time job that doesn't pay anything!
Here's ONE answer to your problem: Direct Dripping. Direct Dripping, or just "dripping", is when you drip juice directly onto the bridge of your atomizer, instead of relying on the cartridge filler to "wick" the juice to the atomizer.
(Notice the difference between the words "dripping" and "dipping". Dipping is a separate, but related topic that I touch on briefly at the end of this guide.)
SEALED BATTERY:
First, make sure your PV has a "sealed battery". That means there is no hole in the end that the atomizer screws onto.
[ Image blatantly stolen from DDBV while he so graciously wasn't looking ]
Note that we're talking about the battery here, not the atomizer.
Liquid can leak into an unsealed battery through that hole, and ruin the battery. Dripping with an UNsealed battery is NOT recommended. However, many people have successfully used these unsealed batteries for dripping without ever ruining one. They manage it because they don't flood their atomizers. If you try this and ruin one of your battery, don't blame me. Here is a post wherein anim8or discusses how he does it.
No hole? Great! Let's continue:
Take one of your cartridges and remove the filler. That's the stuff that looks like cotton. Throw that mess in the trash. You won't be needing it anymore.
Now, open a bottle of your favorite juice, and drip a couple of drops onto the bridge of the atomizer. That's the thing inside that looks like an arch covered in very fine steel mesh (It's actually nickle foam). If it's dry, you will need to prime it with 3 or 4 drops. Afterwards, it will take 2 or 3 drops, depending on the atty. Start with 2, and adjust from there.
Replace your empty cartridge, and vape (if you have an 801 style cartridge, pop the white reservoir off, you don't need it). You'll get several good vapes before you have to drip again. That's all there is to the basic process of dripping!
Now, let's get into the details:
FLOODING:
If you hear a pronounced gurgling sound while vaping, and you're not getting much vapor, then the atty is flooded. There is a small heating element in the bottom of the atty, underneath the bridge. If it's drowning in liquid, it can't get hot enough to make vapor. Remove the atty, and blow the excess liquid into a paper towel. You should blow into the large hole, and the liquid will come out of the small hole on the threaded end. Keep blowing until very little liquid comes out. Wipe it clean, and don't forget the threads. Replace the atty, and try again. You may actually need another drop of liquid at this point, but try it first.
BURNT TASTE:
If it starts to taste burnt, the atty is too dry. It needs more juice, so give it another drop or two. You can avoid this foul burnt taste most of the time by paying attention, and learning how your atty behaves. Try to remember what it vaped like just before it started to taste burnt. Likely, there was a lot of vapor, but very little taste or "throat hit". Next time it vapes that way, give it one or two drops before it runs dry.
CARTRIDGE MOD for DRIPPING:
This is unnecessary, but will save you a lot of aggravation from removing/replacing the mouthpiece each time you want to drip. A lot of people just "tailpipe", or suck directly on the atomizer. The 801 style is more suitable for tailpiping, because it is longer and doesn't get as hot where your lips touch. This mod doesn't work on "whistle tip" style cartridges. Because the tip is so narrow, it's hard to drip through.
1) Remove filler.
2) Shave a mm or so off the atomizer end, so no worries about melting.
3) Remove the inserts from the mouth end. These are the two small plastic disks with holes in them, and they are in the end you place in your mouth. You can lever them out with tweezers, a bent wire, or you can screw a sheet metal screw into the hole and pop them out.
4) Cut or drill out the bottom of the reservoir (you can hold the cartridge with pliers to keep from cutting yourself). The reservoir is the part that held the juice and the filler. Make sure to get all the little plastic pieces, or shavings cleaned out. What you wind up with is a (mostly) empty tube without anything to obstruct the juice drops from falling directly onto the bridge. If you look through it from one end, it will look something like this, depending on the style of cart:
It needs to be cleaned every now and then, but that's the only time it needs to be removed.
CARTOMIZERS:
You can drip with a carto as easily as you can drip with an atomizer! Perhaps more so, since you can go longer between drips, and just "top off" with 4 or 5 drops every now and then. You can leave the end-caps off, and be sure to drip at an angle so the liquid doesn't drop into the hole in the center of the cartomizer.
The thin metal that cartomizers are made of heats up very quickly, and can get uncomfortably warm on your lips. You can cut a large hole in the bottom of one of the rubber end-caps (or "condoms") that the cartos come packaged in, and put it on the end to protect your lips from the heat. If you find that liquid gets in your mouth, or the vapor is too warm, you can take the rubber grip off of an ink pen and use that as a mouthpiece. The extra distance should solve (the majority of) both problems.
Later, if you decide you like a 3-piece PV better, don't throw those used cartos away! They are a great back-up system for the day you burn out the very last atomizer in the house.
ATOMIZER MOD
If you have problems with carts that don't fit your 901 very snugly (they are probably 510 carts), just get something like these Kobalt 8" long-nosed pliers from Lowe's:
Put the very end, just a mm or so, of the cart end of your 901 atomizer into that circular void by the cutting blades. Squeeze very gently until you see the tiniest bit of flex in the metal. You're not trying to make a visible change to the atomizer, here, just flex the metal a bit.
Now give the atty a 1/4 turn or so, and do it again.
Test.
After doing this, my carts fit almost too tightly, but that's perfect for dripping. There should be no visible sign that you have done anything to the atty.
T-Tip
Alternately, you can buy one of these machined brass T-Tips, designed to for dripping, from Super T Manufacturing.
There are also various other devices, like the grip portion of certain ink pens, that can be put over an atty and function as a mouthpiece.
Also, I have one of [these] on order from JC. I think they will make dripping even handier, since you won't have to mess around with screwing and unscrewing a bottle cap. Just whip this puppy out of your pocket, squeeze a drop into your atty, and vape! That's my theory, anyway. I'll edit this post after they are delivered if they don't work.
Dipping:
Dipping is a similar concept to dripping, except you get the juice onto the atomizer by dipping the bridge of the atomizer into a container of liquid. Contact lense cases are popular containers for dipping.
Of course, this will only work with the type of atomizer that has an "exposed bridge".
I've never dipped, so this information is necessarily brief. If anyone has additional information they would like to insert into this article, please PM me or leave a reply at this thread http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/new-members-forum/66349-noob-guide-direct-dripping.html.
Thanks,
-quasi
OK, so you've got your new e-cig and everything is great, except... refilling all of those cartridges is such a pain! You vape so often, the regular poly-fill can't keep up with you. Besides, every time you look at that cotton-y looking stuff, it feels like a hair is in the back of your throat (ack, thhp!) You've tried some of the cartridge mods, but nothing seems to work for you. You don't like fiddling around with stuff like that, anyway. It's like having a part-time job that doesn't pay anything!
Here's ONE answer to your problem: Direct Dripping. Direct Dripping, or just "dripping", is when you drip juice directly onto the bridge of your atomizer, instead of relying on the cartridge filler to "wick" the juice to the atomizer.
(Notice the difference between the words "dripping" and "dipping". Dipping is a separate, but related topic that I touch on briefly at the end of this guide.)
SEALED BATTERY:
First, make sure your PV has a "sealed battery". That means there is no hole in the end that the atomizer screws onto.
[ Image blatantly stolen from DDBV while he so graciously wasn't looking ]
Note that we're talking about the battery here, not the atomizer.
Liquid can leak into an unsealed battery through that hole, and ruin the battery. Dripping with an UNsealed battery is NOT recommended. However, many people have successfully used these unsealed batteries for dripping without ever ruining one. They manage it because they don't flood their atomizers. If you try this and ruin one of your battery, don't blame me. Here is a post wherein anim8or discusses how he does it.
No hole? Great! Let's continue:
Take one of your cartridges and remove the filler. That's the stuff that looks like cotton. Throw that mess in the trash. You won't be needing it anymore.
Now, open a bottle of your favorite juice, and drip a couple of drops onto the bridge of the atomizer. That's the thing inside that looks like an arch covered in very fine steel mesh (It's actually nickle foam). If it's dry, you will need to prime it with 3 or 4 drops. Afterwards, it will take 2 or 3 drops, depending on the atty. Start with 2, and adjust from there.
Replace your empty cartridge, and vape (if you have an 801 style cartridge, pop the white reservoir off, you don't need it). You'll get several good vapes before you have to drip again. That's all there is to the basic process of dripping!
Now, let's get into the details:
FLOODING:
If you hear a pronounced gurgling sound while vaping, and you're not getting much vapor, then the atty is flooded. There is a small heating element in the bottom of the atty, underneath the bridge. If it's drowning in liquid, it can't get hot enough to make vapor. Remove the atty, and blow the excess liquid into a paper towel. You should blow into the large hole, and the liquid will come out of the small hole on the threaded end. Keep blowing until very little liquid comes out. Wipe it clean, and don't forget the threads. Replace the atty, and try again. You may actually need another drop of liquid at this point, but try it first.
BURNT TASTE:
If it starts to taste burnt, the atty is too dry. It needs more juice, so give it another drop or two. You can avoid this foul burnt taste most of the time by paying attention, and learning how your atty behaves. Try to remember what it vaped like just before it started to taste burnt. Likely, there was a lot of vapor, but very little taste or "throat hit". Next time it vapes that way, give it one or two drops before it runs dry.
CARTRIDGE MOD for DRIPPING:
This is unnecessary, but will save you a lot of aggravation from removing/replacing the mouthpiece each time you want to drip. A lot of people just "tailpipe", or suck directly on the atomizer. The 801 style is more suitable for tailpiping, because it is longer and doesn't get as hot where your lips touch. This mod doesn't work on "whistle tip" style cartridges. Because the tip is so narrow, it's hard to drip through.
1) Remove filler.
2) Shave a mm or so off the atomizer end, so no worries about melting.
3) Remove the inserts from the mouth end. These are the two small plastic disks with holes in them, and they are in the end you place in your mouth. You can lever them out with tweezers, a bent wire, or you can screw a sheet metal screw into the hole and pop them out.
4) Cut or drill out the bottom of the reservoir (you can hold the cartridge with pliers to keep from cutting yourself). The reservoir is the part that held the juice and the filler. Make sure to get all the little plastic pieces, or shavings cleaned out. What you wind up with is a (mostly) empty tube without anything to obstruct the juice drops from falling directly onto the bridge. If you look through it from one end, it will look something like this, depending on the style of cart:
It needs to be cleaned every now and then, but that's the only time it needs to be removed.
CARTOMIZERS:
You can drip with a carto as easily as you can drip with an atomizer! Perhaps more so, since you can go longer between drips, and just "top off" with 4 or 5 drops every now and then. You can leave the end-caps off, and be sure to drip at an angle so the liquid doesn't drop into the hole in the center of the cartomizer.
The thin metal that cartomizers are made of heats up very quickly, and can get uncomfortably warm on your lips. You can cut a large hole in the bottom of one of the rubber end-caps (or "condoms") that the cartos come packaged in, and put it on the end to protect your lips from the heat. If you find that liquid gets in your mouth, or the vapor is too warm, you can take the rubber grip off of an ink pen and use that as a mouthpiece. The extra distance should solve (the majority of) both problems.
Later, if you decide you like a 3-piece PV better, don't throw those used cartos away! They are a great back-up system for the day you burn out the very last atomizer in the house.
ATOMIZER MOD
If you have problems with carts that don't fit your 901 very snugly (they are probably 510 carts), just get something like these Kobalt 8" long-nosed pliers from Lowe's:
Put the very end, just a mm or so, of the cart end of your 901 atomizer into that circular void by the cutting blades. Squeeze very gently until you see the tiniest bit of flex in the metal. You're not trying to make a visible change to the atomizer, here, just flex the metal a bit.
Now give the atty a 1/4 turn or so, and do it again.
Test.
After doing this, my carts fit almost too tightly, but that's perfect for dripping. There should be no visible sign that you have done anything to the atty.
T-Tip
Alternately, you can buy one of these machined brass T-Tips, designed to for dripping, from Super T Manufacturing.
There are also various other devices, like the grip portion of certain ink pens, that can be put over an atty and function as a mouthpiece.
Also, I have one of [these] on order from JC. I think they will make dripping even handier, since you won't have to mess around with screwing and unscrewing a bottle cap. Just whip this puppy out of your pocket, squeeze a drop into your atty, and vape! That's my theory, anyway. I'll edit this post after they are delivered if they don't work.
Dipping:
Dipping is a similar concept to dripping, except you get the juice onto the atomizer by dipping the bridge of the atomizer into a container of liquid. Contact lense cases are popular containers for dipping.
Of course, this will only work with the type of atomizer that has an "exposed bridge".
I've never dipped, so this information is necessarily brief. If anyone has additional information they would like to insert into this article, please PM me or leave a reply at this thread http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/new-members-forum/66349-noob-guide-direct-dripping.html.
Thanks,
-quasi
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