Has anyone REALLY gotten a cartomizer clean and free of bad tastes?

[sandybeach]

Just wondering. I've tried all the various methods of cleaning cartomizers. I bought a cleaning kit, used vodka, steaming hot distilled water, etc., and nothing seems to get out the taste of the juice that was in it previously. Even with relatively new cartos. With old cartos, if they were clogged before, they stay clogged after cleaning. If they tasted burnt before, they taste burnt after cleaning.

I'm starting to think that cartomizers really can't be cleaned. The only thing I have not tried is vinegar. Maybe that will work to get the old juice taste out?

What have your results been with cleaning cartos?

 

[dwfogleman]

odd, i use water fresh from the kettle and use a modified 20oz soda bottle the gravity feed the water through, i do this 2-3 times or until the water is clear in the collection bucket. i started because i couldn't get the taste of chocolate mint out of one of my cartos.

 

[tj99959]

In a word, NO. Regardless of what you do, they simply will never be a new carto ever again.

 

[Cool_Breeze]

Mine seem to do fine when cleaned with a turkey baster, a short piece of tubing and pure grain alcohol. I use a fair amount of pressure on the bulb. I reuse the PGA up to a point where it takes on a bit of coloring. Usually I squirt 3 basters full of PGA through each cartomizer and then pump air through the cartos many times to help begin the drying process.

 

[mostlyclassics]

With old cartos, if they were clogged before, they stay clogged after cleaning. If they tasted burnt before, they taste burnt after cleaning.

These statements are absolutely true. The key to successfully cleaning cartos is to clean them well before they go "off."

I've been successful cleaning cartos to a schedule. I've found that if I clean a carto after 8-10 ml. of e-liquid goes through it, the carto will perform almost as-new, and I can clean it at least twice. I vape clear, mostly-PG e-liquids, so you'll have to modify this schedule accordingly. I've also found that a carto lives much longer if it's used on a bottom-feeder PV, presumably because the filler and coil are kept constantly and evenly moist.

If you wait until the carto is clogged and/or burnt, all you can do is pitch it -- it's toast.

 

[Nomoreash]

I've had little to no success cleaning filler type cartos. I just use those till they are unvapeable and toss em. With fillerless cartos, CE2 I clean them to new every time, I tend to stick with those.

 

[echofinder]

I have had success with boiling. Some notes:

-Some flavors can be boiled out effectively (milder flavors: shade, toasted tobacco, rose, vanilla)
-stronger flavors, especially intense fruits, florals, & robust tobaccos will leave lingering notes
-BUT I have refilled these tainted cartos & the lingering flavor will dissipate after a refill or 2
-Minor clogging can be removed with boiling - may take 2-3 rounds.
-I have reduced heavier clogging, but never been able to reverse it entirely with boiling water
-if the carto is used enough after clogging begins, the res will become very thick & hard, & is impossible to get out
-best to do light cleanings more frequently
-The juice will affect cleaning effectiveness: thick, dark juices are harder to clean out; some cannot be removed effectively
-Burning poly is irreversible, & the burnt nasty taste will linger forever, no matter what.

Hope this helps.

 

[dankie]

No. I toss them in the recycle bin after 3 days if I havnt dropped and broken it before hand.

 

[Secti0n31]

I've been able to clean cartos by flushing em with hot tap water. As the people here have said, it depends on how long you've used the carto, and with what flavors.

What I'd like to know is how long you folks let them dry after cleaning, and if ya have any methods of getting water out of the poly. It seems like more often than not, even after several days I'll refil and it'll seem watery. More so after boiling than after a rinse.

 

[BWG707]

I believe cartos can not be cleaned throughly. I'll use a carto until I start to get that stale taste (not burnt) then toss it. I've tried many different ways to clean them and what I found is that right after a cleaning they will taste OK for about 1/2 a day then that stale taste comes back. I've finally accepted this so I'll just use a carto until it tastes bad then I'll toss it.

 

[Aloysius]

CE2's: disassemble, rinse, dry burn, rinse again, reassemble - usually works once, sometimes two or three times.
Filler cartos: toss when unuseable (they're cheap anyhow).

 

[sandybeach]

I never really boiled them, but with the SmokTech Carto Cleaner Kit, there is a syringe with a tube, and I have forced boiling water through them a bunch of times. I would think that's the same as boiling?

They end up looking snow white, but tasting awful. It does get the water out when you push it out a bunch of times, and the vodka does help it dry faster. Heheh, my daughter wondered why I was going through so much vodka

But as you guys said, the bad taste might go away for awhile, but it comes back in a couple of hours. I guess disposable really means disposable.

Has anyone tried vinegar?

Maybe I should invent a cleanable cartomizer. It would save us all a lot of money.

 

[Meggers]

I haven't used cartos in a couple of years. But when I did...I never cleaned them. I tried to have one for each flavor I enjoyed. But clean? Hell...I don't even ever blow out my atty or clean it.

 

[retird]

Strickly use cartomizers, and use one till taste falls off, toss, and fill a new, clean one.........usually 4 to 5 days use out of a new one....cleaning one is too much of a pain, with little to gain, at least for me....

 

[mikeinbc]

I don't think cleaning a fiber carto is the healthiest thing to do. Not worth the pain or possible problems. Carefully remove the carto from the PV and throw it in the trash.

 

[donnah]

I used to try to clean my cartos, then I started concentrating on finding juice that would last a week in a carto. I now diy my juice and can get at least a week out of a single carto. I usually only use one carto at a time. With them lasting at least a week, I figured they've been well worth the money so I now toss them. I tried flushing and boiling and some would be OK and others would not. I got tired of filling a cleaned carto with juice and then wasting that juice because the carto tasted bad. For me, it's cheaper to just toss it after a week.

 

[Cool_Breeze]

...I now diy my juice and can get at least a week out of a single carto. I usually only use one carto at a time. With them lasting at least a week,...

Can you share with us what type(s) of cartos you use?

 

[donnah]

Can you share with us what type(s) of cartos you use?

I usually use the smoktech 1.7ohm (resurrector) carto. It is very easy to punch, comes in SS (no peeling stickers for tanks) and it can be used in the long tanks (dual coil tanks) I do sometimes use Boge but they are so short and I have to use them in the short tanks and it seems I'm constantly refilling the tanks plus the smoktech's wick much better than the boge. (IMO)

The big difference is the juice! Some vendors juices (for some reason) clog up a carto and turn the flavor stale after just a day or two. I know these things are cheap and meant to be disposable but throwing away a carto every day gets expensive. I now make my own juice. I use very little flavoring and enjoy it very much. I have a caramel cappuccino mix that I ran in a single smoktech 1.7 carto for 5 weeks.. the flavor never got stale, the draw never tightened, it never clogged. I enjoyed the vape right up until the last day when it just started petering out.

I use the caramel capp in a single carto that I keep lying here at my desk. I don't put it in a tank. Right now it's in a smoktech clear, dual coil 1.5ohm carto. The filler is still pretty white and I've been using it on and off for weeks.

I like to get my money's worth out of something but I've found cleaning cartos was for me, expensive and time consuming. I used to love a certain vendor's juice but it would get stale in a carto after one day. I now just use that juice sparingly as a "flavor" for my juice.

 

[ambition]

I clean my cartos about once a fortnight. Some have maybe 15ml of liquid through them between cleans.

I shove them up
Inside the tap and flush lukewarm water through them and pop them into a pot of boiling water for about 20 mins.

I let them cool and blow as much water as I can out of them and then dry them in the oven for no more than an hour at about 130 C (or 45 mins at 150 C) and then turn the oven off and let them stay in there as the oven cools.

I might lose one here or there but they last me so long the labels are wearing off but they're still going strong.
I find vertical coils a little more forgiving than horizontal coil cartos.

 

[kenetix]

Yeah I just cleaned a boge 2.0 ohm carto today that I had been using in a crystal clear DIY menthol liquid in a tank I make and it has been used for 2 weeks now and taste brand new.....