Horrible taste... 3 new cartos in a row.

[CloudZ]

My first thread, in need of some help.

I am really new to vaping and I got a pack of 5 Boge SR cartos along with some vaping Prime eliquid from litecigusa. I filled the first one out of the pack about a week ago and it was great. Plenty of vapor and good flavor. I topped it off throughout the week until yesterday when it started pulling hard and I made a newbie mistake by trying to "unclog" it with a toothpick. Needless to say, it got destroyed. So I proceeded to filling another one, using the same exact method I did before (dripping and thermometer shaking). I was instantly greeted with a horrible taste when I tried to use it for the first time, even though I was getting plenty of vapor which I assume means the filler material is thoroughly saturated.

The only way I can describe the taste is like the way the steam from a sauna smells. After letting it rest for a while and dripping a little more in, the taste remains. Just terrible. The next 2 out of the pack are doing the exact same thing and I am disappointed that I may have wasted 3 full cartos worth of liquid. I even tried the spinning method to make sure everything was thoroughly saturated on the third one.

I've been scouring the web and this forum to figure out what is going on, but I seriously have no idea. I see that some vapers are of the opinion that cartos need to rest for a long time before use, but there are plenty of videos out there showing one being used immediately after drip filling, even without using the spin. Some of these people are getting 2-3 "dry hits" until full vapor production, and I'm getting good vapor immediately even though the taste is horrible.


tl;dr: What causes a weird "sauna steam" taste from a newly filled carto even though I'm pretty sure the filler material is saturated and the eliquid is good?

 

[ErroR19]

I too have run into the strange flavor on some Boge cartos. Apparently there was a bad batch out there.

 

[nanovapr]

CloudZ, it sounds like you are getting a good initial fill, which often causes an early carto death. I have heard about "boge-gate", but I use them, and haven't had any problems yet.

You mention topping it off throughout the week? It depends on how much you vape, but I keep a carto topped up several times a day. I know they are cheap, but once you get a couple of dry hits, you have pretty much burned it, and it won't ever be as good.

If you use sweet or dark juices, they can physically gum up the air hole and make it hard to draw. Try using a small straightened paperclip. You are reaching up inside a hollow coil of wire, be sure to keep it straight and be gentle.

 

[CloudZ]

CloudZ, it sounds like you are getting a good initial fill, which often causes an early carto death. I have heard about "boge-gate", but I use them, and haven't had any problems yet.

You mention topping it off throughout the week? It depends on how much you vape, but I keep a carto topped up several times a day. I know they are cheap, but once you get a couple of dry hits, you have pretty much burned it, and it won't ever be as good.

If you use sweet or dark juices, they can physically gum up the air hole and make it hard to draw. Try using a small straightened paperclip. You are reaching up inside a hollow coil of wire, be sure to keep it straight and be gentle.

I imagine I am a pretty light vaper, but I never let it get to the point where flavor/vapor volume drops off (topped off many times). I think the juice is pretty dark and that's probably why it clogged up (possibly overfilling also).

How does a good initial fill lead to an early death? Is there a better way?

 

[Taniger1]

If it makes ya feel any better there Cloudz, I"ve never heard of a good initial fill leading to an early death either! Um, I ahve to wonder if your not filling them correctly to start with, or your not topping them off at appropriate intervals. You say they went bad. Where they good on the FIRST vape? Or where they just BAD from go? Just cause you got white stuff, does NOT mean it was vapor, might very well have burnt the filling enough to make it smoke. Yes I HAVE seen that.

If bad from go, you probably did NOT get a good initial fill. Filling a carto and REALLY saturating it can take up to half an hour. I personally, will do a bottom condom method, and drip into the top. I"ll leave it for a few minutes and drip again into the top. I'll CONTINUE doing this drip and leave it for a few minutes up to 8 or 10 times, waiting until the time I go back and the top still looks "slushy". THEN I will take a vape and drip a few MORE in. REMEMBER to gently BLOW from the mouth side to get the excess juice out of the center of the carto.

Give that a try Cloud and see if that helps.

One other thing, what tasted good to you in the first WEEK of vapeing, may taste like .... the next. Your taste buds are going to go balistic on ya. Some days you wont' be able to taste SQUAT. It's your body readjusting to life without all the chemicals.

 

[ShamanMist]

that is no good ;/ - sorry to hear that.

 

[TheIceNinjaProjects]

It's been a while since I really used traditional cartomizers however when I did I found it was beneficial to also saturate it from the thread side. Just put a few drops right on that air hole and they'll absorb in and it makes sure that area is saturated as well. Just make sure you blow it out though or you'll likely get a mouth full of liquid. Always let them rest to be safe, especially with cheap ones because they seem to take longer to settle. The downside to cartomizers though is if they run dry you'll end up burning the polyester fiber around the coils and that taste just doesn't go away. Hence my transition. Good luck to you!

 

[minimalsaint]

Funny to read this- I just used my last Boge carto out of a pack of 5 that had this very same taste when I first filled them. By the 2nd top-off, the taste started to hit normal, though the cartos themselves didn't hold out as long as usual (around a week or 8 days for me) and it never really tasted "right".
It's like there is something in the filler that needs to be washed out, almost like the primer taste on a new atomizer. Opened a new pack today and the first carto tasted clean with the first fill.
As these things are produced in large quantities, I'm sure there are many variations in quality with the polyfill, etc.
In the end, a pack of 5 costs me less than a pack of cigs, and I can only expect so much for prices like that.
That said- I have been looking into and recently purchased some clearomizers, a mini vivi nova, and some other various atties, none of which involve polyfill, so I'm anxious to receive my vapemail so I can see what the fuss is all about.

 

[CloudZ]

That said- I have been looking into and recently purchased some clearomizers, a mini vivi nova, and some other various atties, none of which involve polyfill, so I'm anxious to receive my vapemail so I can see what the fuss is all about.

I recently got a Vision Nano clearo in the mail, so my carto problem has been annoying but not tragic . Definitely a cleaner/fuller flavor and tons of vapor.

And to answer the previous inquiries, yes, they literally taste bad from the first puff.

 

[nanovapr]

Sorry, I was not clear. I meant that the initial fill not being done correctly is often a source of carto death. It sounds like you have that part down, I was mentally moving on!

 

[cedric212]

LOL, does it taste like bacon? Sorry, can't resist...just so happen to stumble onto this PBusardo video earlier.

 

[Mezmo]

If you put a new atomizer in...one possibility is that the heat induction coil in the atomizer has a coating which has to burn off...I've seen this discussed in relation to the ego t specifically. It is some kind of heat coil...possibly tungston (like a light bulb filament). When you buy filament wire from the OEM, they coat it with a protective coating. If you heat up the element before puting your cart on the new atomizer...you might be able to burn off the protective coating on the filament. If it has a wick you will want to wet it with PG or VG to prevent damage to the wick. This is just a guess...sorry if I am misunderstanding your problem. Hope this helps. +

 

[Racehorse]

Filling a carto and REALLY saturating it can take up to half an hour.

If high VG, I do 'em the night before, then put end caps on. Really gives a chance to soak in.

Like the idea of filling as close to possible near center post, will try that.

 

[CloudZ]

Just wanted to update the thread with what I believe to be the culprit.

I filled my last empty carto with some new blueberry flavor eliquid, tastes as it should (though I am not a huge fan of the blueberry, it is ok). I think somehow the bottle of Vaping Prime went bad after a week and a half. Although maybe I just got "lucky" and the final carto in the pack wasn't messed up. Or maybe somehow I filled it better.

Oh well, food for thought. I could verify my theory if I had a regular atty... Will probably order one with my next purchase.

--
Sent from my DROID Incredible 4G LTE using Tapatalk 2

 

[Caridwen]

Just wanted to update the thread with what I believe to be the culprit.

I filled my last empty carto with some new blueberry flavor eliquid, tastes as it should (though I am not a huge fan of the blueberry, it is ok). I think somehow the bottle of Vaping Prime went bad after a week and a half. Although maybe I just got "lucky" and the final carto in the pack wasn't messed up. Or maybe somehow I filled it better.

Oh well, food for thought. I could verify my theory if I had a regular atty... Will probably order one with my next purchase.

--
Sent from my DROID Incredible 4G LTE using Tapatalk 2

I don't know. I've been using boge cartomizers on and off for a couple years. In that time I've probably had a handful of bad cartos.

They have to be really full. If it's thick liquid you need to take your time. I've found for me that my cartos hold about 30 drops on initial fill. I add about 10 drops, give a thermometer shake, add 10 more, shake, etc. until it can't take any more. Then roll them on their side. Try to top off with a couple more drops until liquid pools slightly on top.

If you ever buy a carto in a clear tube- some of the dual coil cartos come in clear tubes, you will see dry pockets within the carto. That leads to the coil burning the filler material and the carto is done.

 

[elmattias]

All I needed to read was boge...they have had QC issues lately....try ikenvape cartos, they are the best around right now

sent from EVOLTEd

 

[DaveP]

Boges are unpredictable these days. It's a QC problem that hasn't been resolved. Boge says we aren't filling them to saturation. The old Boges could be condom filled and then vaped in 15 minutes after removal with no issues. I've left them saturating overnight and still had a pool on top of the filler and poor performance. This, IMO, is the norm these days.

I've had good results later from Stormy's Vapor Cellar SVC Cloud Maker stainless steel cartos. They look just like the Boge, but fill like the old ones used to. You can fill a long condom slightly above half way, insert the condom, and in 30 seconds the juice has saturated and you can blow it out and vape. They take top off drops quickly and produce good flavor. The SVC Cloud Maker is like old times again!

YMMV, but I liked the first box enough to order 4 more on sale. I hear the Ikenvapes are good, too, but haven't tried them.

Stormy's Vapor Cellar

 

[patkin]

Both PG and VG absorb water from whatever they actually touch which includes taste buds. The solution to that bad taste is to keep swishing water or any other liquid containing it around your mouth. This is good for not only the bad taste you get when they've become totally sapped out of their natural moisture but in order to better taste your ejuices. Once you've reached that bad taste point swishing about 10 to 20 times usually brings the buds back to normal and normal taste again.

 

[tnt56]

Don't mean to laugh at the OP's run of luck. I've been using boge 35mm cartos in my tanks lately. Well I needed something smaller for work. I was digging in my "stuff" and found 4 boge xl cartos. PERFECT!!!! Got em topped off ready to go. Doing outside patrol and thought perfect time to try em. First one almost made me lose my lunch. Just nasty. Ok recovered ready to try the second one. Same thing. After reading this thread I know remember I got these when I first started Vaping. Right when boge-gate was going strong I think. None of the recent one have given me any trouble. Guess I need to reorder.

 

[oh u mad]

got a brand new box of boge cartos directly from Provape.com.... first one outta the box almost made me puke. just used the vivi nova after that one.