How long can I use a cartomizer?

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arsonic11

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The brown color comes from the oxidation of the nicotine in the juice. It's great you can get a week out of some of your cartos. As far as cartos only lasting a couple of hours, that may be b/c the carto is defective or something. What brand of cartos do you use?

I've used all different brands. I'd say the ones that didn't last were just the wrong resistance for the voltage. I just got the darwin, so we'll see if i can get a consistant usage out of them.
 

bigtiime

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Cartomizers are designed to be disposable thus their low cost. I generally buy 15 to 20 at a time and when I get down to 2 or 3 I buy more. Some will of course last much longer than others. I chalk that up to QC and the fact that we're buying these almost as fast as they can be produced.

As far as cleaning a carto, yes you can try to do that and sometimes they come out fine if you refill them with a very strong flavored juice. But generally I've found that it's just not worth try to bring them back to life. They are of course disposable.
 

tj99959

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    If you use a carto tank they will last much longer, and will pay for the tank. Also, a 3ohm carto *can* outlast a box of 2ohm cartos.
    Might want to chuck a carto before it looks like this inside.
    P1000500.jpg
     
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    madjack

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    Cartomizers are designed to be disposable thus their low cost. I generally buy 15 to 20 at a time and when I get down to 2 or 3 I buy more. Some will of course last much longer than others. I chalk that up to QC and the fact that we're buying these almost as fast as they can be produced.

    As far as cleaning a carto, yes you can try to do that and sometimes they come out fine if you refill them with a very strong flavored juice. But generally I've found that it's just not worth try to bring them back to life. They are of course disposable.

    I don't bother cleaning them.

    +1 to the above...I get 20-30mls/juice thru one and toss(3-5days)...I spent 10bux/day on funkarettes and spending less than 3bux/week for nice clean, fresh cartos is a no brainer to me...early on, I tried several methods for cleaning and they never performed like new so, just gimme a new one TYVM...................
    madjack:2cool:
     

    madjack

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    If you use dark, cloudy or opaque juices they will usually drop flavoring sediment and color and clog a cartomizer and degrade it more quickly. I use only thin clear juices. I can get 7-10 days use out of a cartomizer or about 15-20ml run through it, by keeping it damp with thin (20% VG or less) clear juice.

    I know that is accepted wisdom by many here BUT, I use juices from amber to near black and with 60-85%VG and get nearly the same performance out of all of them...I prefer to vape what I want and just deal with any issues that crop up because of what juice I am using...cartos are still cheap and beat the pants off of the cost of funkarettes in both money and health no matter what juices you are using................
    madjack:2cool:
     

    DaveP

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    My experience is that I can easily get 5 to 7 days out of a Boge carto if I use 100% PG juices that are clear to amber. OTOH, if I use a VG juice, that drops to 2-3 days and towards the end, the juice will barely soak into the filler. It just pools.

    My 70pg/30vg juices also do well in cartos. The key (for me) in getting long life from a carto is translucence. If light doesn't shine through it well, it goes in the 306 atty with a drip tip.
     

    madjack

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    ...let me clarify, I haven't used any all PG juice since my first week of vaping...I used 80/20 for a long time and got 5-6days out of a carto with whatever color juice...I moved to 60%VG juice and that time dropped by a day...I also use some 85%juice at times and haven't noticed a big change...as my taste buds have healed and gotten better at tasting the nuances of certain juices, I notice the change easier and just vape what I want until the taste starts getting off and change out cartos...heck, if I changed cartos everyday, it would still be an 80% savings over funkarettes...also, I get a day longer out of Smoktech 1.7 XLs as I do from Boge2.0s which are wrapped tighter than the Smoktechs...sooooo, what I am saying is, vape whatcha want and deal with carto issues as they come up...enjoyment of the experience is tops with me.....
    madjack:2cool:
     

    mynameisrob

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    I agree that cartos just arnt worth trying to clean. Some cartos do not take a cleaning very well and don't work well after. If you always fill them properly, use them right, and don't let them get dry, you can def get your money's worth without ever even trying to clean one. My record is just shy of 7 weeks with one carto and i never tried to clean it once. It was still working fine when i switched to a new one and still had decent airflow, i just got bored with it and started itchin for the taste of a fresh carto bc that one wouldnt die so i switched to a new one. I use the Ressurector cartos and use a syringe to fill them. I get on avg 1-3 weeks for a carto depending on the juice that's in it. Juices with sediments in them will clog a carto faster than anything, but even with them you can still get your money's worth. I vape a coffee juice that I love and even though it has sediments I still get a week or so with one carto and never clean them. I figure if you can can about a week with one carto, your without a doubt getting your money's worth for how cheap they are. All you have to do is compare it to cigs and it's a no-brainer. A pack of cartos is about the cost of one pack of cigs. If you get one week out of a carto, that means a 5-pack will last 5 weeks. When you smokes cigs, if you smoked a pack a day, you spent the amount of money for 5 weeks worth of cartos, every single day. So is it really worth trying to clean them?
     

    elencius

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    I agree that cartos just arnt worth trying to clean. Some cartos do not take a cleaning very well and don't work well after. If you always fill them properly, use them right, and don't let them get dry, you can def get your money's worth without ever even trying to clean one. My record is just shy of 7 weeks with one carto and i never tried to clean it once. It was still working fine when i switched to a new one and still had decent airflow, i just got bored with it and started itchin for the taste of a fresh carto bc that one wouldnt die so i switched to a new one. I use the Ressurector cartos and use a syringe to fill them. I get on avg 1-3 weeks for a carto depending on the juice that's in it. Juices with sediments in them will clog a carto faster than anything, but even with them you can still get your money's worth. I vape a coffee juice that I love and even though it has sediments I still get a week or so with one carto and never clean them. I figure if you can can about a week with one carto, your without a doubt getting your money's worth for how cheap they are. All you have to do is compare it to cigs and it's a no-brainer. A pack of cartos is about the cost of one pack of cigs. If you get one week out of a carto, that means a 5-pack will last 5 weeks. When you smokes cigs, if you smoked a pack a day, you spent the amount of money for 5 weeks worth of cartos, every single day. So is it really worth trying to clean them?
    +1 on this and testing my banner - two birds with one stone...:)
     

    hairball

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    How long is too long to use a cartomizer? Sometimes I can get a week or more out of one, other times they stop producing good vapor after a few hours. My concern is that after using a clear cartomizer, I noticed that the polyfil starts to turn brown. Is it bacteria, or just burnt?

    It's not what I would call "fried juice" but it's been heavily heated. If you use juice that is a pg/vg mix, don't worry about bacteria. PG prevents that for the most part. As for longevity of a carto, it varies for me. They might last a day while others may last me a couple of months. It really depends on the type of juice I'm using.
     
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