I usually keep using the same carto until it fails, doesn't hold enough juice any longer, or the vape is nonexistant. In two very unusual cases, I had to throw out a partially filled, but still working, carto because something evil happened in the carto's filler material and/or my juice and this that created an unvaperable juice that had turned rancid. Normally, it takes me anywhere from 1 week - 2 weeks per carto before I pitch them. I keep the same juice flavor, or one that would not create a ghastly taste mix in the same carto. I keep about 3 - 4 cartos going at a time. I do not wash & dry the cartos, but I do blow through the mouthpiece of the carto to get as much burned and probably nontasty juice out of the carto before I refill it.
There are demos on ECF and youtube that can show you how to properly clean a cartomizer and dry burn or oven bake the filling back to "normal". If you're interested in washing/drying your cartos, then you may even be able to get a life of four weeks and more with good carto
vaping sessions,. My philosophy is that cartos are truly here as disposable hardware, so any successful longer use performance I get out of them is a bonus for me.
Happy Carto
vaping! If you come across some better info, please let me know and/or point me in the right direction.
As far as how many spent cartos to keep on hand for backup, I would suggest that you should keep enough cartos to get you through one or two weeks of vaping use. If the cartos have been cleaned and dried, you can probably store those indefinitely. If the cartos were just waiting to get the extra juice removed and a new juice put in, then I'd make sure I'd use those cartos as soon as possible so that there is little possibility for the juice inside your carto go rancid. It does happen, and I just want you to be aware of it. I give all of mine a sniff test before refilling the second time and all times after that. I also sniff the juice bottle for unwanted aromas (rancid oil odors).
