How many uses or refills are you getting from your cartos?

[logrus]

Well it's really becoming a kind of quest to see how much money I can shave off of this since I've found the juice I like (Nuport, although I may try "Cool" since I was a "Kools" smoker for the past decade and a half) a,d it keeps coming down to the cartos.

Now my first order was a bit of a grab-bag since I wanted to get an idea of what V4L had, and this I got a mix of prefilled cartos, some cool carts, and some WOW carts. Thus far, and this might seem odd, but I've been kind of sticking on just a few of them and doing a lot of dripping because most of the others have got a burnt plastic taste pretty quickly. So I've been getting ready to order more blanks and going with the Cool Carts as the one's that have been working the best regarding no burn taste are all CCs; but I've been doing a lot of reading and wanted to know if anyone here has tried the ceramic carts or ceramic clear carts? There appears to be no filler or wick which I suspect is what is getting burnt in the carts. I know from reading that they can be a pain to refill, but I'm not too worried about taking time to do that if they last through a lot of cycles and don't have the bur potential I've gotten so far.

So any thoughts on cartos? If you have a favorite, can you explain why?

 

[wader2k]

You will get a wide variety of answers to this. Personally I will use a CoolCart almost all week before tossing. I haven't actually burned one in a LONG time. After 6 days or so when they quit taking as much juice I toss them.

I never bother with cleaning or boiling or any of that.

I believe the Ceramics DO have a wick....just no filler.

 

[Ruppy]

I rotate through alot of flavors so they tend to last me about 2 weeks. I probably actually get a week of actual use time though.

Wader2k is right the ceramics do have a wick and no filler. The wick pulls the juice to the coil. The major issue with them is they dont wick fast enough.

To avoid the burnt taste top the cartos of now and then. Get a average of drops to drags and youll have a pretty good idea when your getting low. Thats pretty helpful to get going. After awhile you just seem to know when its not right and set it aside to fill before they burn.

 

[dohsma]

I use Cool Carts exclusively and average about 2 days refilling 1 cart. Sometimes more sometimes less.

 

[Darrigaaz]

STAY AWAY FROM THE CLEAR CARTS!

I've recently had the opportunity to try the clear cartos.. Tried two different resistances, from two different suppliers, and they are horrible! They do have a wick, and because of the design (which is supposed to not leak), they wick extremely slow. This means you have to wait a couple minutes between each puff otherwise it'll taste burnt right away. Also, within a few days they each started cracking and leaking out of the bottom.

That being said, I've got V4L cartos that I'm still using from Dec 2009. Probably filled them over 150+ times each. It's not that I'm extremely frugal, I've ordered new carts and use them too. I just don't see the point in throwing something out if it ain't broke. Every 3-5 fills I'll wash out the cart under the sink, blow it out, and refill it again.



I've had 2 V4L cartos actually quit working in the last 15 months.

 

[SnowDragon]

There was a informercial/post about these CE2 r4 Clearomizers in here a couple of weeks ago. I noted at that time the laundry list of issues associated with them and was glad to see the post moved. They are basically an upside atty with a plastic housing, a poor design since pg is alcohol based, creating esters that when heated causes the plastic to become brittle and crack.

I'm going to send you a pm Logrus

 

[Darrigaaz]

I hate to be contradictory, but PG isn't alcohol based.. It's oil based. If it was alcohol based, I wouldn't be able to use it.

 

[jeffree]

CCs for me. I have many in my rotation that I began filling last fall. I'm lazy, so I don't wash them at all. Just refill and wipe the outside to freshen.

 

[Morandir835]

Actually Darrigaaz sir, it's in the alcohol family, just not the type we drink...

I can get about 3 days of heavy Vaping on a Wow carto before it's time to trash it (like 12-15 refills). After that it just doesn't produce as much vapor....

 

[SnowDragon]

Oh now don't sell yourself short Darri, our exchanges always seem to surround some sort of contradiction. Glycol or Glycerol are indeed Sugar Alcohols. In the world of chemicals if it ends with -ol it's an alcohol.

I stand by what I said.

 

[Darrigaaz]

Well I just spent the last 2 hours doing some web research on PG, and it seems that you are correct.

This also answers why vaping some eliquids makes me have shortness of breath. I just had figured it was certain flavorings. Nuport makes my chest really tight feeling (but tastes so good). It also explains why "personal lubricants" burn... (probably TMI)

I'm allergic to all forms of alcohol, and when first looking into what PG was made from, all signs had pointed to it being a by product of bio diesel, and is basically made from crude oil.

So... 15 months of vaping, and now I finally get why I like more VG than PG.. lol

 

[jeffree]

Another win for the VG Team, with white horses riding like the wind!

 

[logrus]

Thanks everyone, this info has been much-appreciated.

 

[6String]

Personally i've been using the same wow vg 555 cart for the past 3 weeks lol. Not washed it through or anything. Just refill with my beloved VG 555 juice and vape. I only put about 5 or 6 drops in at a time, then do the same again each time i start vaping.
I've been vaping on the carto for hours this evening without refilling it until literally a few mins ago. Can easily tell when it needs filling again as the harsh throat burning taste appears. I will probably continue to use this one for at least another week or two lol. The one before that lasted me a month before i chucked it out.

 

[gowsgirl]

Darri- Definitely TMI Did make me laugh though...sorry...

I get at least 2-3 days of vaping from CC. Though now I am truly intriigued to get home and try the VG Cafe Mocha I ordered....perhaps I will be a VG convert??
Eh, who am I kidding, I need more variety first!!! (This is where wader jumps in...)

 

[wader2k]

............ (This is where wader jumps in...)

I don't jump much these days. But I have been known to wade in every now and then......

 

[gowsgirl]

Well, I love when you 'wade' in....it is just such a nice surprise when it happens....

 

[firefox335]

Cool Carts - about 20 - 30 refills before vapor production starts to fall

Wow Carts - about 10 - 15 refills before vapor production starts to fall

YMMV

 

[teslastick]

CC's i get 30+ drops the first time i fill.
refills get about 15. after a while like after 20+ refills they seem to take less and get harder to draw. Then I replace. Seems they get some carbon build up or something in the bottoms. I got about 50 or so that ive replaced and someday will boil them out. Maybe ill report then how many they take and how long they last...

 

[Deva]

Wow. A lot of good info here! I just started vaping a month ago so these are things I've been trying to figure out, too. I've seen a lot of conflicting advice on re-using the cartos. I tried the boiling method but so time consuming. Even after all that, I found I still got traces of the old flavor. Now, that I've settled on a few flavors I really love I'm refilling with same or similar flavors without cleaning. This is working well for me. I haven't ruined any cartos yet. I like the WOW but have some Cool Carts too. Good to know the Cool Carts last longer. I really like the ease of the pre-filled cartos, especially when away from home. I stocked up on the sale this week, so I'm really happy about that.
So far I've only bought pre-filled and then refilled. Do you think it is any different if you buy blanks to start with?
Thanks to all of you for the help & advice.