I must be doing something wrong w/ my VaporKing...

[Tecumseh]

I ordered from V4L and received my package this past Monday. I ordered the tobacco sampler pack, and the V4L people were kind enough to throw in 4 extra carts. Here is a review I posted for some friends on another site:

Well, I had a whole review typed up, than my browser crashed, so here's the summary:

RY4- Weak
555- Awful- Literally no vapor or flavor. No crackle/pop. Maybe it was empty?
Dunhall- Better, but still very weak.
Hilton- The saving grace. Strong, lots of vapor, good throat hit.

I have 5 others to try, will report back soon.


***********************************************************************
I've tried all 9 carts.

Wow Caramel- No pop, actually leaked juice in my mouth when I hit it.
Wow Mango- light flavor very little vapor, no throat hit
Cranberry-Apple-Cinnamon- Same as the Mango
French Vanilla Ice Cream- Sweet discernible flavor, does taste like ice cream, but no vapor.
Kant- This one's ok. Good vapor and throat hit, just a step below the Hilton.


Overall, I'm disappointed. If it weren't for the Hilton and the Kant, I'd be fairly positive that I have defective batteries. I've also been getting slightly better results by "hotboxing" the cart.

I have seen so many positive reviews for V4L that I figure I must be doing something wrong, but I can't figure out what. Halp!

 

[sonnetjie]

Generally I've found that there is great variance in the prefilled carts. Most of mine however still worked well with refills. Even if I ordered a pre filled cart, I would top it up before using it. The worst thing you can do to a carto is let it get dry. Once it's burnt there is nothing much you can do. Prefilled carts with juice in the middle straw thingy also happen, that is probably why you got juice in your mouth. Give them some time. They get better as you use them.

 

[WomanOfHeart]

Unfortunately, inconsistency is a problem with prefilled carts. You aren't doing anything wrong. If you're getting juice in your mouth then the cart is probably overfilled. You can blow out the excess juice into a tissue and try it again. The same thing for those carts that may not be producing any vapor or making a crackle pop sound.

I strongly suggest getting some blank carts and doing your own filling. It's not difficult at all and you'll save money.

 

[juicejunky]

Welcome to the forum Tecumseh,

I mostly use V4L for blank cartos, hardware, and batteries. They are a good vendor. I find their prefilled e-juices a little chemical tasting and never bought e-juice bottles from them. Order some better e-juice from another vendor. Try BackwoodsBrew.net , Vaperite.com, GourmetVapors, FreedomSmokeUSA, MsTBakery, etc. Plenty of great vendors recommended on this forum. Get small bottles until you know you like something. Some made to order vendors' juices like I listed require a waiting/steep time for the flavors to fully come out. So if a juice tastes bland wait a week or three before you give up on it. E-juice taste is very subjective, so you won't know until you try it yourself.

At least now you should have a better feel for what flavors you might like and what nicotine strength works for you. That is the upside of V4L prefilled sampler packs. Save the cartomizers if you didn't burn them. They can be washed and reused.

More VG in an e-juice gives more vapor, more PG is better for throat hit. Flavor and nicotine strength also matter for TH.

Happy vaping

 

[dormouse]

When you aren't getting vapor or crackle try tipping the ecig with led higher and carto lower, and rotate a bit to distribute the juice around the upper part of the carto. They were shipped and bouncing in a mail truck etc.

When I open a new carto I rotate it with threaded end a bit higher, then turn it different ways to make sure it is wet all over inside, especially in the top half. Then I blow in the battery end hole a few times to clear the air channel in case juice got in the air channel during shipping. Then I use it.

I adored the WOW 555. I have not tried the other 555.
I also loved WOWbacco and to a lesser extent WOWBoy (because it has a bit of mint or menthol)

Did you get manual batteries? If not, do you know how to use autos? I don't like autos - too inconsistent for me. You may need to do a short wasted drag to warm the atty in the carto, then do your drag. With manuals, you hold the button in while you drag EXCEPT you do the press and release a bit earlier than the drag - press (to start making vapor) - about 1/2 to 1 second later start dragging - when almost done drag, release - finish drag

 

[juicejunky]

Do you have a USB Passthru? Are any of your samples CoolCarts? They have higher resistance and work better on XL batteries and the passtrus with higher voltage.

WOW's are lower resistance and work best on the regular batteries and burn up fast on the 5V passthrus.


Could that have anything to do with the flavor difference?

 

[dormouse]

The batteries are all 3.7v and the standards are 280mah and should be fine. Could be the Coolcarts, or just liquid not distributed well.

 

[Tecumseh]

Sonnetjie: Thanks. I haven't burned any yet, but the Hilton has to be close, since it's the only one I really like.

WoH: I think that's my next step.

JJ- Thanks for the recommendations! I don't have a USB passthrough, but I do have a couple of coolcarts.

Dormouse- I got the auto batteries. I thought it would be too much of a divergence from analogs to have to push a button. I'll try maneuvering the cartos and see if I get better results. Thank you for the tips!

 

[VprNomi]

Dormouse- I got the auto batteries. I thought it would be too much of a divergence from analogs to have to push a button. I'll try maneuvering the cartos and see if I get better results. Thank you for the tips!

I have both V4L autos & manuals. I prefer the autos because I like not having to locate & press a button. In general, I don't need to take a primer puff on the autos and they work just fine on one drag.

However, I say "in general" because each battery (I have 7 right now) performs a little differently. One of the autos seems to have a really tight (hard) draw & needs a stronger pull to light up. One of the manuals is similar, in that the draw is hard and it needs a stronger pull to get the vapor (though obviously, it lights when the button is pushed).

And yes... tilting the battery up at the lit end does seem to help when it doesn't seem to want to get going otherwise.

 

[swedishfish]

I'm not crazy about the prefilled carts that came with any pv including my ego. Better to just get blanks and juice and fill them yourself. JMO

 

[swedishfish]

When I open a new carto I rotate it with threaded end a bit higher, then turn it different ways to make sure it is wet all over inside, especially in the top half. Then I blow in the battery end hole a few times to clear the air channel in case juice got in the air channel during shipping. Then I use it.

Can you explain that a little more? I'm not understanding that. You rotate it after it's screwed into the battery?

 

[Tecumseh]

Thought I'd come back by and update this thread-

I almost threw in the towel due to my initial disappointment. But after talking to a few people on another message board, I decided to give it another shot.

From talking to others that made the switch, the general consensus is that the 18mg V4L pre-filled carts are decidedly underwhelming. I ordered empty carts and the 18mg cafe mocha from V4L, and 5 different 24mg juices from BlueMist. I use the condom filling method, and all of the BlueMist juces hit like Pujols. The cafe mocha is also a winner, when I want something a little lighter, or sweeter.

The moral of the story for my fellow newbs is this: DON'T GIVE UP!! It seems like everyone generally may have some trial and error when getting into vaping. However, once you find the right combination of PG, VG, Nic level, hardware, and liquid supplier (which sounds like alot, but really isn't) - the e-cigs will help you get off analogs if that's your goal.

For the record- I am 3 weeks analog-free.



I am now 3 weeks analog-free. :yes:

 

[hs3000]

Tecumseh, glad to hear I wasn't the only one. I ordered two of the tobacco samplers and could barely get a hit off of any of them. The one exception was the Cool Cart they threw in as a bonus. I assumed it was a matter of resistance with the Premium carts(different resistance?).
Anyway, glad to hear you got it worked out, enjoy!

 

[dormouse]

yeah there are always stumbles in the beginning, especially with finding juices you like.

swedishfish -

With carto off the battery... I have the soft cap off. I angle it, hold a tissue on the threaded end hole, fill by dripping drops into the stuffing (I seem to have left out the dripping part above lol - I try to drip in a ml if it's a 1new blank ml carto, less if topping off one that is just low on juice). Clean up if juice is dripping out the threaded end. Tilt the open end down toward a tissue and puff into the threaded end hole to clear the air channel - I should be able to see light through the carto. If the air channel has gotten crooked so i can't, I try to straighten it gently. Then I make sure it's clean on the threaded end and cap and use it (if it's a fresh filled blank I first lay it on various sides for a while to make sure all stuffing damp)