Important Newbie Questions

[MrBogard]

Hey guys, I'm new. Bet you didn't see that coming.

I haven't ordered my first e-cig yet, but if I'm satisfied with the research that I've done this week, I plan on ordering a Joye 510, along with a PPC and some other gear. I'm aware of the eGo, and by all means it seems like the superior product, but I'm into the size and style of the 510 so I think that will most likely be my first entry into the e-cig family.

I've done quite a bit of research. I watched about a billion youtube reviews and comparisons of different products. I've even done some back and forth q&a with Vicki from cignot.com (very helpful staff and great prices too).

Here's what I've learned:

1) The estimated 10+ cigarettes per cartridge is misinformation. Most cartridges yield about three sessions before they need to be refilled or topped off.

2) There are mods that improve standard cartridges. The most common I've seen is the Lipton Pyramid Teabag mod. This might improve the length of use on a single cart, but I haven't really had anyone suggest just how long that new lifespan is. They supposedly hold more liquid too.

3) The 510 battery life sorta sucks. The PPC improves its performance and holds three spare carts for cart users. I figure this brings the total number of cartridges one can carry to four, which means 10-12 sessions without having to refill or top off your cartridges.

And now on to the questions:

Well, this is really just one question, but it's something I haven't really seen people discussing, and it concerns me a little. Most cartridges use polyfill as the standard buffer between the liquid and the atomizer. Some people have said that this substance can burn if it gets too dry, and frankly that scares me a little. E-Cigs have been touted by their fans as a safer alternative to smoking, but heating synthetic polymers can release a myriad of dangerous chemicals.

Why doesn't this concern more people? The alternative substances (direct dripping, which seems like a real pain in the ... on the go, not included) are all *other* synthetic polymers. Lipton's pyramid tea bags are nylon, which is no more a healthy alternative to polyfil so far as I can tell. The blue filter foam stuff is no better. Why don't people use *cotton*? Cotton is a safer natural substance which probably releases far fewer dangerous chemicals if a little unwanted combustion occurs. Polymer materials *do not* even need to combust to reach a temperature where they start releasing their own chemicals.

I really dig the idea of switching to e-cigs or at least supplementing my cigarette habit with e-cigs. In many ways, however, the whole thing almost seems too good to be true. It's a bit of a have your cake and eat it too scenario.. and I'm not really satisfied with the idea that my cake is made out of plastic.

So.. can anyone present me with some solid information to calm my fears? I want to jump on board as soon as I can, but I'm not really sold on the idea of putting plastics and other synthetic materials so close to a vaporizer.

Thanks!

 

[CaptJay]

Ive never seen filler burn or even melt - the 510 atty gets hot but not enough to catch things on fire. I've been using PV since december btw although I fond carts w/filler a huge pain to deal with so I switched to dripping.
However, PVs werent invented in someone's backyard shed - they've been through testing in the industry (in CHina) by a large company or two (Ryuan for one) and the best filler they found was whatever that polyfill stuff is; its not a huge stretch to think they tried more than one thing.
There is something around detailing different compounds but for the life of me I can't locate it right now. Ill edit it in if someone doesn't beat me to it.

 

[MrBogard]

China isn't exactly famous for their safety standards. It's safe because they wouldn't sell us something unsafe isn't a very satisfying answer. But it's good to hear that you've never seen filler burnt or melted. I've heard people suggest the opposite, but that's still somewhat comforting.

On a completely unrelated note: I wish cignot sold cartomizers. Do cartomizers fit in the PPC by any chance? Cignots prices for gear is pretty outstanding compared to most of the other shops I've looked at. I'm interested in cartomizers mostly because I don't want to have to carry around liquid when I'm on the go, and they appear to hold more and be more convenient to refill if you need to.

I guess four carts isn't that bad anyway.

I'm still pretty surprised that people aren't more interested in the materials they're putting so close to the heating element. You don't even need to combust these materials to start releasing chemicals. You can vaporize plant matter without burning it too. I'd love to see some independant (and unbiased) testing done in western labs. China is notorious when it comes to putting the market ahead of saftey. They've done this with exports and domestic goods for a very long time, and it's hardly a secret.

 

[lmrasch]

I can tell you that I haven't had any issues with burnt poly filling from cartridges, but the cartomizers are a completely different story....I've had major problems with burnt cartos....and I do find that a bit concerning If I could find one that doesn't burn, I'd probably use them....right now I just use the drip tip....sometimes a PITA, but well worth it for flavor.

 

[MsV]

The 510 is a good little unit and they do make cartos for them now. I pesonally went with the KR808D-1 for my first ecig cuz the batty life is much longer and at the time, this one took cartos and the other didn't. I can charge my batty and it gets me through all 3 breaks at work and is still going for a couple hours once I get out. Then I switch to the back up batty and it goes about 4-6 hours depending how heavy I'm vaping. By this time the other one is charged. I also have a PCC and it takes about 3 hours to charge it in the case. Yes cartos fit in the pcc. As for the polyfil question check out the modder's forum. Believe me, there's people working on it! Cotton may be too absorbent and prevent the juice from wicking to the coil properly. If I have time later I'll disembowl an old carto and replace it with cotton and try it. I guess in the big scheme of things we are using a "reduced harm" device. When you think about all the crap that goes into your body while smoking an analog then it's pretty clear that vaping is far less dangerous IMHO! Welcome to the forum!

 

[kj4lxw]

I would add this to anyone starting out.
We all satrt out with preconceived notions of what will be the best for us when researching pv's for use.
It all changes after you get your hands on your first kit and get to experience it.
I have gone totally opposite from what I thought I'd prefer to start.
I would suggest to anyone to remain openminded and try it all and find what works for you. Don't dwell on what seems to be the most popular setup/method/technique. Find what works for you and go from there.

I enjoyed plain carts when I started, the biggest frustration I found was trying to mod carts and improve upon them. I ended up going in the LAST direction I ever wanted to direct dripping, bridgeless. I "thought" using carts, cartos, would be better and easier. My one time trying cartos was a disaster so I decided to give it up on them. Is that the path for you? Who can say, it may, it may not.
I "thought" I would just go with smaller size pv so it would be more like the analogs since I was so used to it. I ended up ordering a Tornado. Staying in a form factor like my old smokes is the last thing I want now. I vape now, not smoke, so a bigger pv is not a bother to me. May not be the same for you, won't know till you get there.

Just stay open-minded, it will benefit you in the long run, jmho.

 

[tristessa363]

i have a love/hate relationship with my cartos. i was dripping when i started out, but i got a bunch of different flavors all at once and liked the idea of having a different atomizer for each one to avoid flavor contamination. i kind of think that if you settle on one or two all-day-vapes dripping might be the way to go (unless you're on a road trip)...
but - i disassembled my first "dead" carto a while back, and it didn't necessarily look burned, just heavily used. I'm not sure what a cleaning might have done for it. however, i'm currently vaping some awesome TV pina colada out of a carto that i first filled around 8/2/10, and it tastes fine to me.
cartridges always looked much less palatable when i went to top them off...

 

[mistinthewoods]

I can tell you that I haven't had any issues with burnt poly filling from cartridges, but the cartomizers are a completely different story....I've had major problems with burnt cartos....and I do find that a bit concerning If I could find one that doesn't burn, I'd probably use them....right now I just use the drip tip....sometimes a PITA, but well worth it for flavor.

I use cartos all the time and I don't find it difficult to prevent them from tasting burnt at all. You just put more juice in when you get the first "different" tasting hit. Trust me, you're not going to take more than one pull off a carto when the filler starts to scorch. As far as inhaling smoke from burning chemical goes, we all seemed fine with setting cigarettes on fire and sucking on them.

 

[cskent]

Yes, you can use carto's on your 510, and they do fit in the PCC. The batty charges in one slot so you have to remove the cart/atty to store it. There are 3 more holes which will hold any combination of carto's, carts, or atty's.

In my experience I can get 2 normal length "sessions" from a filled cart. I get about 5 from a filled carto. I drip at home and use carto's when away. I keep a carto going for each flavor so as not to get cross contamination of flavors. 2 carto's will keep me going all day with my PCC and a single battery, but I don't usually vape heavily when I'm out.

I haven't had any cart's or carto's which showed signs of scorching on the poly fill. You are correct, though, when you point out that chemicals can be released from the material prior to reaching the point of combustion. Some chemicals are released when the materials get hot. If you compare the danger associated with poly fill to those associated with tobacco, I'm sure tobacco is much more harmfull. It is also a known carcinogen. I think most vapers would agree that further research is needed into the hazards associated with the products we use, however we can also see that vaping, while it is potentially harmfull, is in all probability less harmful.

Decisions regarding your health are definitely worth asking. However due to the lack of research into the effects of the compounds contained in the materials used in vaping and their effect on the human body, we must each make our own decision to use or not use them. Personally, I've weighed the options available and found that vaping is the best option for me at this time. Admittedly, discontinuing the use of all nicotine delivery systems would be ideal. However, until I make the personal decision to quit, vaping seems to be the least self destructive option.

 

[mini_art]

I find that dripping is not a problem at all, in fact it is a lot less messy then cartos or carts even when out and about. I used a lot more juice too when using cartos and I am not up for the bother of trying to wash them.
I started out using them, but now it tastes like sucking through a pillow so I gave that up.
Everyone has thier own taste and preferances. You really have to find it yourself.

 

[BlueMoods]

I use shredded analog filters for filler - yep fiberglass fluff that, as any smoker knows will burn and does stink to high heaven when it does. I lit it many times as a smoker, never even come close to singing it with vaping. I know, blue foam, white fluval, polyfill, etc but NO store in my small town of 1200 sells any of that. The smoke shop does sell empty analog papers with attached filters that i can buy for under 10.00 for 200, then each filter fills 3 carts for me so that's 600 fillers and, they last about a week before the start tasting funky.

Sure foam would be washable, but my fill is cheap and, somehow it helps psycologically to have a piece of analog in there LOL.

 

[quasimod]

This subject has been discussed extensively around here, and I would search for some links if I weren't on my phone. Probably in the health/medical section.

As previously mentioned, there are other options for those that have concerns. Check out the Zero Filler Mod by Scottbee (he also sells them online from another website), dripping, auto feeds, juice pump mods, etc.

 

[perpetua]

Wadding, I think it's called batting in the US makes a great inexpensive cart filler ~ it has to be flame ......ent and pass BSA regs in the UK.

 

[The Big Chief]

You can burn whatever batting you use, as well as teh cart itself if you really try. But, you have to purposefully do it for teh most part. Teh factory batting works fine, you just have to remove half of it and fluff the other half up to fill the cartridge nicely. The density of any batting is what causes teh main issues with the unit working well. I've done most carts mods, and use factory, blue, white fluval. They all work as long as set up correctly.
Your "sessions" like you did with cigs can cause problems as well. Its not about short sprints with e cigs, its more consistant, with less pressure, like a nice walk. No needing 10 puffs quickly then take a break, You can take 2 or 3 puffs and lay it down for a few minutes, and take another few..just less puffs, more times throughout the day. But 4 carts will hold pretty close to 2 ml, and that will satisfy a 2 pack a day person. Just get started, then contour to what you like

 

[Three4Me]

This is why I drip. I was concerned about the fillers as well. I use a drip tip and even while traveling I haven't had any issues. I think it is really a personal preference. As someone stated.... we all had no problems lighting up analogs knowing full well how dangerous they were

 

[quasimod]

[...] NO store in my small town of 1200 sells any of that. [...]/QUOTE]

There's a town in Arkansas that doesn't have a Walmart?!

 

[spacekitty]

On a completely unrelated note: I wish cignot sold cartomizers.

Another newbie here... LOL!! But I just placed my 1st order 2 weeks ago with Cignot.com, and Vicki said that they would be getting some in about 2-3 weeks, and that this was a new item!! I looked at the Joyetech site and it said they had some for the Ego, but not the 510... so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. ;-)

Not wanting to wait that long, I ordered some of the Boge cartos from VaporKings, because I had read that they were one of the better brands, and VK seemed to have a decent (?) price ($8.95 for 5/-10% disc) and didn't charge an arm & a leg on S&H for a small order!!!

Btw, I received both of my orders in 2 days, started vaping the next day, 8-12 (had my last analog by 4pm!!), so I have now been tobacco FREE* for 10 days, since 8-13!! Sure didn't see that one coming... I always said that Friday the 13th was my "Lucky Day"!! WooHoo!!!!!

(*after smoking a pack-a-day for almost 40 yrs!!)

I can't wait to get enuff posts so I can get one of those banners...

 

[tristessa363]

Another newbie here... LOL!! But I just placed my 1st order 2 weeks ago with Cignot.com, and Vicki said that they would be getting some in about 2-3 weeks, and that this was a new item!! I looked at the Joyetech site and it said they had some for the Ego, but not the 510... so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. ;-)

Congratulations on your 10 days smoke free! I am excited to hear that Cignot will be carrying cartomizers. I am a little confused though... regular atomizers work with both the 510 and the eGo, so why would this be any different?

 

[tristessa363]

oh... after reading a review on cignot:

"...One thing that took be by surprise is this Cartomizer completely changes the look of your eGo. I have a pink one & with this Cartomizer you are unable to use the screw on same color as your battery cap that makes the eGo look so cool (my opinion only). When you have it on it is half the Cartomizer while the other half is battery. This won't be an issue for those that have white or black eGo batteries but with the pink or silver...it looks bulky..."

I guess it replaces the cone as well.

 

[quasimod]

Must be the gigantic cartos. They would probably fit a regular 510, but look pretty silly.