Juices tasting off!

[AmberB]

I'm pretty new to this so I'm not sure if maybe I'm storing things improperly, or if thats just the nature or cartos after a days use, but I purchased some deejstuff juices and got them in about 4 days ago (40vg/60pg). I sat down and filled up 5 brand new cartos (just cheapie regulars) and tasted each as I went. Found that four of the flavors I really loved. So I plugged the ends of four of them with the rubber they came in and put my fave on for the day. It was great. The next day I did another I filled the day before. It was really good too. Same the day after. Today, I had made it through the 4 and decided to cycle back to the first one so I got out the carto I used that juice with, topped it off and put it on my joye 510 auto battery. Tastes pretty bad today. Tried some of the others I had used and replugged with the same result. I store my sampler liquids in a pouch in the bottom of my purse in the original plastic bottles they came in along with the plugged cartos (I keep them labeled). The pouch smells like rotting fruit now and the cartos all taste pretty bad. Not sure if its the carto or the juice or both. Maybe different flavors shouldnt be stored together that way? Or they need to be kept out in open air so they don't get weird? Help!!!!

 

[hairball]

If you've gotten 4 days use out of a carto, that's about average for good flavor. I've been finding that prefilling more than 3 at a time isn't a good thing. The flavor seems to turn south in a lot of juices that I use. I keep 3 filled if I'm going to go out. Sometimes topping them off with fresh juice and sometimes it doesn't. Since you've been using them for 4 days, I would toss them out and start over with a fresh new one.

 

[AmberB]

If you've gotten 4 days use out of a carto, that's about average for good flavor. I've been finding that prefilling more than 3 at a time isn't a good thing. The flavor seems to turn south in a lot of juices that I use. I keep 3 filled if I'm going to go out. Sometimes topping them off with fresh juice and sometimes it doesn't. Since you've been using them for 4 days, I would toss them out and start over with a fresh new one.

I've actually only had each one in use for one day. I have been rotating them. So each one has only been filled once, used for a day then plugged and put away for 3-4 days. Do they have a 4 day or so time limit from the time you first fill and use it, or a four day usage limit?

 

[Renzuli]

Welcome , and you can try cleaning the carto's , to see if you can get more use out of them . My wife soaks her nasty , clogged carto's in a bit of vodka for several hours . She then blows out the excess vodka , and lets them airdry overnight . Seems to work for her , she has some Boge carto's she's been using for well over a month now . Give it a shot , you have nothing to lose . And you can always toss them , if it doesn't work out . Good Luck

 

[Vapoor eyes er]

Hi Adcurti and welcome to ECF. I find a HUGE difference in buying quality cartos. A friend was buying cheapies and ended up spending more money because he was going through so many of them. He now strictly vapes Boges or SmokTechs.

 

[holly123]

i have seen videos on youtube where people boil them out

 

[Huffelpuff]

You may also want to try some atomizers. I like to alternate between attys and a tank/carto set up for the best of both worlds. Can try as many flavors as you like in an atty and once you have the dripping down they last a really long time. My cartos seem to last a lot longer w/ a tank also.

 

[DaveP]

Two things I noticed were 40% vg and 510 battery. If those are 2.0 ohm cartos, they are taxing a small 510 battery. If they are 2.5 ohms or 3.0 ohms, you might not have enough heat to fully atomize the juice you are using and the coil is starting to coat with juice crud, making the problem worse. The juice might also be starving the coil sometimes and prematurely burning the filler.

The optimum juice for a 510 carto is 100% PG down to 70pg/30vg. VG will kill a carto pretty quickly. I'd start with a new batch of cartos. You might even just open one, use it until it loses taste and then open another. The condom fill will quickly saturate a new one while you are still using the old one. Just let it sit for 10 minutes or so after filling to let the juice penetrate all the fibers in the filler.

 

[AmberB]

Thanks so much for all of the suggestions. I'm thinking I might boil the ones I've got to see what happens. Worst case scenario, I'm throwing them in the trash anyway! I have a KGO and some smoketech LR cartos on the way, but it will be a couple of more days. I have to have the 40%VG because too much PG chokes me like nobodies business! I also bought a DC 2.6 ohm Clearomizer to try on the KGO, skipping the filler completely. Not sure that it's actually going to be low enough resistance to work though... six bucks, i figured worth a shot!

 

[AmberB]

Sounds like the consensus is that the carto is where the problem is. Good thing I only paid $1 each for them!

 

[Vapoor eyes er]

You can try and dilute the VG with PGA, vodka or distilled water to thin the VG so it doesn't clog the cartos.

Thanks so much for all of the suggestions. I'm thinking I might boil the ones I've got to see what happens. Worst case scenario, I'm throwing them in the trash anyway! I have a KGO and some smoketech LR cartos on the way, but it will be a couple of more days. I have to have the 40%VG because too much PG chokes me like nobodies business! I also bought a DC 3.6ohm Clearomizer to try on the KGO, skipping the filler completely. Not sure that it's actually going to be low enough resistance to work though... six bucks, i figured worth a shot!

 

[Muramasa]

Watch out for the clearo. When u received it, open and then screw it onto ur battery. dun fill it yet. hold the tube firmly and give it a slight wiggle while pulling them apart. the whole thing should pop out. use a pencil or something to pop the inner cap out which has 2 slots. Use a penknife or anything sharp to cut and widen the 2 slots (V cut). after which, cap it on top of the coil. the slots should be where the wicks are. then slowly push the whole thing back in place into the tube. (this will improve the wicking as the coil is at the top and seeing u use 40vg, u might quickly experience burn taste. so gave u this info for heads-up)

 

[AmberB]

Thanks! I'll be sure and do that when the kgo comes. I really want to try something tank like but I've heard bad things about the tgo and ego tank systems!

 

[AmberB]

I forced myself to keep vaping the yucky carto instead of running for the analogs and the taste actually cleared up after an hour or so. Tastes pretty nice again. What would cause that?