lenze
I see you've been patiently waiting for someone to reply. A little confusion on what you're using a clearomizer of carto. I'm going to assume you're using DCT dual coil cartomizer.
quite unlucky with filling and using them
just about everything you mentioned can be attributed to filling. When I fill a DCT I'll pull the cartomizer down until I can see the top of the cartomizer has cleared the top housing (cap), enough so I can tilt the cartomizer to the side of the DCT. Then you should have a fairly big hole to put the juice in. Fill to desired fullness and then puch the cartomizer back into place.
leaking, gurgling and getting nasty on me
Since leaking and gurgling are mentioned together it sounds like you've got juice down the breathing tube. Possibly you're talking about leaking out the bottom air hole, the gurgling definitely is liquid in the air tube. You'll have to blow that out into a paper towel or such, only blow it out a little and if there is any gurgling after that you should be able to vape that dry. If you blow long and hard you'll create a suction to the tank and you'll keep getting liquid into your paper towel. Another reason it may leak is if your rubber o-ring is damaged or out of place, I usually rub a slight amount of liquid on my cartomizer as a lubricant before twisting/pushing into the tank. One of my DCT's had a crack in the plastic that holds the o-ring. The getting nasty on you I can only imagine with it leaking juice on your hands, gurgling so you can't get the coil up to the proper heat I guess that could be called nasty. Happens to everyone.
vape with just using the carto dripping to the sides to the fiber inside?
You certainly can use these cartos without the tank, you'll have to plug the holes with wooden plugs, super glue, maybe even some kind of caulk you have around the house. I don't think I'd use tape as the liquid is libel to disintegrate it. Then fill the carto by dripping down the filling 2 or 3 drops at a time until your juice puddles on the top and the batting doesn't take any more. Also you'll probably get some in the air hole so blow that out and you're good to go.
I hope you didn't get disheartened by lack of an answer here on ECF, good luck and happy vaping
