Need a bit of help/refresher course .......

[TJVJR]

Its been a year or so since I have used cartomizers but recently I started looking through my supplies for something to use for a nice orange morning vape. I ran upon a Dual Coil Cartomizer from smok Tech ( 1.25 ) that I had used a bit ( filled, didn't like the flavor I was testing so I rinsed it, let it set in vodka for a couple hours and rerinsed ) so i thought I would give it a try. I filled it with about 50 drops of orange , let it set overnight and tried it this morning. It gurgled a bit at first but soon settled down and did good but after 5 minuets or so it got a dry ( almost burnt ) taste . I shook it a bit and flavor returned for a minuet or so and then the dry/little flavor taste returned. I tried varying the voltage a bit starting at 4v then dropping to about 3v ( where it did best ) but no big difference. Should I top it off and let it set or could the vodka cleaning and setting unused damaged the filler ? Another question , I have a Mega Cartomizer from smok Tech that I filled with orange about a year ago ( around the time I switched to clearos then rebuildables ) and used for maybe 30 min before putting it in storage. Think its still ok to use or should I give it a nice cleaning first ? Any advice on cleaning the big Cartos ? Thanks all .

 

[Baditude]

A couple of observations based on my own experience...

I believe the dry burnt taste after a few minutes of vaping is due to it being a dual coil cartomizer. My theory is even if you properly prime a dual coil carto, unless you are continuously "topping off" the carto the upper coil will burn the filler material. Consider the anatomy of a cartomizer...



Above is a cutaway if a punched carto as it would function in a cartotank. You see the single coil near the bottom of the carto, with the wick hole nearby to keep the filler around it nice and wet. Now imagine a second coil about mid-way up the shaft above the lower coil.

As you vape, negative pressure from the sucking pulls juice from both the tank and the top of the cartomizer. If you look at the top of the filler, it will always look dry after you begin to vape. Note the red arrows in the diagram representing the flow of juice. The juice from the tank will never fill the carto any higher than the wick hole, so any filler above that is bound to become dry at some point. This is where that upper coil lies. Dry filler plus a hot coil = burnt filler.

I stopped using dual coils over a year ago. I get much better results with single coils. Since making the switch, I never get the burnt taste I would get with dual coils.

Cartomizers are designed to be disposable. Used once and thrown away. It's not worth trying to recycle used cartomizers. No matter what method you use to clean the filler, remnants of the old flavor inevitably remain.

 

[mobocracy]

I think Baditude is right about the disposable nature of cartomizers. Standalone I find that I can use a cartomizer about two-thirds and refill it and get about the same flavor and duration as I got the first time but it falls off after that, especially with sweet VG juices which I think gunk the polyfill and the coil, muting the flavor and reducing vapor volume.

I've never tried soaking/cleaning them -- for about $1.25 each, it's not worth my time and hassle to do that.

My experience with with dual coil cartos has been better than Baditudes. I've been using Smok 1.5Ω duals in a DCT with a second punch without any burned taste. I can get about 6 ml of Johnson Creek Red Oak Tennessee Cured juice through one before the carto loses flavor, but not a burned taste.

Because my cheap punch is going dull I decided to try a couple with the single factory drilled hole and so far they are working OK with 100% VG juice, which is kind of surprising as I didn't think it would wick at all. I have been trying to be careful not to chain vape because I think they might run too dry and burn basically the way Baditude describes.

 

[TJVJR]

Thanks ,fantastic information. I may look into tank/carto combos. Would you think the Mega Cartomizer from Smok Tech is "safe" to use ? I basically filled it ( It took a lot of fluid to fill it ) and used it for about a half hour and then put it in a plastic box .That has been a year or so ago but it still vapes good but it seems like I read somewhere mold can develop though I don't see any .