New Carto Cleaning Experiment...

[Konstantine]

Vodka-Vinegar-Sodium Bicarbonate probably won't do anything to the coil..
Maybe it get's a few pieces of the coil but that's it, since you have a single piece of carbon it's then easy to get more on the coil faster than a new clean one.

 

[Coryac]

Ok... Guys Break it down for me...I have never cleaned a Carto before!!! I'm confused!

 

[440BB]

So baking soda won't do much but denture tabs may?

 

[cindycated]

View attachment 91079
Picture of how your coil looks under the microscope. Not too much magnified but you get the picture.
This pic is taken AFTER it has been passed through an ultrasonic machine. Nothing changed.

On a well-used carto (one that makes you say, "yup, time to clean"), the silica fibers would be black and crusty as well, and the whole piece would look like a mini charcoal briquette. The crud over where the wire wraps around is incredibly stubborn (I've never gotten it completely off), but the silica part cleans up pretty well (the longer you soak, the cleaner it gets), and you end up with a tiny bit cleaner version of what's pictured here. Who knows...maybe that's enough to let the coil absorb the liquid to heat it up...dunno, but my old ones still work, and I know they're just ever so slightly cleaner than this picture...

The problem I had with baking soda was that it was a PITA to remove from the filler and didn't work nearly as fast as the denture tabs. The denture tabs have baking soda plus a bunch of other stuff in it.

 

[Esoterica3]

Well, finally got around to the syringe rinsing part of the process...but alas! no black specks came out

Though many of them just had juice in that wasn't for me so it was just to get rid of the flavor (some hard to get rid of flavors at that), there were a few that had become hard to draw on.

Anyway, they're currently drying, and I had an unexpected move (like today, and again maybe in a week or so...) so may be awhile before I can test any final results. Still plan on filling them with PG before adding juices to see which ones work. Will use the syringe or Taryn spin to get rid of the PG before re-filling the ones that do work.

Back in a few days

 

[DedTV]

I used to use the Polident denture cleaning tabs for smokers on some "other" smoking accessories back in the day. If they can break loose all the gunk that created, they should work well in cartos too depending on what they're gunked up with (probably won't do much if the coil is encrusted in carbon for example).

Just make sure you use unflavored ones as I'd imagine the minty ones would be a bad idea for cartos.

 

[rave]

I used to use the Polident denture cleaning tabs for smokers on some "other" smoking accessories back in the day. If they can break loose all the gunk that created, they should work well in cartos too depending on what they're gunked up with (probably won't do much if the coil is encrusted in carbon for example).

Just make sure you use unflavored ones as I'd imagine the minty ones would be a bad idea for cartos.

Yep - the minty ones are not so good. Also don't use the 3 Minute type. You need the all night variety.

 

[Esoterica3]

When I started this, I looked all over for unflavored polydent, could not find any anywhere...not even online...was all triple mint. Used the efferdent as it didn't say anything about mint but turns out there was a mint flavor to it. Made sure to rinse them out very well.

Where did/do you find your unflavored?

 

[rave]

It was at Walmart. They also carry the minty stuff.

 

[440BB]

Thanks for the tip - I couldn't find plain Polident anywhere either!