Newbie help - cartomizer 101

[Karl Hammond]

Hi guys I am a new vaper (3 days in). I have the apollo extreme and are filling my own blanks. I have read through a tonne of Q & A but there are still a few things about the carto's that mystify me!!
Firstly I don't have any issue filling them or using them as such and will get the hang of exactly when to refill etc so as not to burn them out. That being said.... If I do vape till it tastes burnt is that basically the end of the carto. Also will the burnt taste be more or less immediate or will it be gradual. ie normal draw and taste followed by a burnt taste on the next draw. If its an immediate type of thing that the carto can't recover from I'm guessing you have to be really careful not to run them dry.
Secondly filling them. At the moment I just drip and rotate from the mouthpiece end and dont have a problem but I would really like to use the condom method. I just have a couple of questions on this method. It seems you can fill from either end but this method seems, to me, to break every rule I've read on filling. Ie don't get the battery end wet otherwise you could ruin battery. Surely filling using this method from the battery end is going to cover all the terminals etc in liquid??? Also when using this method aren't you just forcing the liquid in there and it will basically pass over/saturate the coil inside and also fill the middle tube with liquid. Is this OK??? If so why on earth do we have to be so careful not to get any liquid down the centre hole when dripping in?? Why cant I just more or less just pour 1 or 2ml straight in and let everyhting soak up rather than being so careful not to drip down the middle . It seems there is no care using the condom method??
Anyway I really want to use this method cause its obviously the fastest and in the end the easiest and you can also empty them using the condoms too which is good. My biggest problem is that none of my apollo cartos come with the condoms!!! GRRRRRRR!!!! They have a little rubber plug with a bit that pokes up the battery end, and just a peel-off sticker on the mouthpiece end.
SO does anyone know where I can buy just the condoms??? Is there an online vaping megastore selling all these little bits and bobs.

Cheers in anticipation for your help.

 

[BarTendor]

You waste a lot of juice with the condom method as it fills the center tube with juice... Then you have to blow out the center tube before use... Even then you still get some gurgle or juice in your mouth...YUCK


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[BarTendor]

There are special stick you can buy to stick in the center tube to plug it up... I used a tooth pick... Once plugged just squirt the juice in with no worries


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[Baditude]

I agree with the above. Using the so-called "condom" filling method wastes juice in my opinion. It also requires you to blow out the air hole and to carefully wipe the connector on the bottom of the cartomizer when finished filling. All of this takes time, and I'm an impatient person.



BTW, I've never seen the condoms for sale separately. Boge cartomizers typically come with the condoms on them when you purchase them. I have no idea if they are the same cartomizers as your "Apollo" cartomizers, as I've never heard of the Apollo brand before. Boge and Smoktech cartomizers are 510 connector threaded. Some "off brand" cartomizers can be 808-threaded and not be compatible with 510 threaded devices.

I fill my cartos using the "drip & flick" method. It's what works best for me. It's included in the first part of this blog. Baditude's Cartotank Setup Guide I use the above toothpick idea, too. That way I don't have to blow out the carto air hole when finished or wipe the connector clean like with the condom method. It sounds like you are using your cartomizers solo; I use mine in cartotanks. They can be used either way.

Once a carto develops a burnt taste, it is ruined. You'll never get that taste out no matter what you try. What's happened is the polyfill (wick) material has been allow to get dry and the heating coil has burnt it. This is the downside to using cartos solo in that you can't tell easily when to refill them. You have to top them off frequently. If used in a cartotank, a "punched" carto automatically gets refilled with each drag from the vacuum that's created in the tank. Read the sections on cartomizers and cartotanks here: Is it a carto, a tank, or what?.

 

[daleron]

Well there ya' go Karl

Welcome to ECF!

 

[GinnyTx]

Qtips work too.

I'm going to be polite and leave it at that with the Apollos and their ilk I'd tried that type years ago and still wanted a ciggie afterwards but my mama taught me that if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all. *lol*

Welcome Kiwi Karl and congrats on quitting OP!!

 

[Baditude]

Just Googled the Apollo e-cigarette site. Unlike GinnyTx, I'll say that any company that offers e-liquid with caffeine is questionable. Using caffeine in e-liquid is not an approved practice here on ECF and is considered to be not adviseable. I'll refrain from commenting on the quality of their other products as I've not used them.

 

[HughDaHand]

Looks like you got some good answers so far so I'll address what was not talked about yet. When filling a carto with the drip method you don't want to get juice in the center hole because the juice will just go down the hole and drip out the bottom of the carto. This waste juice and makes a mess. With the condom method this is not a issue since the juice would still be in the condom.

Also with filling a carto I personally top it off well before it gets to the burnt taste, you will usually taste a drop off in flavor before this point. Just figure out a habit that works for you and your vape pace, add 5 drops ever hour for example or do a total refill every 4 hours exc.

 

[Baditude]

Looks like you got some good answers so far so I'll address what was not talked about yet. When filling a carto with the drip method you don't want to get juice in the center hole because the juice will just go down the hole and drip out the bottom of the carto. This waste juice and makes a mess. With the condom method this is not a issue since the juice would still be in the condom.

This issue was discussed by both BarTender and myself. We both said we plug the air hole with a toothpick. Just wanted to clear up any misunderstanding or confusion.

 

[Karl Hammond]

Yeah thats what I sorta figured would happen.

 

[v1k1ng1001]

Best thing I did was upgrade out of the cig-a-likes.

 

[Karl Hammond]

Hey thanks guys can't believe how quickly my questions have been answered. Thank heaps!! To respond if I may....
All your great responses have just reassured me that I am doing the right thing with my cartomizers. Good to know the only reason for not getting liquid down the middle is that it will come out the bottom!!! lol The way it ALWAYS seems to be stipulated, to be careful, not to get liquid down the center tube led me to believe it was quite vital not to let this happen, hence my queries regarding the condom method breaking then usual filling guidelines. But I see now its okay to break these rules as long as you rectify the issues before you fire up.
So thats all good and I think I will just stick with the dripping in method but I would still like some condoms for my cartos as I have like 15 different flavoured cartos all opened cause the first thing I did was try out all the flavors I got!! I would just like to seal the 14 not in use at any time. So still awaiting any help on that one guys. Was also wondering how long the disposable and refillable cartos will last if they are kept nicely soaked all the time. I am using both disposable and refillable cartos and refilling both of them. I saw one guy on youtube saying he gets 100's of uses out of each carto just by looking after them. Is that really possible?? With the dispoables as well?? (Just cause that doesn't sound very disposable to me!!)

Thanks for the other responses regarding apollo, the comments did surprise me a little as I researched hard out for about 2-3 weeks on what brand to go with. Considering my two prerequisites were that it must look like a cigarette, and I want refillable cartos so I can add my own liquid, there didn't seem to be many options among the big 3-4 companies and the apollo was up there on ALOT of the review and ranking sites and was in the top 3 on numerous sites and ranked 1st on at least one site i visited. Also seemed to have positive responses on here as well so considering all that I thought these guys were quite popular among the community it just surprises me that you guys havnt heard of them. Never mind I know I have nothing else to compare them to other than to say that I was a roll your own smoker rolling and smoking about 40 a day. I placed order with apollo on Friday 15th, emailed them next day on Saturday when I realized I had ordered blanks for the standard kit whereas I had ordered the extreme. I asked for my order to be changed to the extreme cartos, if it had not yet been dispatched. I got an email back a few hour later saying my parcel had been intercepted and the order rectified. Whew!!! Package arrived at my door (here in New Zealand!) on Wed 20th. That is honestly the fastest I have ever got anything I have bought from the States!! Awesome! Today is Sunday and I haven't had a single rollie and must say that I have not craved for one at all the ecig works perfectly to relieve craving and performs just like the reviews said. I get lots of vapor, throat hit etc and as my first e cig experience I think these things are awesome. I bought 24mg nic for all flavours, I thought since this was going to replace ciggies I would need to get the strpong stuff but honestly I could of gone with th 16-18mg stuff just as happily cause I get good nic. rush after only about 4 good draws where sometimes I want a couple more draws but start to get head spin! Will def. tone down nic content on my next flavorings!! Just one little tip for other users of these is that they apparently recently changed the cartos to have 4 little draw holes......if you cover 2 of them as you draw it eliminates the airflow sound that can occur and to me is makes it feel almost identical to drawing a normal ciggie.

Cheers again for your advice and guidance guys

 

[Karl Hammond]

Hey thanks guys can't believe how quickly my questions have been answered. Thank heaps!! To respond if I may....
All your great responses have just reassured me that I am doing the right thing with my cartomizers. Good to know the only reason for not getting liquid down the middle is that it will come out the bottom!!! lol The way it ALWAYS seems to be stipulated, to be careful, not to get liquid down the center tube led me to believe it was quite vital not to let this happen, hence my queries regarding the condom method breaking then usual filling guidelines. But I see now its okay to break these rules as long as you rectify the issues before you fire up.
So thats all good and I think I will just stick with the dripping in method but I would still like some condoms for my cartos as I have like 15 different flavoured cartos all opened cause the first thing I did was try out all the flavors I got!! I would just like to seal the 14 not in use at any time. So still awaiting any help on that one guys. Was also wondering how long the disposable and refillable cartos will last if they are kept nicely soaked all the time. I am using both disposable and refillable cartos and refilling both of them. I saw one guy on youtube saying he gets 100's of uses out of each carto just by looking after them. Is that really possible?? With the dispoables as well?? (Just cause that doesn't sound very disposable to me!!)

Thanks for the other responses regarding apollo, the comments did surprise me a little as I researched hard out for about 2-3 weeks on what brand to go with. Considering my two prerequisites were that it must look like a cigarette, and I want refillable cartos so I can add my own liquid, there didn't seem to be many options among the big 3-4 companies and the apollo was up there on ALOT of the review and ranking sites and was in the top 3 on numerous sites and ranked 1st on at least one site i visited. Also seemed to have positive responses on here as well so considering all that I thought these guys were quite popular among the community it just surprises me that you guys havnt heard of them. Never mind I know I have nothing else to compare them to other than to say that I was a roll your own smoker rolling and smoking about 40 a day. I placed order with apollo on Friday 15th, emailed them next day on Saturday when I realized I had ordered blanks for the standard kit whereas I had ordered the extreme. I asked for my order to be changed to the extreme cartos, if it had not yet been dispatched. I got an email back a few hour later saying my parcel had been intercepted and the order rectified. Whew!!! Package arrived at my door (here in New Zealand!) on Wed 20th. That is honestly the fastest I have ever got anything I have bought from the States!! Awesome! Today is Sunday and I haven't had a single rollie and must say that I have not craved for one at all the ecig works perfectly to relieve craving and performs just like the reviews said. I get lots of vapor, throat hit etc and as my first e cig experience I think these things are awesome. I bought 24mg nic for all flavours, I thought since this was going to replace ciggies I would need to get the strpong stuff but honestly I could of gone with th 16-18mg stuff just as happily cause I get good nic. rush after only about 4 good draws where sometimes I want a couple more draws but start to get head spin! Will def. tone down nic content on my next flavorings!! Just one little tip for other users of these is that they apparently recently changed the cartos to have 4 little draw holes......if you cover 2 of them as you draw it eliminates the airflow sound that can occur and to me is makes it feel almost identical to drawing a normal ciggie.

Cheers again for your advice and guidance guys

 

[Baditude]

Speaking honestly, the sooner you upgrade away from the cigarette-sized batteries/cartridges, the better will be your experience, in my opinion. Like you, when I first began vaping, it was important for the device to be the same size as a cigarette. They allowed me to stop smoking, but I was not satisfied. Battery time sucked. The selection of juice attachments sucked. I wanted a battery that would last me all day; and be able to hold enough e-liquid to last all day.

I skipped the eGo battery setups altogether and went with an advanced personal vaporizer (APV) or "mod". The rechargeable battery lasted me the entire day or more. The juice attachments (cartotanks) lasted 1 - 2 days between refills. I sacrificed "looks" for "function and convenience" SO GLAD THAT I DID!! The resulting vaping experience was better than smoking ever was.

Advancing Up the Vaping Ladder