Newbie needs help!

[pghrules]

Hi everyone!

I recently quit smoking cigarettes (finally!) and have switched to ecigs. I have a Joy 510 manual. It has a battery, atomizer and cartridges. I'm using high nicotine liquid. It's been 3 weeks now and I'm pretty sure I'm not doing the proper maintenance that I should be. I've noticed a gurgling sound at times and more recently some of the liquid is coming out into my mouth while inhaling. My questions are:
How often should I be replacing the atomizers and cartridges?
How much liquid should I be dropping into the cartridge at a time? (it doesn't seem to last very long)
Should I be cleaning the individual pieces daily, weekly? And how?
Sometimes I get a really good hit other times very weak, is this normal for a Joy510?
How do you know when it's time to change the filter in the cartridge?

Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my questions.

 

[D4rk50ul]

Welcome to where I was at right about 2 weeks in. I will tell you two ways to go about this and you can choose your path

Modding your Carts - The gurgling is a flooded atty and that is why you are getting juice in your mouth. The wicking material in the carts is pretty bad at best so the first thing I did was the blue foam mod (youtube for demo). It helped but it wasn't a miracle by any means. They hold quite a bit but you will never vape them dry like you would think so you will end up basically dripping into them constantly to keep up. I changed my carts blue foam once every couple weeks because the stuff is just so cheap. The carts should be filled until you can see liquid in the top of the filler material but not a pool, videos demonstrate this well. (Edit: Pyramid Tea bag mod is also nice)

Cleaning - Grab yourself some full grain alcohol like Vodka for cleaning, some paper towels, a pair of tweezers (stainless), and some q-tips. Unscrew your atomizer from the battery and blow it out from the battery side into the paper towel. Fill a small container with Vodka and dunk the atty in it for 30min~. Grab it with the tweezers and fill it up with the Vodka from the container and allow it to flow through the atty a few times until it looks like it is unrestricted. Wipe the end and blow out excess Vodka, let it dry overnight. Also dip your q-tip in the alcohol and clean the end of the battery, juice loves to hide in there and gum up the connection. When you go to use it again prime it with at least 4-5 drops until you hear a slight gurgle.

Easiest thing to do here though is to drip. Grab a cheap delrin tip and ditch the cart altogether. Place it on the end of the atty and drop 2-3 drops at a time then vape. When the flavor/vapor starts to fade (I get like 2-4 good pulls) drip a couple more drops. This takes some practice and cannot be used with un-sealed batteries but it eliminates 90% of the trouble. Once you get used to it you will very happy with the results.

 

[Jim Bob]

Carts are probably THE worst choice, most quickly move to dripping or cartomizers (some 2 ohm Boge cartos will really rock for you) I believe you'll be glad you tried them once you do. You can get them from various venders listed right here BTW . Happy Vaping and Congrats on giving up the stinks

 

[TonyTT]

If you need to vape on the go, I'm really enjoying Boge Standard Resistance cartomizers...you fill them with a blunt-tip syringe (Little under 1ml), and you're good to vape for about an hour. You should top it off every so often to revamp the flavour. A cartomizer can last anywhere from a week to 3...(haven't found the 3 week one, but I've only been at it for a little while). Cartomizers are atomizers and the cartridge part combined, and you just chuck it when you aren't happy with the flavour anymore, and just crack open a fresh one. Big selling point for me was a pack of 6 cartos will run you around the same price as an atomizer. Just less fuss for a beginner. Just remember to load up on them.

 

[SCTony]

Hi pghrules and welcome to ECF! Congratulations on quitting too! Feels great to not be tied to those things doesn't it Sorry I don't know enough to answer your questions- I started with cartomizers. I can recommend that you consider one of these GotVapes VISION eGo Stardust if(when) you decide to upgrade. Mine arrived today and I think this is an outstanding design. Unfortunately, the 3 suppliers that I know of are all sold out at the moment. GotVapes, LiteCigUsa, and MountainVapor carry this type of cartomizer. I wish I had gotten one of these first. Maybe someone will be along shortly that can help you out. (BTW I lived in Point Breeze for a few years )

 

[sportyfortyeight]

Welcome. I would get some boge cartos and vape on

Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk

 

[TJVJR]

If you need to vape on the go, I'm really enjoying Boge Standard Resistance cartomizers...you fill them with a blunt-tip syringe (Little under 1ml), and you're good to vape for about an hour. You should top it off every so often to revamp the flavour. A cartomizer can last anywhere from a week to 3...(haven't found the 3 week one, but I've only been at it for a little while). Cartomizers are atomizers and the cartridge part combined, and you just chuck it when you aren't happy with the flavour anymore, and just crack open a fresh one. Big selling point for me was a pack of 6 cartos will run you around the same price as an atomizer. Just less fuss for a beginner. Just remember to load up on them.

I agree about the switch to cartomizers. Would you say the syringe fill is better than the condom fill method ? Just curious and hopefully it will help the OP as well.

 

[Stef64]

Like others, I recommend you switch to cartomizers. Just be aware that low resistance cartos (below 2.5 ohm) can damage skinny batteries like your Joye 510. The Boge 3.0 should be just fine.

 

[Skennard]

I agree about the switch to cartomizers. Would you say the syringe fill is better than the condom fill method ? Just curious and hopefully it will help the OP as well.

I don't know if the syringe method is better just different. I personally prefer to just drip along the wall of the carto as I spin it. I don't want to carry around a syringe to refill or top off while on the go. I tried the condom fill method didn't like wasting the extra juice that I would have to blow out from the carto. Just my preferred method.

 

[1atom12]

I have run the Boge 3 ohm cartos on the regular 510 manual batteries and they work great! Highly recommended to get away from the stock cartridges...

 

[swedishfish]

Definitely get the boge cartos. You could probably use 2.5 but not many people make them. I think Ikenvape sells 2.5 cartos.

IKV Gold 510 Cartomizer - IkenVape Store

You can get boge 3.0 at Joogler, and you get a free bottle of juice. Use the code ECF5OFF for $5.00 off your first order.

Joogler Juice - Online Store

 

[Tull]

And one more vote for cartomizers here! No fuss, easy to fill, chuck'em when they die.

 

[TonyTT]

I don't know if the syringe method is better just different. I personally prefer to just drip along the wall of the carto as I spin it. I don't want to carry around a syringe to refill or top off while on the go. I tried the condom fill method didn't like wasting the extra juice that I would have to blow out from the carto. Just my preferred method.

Syringe:

Pros
Faster, you can fill the cartomizer thoroughly from top to bottom, it's not messy, you can suck the excess juice back into the syringe and keep a little bit to top off when your carto is running low. Also lets you know how much liquid you're putting in, and theres no need to wait for the juice to soak all the way through, you're pretty much good to go.

Cons: It looks sketchy carrying around a needle. Most e-juice bottles, when you pop off the dropper top, you can only get the needle to dip into the juice, if the bottles practically full. Otherwise, you're going to have to fill a condom or something with juice before you can fill the needle. So you get juice crusting in your condom.

Condom Method:

Pros: You're not carrying around a needle, it's pretty easy once you get it down, it soaks from the bottom up, so you don't have to wait for the juice to sink through (When you dip the battery connector end)

Cons: It can be messy if you're not careful, and you have sticky juice remnants in all your condoms (sounds gross I know)

Drip method:

Pros: Easy to do, little mess if you take you're time.

Cons: Takes a long time and you must be patient. Might have to incorporate the spin method repeatedly, and often you have to let the cartomizer sit for periods of time, waiting for the juice to soak throughout. I also lose count of how many drops I've put in, so I'm not sure if it's full, or I just have to wait until the juice soaks down more. Is also more difficult to do, the higher your VG levels are.

 

[TonyTT]

I'm also very new, so feel free to correct and and fill in the noobishnes of my advice...

 

[TJVJR]

Good summery.

 

[pghrules]

Thank you for all your replies! It seems like my ecig is flooding all the time. I blow the excess out of the atty when it does and of course it stops but why is this happening? Do I need a new atty? Am I putting to much liquid in? Am I holding it the wrong way or something?

 

[The Rebel]

Thank you for all your replies! It seems like my ecig is flooding all the time. I blow the excess out of the atty when it does and of course it stops but why is this happening? Do I need a new atty? Am I putting to much liquid in? Am I holding it the wrong way or something?

If you are dripping, three or four drops is enough. If you're using carts, the it might be time to change the filler. Plenty of cart tips on here to search on. I would also recommend changing to cartos. Must less fuss, mess, and a lot more vaping time between fillings. JMHO.

 

[Sweeney Todd]

I agree, it sounds like the filler material in your cartridges is shot. (And as everyone else has said, yeah, get some cartomizers to try out.)

 

[Padre]

I used and atty and dripping for the first eight months of vaping

If it has been 2 weeks with the same atty, it may need a cleaning, or replacing
there are a lot of cleaning methods available if you search.

my method was to run hot water through it to get any build up out. I actually used a water pik to kind of pressure wash it.

then it needs to dry from all the water. Blow it out from both ends and let it sit overnight. Blow it out again and see if you can tell if it is dry.

when I say blow it out, I mean blow it out a lot. Almost until you feel light headed!

I did a dry burn, but most people will tell you not to do it. Puts excess strain on the coil in the atty and if you are not careful, you will killl it completely. I have killed a few doing it, but I always had spares.

I switched to cartos last summer and will probably never go back to an atty again

 

[CCC]

If you decide to switch to cartomizers, they last about a week each, sometimes longer, you can clean them when they get clogged up, but i don't bother with that, i just throw them away, just like a used cigarette .....

Cartomizers take between 1 and 5 mls depending on their size, the site you buy them from will tell you aproximatly how many mls to put in. 20 drops = 1ml.