newbie question on filling cartos

[smiddleton1]

So I received a KR808D-1 and am enjoying it, but have been using the some pre-filled cartos I had on hand. Last night I decided to try filling a blank with some juice I had ordered. The blank cartos have a rubber piece that pops out (on the mouth side of the carto exposing the material inside. I took the juice and dripped once into it and waited until it absorbed in the material. I repeated this 6-7 times and stopped as I did not want to overfill and had no idea how much that material would absorb. I then replaced the rubber piece and attach to the battery.

Upon using, I did not get any vapor, but received a nice little amount of menthol juice in my mouth. So clearly I'm doing something wrong. What say you?

 

[Cynnamin]

I used to have that problem until I started spinning the cart in a baggie to force the juice down into the material further. Sometimes it's hard to tell how much juice is still in there. I've heard the term "slushy" used to say when it's full enough but I still can't tell... I got better with practice until I didn't have to use the spinning anymore.

 

[keyzygirl]

I find if you blow through the carto lightly into a tissue,you dont get juice in your mouth.It clears the tube and pushes the juice down a bit.

 

[cskent]

It sounds like you're overfilling your carto. As Torrid said, fill until it looks slushy but not flooded. I try to let them sit for about 1/2 an hour after filling so the juice distributes more evenly. If you do overfill one just blow kinda hard through it onto a tissue to catch any juice that comes out and you'll be good to go.

 

[The Big Chief]

You refill in the white fiber fill stuff along the outside, NOT the tube down the middle. That is the air intake. A cartos will hold roughly 20-25 drops of liquid when blank, but seem to refil with 10-15. Once you get a drop or two comming out the bottom, it is full. Once flavor seems off constantly, time to chuck it and get a new one.
VG liquids dont absorb well...PG will, because its thinner. All trial and error.
If you think you got some in the air intake, just reassemble and give a quick blow through either end to blow it out...QUICK blow, not extended.

 

[JC Okie]

+1 to the blow into it. It'll clear the center hole, and it will push the juice down in there. I do it two or three times as I'm filling a carto...then I add a little more each time until it's slushy after I've blown on it.

 

[Rosa]

I always did them the condom method. It's easier (whichever way you choose) if you fill them all at night and then they are ready for the next morning. This way they also have a chance to soak into the filler over night too. Here's the condom method:
YouTube - Refill Ecig Cartos Quick and Easy (CCFM)

 

[smiddleton1]

Great advice - I'll give that a go - tissue and blow. Big Chief - I did use VG so that was great info to know for future reference. If I'm hearing you - VG is fine it will just require a little more effort / patience for it to absorb?

This was a new carto that I put 7 drops max in, so I'm pretty sure I had a good amount in the air intake from what I got in my mouth. On the no vapor problem - possibly I just didn't have enough in there to produce anything. I'll give this another go - I have 4 bottles waiting to be vaped!

 

[smiddleton1]

just saw your post also Rosa - thanks. I'll give that a watch. Good point on waiting overnight.

 

[dormouse]

What I do for standard stuffing-inside V4L/KR8 cartos -

When you drip the juice in (same as topping off a used one which I do whenever the vapor seems off)

1. take carto off the battery, and shake up and uncap juice
2. pop the mouth end cap and hold a tissue against the threaded end hole
3. hold it tilted and drip onto the inner sides of the metal cylinder, rotating to get all sides (probably what you did except you did it more because it was new carto)
4. check if any dripped through the threaded end hole - clean it up well
5. holding the threaded end slightly higher, I do several puffs into the threaded end hole to clear out any juice that got in the air channel (a so later you don't drag it into your mouth and b. so it won't drip onto the battery)
6. recap and use

There is also a shortcut way with pushing juice in using the carto condoms - search YouTube for Taryn Spin and watch both videos. Add to what he does my step 5 and 6 to make it safer. But I would be a bit wary about doing it if you have auto batteries. Auto batteries are usually more prone to getting killed if juice drips on the battery end hole. The drag sensor is in there.

Right now I am just topping off whatever prefilled one I use with Backwoods Brew Vanilla Bean. It pretty much mixes nicely with anything. I also ordered a V4L juice (WOWbacco - a cocoa and tobacco mix) for refilling some others.

Also - I think for cartos you will have best luck with juices that have at least 20% VG. I mostly use 70pg/30vg. 100% PG is so thin it may be more likely to run out of the stuffing and into the air channel in normal handling.