No vape, chemical-y, burning smell.

[Automaton]

Hey everyone!

I'm having trouble with one of my cartos, I think.

I took an empty carto and filled it with Lucky Strike 18mg juice with the "condom method." I'm pretty sure I didn't fill it incorrectly, because I did the same with a DIY juice I just made (it's a work in progress, but that's another story!) and it vapes fine.

It doesn't vape. At all. I tried it on both my batteries.

I can kind of taste it, and if I do a quick puff and let it out without inhaling, I do get a tiny bit of vapor.

But mostly it just gets really hot, and then starts to taste chemical-y and smell like something's burning.

So now I'm kind of afraid to drag on it anymore because that smell is really concerning.

Thoughts?

 

[zoiDman]

Sounds like a bad carto or you didn't let it sit long enough after filling it. I would either flush it out and rinse it with vineger or toss it.

 

[Automaton]

Sounds like a bad carto or you didn't let it sit long enough after filling it. I would either flush it out and rinse it with vineger or toss it.

I let it sit, mouthpiece side-up (I filled from the mouthpiece end), for a couple minutes, just like the one I filled with DIY. And my DIY one has VG, so I would think that would be slower to saturate.

The smell/taste really frightened me... maybe I'll take it apart so I know what it's coming from. Sacrifice it to science. It's just one carto. Ah well.

 

[Automaton]

Ok, tried it another blank carto, and that one appears to be completely dead. Doesn't even heat up. No vape at all.

So far, 2 work, 2 don't. *sigh*

 

[dee5]

Wish I could help you but I don't know a thing about carto's. I just had to say "Ewwww!" to the vinegar idea. What????

 

[Automaton]

Ok, made more DIY liquid, and filled up my last blank carto. Draw's seems slightly harder than usual - maybe I overfilled it a bit - but it vapes just fine.

...This will probably sound stupid, but is there any chance at all that my Lucky Strike liquid could be doing this? Because the two that didn't work had Lucky Strike in them. The other three my my DIY's.

Again, I know that's probably not it, since the two wonky cartos have two different problems... but just in case.

 

[CES]

I do think that the juice can make a difference- but probably not that soon. Have you made sure that the center hole is centered? (can you see through to the end if you look through the ceneter of the carto?) You can use a straightened paper clip through the center to test and fix it if it's not. Sometimes it takes time for the liquid to wick all the way through the filling. The burning sounds like underfill, and the not getting any heat sounds like overfill. For me the condom fill is messy and inconsistent. I'd recommend taking the cap off and filling where you can see it. Center, test the draw, fill with the lid off if possible.

 

[Automaton]

CES - I took a look inside, and the one that smelled like burning is orange on the inside. The hole was slightly off center, but not significantly moreso than another one I opened up which was working fine.

I tried to center it a bit, but that orange color is weird. What is doing that? I would think if it were burnt it would be black or brown. It's even staining the mouthpiece orange. The Lucky strike liquid I used isn't orange - it's slightly tea-colored. And the inside of the one that wouldn't work at all isn't orange.

The one that wouldn't work... it looks slightly dry if anything. I put the "condoms" back on it overnight.

I'm mostly just worried about what the hell that orange stuff is.

 

[CES]

The juice can change color- the darker the juice the darker the color on the filler. I think of it as carmelizing, though I'm 99% sure that's a completely inaccurate description of the process.

The off center wire and hole can make a difference- decreased air flow and hotter cartos (because the hot wire is next to the metal- assuming they get warm at all). But since nothing worked, I'd contact the supplier if you haven't already.

 

[Automaton]

I'm going to give one last shot at fixing them myself. If that doesn't turn out, I will contact the supplier. Although I'm not *too* fussed about 2 bad cartos.