Hey, welcome to ECF, and grats on being smoke-free!
I've written an article in my blog on the more common juice delivery devices. I'll copy/paste it here as I don't believe you would yet have access to seeing blog posts being you are a new member.
Proper terminology - Is it a carto, a tank, or what? Juice delivery attachments.
by Baditude , 10-22-2012 at 07:51 PM (821 Views)
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CARTOMIZERS are steel tubes filled with a polyfiber that looks very much like a cigarette filter, and have a heating coil within it which heats e-liquid into vapor. There is a small air tube in the center of the carto running its entire length which directs the vapor into a drip tip that is placed on the end of the carto.
Single coil cartomizers have one heating element in them and dual coil cartomizers have two heating elements. These can be used alone to vape your e-liquid.
Cartos may be filled by using a couple of methods, but I prefer to fill them by dripping into the top, using a toothpic in the center air hole to prevent liquid from getting in it, thereby preventing "flooding" the carto, not a good thing. Fill slowly until the polyfill has the appearance of a slushy drink. The shake the carto downward like a thermometer; this acts like a centrifuge does by forcing the liquid down into the carto. Add more liquid, and shake it down again. It should now be ready to use.
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"Pre-punched" cartomizers have laser-drilled holes in the side and are ready to be filled and inserted inside of a cartotank. These tank-ready cartomizers may be purchased from most online vendors. Use only stainless steel cartos for tanks, not the black ones, which have a sticker applied for appearance purposes.
Unpunched cartos can also be used in tanks, requiring the user to make their own holes in order for the juice in the tank to be able to make its way to the heating coil inside the cartomizer. A carto punch tool can accomplish this. I recommend for beginners to purchase the pre-punched cartos initially. One or two holes is adequate for all but the most thick e-liquids.
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Above is a pic of a typical
CARTOTANK. It is made up of a clear tube with end caps on either end. A punched cartomizer is inserted between the two endcaps. A drip tip, or mouthpiece, fits into the end of the carto. This combination is what is referred to as a cartomizer tank.
These can have a juice capacity of between 2 - 9 ml.
Tube material can be polycarbonate or polypropylene plastic, pyrex glass, or stainless steel. Pyrex is the preferred material. Endcaps can be made of plastic or metal.
Tanks sizes are generally categorized by length as a standard (using a 35mm cartomizer) or an XL size (using a 45mm cartomizer). The diameter of tanks can vary greatly, but typically are between 19mm and 25mm.
Watch the below video which demonstrates how to properly assemble and fill a cartotank.
Electronic Cigarettes 101: Tank Basics - YouTube
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Above are
CLEAROMIZERS. These can be considered small tanks as the container holding the juice is typically clear plastic. Instead of polyfill like a cartomizer uses, these use string-like wicks that draw the e-liquid to an atomizer head, which contains the heating coil to make vapor.
These can have a juice capacity of between 1.5 - 2.5 ml. These are filled by removing the top cap and dripping in the liquid, careful to not get any into the center airhole.
Some flavors, such as cinnamon and citrus flavors, can react with the plastic used in these and cause the material to crack or actually melt.
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Above is a
CE2 (some vendors call these a CE3 or a clear cartomizer). These are sort of a hybrid cartomizer/clearomizer. They typically are the same length and diameter of a cartomizer, but are clear like a clearomizer, and use the same atomizer head with string wicks like a clearomizer.
I find these quite useful to test out new flavors from juice samplers because they can be easily emptied and refilled with another flavor quite easily.
These can have a juice capacity between 1 - 1.5 ml. Most versions require removing the top and injecting e-liquid into the tube with a fine needle and syringe, but there are newer versions that may be filled by just removing the top, such as a device known as the Nano.
These appear to be immune to the flavors known to crack plastic, as the material used is polypropylene.
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VIVI NOVA TANKS use wicking strings and an atomizer head like a clearomizer, but have a larger juice capacity in their tanks of between 2 ml and 3.5 ml. The atomizer heads in these are replaceable, so if you are relatively handy you can replace a bad head with a new one so that you don't have to buy an entire tank replacement. These are filled by removing the top cap. These are often recommended for beginning vapors because of their ease of use.
The tube material in these is still polycarbonate plastic to the best of my knowledge, so these tanks are susceptible to damaging effects by certain flavors.
There are metal tubes available to replace the plastic ones should you wish to use one of the above flavors. Just make certain that it is metal all the way around, as some of the metal tubes have a juice window which is made of the same kind of plastic that is susceptible to the tank-cracking juices!
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* Please be aware that certain flavors, such as cinnamon and citris flavors, can have damaging effects on the
clear plastic tubes of these attachments that use polycarbonate plastic.
This is why pyrex glass, polypropylene plastic, and stainless steel is recommended for the tubes. A relatively up-to-date list of these flavors can be found at this link:
http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...-crack-tanks-ce2s-clearos-30.html#post7805448
I wrote an additional article of juice delivery devices that are safe to use with the above volatile flavors that can be found in this link:
http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...3-something-safe-cinnamon-citrus-flavors.html
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