Possible water in kr808 carts. Low flavor after a few drags.

[Jewel Ship]

I started cleaning my carts for my kr808 using the following method: YouTube - Cleaning a cartomizer by boiling

1. Rinse under sink using hot water for a little bit
2. Put in pot of boiling filtered water for 15 minutes
3. Blow through mouth end twice to get as much water out as possible
4. stand upside down [battery end up] on paper towel for 2 days

Afterwards, I can fill the cart with maybe 16 drops, sometimes as little as 12, and the top looks 'wet', so I stop filling.

I get about 3, maybe 4 flavorful hits, then there is a very noticeable drop in flavor and it starts to taste a little like wet cardboard. Vapor production doesn't change, just a drop in flavor.

Now, when I move the tip of my tongue near the 'stream' coming out of the cart inside my mouth, the stream still tastes 'sweet', but the vapor itself doesn't really have much of a taste.

I'm not positive I'm getting all the water out of the carts after I clean them; for example, today I got a cart that's been sitting in my kitchen for almost three days, blew through it, and there was a tiny amount of moisture that came out. If this is the case, how do I dry the insides of the cart out better? I read here about using really strong alcohol with no sugar in it, but I don't drink because I don't like the taste, so having the taste of alcohol mixed with my e-juice sounds unpleasant to me.

Another possibility I've thought of after reading here; I take slow, gentle drags, but they're 5-10 seconds long each time. The cart will get very warm sometimes if I'm at my computer because I will take big drag after big drag. Could it be that I'm not allowing the e-juice to 'wick' after a big drag, thus causing the lack of flavor?

Here are my proposed solutions:
1. Use a hair dryer to dry the carts; after letting them air dry for at least 12 hours, keep them standing upside down, battery end up, and point the hair dryer straight down on top of them for 5 minutes or so. Afterwards, fill as normal, but wait 5 minutes or so for the e-juice to 'wick', then add a little more fluid if the top doesn't look 'wet'.

2. Switch out carts after every big drag; have several handy. If it's even slightly warm, go to the next one in rotation.

Does this sound correct? Any advice on diagnosis and/or solutions would be appreciated.

 

[JustMeAgain]

I started cleaning my carts for my kr808 using the following method: YouTube - Cleaning a cartomizer by boiling

1. Rinse under sink using hot water for a little bit
2. Put in pot of boiling filtered water for 15 minutes
3. Blow through mouth end twice to get as much water out as possible
4. stand upside down [battery end up] on paper towel for 2 days

Afterwards, I can fill the cart with maybe 16 drops, sometimes as little as 12, and the top looks 'wet', so I stop filling.

I get about 3, maybe 4 flavorful hits, then there is a very noticeable drop in flavor and it starts to taste a little like wet cardboard. Vapor production doesn't change, just a drop in flavor.

Now, when I move the tip of my tongue near the 'stream' coming out of the cart inside my mouth, the stream still tastes 'sweet', but the vapor itself doesn't really have much of a taste.

I'm not positive I'm getting all the water out of the carts after I clean them; for example, today I got a cart that's been sitting in my kitchen for almost three days, blew through it, and there was a tiny amount of moisture that came out. If this is the case, how do I dry the insides of the cart out better? I read here about using really strong alcohol with no sugar in it, but I don't drink because I don't like the taste, so having the taste of alcohol mixed with my e-juice sounds unpleasant to me.

One other suggestion that I haven't used personally but a lot of people seem to like is to put them in a bag of rice for a day or two which will draw out the moisture.

 

[Jewel Ship]

One other suggestion that I haven't used personally but a lot of people seem to like is to put them in a bag of rice for a day or two which will draw out the moisture.

Hey! Sorry for not getting back to you; I kept looking in "Ask the veterans", not here.

Thanks for the tip. After further usage and experimentation, I've come to the very strong suspicion that my carts still had some moisture in them; now I just let them dry for 3-5 days after blowing them out a LOT.

I've also reached another conclusion today; condensation is building up in my carts, and I don't know how to prevent it.

Last night, I took 8 VERY dry carts and put in about 8-10 drops in each very slowly [4-5 drops, let sit for a few minutes, add 4-5 more drops], capped four, and used the other four that night in rotation; before going to bed, I capped them too.

I wake up, vape on the ones I used last night, took those four and the four that had only been filled and capped and went to work.

At work, the four unused ones worked fine for the first four hours or so, then started to take on a tasteless and VERY moist [like I was inhaling mist from a warm humidifier], but 'stinging' flavor; there was no gurgling and I'm pretty sure I didn't overfill them, nor did I taste the 'burning plastic' that indicates the cart is too low on juice. The vapor produced was also cold, then began to 'warm up' after about two drags. Is the nicotine separating from the rest of the mixture???

Frustrated I couldn't get a pleasant vape, I got off work and tried to vape the four in my car [they were the same ones I used last night and in the morning, still capped]. Same problem; no taste, very watery inhale, stinging sensation in the back of my throat.

I get home, and add 3-4 drops of liquid to each, and don't inhale the first two drags off of any of them; the flavor returns, no more stinging, and the moistness, though still present, is greatly reduced after about 6-8 long, slow drags.

I'm keeping my carts capped on both ends in a carrying case in my pocket while at work. I work outside in the heat, and I live in the south. I suspect it's the humidity in the air getting in. Is there anything I can do, or am I just out of luck when it comes to vaping at work? Is this a known, common problem with carts, or even vaping in general?

I'm thinking part of the problem may be me not using the carts for a while [the four capped for work weren't used from the night before until 1pm today, and the four used last night and this morning sat in the car from 10am until about 8pm], so I'll only fill four carts the night before and use them throughout the day; I'll bring a little bottle of liquid to top off when they get dry.

I don't know if this has anything to do with it, but I'm adding USP glycerin from Walmart to my e-liquid [90% e-liquid, 10% glycerin]. Could the glycerin I'm adding be affecting the liquid this way???

 

[K24A3]

Thats just how Carto's with filler in them perform. They degrade drastically after a few refills. Using different techniques to clean them can help a bit, but clogging is inevitable.

Thats the main reason why I switched to CE2 carto's, they dont get clogged up and degrade.

 

[Jewel Ship]

Thats just how Carto's with filler in them perform. They degrade drastically after a few refills. Using different techniques to clean them can help a bit, but clogging is inevitable.

Thats the main reason why I switched to CE2 carto's, they dont get clogged up and degrade.

I'm sorry, I'm not understanding. Can you explain how the filler is causing this?

 

[K24A3]

I'm sorry, I'm not understanding. Can you explain how the filler is causing this?

Since the "cotton" filler is a complicated array of strands, it tends to clog up with juice and becomes difficult to remove during cleaning, which affects the airflow through the carto, and causes hard dragging, loss of flavor, etc..

Kind of like a vacuum cleaner filter, the dust settles into the material over time and becomes very hard to remove, requiring replacement of the filter.

 

[Xanax]

Perhaps put the cartos in front of a blowdryer on "cool" setting for 15 minutes? It will be completely dry then.

 

[Jewel Ship]

Since the "cotton" filler is a complicated array of strands, it tends to clog up with juice and becomes difficult to remove during cleaning, which affects the airflow through the carto, and causes hard dragging, loss of flavor, etc..

Kind of like a vacuum cleaner filter, the dust settles into the material over time and becomes very hard to remove, requiring replacement of the filter.

Ah, I see. That makes sense. You know, now that you mention it, I've noticed that about four or five of my carts are harder to draw on, and don't hold as much liquid as the rest.

K24A3, do you have any advice on the best way to clean them and/or keep 808 carts operating the longest?

What about these CE2 carts? Those are the ones with the ceramic discs that you have to refill with a needle, right? Who's selling them? Any downsides to them?

 

[Jewel Ship]

Perhaps put the cartos in front of a blowdryer on "cool" setting for 15 minutes? It will be completely dry then.

Well, I thought about using the hair dryer, but was afraid I was going to damage the shredded plastic poly filler. I wanted to wait until someone else used that method and said, "yeah, 5 [or 15] minutes is good to dry them, and won't harm the plastic".

I think I'll try your advice; 15 minutes on cool.

Do you have any advice on how to prevent condensation from building up in the carts while they have liquid in them? Have others experienced the same problems that I'm referring to in post #3?

 

[deback]

It sounds to me like the filler inside has never completely dried after you boiled them in water for 15 minutes. It can take a long time for that filler to be completely dry. After soaking mine in almost-boiling water a couple of times (and discovering that the filler seems to shrink - and two cartos died after using that real hot water), I decided not to do that anymore.

Here's what I've been doing:

Use the 10ml syringe with the rubber cone that you can buy in a kit at Walmart. It's a children's syringe kit that also includes a small plastic mixing container. Remove the mouth-end caps from the cartos. Hook the syringe into the small hole of the rubber cone and hook the threaded end of the carto into the larger hole of the rubber cone. Then fill a bowl or pan with hot water from the tap. Insert the mouth end of the carto into the water, pull the plunger out and then push the plunger back into the syringe, squirting the water into the sink. Keep doing that for about 10 times, and the inside of the carto will be sufficiently clean. Then continue to plunge back and forth to get the excess liquid and air out of the carto (without drawing in any more water from the bowl). Then remove the carto, blow into each end to get any excess liquid out (there shouldn't be any or much left inside the carto at this point). Then lay the cartos next to a running fan for at least 48 hours. I don't think 24 hours would be long enough, because there would probably still be moisture inside the filler.