Prefilled carto users ?

[WPsharpshooter]

Ive seen the "how to clean" vids however I guess Im just curious to see how many of you have been in the same boat. 1st ecig, 1st cart I vape til I taste the burnt taste, Is it toast? can I refill it? Now I bought all prefilled carts with my ecig, not knowing what I know now. out of the 10 flavors, I only like 3. Now have have some juice that arrived today but none of the same flavors I have in the prefilled. Can I simply clean out the prefilled and pour in the new? 7 of the prefilled only have about 3 or 4 vapes taken off them. Unless I get the exact same flavor, do I just need to stock up on blanks. I could see where that would get pretty pricey and with sampling flavors what do I do when I fill the blanks with a flavor that is not going to be used. I guess in short, whats the most economical way to sample flavors, with me being new to the game I havent found that go to flavor yet... And I can see my self trying to try everything I see lol...

 

[dormouse]

The burnt taste might not go away. It may be singed.

I vape until the vapor seems a bit light or a bit dry or tastes a bit off or the carto is getting unusually warm. Then I add some juice. Repeat until the carto's taste or performance has gotten too bad or weak, throw it out, and start another carto.

Few people succeed at washing/drying cartos and ever getting them to be as good as they were. Many don't bother trying. If I can get a week or more good performance out of a carto I am happy. Since I am usually carrying/vaping two different models (KR8 and 510) I am using the carto on each 1/2 of the time. I can get 2-3 weeks good use out of a pair of cartos.

 

[WPsharpshooter]

I can understand that, So Im just better off with buying a $hi* ton of blanks then huh...

 

[dormouse]

Yeah I wasted a lot of prefills finding flavors I like. There were a lot I didn't like. I saved them in a bag and might try to clean them some day. Drying is the trickier part.

If you like a flavor enough to vape it dry then why aren't you keeping it damp with a neutral flavor like Vanilla or a plain tobacco flavor? Like a blueberry carto will turn in to blueberry-vanilla, then vanilla w/ a bit of blueberry, and eventually mostly vanilla. Then you have gotten you fair use out of the carto.

I had some prefills that were just awful for me - flavors I hated. Two drags and I was done. I bought cleaning equipment (both a baster and an oral syringe, gummy pencil grips to fit over the carto and baster end. SOme day I may try to clean them. Or not.

I mostly use blank cartos now (Vapor4Life blanks on my KR8, Boge blanks on my 510-threaded devices). I buy thin sample juices (20% VG or less), test them on an atomizer and manual battery w/ a drip tip. Only thin clear juices that I love get cartos. I still occasionally buy the Vapor4Life WOW Vanilla prefills(which are white) for my vanillas if they are out of the white WOW cart blanks. I use a blend of WOW Vanilla w/ nic and Gourmet Vapor 0mg vanillarum.

 

[markfm]

Cleaning can work, but it depends on how much you value your time. I'll generally do one pass at cleaning and drying in the oven (200F for an hour, after removing the rubber mouth piece and any inner o rings -- this is for standard filler-based cartos, I wouldn't bake one of the sealed reservoir kinds). If a carto comes out ok, super, otherwise I toss it.

Cartos run about $1.60 each, and only about $0.80 each if you get them from Eastmall (try to catch a PIF coop when one come up).

 

[mangoon]

Give the cleanings a try WP. In the long run it could save you a fair amount of cash. If I clean about 10 cartos I would say I lose about 2 to damage or just bad taste. The other 8 while not as great as out of the box are still very solid. Try giving those flavors you dont like a good cleaning. If they come out good for you its a homerun. If not its a vaping lesson learned lol. Good luck.

 

[Puffadder]

Ive seen the "how to clean" vids however I guess Im just curious to see how many of you have been in the same boat. 1st ecig, 1st cart I vape til I taste the burnt taste, Is it toast? can I refill it? Now I bought all prefilled carts with my ecig, not knowing what I know now. out of the 10 flavors, I only like 3. Now have have some juice that arrived today but none of the same flavors I have in the prefilled. Can I simply clean out the prefilled and pour in the new? 7 of the prefilled only have about 3 or 4 vapes taken off them. Unless I get the exact same flavor, do I just need to stock up on blanks. I could see where that would get pretty pricey and with sampling flavors what do I do when I fill the blanks with a flavor that is not going to be used. I guess in short, whats the most economical way to sample flavors, with me being new to the game I havent found that go to flavor yet... And I can see my self trying to try everything I see lol...

I see you are using both cartos and carts in your OP which are two different things. Cartos are catomizers which are found on the 2 piece kits and are probably not worth cleaning. A 3 piece kit uses a separate atomizer and carts. If this is what you have then it is quite easy to clean and dry them. Even better is to do a search for the Blue foam mod and give that a try as the foam is easier to rinse and dry than the polyfil.

It always is a good idea to be specific about the brand or model number you are using in your question to make sure you get the correct advice.

 

[WPsharpshooter]

Dormouse, I vaped it up because Im a newb LOL.. had I know what I know now I would have not done that lol... not to mention I didnt at the time have the same flavor to drip (still dont for that matter) I want to order more but smokeless image only carries 10 ml of their ry4, Id like to order it in a bigger quantity

 

[WPsharpshooter]

Puff, Im sorry for misleading typos on my end, I am using cartos... I have the Volt... sorry for the confusion

 

[none]

I buy empty cartos and use a striped down one for drip testing new flavors, the cartos I get are great no lingering burnt taste that I got from my two atomizers I received in the kit. I haven't really tried pre-filled carts for fear of not liking a flavor and tjey are more expensive if you can get a cheap juice.

Cleaning the carts can be easy and there are a few good threads around about cleaning them too. I have always had luck with cleaning them but sooner or later the absorbant material in them ain't gonna stay absorbant too long, either that or the coil will give in, in any case carts are meant to be disposable.

 

[Puffadder]

No apology needed. Just want to make sure you get the best advice. You can usually find a 5 pack of blank cartos for 6 - 8 buck and there are a lot of juice suppliers out there as well. Check the Forum Suppliers section for both and not all RY$'s taste the same so you may want to start with sample sizes and then move up in quantity when you find the one you like best.

dormouse was also giving good advise with the thinner clearer juice. I like a litlle VG in my blend for a little more vapor and less TH but no more than 20% for cartos. I have a few attys to drip on when I want a thicker or dark juice. Make sure you have a sealed manual battery if you are going to drip though as it is too easy to ruin an auto when dripping.

 

[dormouse]

If you have a KR808D-1 you should be able to put a standard resistance DSE901 atomizer on it. If you have manual batteries you can use a drip tip on that to test juices. If you have autos then use DSE901 carts I guess (though you might be able to get away with a drip tip if you are careful to not drip so much that if ends up on the threaded end of your battery. The pair of DSE901 attys I got at LiteCigUSA.net lasted me a while for testing juices. But then they sucked - near-impossible to clean, and twisted a bit so something was blocking the air intake. Now I do all of my testing on a nice sealed manual 510 w/ a standard resistance Joye 306 atty and Joye 306 drip tip - more prone to leaking but easy to blow out, easy to clean. Leaks are no problem at all for a manual 510 - just wipe them up well. Makes a great little juice tasting and short-term dripping setup.

I never ever put untested juices in cartos. I don't waste cartos. I want to get a good week or more use out of my $2 carto. I mainly put my favorite juices in cartos and I drip my occasional flavors and the couple of thicker 50/50 juices I love because I won't put thick juices in cartos (way to kill a carto in 2 days IMO).

For my Vapor4Life blanks, I wait until they email me a good sale and then I stock up my 2 fave juices from there and the blank WOW cartos. Now I am trying the 2.5 ohm L-Rider 808D cartos from Madvapes (their shipping is cheaper and these seem similar to the Vapor4Life cartos - soft-cap, central air channel,decently hot). They are out of the black ones but have the white
http://www.madvapes.com/White-808-D-Cartomizer_p_2830.html
I ignored the bad review. Of course they are hot, especially on a freshly charged battery. I use a plastic drip tip as a cool mouthpiece. If I wanted cooler cartos I would use my Vapor4LIfe Coolcarts which are also nice. The bad reviewer probably also put non-optimal liquid in them. I am on my 4th day with this carto w/ no problems. The quality of these Madvapes ones is a bit below the Vapor4Life ones for how well the air channel is centered but they are vaping just as well so far.

Note - LiteCigUSA.net sells 510/901/KR808D_1 delrin and clear colored plastic drip tips that generally fit nicely in KR8 cartos. Those lovely "swirl" handmade drip tips you see elsewhere were too thick to fit in a KR8 carto for me (the o-ring bulged too much)

And nobody is saying you can't spend your time cleaning and drying cartos. Some people have success or at least partial success. As for me, when I put my juice in a carto I don't want to screw around - I want the carto to work like a brand new carto and I cannot guarantee that if I washed/dried cartos.

 

[WPsharpshooter]

If you have a KR808D-1 you should be able to put a standard resistance DSE901 atomizer on it. If you have manual batteries you can use a drip tip on that to test juices. If you have autos then use DSE901 carts I guess (though you might be able to get away with a drip tip if you are careful to not drip so much that if ends up on the threaded end of your battery. The pair of DSE901 attys I got at LiteCigUSA.net lasted me a while for testing juices. But then they sucked - near-impossible to clean, and twisted a bit so something was blocking the air intake. Now I do all of my testing on a nice sealed manual 510 w/ a standard resistance Joye 306 atty and Joye 306 drip tip - more prone to leaking but easy to blow out, easy to clean. Leaks are no problem at all for a manual 510 - just wipe them up well. Makes a great little juice tasting and dripping setup.

I never ever put untested juices in cartos. I don't waste cartos. I want to get a good week or more use out of my $2 carto. I mainly put my favorite juices in cartos and I drip my occasional flavors and the couple of thicker 50/50 juices I love because I won't put thick juices in cartos (way to kill a carto in 2 days IMO).

This is way to advanced for me lol... Im just going to order about 15 blanks and hopefully I can live thru the testers that I have ordered... Once I find a few that I can stick with then Ill be good, I have found the ry4 at SI to be pretty good, worst case scenario I revert back to that all the time...

 

[Lax]

I never ever put untested juices in cartos. I don't waste cartos. I want to get a good week or more use out of my $2 carto. I mainly put my favorite juices in cartos and I drip my occasional flavors and the couple of thicker 50/50 juices I love because I won't put thick juices in cartos (way to kill a carto in 2 days IMO).

For my Vapor4Life blanks, I wait until they email me a good sale and then I stock up my 2 fave juices from there and the blank WOW cartos. Now I am trying the 2.5 ohm L-Rider 808D cartos from Madvapes (their shipping is cheaper and these seem similar to the Vapor4Life cartos - soft-cap, central air channel,decently hot). They are out of the black ones but have the white
White 808-D Cartomizer
I ignored the bad review. Of course they are hot, especially on a freshly charged battery. I use a plastic drip tip as a cool mouthpiece. If I wanted cooler cartos I would use my Vapor4LIfe Coolcarts which are also nice. The bad reviewer probably also put non-optimal liquid in them. I am on my 4th day with this carto w/ no problems. The quality of these Madvapes ones is a bit below the Vapor4Life ones for how well the air channel is centered but they are vaping just as well so far.

And nobody is saying you can't spend your time cleaning and drying cartos. Some people have success or at least partial success. As for me, when I put my juice in a carto I don't want to screw around - I want the carto to work like a brand new carto and I cannot guarantee that if I washed/dried cartos.

So if you're getting a week+ out of your cartos, how many refills are we talking? I thought I'd read 4-5 top-offs was about as much as one should expect...

 

[dormouse]

If you get good cartos - I like soft-caps with a defined open central air channel in the center - and use the juices that will make them work well the longest i.e. thin clear juices - THIN - 20% VG or less and clear light colors that leave no flavoring residue - then you should be able to get 4-7 days minimum good use out of a carto.

I do not vape constantly. I vape moderately (about 1.5 packs worth of drags per day, about 2 ml of liquid use per day?) and I get over a week of good performance - maybe 10 days (which for me is 20 days because I am alternating 2 cartos). Obviously if someone vapes heavily then that will shorten the carto life. I am refilling several times per day - not a total refill since I keep them damp. Every time I add juice the carto usually seems to need 6-8 drops. So I guess I am vaping about 1/3 of the contents before I feel it needs more.

If I put even a 70pg/30vg juice or any juice with flavoring sediment in my carto I can feel the drag get sluggish. I also have a lot of trouble with an SLB-style cartos with no central air channel and a blob of softer stuffing in them - I tried one of those once and it was awful refilled. I bought 5, used one, and never wanted to use them again.

I do find my KR8 cartos seem to degrade slightly faster than my Boge 510 cartos but that is probably because I am using an extremely thin zero-residue juice in my Boge 510. The vanillas I am using in my KR8 carto - one is 20% Vg and the other has a very tiny amount of flavoring residue.

Regarding the stuff you didn't understand about using an atomizer to test juices.
Instead of a cartomizer, the following should fit on your battery - the DSE901/905 atomizer here and it would need a 901 drip tip (get plastic or delrin so it can also be used as a mouthpiece on KR8 cartos if you want).
http://www.litecigusa.net/DSE_901_s/56.htm
When you first get the atomizer, you pull off the dummy cartridge (has no stuffing). * Blow out the atomizer into a tissue to get out some of the nasty tasting primer. Drip 3 drops of liquid on the atomizer bridge /\ and wait for it to soak in, then using the drip tip vape that mostly off without inhaling. Repeat from *. Now Repeat from * again but this time try inhaling. If the nasty taste of the primer is gone then you are done getting rid of the primer. That setup can be used to test juices without wasting a cartomizer. Between flavors, blow out the atty into a tissue and then prime with the new juice. Not a perfect way to test - the flavors will blend somewhat. But it's a way to test without wasting cartos.

The caveat - "dripping" as I described above is not recommended on auto batteries because of the threat of leaking juice onto the end of the battery. However, I have used these atomizers and found they are more likely to leak out the side air intake of the atomizer. I think refilled cartomizers have more risk of leaking on the end of the battery than a DSE901 atty does. But just be very careful and don't overload the atomizer with juice, check frequently for leaks. And try not to over-nic yourself testing juices (easy to do when you have a lot of samples!)

And note - some people find some DSE-901 attys do not contact KR808D-1 battery power well. If that happens than an adapter may be needed.

 

[Shaitaan]

I buy empty cartos and use a striped down one for drip testing new flavors, the cartos I get are great no lingering burnt taste that I got from my two atomizers I received in the kit. I haven't really tried pre-filled carts for fear of not liking a flavor and tjey are more expensive if you can get a cheap juice.

Cleaning the carts can be easy and there are a few good threads around about cleaning them too. I have always had luck with cleaning them but sooner or later the absorbant material in them ain't gonna stay absorbant too long, either that or the coil will give in, in any case carts are meant to be disposable.

"carto's aka cartomizers are cartridges with built-in atomizer units....you may be confusing carto's to carts, aka cartridges, used with an atomizer...
no biggie...even still, cleaning cartridges (as many ways to do as their are brands of cancer sticks lol), and also, replacing the 'filler' in them as an alternate way to reusing them, is cheap, and easy to do if you want to refill them... poly fill is cheap, and blue foam isn't expensive, also....

 

[ozpkchris]

after a while the poly fill just doesnt hold any more liquid.

also i find some of my blu cartos stop working after cleaning them

 

[SAPerkins01]

I am so glad I read this. I really was wondering about this today so THANK YOU ALL!

 

[cindycated]

Puff, Im sorry for misleading typos on my end, I am using cartos... I have the Volt... sorry for the confusion

WP, might be worth a try cleaning them, at least once. I'm about to switch to Volts, because of all the great things I've read about these new horizontal coil cartos (plus, they have really cool batteries now - they didn't when I first started vaping in May). I'm trying out some of these new-style cartos from somewhere else, and they really are quite nice. I've been topping them off for about two weeks, and am only thinking about cleaning them now because, well, it's been two weeks (I get a little OCD with germs and stuff). I'm starting to think that the trick to making them last though, is to have some joose handy (once you figure out which ones you like) and never let them go dry, because the cleaning process probably has something to do with degrading them.

I've cleaned a ton of old-school KR808 cartos before (which Volts are supposed to be better than), and yeah, they never quite perform as well as they did new, and they don't last forever, but good enough to get your vape on just a little while longer. The subpar ones (the ones after a couple of cleanings) I hang on to for trying out new flavors. Then I can just toss guilt-free if I end up not liking them.