Question about my cartomizer + other stuffs

[phalaeo]

Hi there,

Not sure if I'm big enough to post outside the newb forum yet, but I guess this is a newb question...

So... last week I purchased a eGo Mega Dual Coil Cartomizer Kit and two juices. The juice says it's PG, so I assume it's 100% PG. Everything was going great until today. Took a puff and I tasted this horrible burnt taste. It's not because it was out of juice, as I was filling it regularly. I took the mouthpiece off to look inside the cartomizer, and there is a "toasted marshmallow" color on part of the fibre inside the cartomizer. I'd like to know if I did something wrong. How long do cartomizers generally last? Can I clean it in any fashion? (I've put a link below to the kit I purchased so you can see exactly what I purchased.) Perhaps I filled it too often/too full?

Oh, also... I keep the battery charged well.

Ok, so the one cartomizer seemed to be borked, but the kit came with three. I took another one out of the package, filled it, and took an initial puff. GROSS! There was a horrible chemical taste, like burning styrofoam. Needless to say, I put that one right down. Do people just get bad cartomizers every once in a while? Do I need to buy new ones, and if so, how often?

Thanks, as always for your help.


AltSmoke.com | Personal Vaporizers | Electronic Cigarette | Ecigs | eGo Mega Dual Coil Cartomizer Starter Kit

 

[subversive]

1) Burnt taste, even though you have been filling it, means it wasn't fully saturated. It's good to let cartos sit for a bit before vaping after the first fill and it is essential to top off often, at least once an hour.

I fill cartos via the condom method - fill one of the rubber end caps with juice, and then slowly lower the carto into the juice. I usually lower it a bit, wait a few seconds, lower it a bit before, repeat. I will then blow it gently out to clear the center hole and drip a few drops on top for good measure. Then I let it sit for 30 minutes to make sure all the filler is wet.

To top off, I will add 4-5 drops to the filler as soon as the taste diminishes, or I have been vaping for a bit. The filler should look wet without the liquid pooling on top.

2) Sometimes a fresh carto will have a strange taste - I think of it as a rubber taste. Not burnt, though. It varies from box to box and brand to brand. I just vape through it.

Once a carto is burnt, you will always get a burnt taste. Once in awhile you may encounter a burnt taste, refill the cartomizer, and all will seem to be well after that, but for the most part they are garbage at that point.

A good option so you don't have to top off is to start using a carto tank. You can buy flanged cartos meant for that tank size with a hole punched in them. Once you fill the carto and let it get saturated, you pop it in the tank, fill the tank, and you are good to go without topping off.

 

[subversive]

Looked at the link and saw that you are using mega cartomizers with mouthpieces. To check the filler, you will have to pry those mouthpieces off. Otherwise, you can drip in the other end to top off, but you won't have a visual on the filler. Those cartos will also hold a lot of liquid. A standard size carto can hold around 20 drops ( around 1ml ). At 5 ml, those could possibly hold 100 drops, but it's not always exact.

You have enough posts to post outside this forum now, but you have to wait for the site to update. It updates once an hour or so.

 

[subversive]

Forgot about your other questions.

A carto with thin, light colored juice can last for weeks but generally lasts about 2. Thicker, darker juices can possibly shorten that time span down to 1 week.

I don't clean my cartomizers, but some people like to do that when switching flavors. There's a number of methods. You can rinse them with water, boil them with water, let them dry for a few days, or let them bake at a low temp in the oven to dry ( 175 degrees maybe? ).

You can also blow out the juice, but some will still be left. Another option is to put them in some sort of bag and spin the bag quickly, forcing the juice out. A little messy and silly to me, but some people swear by it. There are also kits sold online involving syringes and pushing water through the carto, but in my personal opinion, none of this stuff is really necessary. Just use a new carto for a different flavor and don't try to keep them for longer than a few weeks.

 

[spaceballsrules]

It sounds like the juice did not get all the way down to the wick when you topped it off. You can remedy this by flicking the carto like a mercury thermometer to force the juice through the filler and down to the wick.

The nasty taste you perceived from the newer carto was probably the primer fluid, which is used to preserve the wick when it is new. I always take a few hits without inhaling off of new cartos when I first fill them to avoid that taste.

I am not sure how the coils are set up in the cartos you linked, but if they are bottom coil, then you can use this guide to clean them. http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/ego-type-models/188388-how-clean-rebuild-gogo-cartomizer.html Otherwise, you will need to use the boil method, or use a baby syringe to flush out the carto.

 

[Vapoor eyes er]

A friend purchased these awhile ago and he also had problems...mostly with the first fill. We found the perfect amount was 3- 3.5 ml- more then that and it leaked. Although I'm a huge fan of condom filling we found these cartos needed to be filled with a syringe. He didn't use them long enuff to figure out how long they lasted as he switched to a carto+ tank. Didn't like the idea of syringes in his home.