Questions About Squonking

[Vwls]

Newbie questions...

OK so I don't have an RM2 yet on my new Reo Mini (which arrived today).

Put a carto on it, primed it, and experimented with my first squonk. Problem right off the bat - the juice runs up inside the center hole in the carto, flooding it... so that seems like a bad idea. Also the juice comes up and out around the outside of the carto's base in the cup. Is it supposed to do that?

Tried a few different 510 atties on it - found one that seems to take the juice from the bottom. But a squonk delivers more juice outside the base of the atty, into the cup, than into the atty itself.

So... am I doing something wrong?

Thanks for any advice.

 

[darkzero]

That's what that juice well is designed for & yes it's supposed to that. I never used a carto before but I started off using Ciscos. Took a little bit figuring out how to squonk without flooding. I especially hated juice overflowing into the well & learned how to squonk without overflowing, basically squonk minimally & when needed. The amount of pressure required to squonk changes depending on bottle size & how full it is as well as juice type.

Search blind squonking. Basically it squonking while drawing air (not firing) & the gurgling sound gives you an indication of when to stop squonking. Not sure if & how blind squonking works with cartos though.

 

[MamaTried]

i think i used cartos for something like 3 hours. dry hits and flooding. i think blind squonks worked best. i have an atty on a mini and i blind squonk that.

to clear out a flooded atty or carto, it's best to remove it and blow into the driptip onto a napkin. then nappy the catchcup. i think i waste more juice in that one atty than in all 6 of my RM2d Reos in the rotation.

 

[Vwls]

Ummm... I'm reading about blind squonking.. am I supposed to have an o ring in the cup? There isn't one

 

[darkzero]

Ummm... I'm reading about blind squonking.. am I supposed to have an o ring in the cup? There isn't one

No, not with disposables.

 

[Vwls]

When do you need the o ring? Mine did not come with one.

 

[darkzero]

When do you need the o ring? Mine did not come with one.

The only time you "need" an oring in the catch cup is with a rebuildable atty that has a side air hole on the cap. If yoour RM2 (when you get it) screws on all the way & the coil/air hole position lines up where you want it then the oring is not needed. But if it doesn't line up, that's when you would use an oring, so that it gives some resistance allowing you to position the air hole where you want it. It's not really used for sealing.

If the oring you receive still does not give you proper alignment, then you may need to go with a slightly thicker one. If you need one,Rob sells the thicker ones on the site too, or a simple PM to me may get you one in the mail.

 

[yaypudding]

it comes with the rm2. It goes between the cup and the base of the rm2. This lets you adjust the position of the airhole depending on the way you hold the reo.

 

[Vwls]

Thanks guys - so appreciate the help. Looks like I won't be able to vape on my Reo till I get that RM2. Sent a PM to Rob - now I wait

 

[jcalis1394]

I have used cartos on my REOs. If I remember correctly, they were pretty reliable and with the REO they act better than even carto tanks. Granted, it won't give the exact clean taste as if you were using a dripping atty much less an RDA, but it was more consistent. Blind squonking was the way to go. You grab a brand new carto, fill it, and use it a bit. Then start squonking. A cool thing is, the first few vapes off a freshly squonked cartomizer really amplify the flavor as if it was a dripping atty and that's because fresh juice is landing on the coil.

It's a nice vape while you wait for your RM2 .

 

[JC Okie]

Vwls, don't get frustrated. We used attys and cartos with our REOs for years before RBAs were available. With cartos, I always used blind squonking. While you're pushing the bottle, suck on the drip tip just until you feel the pressure change. Your carto doesn't need to even look wet on top for it to be wet down where the coil is. When you do squonk with a carto, all the juice doesn't go up the middle channel.....it's also wetting the filler down at the bottom/middle. If it feels/seems flooded, take it off, blow it out into a tissue, swab out the catch cup, then vape it. There shouldn't be any/much juice in the catch cup at all. After a few vapes, when it sorta tastes like it could use a little juice, squonk it again.

I always preferred regular 510 attys over cartos.....just because they seemed to give me a cleaner flavor. If you have attys, you might try those. With an atty, just squonk enough to wet the coil. I usually gauged that by the first tiny bit of juice I saw coming up into the catch cup. Once you can see the juice, you're good.

There's definitely a little bit of a learning curve with when/how much to squonk, but it'll come pretty quickly.

The RBAs, and the RM2 specifically, have been game changers. It's almost impossible to screw up with it, so I hope you get one soon. But like I said, many of us have used our REOs with attys and cartos for years and have loved them.

 

[Vwls]

Thanks, but I'm not having any luck. With the carto, once I blow out the flood in the center hole and replace it, I get a pretty poor hit. Hardly any vapor at all. Battery is freshly charged... it's a weak result. So much less vapor than if I just slap the carto on any other battery... even an eGo. No idea why. Kind of makes me wonder how this is going to produce a good vape once it has an RDA on it

Like I said, I did try it with a 510, but when I squonk, most of the juice goes up around the outside of the atty and into the catch cup, not inside the atty where I need it. So it's dry hit city.

Is it possible there's something wrong with my bottle or the tube up to the cup?

 

[darkzero]

When you squonk, try squeezing the bottle & hold it for like 5 seconds or so to let it saturate, then let go so it will suck some of the excess back I to the bottle. Squeeze lighter if the bottle is near full. This is how most of us squonk. New "squonkers" tend to pump the bottle, I know I did when I first started & found out my friends did the same.

 

[Vwls]

Tried the squeeze and hold - no change. It floods the carto and misses the 510 mostly. Fixing the carto so it vapes well on another mod doesn't help - once on the Reo, it hardly produces any vapor.

 

[darkzero]

That sucks. So I was thinking maybe the carto was was getting clogged or something (not sure if it was a new one or not) or maybe not enough air flow since not much vapor. But then you said it works fine on other devices. It can't be the delivery system on the Reo since you are able to flood it.

Then when I reread where you said "Kind of makes me wonder how this is going to produce a good vape once it has an RDA on it". It dawned on me. Well since you got this Mini used, there's one important thing that hasn't been mentioned yet.....maybe the firing pin just needs to be cleaned!


mechanical mod maintenance - YouTube


EDIT: Take the door off & fire it, can you see sparking at the top of the battery? If you see a fireworks show then that's probably what it is. I assume you don't have noalox or did the seller include some with the Reo? You can get some at the big box hardware stores in the elctrical section. Or I can send you some (I have the little baggies of Noalox that come with Reos sitting around & don't get used). Just PM me your addy again.

 

[Justice]

Give the Reo a good clean. File the firing pin with a nail file (a proper fine metal file is best) put some noalox on the pin now try it. If you are still getting lousy vapour most likely your carto is flooded. If you happen to have an atty available give that a shot. IMO Cartos suck. But that's just me

 

[Filthy-Beast]

Vwls,

I've had a RM2 since I got my 1st Reo 4 weeks ago. I do keep a regular atty with me in case the RM2 coils dies. With all your problems I decided to give it a try.

First think I noticed is I need to barely screw in the atty until it just seats enough to fire, If I make it as tight as I do on my tube mods it has a tighter draw that will reduce vapor production.

Yes it is easy to flood the juice well, I found you must "blind", draw on the atty, while squonking to minimize this and get juice into the atty. Once I got the hang of it very little juice goes into the drip cup. If you're still getting noticeable juice in the cup you're over squonking and under drawing. try less pressure and start drawing before you start squonking. (Edit: Now that I've been doing it for an hour I get no juice noticeable in the drip well)

It is also easy to flood the atty, if I pay close attention there is a slight difference in draw pressure right before the atty starts to gurgle. If it gurgles it is flooded, you'll have to pull it and blow it out. (Edit: I can get a good 5 or 6 hits before I need to squonk again)

Hit difference could be the draw or might be the ohm vs. wattage difference. IS the draw tighter on the Reo, if so try loosening the atty. What ohm is the atty you're using and what voltage or wattage is the other PV set to?

(Edit: Note to self, Get some LR attys, All I had was 2.5 ohm attys and after getting used to it switching back to a .8 ohm coil in the RM2 was like drinking everclear when you expected water.)

 

[Raynman]

I don't have anything to contribute to this as I have only had RM2's since I got my Reo. I'm one of the spoiled brats. I do want to say welcome and congrats on your new to you Reo. This should be worked out soon I've never seen the folks here in Reoville fail yet. Just hang in there and these fine people will get you where you want to be. I think the post about cleaning would be a good place to start being that your Reo was previously loved. BTW the RM2 will rock your socks when you get it

 

[tfnc]

LR carto is the key(like cartos for back ups my self). I had good luck taking a couple light draws while squonking, let sit a sec then take a light drag.If its flooded then,just a few light drags til it clears up .Then five or six good drags.Squonk repeat lol. I am by no means an expert but this has worked for me(The RM2 is a totally dif animal,waaay better vape but youll see when you get yours) Hope this helps...

 

[Vwls]

Thank you thank you everyone - you guys are all so awesome. I really feel like family here.

1) I'm not going to give up on my Reo so no worries. I will lovingly clean it, file it, Naolox it, etc.

2) I agree that a low resistance carto is probably the answer but I just ordered an RM2 from Rob, and don't really like anything I can't rebuild (the guy who sold me the Reo also was kind enough to send along some cartos with it, so I just thought I'd fire one up while waiting for the RM2)... so I don't see the need to order any LR cartos at this point.

3) To everyone who has PM'd or posted here with blind squonking advice - I'm so thankful. I know there is a learning curve and I expect I'll get this down fairly quickly with your help. One thing that may be an unexpected factor is, I have really long nails. I feel they are disrupting my squonking precision, so I'm considering trimming them down quite a bit so I can really feel the bottle when I squeeze. I need to become one with the bottle LOL - it's very zen. I've never been good at knowing when to re-drip with 510 atties (I SO could not get the Aurora to work for me - dry hits and gurgles for days - yuck), and I never had to re-drip with cartos (always used them in a carto tank), so this will be my first time getting the hang of this. But I'm determined so it shouldn't take long.