Questions regarding cartomizers

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Hello, I'd like to start off and say I started smoking analogs a little before the beginning of last summer. Before that, I was vehemently anti-tobacco all my life because of the health risks and all. My brother and myself were huge supporters in getting our mother to quit which she has been successful since I was in middle school and still going on strong. Like most, I started because of friends and family. I've been around it my whole life and didn't see the harm in becoming a "social" smoker. I will say I did that very well because at first I only smoked around friends, and even after it became a habit outside of that I only smoked a few or more a week and the most I smoked at once was half a pack. Not seeing any harm in smoking socially changed though because I see it as a health-risk either way now.

I stopped smoking analogs probably a little over 8 months ago. I learned about electronic cigarettes from a friend of mine I've known since early high school in college. He got one from a mall, and he just whipped it out in his dorm room and at first I thought it was a toy until he started puffing on it. I inquired about what it was and remembered hearing about them but not enough to know about the vapor so I assumed that risks weren't significantly reduced. He corrected me about that. I asked if I could try it and my curiosity was peaked. I read into them thoroughly and got my first one from Modern Vapor. I got the Sidesho because I liked the customization and I heard Modern Vapor has great customer service. I have been completely satisfied and can say I vape exclusively now. I did lose my first one at one point, and tried to go back to analogs while I waited on a replacement battery and atty, but that didn't go so well. Anytime I have tried that whenever an e-cig isn't readily available, I feel sick and get at most half-way through the cigarette before I toss it. I imagine that's a very good thing though!

At first I used pre-filled cartridges, but that only lasted a couple of purchases before I read about dripping and invested in a LR atty, a driptip, and e-liquid bottles when I need them. However, I decided that being responsible with the e-liquid on the go is too much of a hassle because I've read keeping the liquid in your pocket is bad for it because of the body heat, and it's hard to keep it out of the light when it's out of my pocket. So I purchased some blank cartridges to fill and an extra battery for on the go, and they came in today. I haven't used them yet because I'm at home where I can keep the liquid out of the light easily with my usb passthrough and driptip. There was a surprise with my shipment though. Modern Vapor gave me a complimentary blank cartomizer to use.

This is pretty much the first time I have vaped with liquid in the fiber, so I did notice the slight decrease in flavor and amount of vapor, but acceptable for on the go. It seems convenient for a few reasons. Overfilling won't be as much of an issue since it's sealed where the atomizer is at and is a lot less likely to get on the battery. A pack of five costs as much as one atomizer, and a Sidesho cartomizer lasts an average of two weeks according to Modern Vapor. It seems appealing to invest in these instead of blank cartridges for on the go, but I want to ask some questions that might affect that decision (probably applies to blank cartridges as well). I imagine I won't have to worry about temperature or light since the liquid will be in the cartomizer/cartridge which will be in my PCC. I'm curious how long the liquid stays "good" in the cart? Also, anybody that uses Sidesho cartomizers, about how many drops would you say to put in them?
 

sailorman

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I'm not familiar with the "Sidesho" cartomizers, but in general you saturate them until they won't hold any more juice. I'm going to assume that the cap comes off and there is filler material inside with an air tube running up the center. You just add drops into it, avoiding the air hole, until it won't hold any more. The top of the filler material should look slushy, but juice shouldn't be pooling. A standard 510 cartomizer holds about 25-35 drops, or 1ml of juice, but it's best just to fill them like I have described. Let the juice soak in between rounds of adding 5 or 10 drops. Blow out any excess from the mouthpiece end before you screw them onto your battery and they won't leak.

You need to "top off" cartomizers as well. As you vape, the vapor gets thinner. Don't wait until it tastes burnt. If you burn a carto, it's ruined. When the vapor starts thinning out, add more drops. You don't use them until they dry and then refill them. Never let them get very dry in the first place.

There are other ways to fill a cartomizer. If yours came with little rubber caps, or boots or "condoms" on the ends, you can use the "condom method". There are vids on youtube demonstrating this method. Or, you can fill them with a syringe.

Once a carto is filled, the juice will be fine. Just keep it out of excessive heat. Juices stays good for months if it isn't exposed to heat or light. Body temperature won't hurt juice, nor will short term exposure to light. You just don't want to store juice bottles or cartos in your glove compartment or your dashboard. Keep them away from strong light and heat for long term storage. Carrying a bottle of juice or filled cartos in your pocket won't hurt anything unless they leak.
 

hmlessalky

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I think you are being a bit overprotective of the juice. It isn't that fragile really. Prolonged exposure to light, heat and open air will have an effect on them, and even then they will still be fine. The average shelf life is supposed to be 2 years. And many flavors do better sitting. Some folks swear by a nice warm sun bath to improve the flavor. Hope this helps.
 

mogium

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some come with primer some don't I have seen both personally I prefer clearomizers I don't like the taste of the filler material so I stick to things like fluxomizers from gotvapes or their vision 4 wick tanks..as for the juice most juices do get better when you steep them. Some just lose their flavor.
 
The amount of vapor doesn't really concern me. It's not much less than just dripping onto the atty. My main concern was with the flavor. I don't know if it's the filler material or primer, but I'm tasting more of that than grape. I'm thinking primer because I don't remember having issue with the flavor of the prefilled cartridges with filler material.

I still don't smoke (or vape, whichever is preferred) heavily. It usually sees the most action before and after work. Before this summer came around, I didn't work much and would go days without craving. I'm being scheduled all the time now though, so it is seeing a lot more heavy use haha
 

mogium

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Primer taste tends to disappear after the first fill or so some people prewash to get rid of it. If your in it for the flavor fluxomizers are good the best I have had though is a vision stone tank for taste. It was very crisp taste I knew exactly what I was vaping. I stopped using it when I started having severe dry hit problems when using it with my vv mod box
 

Mroutlaw

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Cartomizers take about 1ml of juice, or 20 drops. You can fill it by filling the condom halfway and then slowly inserting it or by dripping into the top with the end cap off. Either way, let it sit for a couple of minutes and then drip some more in until it wont take anymore and is slushy.

Store the cartos with the condoms on and it wont go bad, so long as you use it within a reasonable amount of time and dont store it in a hot place. I have some I filled 2 and 3 weeks ago and they are still good. Before I found the phoenix, I would refill about 2-3 days worth of cartos and then just use them for the day and top off at night.

You may want to try the bottom coil phoenix from gotvapes for being on the go. They are the same size and shape of a XL carto and come in 808 threading. They dont leak a drop so long as you fill them correctly(upside down). The nice thing about them is they give you the convenience of a cartomizer but dont have fillers so you get the taste of a clearomizer.

Hope this helps

ps, if you get them, get the 2.4-2.6ohm ones
 
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