Refilling Your Carts?

[SativaPurp]

Im a fairly new e cig user and have one that is 2 piece design. I didnt think I could refill them because the attomizer is in the cartridge until i stumbled upon a youtube video of someone doing it. Because the atty?.. is in the carts they are fairly expensive (15 bucks for 5) which is why Im trying to learn how to refill my own. I know a little from youtube about refilling but not enough at all. Anyone have a link or any advice on what all I need or how to do it? I know about the VG and the PG but where do you get the nicotine to put in them? Can i buy pre-mixed liquids and where? Is it substantially cheaper to mix your own?

Also Id be willing to buy another e cig as Im shopping for a more expensive, cooler (for lack of a better term) one. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance.

 

[toddos]

Cartos should be $8-10/5 pack, so wherever you're buying is overcharging. What type of e-cig are you using? I'm sure we could point you to cheaper cartos.

As for refilling, it's pretty easy. Just pop the end cap off. Good cartos should have a soft rubber cap that's easy to remove with a simple tool like an unbent paperclip. Some cartos have hard plastic caps that take more work to get off and include an inner silicone o-ring, and still others use a hard cap that's glued in. For those, you can dip the tip in hot water to loosen the glue and then pull that cap out. Once you have the cap off, tilt the carto at a 45 degree angle and drip around the edges. Go slow and let the filler soak up the liquid. You want the top to be moist but not soaking wet.

For where to get juice, check out the suppliers forums. As a new user, you're much better off buying pre-made juice than trying to DIY your own. Personally I really like Freedom Smoke USA's juices, but also have a couple of favorites from Backwoods Brew and VapeRite.

As for what e-cig to get next, we'd need to know what you have right now and what you're not happy with. Note that more expensive does not always mean better, especially when it comes to e-cigs. There are a lot of rip-off rebranders out there that will happily sell you a $30 e-cig starter kit for $250+, charge you $60+ for $10 batteries, $30+ for $5 atomizers, etc.

 

[Jennie O]

I had a GreenSmoke, and got tired of the proprietary cartos and diminishing flavor options/diminshing quality and length they lasted for me. I *think* people have refilled them but I decided instead, for the above reasons, to start over with an eGo and cannot be happier. The juices, manual battery, filling, mess, etc is what steered me in the other direction to begin with, but it really isn't that big a deal or hard to maintain. And the flavor options, even with trail and error, are endless!!

 

[SativaPurp]

I have a Fuma brand, which I think is a knockoff of the green smokes. I love it but id say the downsides are, no flavors, a short battery it seems, and the cartridges dont last very long. Sometimes 1 will last me a day but other times ill go through 2 or 3. Which at 3 bucks a piece, regular cigs were cheaper. As for getting a new one, I was looking at all the mods and everything and it just seemed really cool, Im becoming a vape enthusiast and love everything about them. Thanks guys.

 

[dormouse]

BTW they are cartomizer aka cartos if it is a 2-piece. Some 2-piece vendors still call them carts but here and on retail-price vendors cartridges (aka carts) are the mouthpiece and juice cup of a 3-piece.

Unfortunately some ripoff "name" brands don't sell blanks or juice and may try to make their cartomizers as hard to refill as possible. If you are lucky, the mouth-end caps are soft and can be popped out with a paper clip stuck in just enough to pop them out. If they are hard caps or worse, glued-on caps, then trying to pop them out may mangle the cap but you could stick one of these drip tips on the end as a mouthpiece instead. I do this anyway with many cartos. Just don't drip into them on a carto - the juice would probably go down the central air channel. Good as a mouthpiece though
510/901/KR808d-1 Delrin/Plastic Drip Tip
510/901/KR808d-1Transparent color Delrin/Plastic Drip Tip

If you can get the mouth-end cap out you should be able to add ejuice to the stuffing. First check for an inner seal (a donut-shaped piece of soft plastic inside over the stuffing - you would have to remove that. You should add juice while the carto is still damp with juice. If you run a carto dry you can singe the stuffing then you may as well throw it out. if you keep them damp you should be able to get several days use out of a good carto or longer.

if there are no inner seals blocking the path of juice, you might also be able to use the carto condom filling method, pushing juice into the carto. But that can be messy.

Note - if you have automatic (no button) batteries be very careful with refilling cartos - if your carto drips juice you could possible kill your battery since autos are dependent on a drag sensor in the threaded end.

I use KR808D-1 (aka Vapor4Life) with manual batteries. Greensmoke is its near twin KR808D-2 which is favored by ripoff rebranders - it has different threads and can't use any of the normal retail price KR808D-1 stuff without an adapter (LeCig sells D1 to D2 and D2 to D1 adapters). Vapor4Life's cartos are all soft cap. They also sell blanks and juice. You can also buy blank KR808D-1 soft cap blank cartomizers elsewhere if you have a KR808D-1.

There are videos of various methods on Youtube. search for
fill or refill
with: carto, cartomizer, Greensmoke, V4L, vapor4Life

 

[SativaPurp]

Yes mine is automatic, should i not even bother then? Or how should i be careful (like what not to do?). But yes my caps come off very easy but i dont see a donut shaped anything. Theres just some fabric around a tube thats in the middle.

 

[SativaPurp]

since theres no inner liner doughnut, im going to look up that carto condom thing you talked about. All you guys were very informative thanks.

 

[dormouse]

It's up to you.

You can put juice in that stuffing. Just be extra careful about drips out of the threaded end. Always take the carto off the battery when adding juice. I usually hold a piece of tissue on the threaded end. Angle the carto and drip juice into the stuffing. I rotate it to get all sides. Whenever the vapor gets a bit light or a bit dry, and tilting the ecig carto down for 5 seconds doesn't fix it, I add juice. I usually add 5-8 drops, clean up the threaded end if it dripped, tilt the open end down and puff into the threaded end to hopefully clear the air channel which leads to the threaded end hole, make sure not dripping any more. If you have added a lot of juice it may need to sit for a few minutes. Just be real careful about drips.

Most people here use manual batteries because they are better sealed against drips and not dependent on a drag sensor.

 

[VermontGuy]

I got tired of the price of cartomizers and the thought of throwing them away aftrt one use. The place I bought them from told me they couldn't be refilled but a search told me otherwise. I learned to refill them. Then I got tired of the constant refilling mess and flooded atomizers.
I have been using an ego tank system for 2 weeks and really like it. After killing an atomizer with the learning curve I now keep 3 atomizers with tanks and switch them around and have had no issues

 

[CarolG]

When I refill, I put the plastic plug and condom on the battery end and no juice ever flows out. I have both auto and manual batteries, and I really prefer the autos. I've got batts from Vapor4Life, V2Cigs and Bloog, and all are KR808D-1 two-piece. They're all good.

 

[dormouse]

I don't recommend the carto condom refill method with auto batteries if you have the option of putting the juice in by popping the soft cap. When you drip it in yourself you can try to avoid the central air channel and should have less leaking/clearing to deal with. If you push the juice in then then you better let the carto sit 15 minutes or more on end and make sure it is done dripping out the juice that ended up in the air channel.

 

[CarolG]

Yeah, that's what I meant. I refill by dripping, not the condom fill method. That just sounds way too messy and a good way to gunk up a battery.

 

[ussrandy]

I have tried several different brands of both atomizers and cartomizers. I really think the Joye brand cartomizer is by far the best. You never get any polyester taste from the filler. What you do get is the true flavor of what you are vaping. I vape 2 different flavors and have to refill both everyday. Both flavors are VG, which is a heavier liquid and everyone says it gums up the filler quicker than PG. I still get 3-4 weeks out of the cartomizers. I have never found a bad element. I got an 18 gauge 1 1/2" needle to fill them with. It is strong enough to pierce the cap and long enough to reach the bottom of the overflow. The overflow hole is another strong reason to use them. You can fill them completely to the rim, let it soak in and pull all the excess liquid out. I just keep it down the first 3 hits on a refilled cartomizer and I never get any liquid in my mouth. Try filling any other cartomizer or atomizer like that and let me know what happens.

Cignot has them 5 for $8.