Severely Reduced Performance after boiling out cartos?

[Springbird]

Hi, I'm new to the forum, 6 weeks since an analog today thanks to V4L and all of the nice folks who patiently answer newbie questions. I used this thread to figure out how to clean cartos. I use Krazy-Kids video, except that I use a 3cc syringe instead of the turkey baster. The cut off carto condom also fits very nicely on the leur-lock end of the syringe. Once I've finished with the KK method, I put them battery side down in an empty Altoids container filled with dry rice and put them in the oven at 225 degrees for two hours. They need to be blown out really well prior to going into the oven. At some point they will loose their integrity and become really hard to draw. At this point I throw them out. This method saves me a small fortune, so it is worth it to me.

Thanks again to all.

 

[Gravity]

Sorry to bring back an old topic, but in response to the OP, I was having the same problem after boiling the old cartos I had gotten on sale (the Premiums I didn't have a problem with...I'm talking the old ones with the hard caps). I found that taking the end cap off and poking around in the filler gently with a safety pin fixed it. I think the filler got kind of compacted during the boiling and drying and wasn't as porous anymore.

As I said earlier in the thread (but has been buried under crap from other users), I only had about 3-4 out of the batch of about 30-40 cartos we boiled that did not work. All the rest of them have worked fine! I just threw out (y'know, because someone WILL remind you that THEY ARE DISPOSABLE ) the few that didn't work.

I'm glad there's a handful of people around here that are genuinely helpful to the people that are just starting out.

I think my initial reasoning for starting this thread was that I was lurking this site for quite a while before I started posting... trying to get as much info as I could as I first started. I had seen quite a few videos, and posts about the boiling method of cleaning them out... and if several people were doing it on the regular to save some cash, I was sure as hell gonna give it a shot.

It just so happened that I grabbed two duds from the batch when I first tried the boiled ones. I couldn't figure if THIS was the quality you were really gonna get, then why are so many people doing this?!? That's when I posted the thread, and I never really made that quite clear in the first post.. but, that's where my head was at the time. After trying the 3rd and 4th, and so on from that batch, I see now where the value is.

 

[keyzygirl]

Im glad it worked out for you.I do wash mine out and reuse and I just throw away the ones that arent working correctly.I refill until they get yucky then rewash and reuse.I dont do it often though.I wait until I have like 50 to wash.

 

[SnowDragon]

Gravity, you may have seen one of my recent threads to Trashcancady where I posted a video on the boiling method. I probably should have added the caveat that not all the cartos can be re-used and a small percentage will have to be tossed out.

I think I also noted that I was having a problem with fruity flavored cartos and could not seem to get the flavor out of them. Somebody mentioned earlier about using Vodka, which I might try.

I am very impressed with the Cool Carts and recently stopped using all of my old boiled out cartos. The new CE2's should be available soon and might change the game when it comes to boiling out cartos and re-use issues.

 

[lilfarmtruck]

For me part of the joy of the Vapor King system are the disposable cartos. I dont enjoy cleaning carts on my 3 pc systems. As opposed to analogs vaping is much cheaper anyway even if I dont try to stretch my cartos beyond their usefulness. Part of the charm of the 2 pc design is I dont have to worry about flavors bleeding from one carto to the other. Love it!

I look at cleaning cartos like trying to wash and reuse paper plates. But to each his own. Cleaning attys on 3 pc set ups is a necessity. I think that mentality naturally runs over if you go from the 3pc to the 2 pc system. But it really is totally unecessary as cartos were designed not to be cleaned. Thats part of why its such a great system.

Please keep doing what yer doing and posting about it no matter what the subject matter. I think people are people and there is always going to be someone saying something about what someone else said. Dont run off. I just ignore what's said if I dont care for it. That way at least I'm not stirrin' the pot.

 

[lisabateman]

Question: I've noticed in some of this posts that some of you say you don't used blank cartos anymore....why?

 

[JenJen]

I never boil and I never let them dry or let the juice sit in them after refilling them. I simply run warmish hot water through for a few seconds - then blow like crazy (so the air comes out the battery end) then run warm water through again, and blow into a paper towel until no more water is coming out, refill and puff away... That seems to work best for me when I feel the need to clean them.

I am a creature of habit though, and tend to refill with the same flavor so don't often need to clean them out.

 

[susieque]

i always run my carts under hot water for a couple of minutes and blow like crazy to get the remaining water out and let them air dry.. but they are never the same like a new cart - mine always have a hard draw on them, every single one... so i'm going to give it one more try and do like jen did - rinse - blow - refill. i'll see how this works...keeping my fingers cross and hoping it works..

 

[Latakia]

Has anyone here tried using an ultrasonic jewelry cleaner on their cartos? Someone spoke of it in another part of the forum and I'm thinking about trying that method to clean out used cartos that I want to refill with new flavors.

 

[susieque]

hmm - never heard that one, but maybe someone with some knowledge will chime in..

 

[frisco]

I boil mine and they are usually fine. I blow them out after they cool and then let them dry usually 4-5 days. I have enough of them that I can wait that long. This last batch I put baking soda in the water, then rinsed and reboiled. Not sure if that's going to work but I really don't like cross-over flavor.

 

[susieque]

thank you andrew and jenjen - i had the chance to clean a cart your way and it works like a charm.... no more drying my carts..

 

[Gravity]

Has anyone tried to clean them with a steamer?

I have one of those Shark steam bottles... the nozzle is just the same size as a carto. I just boiled some out last night, then used the steam bottle to blast everything out.

They dried completely overnight... and now I'm using a really light flavor in a carto that once was a Cognac (yuck) sampler.

 

[deback]

They dried completely overnight... and now I'm using a really light flavor in a carto that once was a Cognac (yuck) sampler.

I'm curious about something, Gravity. How can you tell that the entire inside of a carto is completely dry, especially the part of the filler that's by the threaded end?

 

[Adrenalynn]

Hygrometer insertion? That's how I'd do it.

 

[sooperdrave]

I'm curious about something, Gravity. How can you tell that the entire inside of a carto is completely dry, especially the part of the filler that's by the threaded end?

do a taryn spin on the carto before using it. that will force the liquid to the threaded end.

 

[Gravity]

^ That's what I did, nothing came out... I also gave a 'test puff' pretty hard on it before adding juice.. no liquid gurgle or anything... I'm not 110% positive there was NO moisture in there... but it was dry enough to use (and worked quite well, too!) the next day. I figured blasting it out with the steam, it was such a high temperature that it'd evaporate fairly quickly. I'm no expert, but it seemed to work well enough for me that I'd recommend it, if you had the equipment.

 

[poisonette]

When I did this the first time, I found blowing them all out to be a PITA. So, I took an old mismatched clean sock, loaded the toe with carts rubber banded together, and spun the liquid out.
Centrifugal Force is amazing.

 

[Twilight]

I think that the cartos don't absorb new juice very well if they are completely dry. It's like a kitchen/bathroom sponge, when it's totally dried out, the water doesn't absorb as well as a damp sponge....water just runs off instead of absorbing. I get great results just blowing out as much water as possible after cleaning and then refill. I've been able to keep using the same cartos for a couple of months....great flavor and vapor. Some have had to go in the trash can, but not many.

 

[deback]

What I meant was how can you tell if all the moisture is gone, that is, the filler is completely dry and no part of it is moist?

I recently cleaned some cartos using almost boiling water, let them soak for 10 minutes, and then used a 10mL syringe and rubber cone (bought from Walmart - the carto hooks to the end of the rubber cone, which is hooked to the syringe) to completely flush the excess water out (plunged several times back and forth - draw the water in and plunge it back out) from both the threaded end and the mouth end. Then I plunged several times without drawing in any water, which helps to get rid of any excess water, and then I blew through the mouth ends and let them sit by a fan for 24 to 30 hours. Then I refilled them with liquid, and from then on, whenever I vaped those cartos, I would have a problem with having to spit out water that was on my tongue after each drag. It took me a while to realize that this problem was due to the cartos not being completely dry before I refilled them.

Anyway, now I leave them sitting by a fan for several days after cleaning them and before refilling them (I'll probably let them sit for 7 days or so). And I no longer use boiling water or near-boiling water, because two of the 11 cartos died after that -- and the filler shrinks every time. Now I just use hot tap water when flushing them with the syringe and rubber cone (which is the best method I've found to clean cartos so far). I got the idea from watching a YouTube video a few weeks ago, then srcowell started using that method, and he gave me a couple more ideas on how to do it the right way (that you can draw water into the mouth end of the carto from a bowl or pan, then plunge it back out into the sink, and repeat this several times -- and then you do the dry plunging several times to remove any excess water). Blowing through the mouth end as the last step will sometimes remove the last little bit of water.