I'm fairly new to vaping, only been doing it a month. Having grown tired of always charging 808 batteries and filling cartos repeatedly each day/night (808's still give a great vape though, shout out to Smokeless Image!), i decided to go the KGO route. Refilling cartos got a lil' better when using the Smoktech 1.7 LR XL Resurrector cartos, but it was still a daily ritual.
So after researching different tanks - Mom and Pop's, JTanks, Smoktech DCT's, etc, i decided on my tank. I ordered a Mom and Pop's Vapor Shop Submarine tank. Yea, it's gotta a lil' screw that sticks out, but that doesn't bother me at all. I'm sure i'd get the same weird looks just using a tank, regardless of the screw. My priorities on tanks were 1 - slippage/leakage, 2 - cost, 3 - ease of refill, and 4 - looks. So Mom and Pop's it's was. Cheap, virtually slip/leak proof (credit to PBusardo's pull test!), and very easy to refill. I figure the less i have to move the rubber inserts/orings, the better. I also purchased a saddle valve kit from Lowes ($6) to punch my own cartos.
Make sure you like your liquid prior to filling it in the tank. I filled the pre-assembled carto/tank with a new juice that i just ordered, leading me to have to disassemble the setup rather quickly LOL I tried using a syringe and suctioning the remainder of the juice out, which helped, and made a mess in the process. That gave me experience in wasting juice, changing cartos, and led to my experience of punching my own swiss cheese carto. Lesson learned - only use enough liquid to fill the holes at the bottom so you can test your juice and punches.
Punching cartos is by far the hardest part of using tanks IMO. Of course, you can go the pre-punched route and gamble on the hole size, and spend a bit more, but punching your own gives you complete control over using the carto with or w/out a tank, and determining hole size when using thicker or lighter liquids. Naturally, i messed up the first one. Still don't understand exactly what went wrong, but i burnt the crap outta that carto and ended up with a swiss cheese Resurrector before i tossed it
Lesson learned - don't make too many large holes.
So after toying with the swiss cheese carto, i learned how to "prime" it. I removed the refill screw to rid any existing vaccum, filled just enough juice to cover the carto's punched holes, plugged the battery end of the carto with my finger, and sucked on the top end. That sucked juice into the carto up to the top. I tested a pull on it attached to the battery, and it worked. I filled enough to cover the cartos punched holes again, and vaped some more. EUREKA! It worked! Problem though, it was an unusually "colder" vape than what i was used to with 1.7 XL Resurrectors. Gotta be the punched holes. I filled the tank twice throughout that carto, and it stayed relatively cold. Lesson learned - there's a fine line between a functioning tank setup and an enjoyable one. Maybe it's all in the carto setup.
So now, on my next carto, i punched 1 large hole, and 1 small one. I took my time, made sure it passed visual inspection to my newly-forming standards, and followed my earlier lesson of using only the necessary amount of juice to test. VOILA! Perfect vape! Warm and cozy, not airy at all, minimal gurgling at first, and awesome vapor production. Topped off the tank, and my wife took it from me. Lesson learned - hide all your goods, there's always someone waiting in the end to capitalize on your hard work
TL;DR - take your time configuring your setup, be prepared to waste juice and cartos, and practice makes perfect!
So after researching different tanks - Mom and Pop's, JTanks, Smoktech DCT's, etc, i decided on my tank. I ordered a Mom and Pop's Vapor Shop Submarine tank. Yea, it's gotta a lil' screw that sticks out, but that doesn't bother me at all. I'm sure i'd get the same weird looks just using a tank, regardless of the screw. My priorities on tanks were 1 - slippage/leakage, 2 - cost, 3 - ease of refill, and 4 - looks. So Mom and Pop's it's was. Cheap, virtually slip/leak proof (credit to PBusardo's pull test!), and very easy to refill. I figure the less i have to move the rubber inserts/orings, the better. I also purchased a saddle valve kit from Lowes ($6) to punch my own cartos.
Make sure you like your liquid prior to filling it in the tank. I filled the pre-assembled carto/tank with a new juice that i just ordered, leading me to have to disassemble the setup rather quickly LOL I tried using a syringe and suctioning the remainder of the juice out, which helped, and made a mess in the process. That gave me experience in wasting juice, changing cartos, and led to my experience of punching my own swiss cheese carto. Lesson learned - only use enough liquid to fill the holes at the bottom so you can test your juice and punches.
Punching cartos is by far the hardest part of using tanks IMO. Of course, you can go the pre-punched route and gamble on the hole size, and spend a bit more, but punching your own gives you complete control over using the carto with or w/out a tank, and determining hole size when using thicker or lighter liquids. Naturally, i messed up the first one. Still don't understand exactly what went wrong, but i burnt the crap outta that carto and ended up with a swiss cheese Resurrector before i tossed it
Lesson learned - don't make too many large holes. So after toying with the swiss cheese carto, i learned how to "prime" it. I removed the refill screw to rid any existing vaccum, filled just enough juice to cover the carto's punched holes, plugged the battery end of the carto with my finger, and sucked on the top end. That sucked juice into the carto up to the top. I tested a pull on it attached to the battery, and it worked. I filled enough to cover the cartos punched holes again, and vaped some more. EUREKA! It worked! Problem though, it was an unusually "colder" vape than what i was used to with 1.7 XL Resurrectors. Gotta be the punched holes. I filled the tank twice throughout that carto, and it stayed relatively cold. Lesson learned - there's a fine line between a functioning tank setup and an enjoyable one. Maybe it's all in the carto setup.
So now, on my next carto, i punched 1 large hole, and 1 small one. I took my time, made sure it passed visual inspection to my newly-forming standards, and followed my earlier lesson of using only the necessary amount of juice to test. VOILA! Perfect vape! Warm and cozy, not airy at all, minimal gurgling at first, and awesome vapor production. Topped off the tank, and my wife took it from me. Lesson learned - hide all your goods, there's always someone waiting in the end to capitalize on your hard work
TL;DR - take your time configuring your setup, be prepared to waste juice and cartos, and practice makes perfect!
