Tips on Refilling???

[honkytonkmn]

Ok I've had my Bloog for a week now, I love the prefilled carts, but it seems when I refill them I don't get the same hit and they don't last as long. Is there a trick to refilling? I've been using the condom method and I'm not sure how much to put in, if I should spin it.

What am I doing wrong???

Its almost to the point where I just want to give up on refilling and just buy the prefilled.

 

[pmos69]

Don't use the condom method with these. These are easy drippers.
Just take the soft cap off and drip on the filler (not on the center) as you turn the carto.
Stop when the filler doesn't absorb any more liquid and is just moist at the top.
You should be able to get more than 20 drops on a carto.
Put the cap back on, give it a quick blow though the mouth piece with a tissue on the battery end to absorb any excess liquid.
Clean the battery side (very important).
vape away, or wait 1 minute and vape away.

 

[Gardner808]

HonkyTonk, where are you getting your juice? What blend of PG/VG? And what flavors? It might have more to do with that than anything else.

 

[honkytonkmn]

HonkyTonk, where are you getting your juice? What blend of PG/VG? And what flavors? It might have more to do with that than anything else.

Sorry, should have said this to begin with. First batch was from freedomsmokeusa 50/50 blend. Second batch was from Rock Star Vapors, 100%PG RSV I tried Coffee and Black Cherry from freedomsmoke I've had the Cherry Pepsi and some other flavor I can't think of off the top of my head.

Freedomsmoke - They weren't bad, but didn't last long at all and the flavor is very faint.

Rock Star Vapors - the coffee is almost like a dud. Can't hardly get anything out of it, the cherry wasn't too bad, but still not a good hit like the prefills

 

[honkytonkmn]

HonkyTonk, where are you getting your juice? What blend of PG/VG? And what flavors? It might have more to do with that than anything else.

Sorry, should have said this to begin with. First batch was from freedomsmokeusa 50/50 blend.

Second batch was from Rock Star Vapors, 100%PG RSV I tried Coffee and Black Cherry

from freedomsmoke I've had the Cherry Pepsi and some other flavor I can't think of off the top of my head.

Freedomsmoke - They weren't bad, but didn't last long at all and the flavor is very faint.

Rock Star Vapors - the coffee is almost like a dud. Can't hardly get anything out of it, the cherry wasn't too bad, but still not a good hit like the prefills

 

[Gardner808]

As a general rule, we do not recommend a 50/50 blend in BMF cartomizers. The ideal is 70/30 and higher in PG.

The 50/50 does not wick well and will reduce performance of the cartos. They may not actually be empty but may seem that way as the liquid is too think to get to the wick to maintain a steady flow of vapor.

Also, the higher the VG the more the flavor is muted. This does not hold for everyone but is widely reported.

Starting off I recommend 24mg Nicotine to ensure a solid throat hit.

I like and trust these vendors:
Backwoods Brew - Great Tobaccos, High Quality Juice
Kick Bass Vapor - Dessert Juice Vendor (Primarily)
Southern Ambrosia - All Around Good Vendor, Small Selection, No Website, High VG Wicks in BMF
VaporStation - Decent Selection, Quality Juices, Good Tobaccos
Want2Vape - High Quality Juice, Good Selection, Awesome Sampler Deal, Great Tobaccos
HaloCigs - Small Selection, Good Tobaccos, Love the Jars
MadVapes - Good Selection, Great Price

I hope this helps. If not, keep asking questions and providing information and we will help you get where you wanna go. Hopefully, Frick will chime in as well. He has a lot of experience with BMF cartos and a wide variety of juice.

 

[honkytonkmn]

Yea, thanks Gardner I didn't realize that there was that big of a difference between PG and VG till after I ordered those samplers, that's why I ordered the 100 PG my next order.

I may have been over filling the cartos. I did PMOS's trick and put in about 24 drops and it seems to Vape well with that, I'm not sure if it will last as long as a pre-filled carto yet, but it vapes more like the pre-filled.

 

[n00b]

Starting off I recommend 24mg Nicotine to ensure a solid throat hit.

Unless you were primarily a "lights" smoker. I did Marlboro Lights (Gold pack now) for almost 7 years and I cant take anything over 16 mg and thats pushing it. 11 mg and even 6 mg is better.

 

[Frick]

I do exactly what pmos said: remove the cap and drip around the edges. I usually do about 8 drops, and let it sit on an angle (or upright, but it's more likely to leak out the bottom battery hole that way) for a few minutes. You'll see that the filler is pretty much dry again, so another 8 drops or so, let it sit again (3-5 minutes) and top off with about 4 drops. That's about as much as I usually fill them, or it ends up running out the bottom. Quick blow through and dab the battery end and they're ready to vape.

I don't really want to list all the juices I've tried, but anything 70/30 PG/VG or thinner works fine. Gardner hit on some good vendors. I really only order tobacco flavors. Some heavier PG/VG blends are thinned to make them vapable in BMF cartos.

Backwoods Brew is good stuff, but it has to steep at least two weeks, in my experience. Out of the mailbox, it's like perfume for the most part. After steeping, good, rich flavors, although everything I have is tobacco-based flavors.

Halo stuff is thin as water, and vapes very well in BMF cartos.
Johnson Creek PG blend is very thin too, but I can't stand the stuff I've tried. Very expensive 'yuck' juice, IMO.

VAPOR STATION! They have great stuff, it's not very expensive, and they use glass bottles with glass drippers. Tampa is very analog-like. Very clean flavors from them.

And after all the juices I've tried, I'd trade it all for a big bottle of Bloog's 555, or even RY4. I can always transfer it to an empty glass dripper bottle.

 

[starsong]

Unless you were primarily a "lights" smoker. I did Marlboro Lights (Gold pack now) for almost 7 years and I cant take anything over 16 mg and thats pushing it. 11 mg and even 6 mg is better.

I'm with you, I was ultra lights for 20+ yrs and 24mgs kill me.

 

[starsong]

Frick, don't you put the condom with the plug in the bottom while filling?

 

[pmos69]

I do exactly what pmos said: remove the cap and drip around the edges. I usually do about 8 drops, and let it sit on an angle (or upright, but it's more likely to leak out the bottom battery hole that way) for a few minutes. You'll see that the filler is pretty much dry again, so another 8 drops or so, let it sit again (3-5 minutes) and top off with about 4 drops. That's about as much as I usually fill them, or it ends up running out the bottom. Quick blow through and dab the battery end and they're ready to vape.

I don't really want to list all the juices I've tried, but anything 70/30 PG/VG or thinner works fine. Gardner hit on some good vendors. I really only order tobacco flavors. Some heavier PG/VG blends are thinned to make them vapable in BMF cartos.

Backwoods Brew is good stuff, but it has to steep at least two weeks, in my experience. Out of the mailbox, it's like perfume for the most part. After steeping, good, rich flavors, although everything I have is tobacco-based flavors.

Halo stuff is thin as water, and vapes very well in BMF cartos.
Johnson Creek PG blend is very thin too, but I can't stand the stuff I've tried. Very expensive 'yuck' juice, IMO.

VAPOR STATION! They have great stuff, it's not very expensive, and they use glass bottles with glass drippers. Tampa is very analog-like. Very clean flavors from them.

And after all the juices I've tried, I'd trade it all for a big bottle of Bloog's 555, or even RY4. I can always transfer it to an empty glass dripper bottle.

You do 8 drops probably because you just top it off.
I usually manage more that 30 drops on an empty carto without overfilling or leaking. (drop size will vary of course)

Or maybe it's because you're a hoarding vaporist...

 

[analog]

I'm a nerd and have a scale on my dresser, so I weigh the carto first, I do this because I stop when I get a funky flavor, USUALLY this is just because it's almost empty, but if the carto is bad, it can taste funky while still having juice in it. By weighing, I know if I'm dealing with a suspect carto or not. Example, just grabbed an empty from the beat box, weighed it at 4.6 grams (90% of my cartos taste empty at 4.6-4.7 grams). Of course this is completely optional, but it's useful for me and takes 2 seconds, more than anything I use the scale to grab a mystery carto and tell me if it's full, empty, half, whatever...

I put the condom on the battery end, make sure the plug goes in the hole. Tip comes off mouth end, set it on the scale. Hold at angle, drip slowly on filler while rotating. I just got 20 drops from this honeyville bottle before it puddled a little. I let it sit for however long, this time about 30 minutes, came back to it, added another 12 drops before it puddled a bit. From experience I can tell you that this would need blowing if used now, or within a few minutes. I wasn't in a hurry so I just set it there. Came back after an hour or so, weighed, added exactly 1 gram of weight, so I pull the condom off, blow and dab although I only had a tiny spray come out, less than a drop.

Now usually I don't do singles, I refill in batches, so I'm not really doing this every few hours or anything, but I find that the battery condom keeps the juice in the carto where it can really soak into the wick, and fill it in two sessions over some amount of time and you get a lot more juice in. Spinning does the same, but my centrifuge is in the garage and I'm lazy! Condom + dripping wins for me.

 

[starsong]

There's no way I can get 30 drops. I keep reading that people can do this, but mine gurgles when I go over 20, and that's after letting it sit a few days.

 

[n00b]

Hmm.. So obvious now.. Why am I not putting the condom on when I am refilling?

 

[leaford]

Yea, thanks Gardner I didn't realize that there was that big of a difference between PG and VG till after I ordered those samplers, that's why I ordered the 100 PG my next order.

I may have been over filling the cartos. I did PMOS's trick and put in about 24 drops and it seems to Vape well with that, I'm not sure if it will last as long as a pre-filled carto yet, but it vapes more like the pre-filled.

That's what my guess would have been. Overfilling reduces performance.

Good indicators to watch for are that the filler should appear slightly glistening, like a damp paper towel, but NOT visibly wet like a soaked washcloth. And a test I use is to turn the carto upside down for a few seconds, then turn it right side up and quickly look inside. If the carto is properly filled you should see liquid on the surface for just a second before it soaks back into the filler.

 

[n00b]

Leaford you must have something up your sleeve for easier filing. I remember watching my mom roll cigs with a machine. She put in tobacco and a empty tube, turn a crank and out popped a full cig.

I want a device to add in my juice bottle, pop in a cart, turn a crank (or hit a button) and pop out a filled cart.

 

[leaford]

Leaford you must have something up your sleeve for easier filing. I remember watching my mom roll cigs with a machine. She put in tobacco and a empty tube, turn a crank and out popped a full cig.

I want a device to add in my juice bottle, pop in a cart, turn a crank (or hit a button) and pop out a filled cart.

I am working on coming up with easy-refilling tools, but it's turning into a real challenge. I pitched an idea for a modified syringe specifically for refilling cartos, but we couldn't get a supplier interested in making them. They'd need an initial order WAY too big for us before they'd even consider making new moulds for it. Tens of thousands to start with. We're working now on a modified bottle cap with a built in refilling tool, and hope bottle manufacturers will go for it with a more reasonable minimum quantity.

But one issue I'm having is that if it premeasures a precise amount, that's fine for empty cartos, but no good for refilling because you can't be sure it will take a whole 1ml. That depends on how much is left in it already.

So even if the new idea works out, I'm not sure how useful it would be to most people.

 

[n00b]

hmm good point. I hadn't thought how to handle partially filled carts which most would be. If I think of anything you will be the first to know.

 

[pmos69]

There's no way I can get 30 drops. I keep reading that people can do this, but mine gurgles when I go over 20, and that's after letting it sit a few days.

Guess drop size can have something to do with that...
One other tip: When dripping, hold the carto at an angle (like 45 dedrees) and drip into the inside wall of the carto, not the filer directly.