Trouble keeping my XL carto primed...

[MJMacedo]

When I first switched to cartos from clearos, I decided to go with XL Single Coil Boge in a DCT. I bought four pre-punched cartos. I loaded the cartos pretty well, but after about 4-5 puffs, I pulled my drip tip out to look at the filler and it was dry. After going through my first four, I went for unpunched cartos and punch them myself.
My original thought was, the Pre-punched ones only had one hole, so I decided to punch two on my new ones. Still, after a few puffs, the top filler dries up yet again.
The taste is still good, but I'm just worried about the life of my cartos.
Maybe since the cartos are so tall, the juice doesn't have time to travel up to the top? I do try loading it by puffing while covering the air flow, but thats getting annoying. What am I doing wrong??? Thanks.

 

[Beccca]

Why do you punch your cartomizers....I use mega dual coils and love them....no trouble...but you have to soak the inner material for it to stay working for a while.

 

[Jonibrasco]

I am looking at trying tanks too. I noticed with my cartos that the best vapes are from a when they are completely full. After a few hits the flavor for me drops off quite quickly. I was hoping the tank would keep it saturated. Is that how they are supposed to work?

 

[MJMacedo]

Why do you punch your cartomizers....I use mega dual coils and love them....no trouble...but you have to soak the inner material for it to stay working for a while.

I punch them so I can use them in tanks. I thought maybe two holes are better than one when having filler wicking problems.

 

[The Ocelot]

Hi - I've noticed that my XLs sometimes don't wick as well with 1 hole, especially if I'm using more than 40% vg. I have a feeling the length has much to do with it.

 

[markfm]

Two holes can be good, don't sweat that the top is dry after a bit, as long as the taste is good. Do prime them initially, give them at least a couple minutes, so you'll get clean flow of the eliquid across the filler.

I use standard length cartos, even on them the top looks dry after a few minutes, but I still get good longevity out of them in a tank.

 

[MadiTayl]

I've never liked those punched cartos and always had similar trouble. I've since moved to top-coil clearomizers and tanks and I've never looked back. My favorites right now are these random clearos i picked up from kingpinecigs.com. I use the smaller clearomizers from their site. I'm not sure what exact model they are but they work better than anything I've ever used. no leak, no burn and I've been vaping one all week and it still hasn't burnt out on me. $2.50 a pop

 

[markfm]

If you want to punch your own, here's a punch that works well, consistently: Cartomizer Punch

I came up with the design about a year back, vendor asked if he could sell it -- it's basically at cost to him, since I know what the parts run.

Insert carto, tighten until you feel the screw touch the carto wall, then two full turns (720 degrees). Unscrew, then repeat, on the opposite side of the carto.

For an M1A1 tank, or others with narrow end caps, it works fine to slide the carto all the way in, otherwise just leave a few mm of body exposed (practice on an old carto to get a feel for the right height).

Good luck!

 

[MJMacedo]

If you want to punch your own, here's a punch that works well, consistently: Cartomizer Punch

I came up with the design about a year back, vendor asked if he could sell it -- it's basically at cost to him, since I know what the parts run.

Insert carto, tighten until you feel the screw touch the carto wall, then two full turns (720 degrees). Unscrew, then repeat, on the opposite side of the carto.

For an M1A1 tank, or others with narrow end caps, it works fine to slide the carto all the way in, otherwise just leave a few mm of body exposed (practice on an old carto to get a feel for the right height).

Good luck!

How does this product differ from the Home Depot saddle valve? That what I'm currently using.

 

[markfm]

It's a hub with a 1/4-20 hex head machine screw. The hub part is just barely larger than carto diameter, and has enough length so that there is very little deformation of the carto.

The hub makes it impossible to misalign, since the set screw hole (what the 1/4-20 screw is in) is dead center.

The hole punched has what I consider a decent diameter, and if you do the two-full-turns it will not puncture all the way to the center tube (which causes flooding).

I tried several saddle valves, found them a general pita, ended up using a dremel for a half year before coming up with the hub/screw combination. If you have something that works okay for you, by all means keep at it, but if you're new, or not finding saddle valves fun, this works quite well.

I'm pretty sure other shops have similar things now, but a year ago the only one I knew of was from Europe, a hassle to obtain, and kind of pricey. I use a small cheap flat wrench, from a some-assembly-required gym item, to tighten the screw, others do it by hand (it doesn't take much force, but the wrench makes it easier to count the two full turns )