What am I doing wrong?

[Rhia]

Heya all

I've recently bought an ecigarette and I'm having a few problems. Firstly I followed all the instructions on how to set it up, made sure the battery had a full charge and also followed the instructions on adding the ejuice to the cartridges. Yet I'm still unable to produce a vapour or get a hit when I use the ecigarette. The one I got is this: 510 Starter Kit - Cloud 9 Vaping but the one I got was with empty cartridges not pre-loaded as I wanted to use VG juice instead of PG.

On first use I can get a bit of vapour but continued use produces no vapour at all, I'm puffing for quite a while but nothing happens. Sometimes I get a burning taste in my mouth but no vapour and at other times absolutely nothing except the ecigarette feels extremely hot.

Is there something wrong with my ecigarette? Or am I using it wrong? Any help would be much appreciated thanks

 

[KaitLynnHt]

I"m not completely sure, but it sounds like the cartridge is dry. I assume since you said you wanted to use a specific juice that you have some on hand. Have you tried refilling it? You need to keep the filling in the cartridge wet.

 

[Hot Sauce]

Sounds like you dont have enough juice in the cartridge. There should be juice almost right to the top of the cartidge and it should look almost "slushy". You might have to add a couple drops every so often to keep it moist while vaping. Hope this helps, let us know.

 

[StratCat]

This is why I went to the tank system. Hot Sauce is right, keep it moist or you will get dry hits...

 

[Rhia]

thank you that worked wonders I just tried filling it up a bit more and found that it's working a treat now!

Out of curiosity though, what is the tank system?

 

[AttyPops]

VG is thick... it probably isn't wicking properly down to the coil from the cart.

The sad thing is that carts don't usually work worth crap. There's about 100 videos and even more posts on mods to carts... everything from different foam inserts, to pyramid tea bags, even springs.

Try dripping 3 drops of e-juice right on the metal bridge of the atty, put the cart on, then vape. You'll get 10-20 hits and it will start to get dry. Drip in 3 more drops. This is dripping, and will at least get you started while you research other solutions (if wanted).

BTW... I drip almost 100% of the time just this way.. so there's nothing "wrong" with it. It does have more "fiddle factor" to it, but it also has the best taste. You'll get the hang of it after a bit. If it gurgles, it's flooded. Too many drops inside. If flooded, just unscrew it and blow it out into a napkin, screw the atty back on and start over (3 drops).

 

[Damper]

If you want to try out a simple tank cartridge/ atomizer, this (the standard resistance - SR- for your slim batteries) and this will fit right on the bateries you got in your starter kit.
There are a lot of different, much more advanced, tanks out there, but they will not work on the slim 510 batteries.

 

[rse1]

Rhia, Welcome to the ECF.
First, let me present some descriptions of cartidges, cartomizers, and tanks.

You are using 901 cartridges.. Tank systems (901/510-T/ego-T/ego-c) were traditionally built as separates: an atomizer and a cartridge. The atty has a small wick. The tank was just an empty cartridge you could fill with juice (generally somewhat transluscent so you could see the juice level). The small wick has a problem feeding thicker juices (like 100 VG juices). You might try thinning the juice with distilled water (a couple of drops and mix well) or grain alcohol.

Some of the newer tanks are combined systems with both an atomizer and a juice reservoir (and some tanks have a carto inside the juice tank). Tanks often hold more juice than cartos but have had issues with leaking and muting the flavor.

Cartos/carts are a combination of an atomizer (heater coil) and usually some filler material you need to soak in juice - the juice will wick down to the coil to produce vapor. The thicker juices (higher VG) take a longer time to wick than thinner juices (higher PG).

 

[Jefferson62]

Also, VG based eliquid is very thick and will take longer to wick to the atomizer. You may need to wait longer between hits or, thin you eliquid a little bit.

 

[krnxguhj33]

I'm going to say something similar to everyone else and say that your e-liquid is probably too thick for the cartomizer. You're gonna want to wait between hits (~20-30 seconds) or get a higher PG liquid, as PG is thinner and wicks into the carto polyfill better.

 

[V1 ROT8]

From my limited experience, when using cartomizers, I've found that if you get a burnt taste in your mouth you have probably burned some of the polyfill inside the cartomizer. You may want to toss that one and start with a fresh one. As others have said, you need to keep it wet! Good luck, I've also found vaping to be quite the learning experience (although still extremely worthwhile.)

 

[Mud Stuffin]

I've seen a lot of recommendations here that call for adding a few drops of distilled water (2-3 drops per 10ml) to thin pure VG juices. Might try that so that it wicks better on your atty.

 

[AttyPops]

The link provided in the OP is atomizers, folks. If Rhia is using something else, we need clarification.......

 

[Rhia]

The link provided in the OP is atomizers, folks. If Rhia is using something else, we need clarification.......

Sorry I couldn't find the exact one I bought from that web site, it is that ecig but the one I got was with empty cartridges and an atomizer which I screw into the battery. I'm a little bit confused with some of the feedback I've read but that might be cos I'm tired and just heading off to bed so will read through everything tomorrow and hopefully it will be a little clearer!

Just one thing, I saw some smokymisers on alba vapours a couple of weeks back but they're not in stock now. Does anyone know whether I can use them on the ecig that I have and are they any good? I think I read that the atomizer is included in the cartridge but I can't remember!

 

[AttyPops]

OK, cool. Thanks for the reply. You have an atomizer.

Cartomizers, Cartos, smokeymizers, are all cartos. That's a one piece design (for a 2-piece e-cig... battery + carto = 2) that has the liquid container and the heating coil all in one piece. Considered more disposable than atomizers, and last less time. You "fill them" and they have filler or wicking inside.

Atomizer is metal and is the coil part. Cartridges hold the juice. Thus a two piece design (3 piece e-cig with battery). More robust than a carto, but the carts (cartridges) generally suck. Good for dripping.

What you can use on your e-cig is mostly determined by the ohm rating of the atty/carto. For that e-cig I'd stay around standard ohms (2.4 ohms).

 

[zoiDman]

Sorry I couldn't find the exact one I bought from that web site, it is that ecig but the one I got was with empty cartridges and an atomizer which I screw into the battery. I'm a little bit confused with some of the feedback I've read but that might be cos I'm tired and just heading off to bed so will read through everything tomorrow and hopefully it will be a little clearer!

Just one thing, I saw some smokymisers on alba vapours a couple of weeks back but they're not in stock now. Does anyone know whether I can use them on the ecig that I have and are they any good? I think I read that the atomizer is included in the cartridge but I can't remember!

It sounds like your e-Liquid is fine but the Stuffing in your Cart is all Smushed Down.

It helps at every refill to take a Pin of a Neddle and Fluff the Top of the Cart Stuffing until it is Level with the Top of the Cart.

If the Stuffing has a Big Depression in it, sometimes the e-Liquid doesn't get to your Atomizer fast enough. And when that happens you get a Burnt Taste, or what we call a "Dry Hit". And if you hit it again and again the Atomizr gets Hot.

 

[LeDean]

Welcome to the Forums!

Tanks are awesome, in my opinion. Let me try to explain it. The tank is a tube that has the liquid in it. The cartomizer sits in that tube. The cartomizer has tiny holes in it that allow the "tank liquid" to seep in and keep your wick wet. The biggest pro is that you can see the juice, so you have a better idea how long you can go before needing to refill. I keep my tank a little over halfway full.

That being said, not using a tank is cool for other people, as well. I just prefer it because I almost die when the "burnt cotton" taste hits my tongue. And it's easier for me to avoid with a tank.

 

[Rhia]

Ok thanks for the feedback all. I'm not really getting on well with this ecigarette because I don't really like the button pressing so I bought a trial ecigarette with VG and I get on better with that but I've been using unflavored ejuice with my ecigarette because of asthma and allergies I wasn't too sure how I would cope with flavoring. Anyway the flavor I got was tobacco and I found that when it hit the back of my throat it sometimes caused me to cough and I also noticed that I got really bad indigestion with it. Am I going to have this type of reaction with all flavourings? I usually smoke golden Virginia and they have an ejuice that tastes like Virginia tobacco but I can't get this in the trial ecigarette because they didn't have it available. Any advice on flavourings would be much appreciated, thanks!

 

[LeAnn]

That's why I don't like cartridges and atomizer system. Try cartomizers, they last longer and you don't have to fill every few minutes. Of course I use Tanks for my favorite juices so I don't have to refill for days!

 

[rse1]

Your symptoms could be a reaction to a flavoring component. Some manufacturers use an alcohol based flavoring with VG juices to increase throat hit which could be responsible for your cough.

Do you trust that the trial carto is 100% VG? If the manufacturer is using a mostly VG mix, you could be having an allergic reaction to the PG component in the trial cartos. I'd try cleaning one of your cartos and refilling it with your original VG juice to see if you continue seeing those symptoms.

Your indigestion symptom sounds like my reaction to too much nicotine intake. What nicotine level are the trial cartos and are you vaping constantly?

I hope this helps.