When and How to refill cartos, how to clean them out?

[Unhooked]

I have five cartos, the strong sampler. Thought they would last forever but I like vaping so far and I bet they will run out (duh?). Anyway, I have seen the Condom method for refilling in the video, but I also read a few people said they just drip some juice in.

I think someone said they put a few drops in every now and then? (sounds easiest to me)

Others said they waited until they were out, then put 20 drops in?

If you use cart's, what you do? How often, how much, what end, how long do you wait after?

Is it gross if you put say cherry in a mostly empty cappuccino cart? Do you really need to clean out the old flavor first? How do you do that? Is it actually easy to effectively clean out a cart to fill with a different flavor (might as well buy them full if it is easy enough to change flavors).

Thanks!

 

[White Rabbit]

Dear Pastor,

Cleaning cartos is very easy and prolongs the life for weeks. I either boil them for 15 minutes, let them cool, blow out any excess water, plug the end with a small piece of paper towel and let them dry overnight. I refill using the condom method from the mouth piece end, letting the juice flow into the carto for 15 minutes or so, then blow any excess out of the tube and top off as necessary. I have also soaked them in 100 proof (cheap) vodka first, but that does not seem to do any better than plain boiling for 15 minutes or so.

I now purchase the SI blank cartomizers and refill with various juices mainly from EC Blends which by the way have a great variety of flavors, and some of the least expensive juice. Buy small 5 ml samples before you purchase larger 30 ml bottles.

Lots of videos of carto cleaning and refilling on YouTube and I believe on the Smokless Image site also.

I have been vaping since October and have only used one box of 5 blank cartos so far. I have 5 new blanks available, but the old ones still work fine after 4 cleanings each so far. I clean mine when the draw gets tight or if the flavor gets a little nasty.

 

[Renolizzie]

I never clean them, I top off using a similar flavor. Fruit in the fruity ones and tobacco in the tobacco ones. I don't know how long the last but I have gotten at least five refills out of all of them.

 

[hcour]

A tip when refilling - put a toothpick in the center hole so you when you drip your juice in you don't have to be so careful about avoiding that hole. Also, I never clean mine, just refill them. The old flavor usually transitions completely to the new in a few draws.

 

[Unhooked]

A tip when refilling - put a toothpick in the center hole so you when you drip your juice in you don't have to be so careful about avoiding that hole. Also, I never clean mine, just refill them. The old flavor usually transitions completely to the new in a few draws.

Makes sense! So, you pop off the mouth end rubber thing, put a toothpick in the middle, then drip some drops into the stuff that looks like material? Then what, take the toothpick back out, pop the rubber end back on, and stand up for a couple hours? Man that seems like the easiest way if I have that right.

 

[Duster6524]

Yup, you got it!

 

[hcour]

But you don't have to wait, really. Maybe a few minutes, let it soak in. That's plenty.

 

[Unhooked]

So easy. Now all I need is some 0 nic juice to play with before I run through my five cartos!

http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/wanted/355539-us-wtb-your-leftover-0-nic-juice.html

 

[dwsizme]

I never clean them, I top off using a similar flavor. Fruit in the fruity ones and tobacco in the tobacco ones. I don't know how long the last but I have gotten at least five refills out of all of them.

I refill all the time and have gotten way more than 5 refills. Maybe 20, 30. Don't count anymore. Just keep refilling til they die. Haven't had one die since I've stopped worrying about cleaning them......I'll keep you posted.

A tip when refilling - put a toothpick in the center hole so you when you drip your juice in you don't have to be so careful about avoiding that hole. Also, I never clean mine, just refill them. The old flavor usually transitions completely to the new in a few draws.

Just my 2 cents....don't know if I'm right or wrong, but seems to work....I don't understand why you would have to plug the center hole? I use the bottom fill method. I fill the top condom thing 1/2 way with liquid and stick the carto in bottom first. I make sure all the cotton inside gets saturated (it will come up thru the center hole), maybe drip a few drops of liquid in the top (or pour back in thru the top what doesn't get up thru the center that's left in the condom) and then lift the carto up slightly, and let it set a few minutes in case any wants to drip out and to just let it kind of soak in, pull off the condom, wipe it off and clean the bottom threads with a paper towel and a little brush real good and I'm good to go. I've never cleaned or boiled the cartos yet....seen the videos how to....but not sure why to. Doesn't the battery heat the juice up from the bottom....wouldn't that burn off anything bad? Not sure but they have been working for me for many refills. In fact the only time I've had a carto die was when I was cleaning them too aggressively by poking a dental brush up the center trying to clean out the tube. I killed quite a few that way. So now I just refill....sometimes from the top, but most times from the bottom condom method (there are lots of videos on you tube), I do a few at once and fill my cart cases. Works good for me.
Like I said....could be wrong, but they work and vape just fine with no ill effects yet.

*oh yeah....and I keep the same flavor in the carto. I suppose it never would lose all of the original flavor so I guess that would be a reason for cleaning them. But I just buy new cartos when I buy new flavors.

 

[StormyHaze]

I'm new to this-3 days since I received my kit. My taste buds are still in shock from cig smoking, so I've had no problem refilling the cartos with different flavor. I only have cappuccino cartos and have been refilling them with cherry on top ejuice. Tastes fine to me, but can barely taste the flavors anyway.
I can't wait to taste flavors properly.

 

[hcour]

I find the toothpick method just makes it less messy, easier to avoid dripping juice in the hole, so I get no leaking. I tried the "condom" method once and found it way too sloppy. I use the squared-off toothpicks, so really only the tip of the toothpick goes into the hole, which I've used on SI and other carto's with no problem. I certainly wouldn't jam it all the way down there, I think that might affect the wick, perhaps?

I'm certainly no expert on these matters, this is just a tip I picked up here on ECF from someone, which has worked fine for me. Maybe someone with a bit more experience will let us know if this method can cause any problems.

 

[Imagine]

here is the filling demo video

 

[SteveI]

The above video shows both methods. I do the drip method. After it seems full, let it sit a few minutes, and repeat. It takes a few minutes to saturate so topping off a second time really helps. I started 2 months ago, and never had a carto "die" on me. With poor taste buds, sometimes I start getting a burned taste, or slightly metallic taste. I would just refill, and it seemed to go away.

I went through 3 bottles, and just threw away cartos after about 20 fills. Still have quite a few left. I prefer the clearo and CE3's now, but am keeping the remaining cartos as back ups, just in case.

I noticed that if I mixed juices, the taste was horrible for me. Clearos & CE3's solved that problem with a quick rinse. I just can't see myself cleaning cartos out.

 

[Grimwald]

I've tried various methods for cleaning...boiling, vodka, rinsing, yada yada...and they all work to some degree. Right now I soak in everclear or vodka overnight, then rinse with very hot water and allow 2-3 days drying. Seems to work. Honestly I refill them many times (probably 20+) until they just don't draw right, then throw them in the "to be cleaned" pile. If they still don't draw after cleaning, I thank them for their service and toss them.

I just slowly drip in 20 or so drops after vaping them dry and vape them almost immediately. I tried the condom method, but it's messier to me. And I do mix flavors if they are similar.

 

[Unhooked]

Helpful posts folks, thanks!

 

[Bizzar1]

I gave up on cleaning. I have tried every method out there and imho, the time spent is a waste as cartos are so cheap when you consider their life span. Gone through tanks, clearos, nanos, c3's, t2's, t3's nova tanks etc and always seem to go right back to a simple carto. Sure the flavor is a teensy tiny bit muted in comparison to others but the simplicity of them outweighs the hassle, maintenence and leaks from others. Maybe I'm just lazy hah!

 

[Unhooked]

After reading around a bit I just picked up some of these for trying new flavors in: Tidy 10 & Tidy 12 iTaste Clearomizers | Tidy Innokin Clearomizers 510 & KR808D Magnetic They are about $11 shipped for five.

 

[marlou]

Although I use a variety of juice delivery types, the carto is still my favorite. I fill with the condum method most of the time and top them off often. When the draw gets hard I clean them. I've tried many of the cleaning methods out there. But being a basically lazy person this is the one I've settled on: I use very hot tap water to flush them out with a syringe, use the syringe to pump out as much water as possible, give them a few hard thermometer shakes and then lay them on a paper towel to dry. When I notice a freshly cleaned carto has lost the easy draw, I vape it dry and then toss it.

 

[Unhooked]

So as you can probably tell I don't vape a lot and with 0 nic I don't need to. From my SI strong carto sampler I got my first burnt taste from the grape today, and I had purchased a free sample of something called mystic cherry in 0 nic from a place called vermillion river (just pay shipping). I went ahead and dripped 20 drops into the grape carto being sure not to get it down the middle hole. All I can say is YUMM! This cherry kicks that grape in the rear if you'll pardon my french. Its here if you want to check it out:
Mystic Cherry Jr.

 

[nightfell]

I've never bothered with washing them. Once that stop performing, I just toss them. As for refilling I either stick with a single flavor per cart or layer flavors going from light to strong. I've tried being willy nilly with flavor filling and to me I don't like the taste.