20 replies to this topic

[mse12]

Well anyone who followed my "am i too stupid to vape" thread knows where this is going. I can not get any cartomizers to work. I ordered 20 of the 1.7ohm xl smoktech "ressurectors". Out of probably the 8 that I've tried I've vaped maybe 5ml's total. None of these have worked well for me. I've had the same luck with the dcc from totally wicked. I've wasted probably close to 20ml or more of juice in these horrible things you call cartomizers. I've had at least 5 of these smoktech that i fill completely to find out they do not fire properly. They get hot but put out next to no vapor. One vaped about 4ml and started flooding, One vaped I'd imagine about 1ml and started tasting burnt. I'm sick of wasting my juice. I'm at a total loss with these. I put in an order today for 2 vision ego stardust a box of fluxomizers and a box of ce3 style bottom coil clearos. I'm determined to find something other than dripping that works like it should. I'm steering towards the clearos so that I will at least be able to salvage my juice if or when these stop working. Cartomizers seem like such a straight forward design I have a hard time accepting that they don't work for me. I've heard nothing but good things about the boge 2.0 and 3.0 so these may be my very last attempts at using a cartomizer. I want to use tanks. I own two xl tanks and can not use them because I can not get cartomizers to work. I have had one successful cartomizer experience and that was with one of the pre punched dcc from totally wicked. I actually vaped over 20ml in that one carto. It worked beautifully and now i can't get any of them to work much less work well. I'm looking I guess for advice or insight. I only fill by dripping into the top of carto's avoiding the center hole. I always fill to the top to where you can see the juice at the top of the poly fill. I know carto's have been a standard in this industry for years but I'm either not doing something right or I've been unlucky enough to get only bad cartos new. Thank you for listening to this rant.

Happy Vaping
-mse12

[TroopX]

I feel your pain. Have you tried widening the slot with a dremel or punch? If I'm using the DCC and tank, I'll put an nice slot in it and a maybe 1 ML or less in the carto and let it feed from the bottom. There is a bad taste off the bat with most of the smok cartos I get, but it usually goes away.

[twelveday]

the 1.7 smoktek ressurectors are the best right next to the boge ones that ive experienced. I order my 1,7 smok techs from madvapes, and the boges are basically the same all over I think. What voltage are you vaping them at? and what specific PV or PV's are you using them on? Im just trying to get all the info because I honestly can say that cartomizers are the easiest types Ive been through, clearomizers/atomizers have given me more trouble. Also what specific types of e-liquid are you using in them, VG/PG ratio, flavor etc. There are some liquids that kill cartos much faster than others.

The only things I can think of are
1: You might be flooding the cartomizers, if it seems like it gurgles or you get juice splashing up into your mouth when you inhale, its too flooded, you can remedy this by just blowing through the entire thing into a napkin , getting rid of the excess juice.
2: You are using too thick of a juice that doesnt wick all the way to the coils, when it looks like its 'filled' with VG juice it actually isnt, it just takes a bit more to absorb. The way I fix this is just drip a bit inside, blow through the carto til the top of the filler doesnt look soaked, then drip more, etc keep on doing it. my 1.7 I usually drip maybe 1-1.5 ml inside and vape directly after.
3: You could be getting a bad batch of cartos, but by the looks of it seems like you have bud luck with msot cartos you do.
4: It could actually be the specific juice you're using, there are juices some people call 'carto killers' which usually just kills a carto on the first fill because of how much additives it has to it, the residue builds up on the coils and in the filler so much it becomes clogged faster than usual.

also the 1.5-2.0 ohm cartos should be used around 3.7v for best vapor, I'm not exactly sure but if you use something that low in OHM's on a 5v+ device , unless its dual coil cartos, you will fry the carto.

The cartomizers alone, minus the tank, should be the easiest ones to use. I personally dont use tanks much so I cannot help you on how to use a cartomizer within a tank. But I can tell you cartomizers alone shouldn't be giving you that much of a problem.

Edited by twelveday, 08 May 2012 - 09:17 PM.

[drummerjims]

on the smoktechs on a tank what I like to do is fill up the tank (not the carto) and then cover up the bottom hole with my finger tightly. after that i start sucking the juice into the cartomizer use short hard hits to do this. this will fill the cartomizer from the bottom up. after i get a slight gurgly feel i will then put about 5-10 drops into the top and then blow the excess juice out of the bottom. I have given several people this advice and I have been told it has saved them several cartos. It has also saved me several cartos.

[mcquinn]

I am thinking it is your device.What are you using?You could be maxing out the protection circutry .It will start to get hot but shut down before producing the goods.Just about any mod that is just a battery holder with a switch should fire those carto's in good fashion.The fancy variable volt devices and Ego types have circutry in them to adjust voltage ,limit current and extend battery life.Just to eliminate that you should go as simple as possible and see what happens.Perhaps a cheapo 5 volt passthrough and 1 amp wall wart power supply.Should be less than $20.00 and if that won't work you are indeed vapor challenged.

[mse12]

Good evening all. I'm using these on either ego batteries or the homemade puck box mod that runs roughly around 4.2v (fully charged). The juices I've used have varied quite a bit. I've used Johnson Creek (regular mix), Johnson Creek (Red Oak 100% VG line), Pink Spot (regular mix), Totally Wicked juice (regular mix), as well as juice from a local vendor at 70/30 pg/vg. All of the "regular mixes" mean I don't know that vendor's typical mix ratio, I assume 80/20 as that seems pretty common. I maybe wrong on that. My ego batteries are original Joye equipment.

On a better note, today I received my delivery from Empiremods!!!
2: drip shields
1: 901 LR dripping atty
1: 510 LR drip atty
1: 306 xl drip tip
1: 510 to 901 adapter
1: 510 to 510 extender.

Happy Vaping
-mse12

[JonHitThingWithRock]

I think your filling method is likely to blame, dripping down from the top is a great start, but to totally fill it, make a spinner and force the juice all the way to the bottom. Essentially the procedure is: leave the bottom cap on, drip a couple drops into the filler, spin it, drip a couple more drops, spin again, keep doing this until it won't take any more, then take the cap off and GENTLY blow the excess through until the gurgle is essentially gone, then you can vape it, the first couple hits might be a little off, but once the gurgle is gone, you should be good.

Now, as far as a spinner goes, it's very easy to make, just get a shoelace, some tape (electrical, duct, or athletic), and an empty juice bottle (mine was a 3ml, but most thin sizes will work. Cut the top portion of the bottle off so that you have a plastic cylinder with the bottom intact, tape the ends of the shoelace to opposing sides of the empty topless bottle, and you're done, drop your cartomizer in and spin away.

Here's a picture of mine.

Edited by JonHitThingWithRock, 10 May 2012 - 08:30 AM.

[Heavy]

Why not just use the "condom method" to fill? (google it)

[mse12]

Well I want to thank everyone for the advice but I believe I am officially done with this system. Now, that being said. I have for sale or trade: one 3.5ml green dct, one 6ml clear dct, two pre-punched dct cartos @ 1.5ohm (both tanks and pre-punched cartos are from Totally Wicked), as well as (15) Smoktech XL cartos @ 1.7ohm (these are stainless and ready to punch though not punched yet). If you purchased this equipment at retail it would be $63 not including shipping from TW. The cartos came from CCV and they have free shipping. I would much prefer to sell these together and would ask $40 via PayPal and that will include shipping. I will provide pictures if you would like.
My email address is frederick.michael@rocketmail.com

Happy Vaping
-mse12

[JonHitThingWithRock]

Why not just use the "condom method" to fill? (google it)

i used the condom fill method for quite a while, it's messier and less efficient than the drip-n-spin method, i even tried a condom fill and spin method, which mostly worked, but again was very messy. also i use juices with a lot of vg, and the condom fill method will push the juice through the middle, where it'll sit for a long long time while slowly absorbing, spinning allows me to fill a carto nearly as fast as with pg.