Aloysius Posted July 3, 2011 Share Posted July 3, 2011 So I decided to stop wasting money on prefilled cartomizers and got some sample liquids from sweet-vapes.com. I ordered 100% PG because that's what I thought was already in the SmokeTip cartos I had ordered. I am very happy with the flavors -- far, FAR tastier than the pre-filled cartos I was using. But, vapor production seems rather small. If I do a mouth hit I get some vapor, but inhaling makes it disappear and nothing comes out when I exhale. I still get the "throat hit" and nicotine, though. Is this normal for 100% PG liquids? Should I order some with a % VG in it to get more vaporous clouds? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharon Posted July 3, 2011 Share Posted July 3, 2011 Yes Aloysius, VG is what gives the vapor. PG gives the best flavor and the higher the nic, the more throat hit. 80% PG and 20% VG is a good "across the board" mix. PG has a thin consistence and VG is thick. If I am direct dripping I can use a juice with a higher VG content. Personally I like a 50/50 mix for DD. Using a carto/tank/clearomizer, I pretty much stick with an 80/20 or 70/30 mix. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BirdDog Posted July 3, 2011 Share Posted July 3, 2011 PG does produce good vapor. You should be getting vapor from the PG based liquid. There could be a couple reason why you are not getting vapor. The cartos you are using could be defective, you didn't add enough liquid or you are inhaling incorrectly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcquinn Posted July 4, 2011 Share Posted July 4, 2011 I usually use 22 drops to fill a Boge 510 carto the first time,it takes a few uses to get everything up to speed . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aloysius Posted July 4, 2011 Author Share Posted July 4, 2011 (edited) PG does produce good vapor. You should be getting vapor from the PG based liquid. There could be a couple reason why you are not getting vapor. The cartos you are using could be defective, you didn't add enough liquid or you are inhaling incorrectly. Defective cartos? The three I am using for this little experiment worked fine the first run through (prefilled). Two I cleaned with hot water; one I just added juice to. I doubt all three are bad since they are random ones I saved from the packs of prefills. Pretty sure I didn't burn them out; I change the carto as soon as it stops giving good hits. Plus I'm getting plenty of flavor and nicotine, just not much of a cloud. Not enough juice? About 1/3 of a 3 ml sample bottle, any more and they'll flood (happened to me the first time I tried it). Plus I'm getting plenty of flavor and nicotine. Just not much of a cloud. Inhaling wrong? I dunno. Slow and long, right? My "method" is working fine on the prefilled ones, just not when I refill them with the juice I got. Again, plenty of flavor & nic... little or no cloud. Thanks for your advice Sharon & BirdDog. Going to go ahead and buy some 70/30 blend, see how that turns out. Edited July 4, 2011 by Aloysius Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aloysius Posted July 4, 2011 Author Share Posted July 4, 2011 More experimentation... Prefilled carto: - 3 second draw into mouth, release: cloud lasts about 5 seconds in the air. - 3 second draw into mouth, inhale, exhale: I blow out some visible vapor. Freshly refilled carto: - 3 second draw into mouth, release: cloud lasts about 5 seconds in the air. - 3 second draw into mouth, inhale, exhale: I blow out... nothing. Hmmm... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christopher Posted July 4, 2011 Share Posted July 4, 2011 Do not clean out your cartomizers. They're not meant to be cleaned. This will just kill em. It's best to just refill them until they stop working. One way to tell if it's done - open up the top of the carto and look inside. If the center circle of the cartomizer is brown, it's done. Sames goes for the filler. While it's great to reuse cartomizers ( we all do it ) I do not suggest cleaning them. Most of the time it causes more harm than good. Each cartomizer can be used for about a week or so. After that I suggest that the cartomizer is changed out for a new one. One thing to note, most PG e liquids (Boge, Dekang etc) are actually a 80% 20% PG VG mix by default. This tends to be the optimum mix especially for cartomizers. If you're going to make the switch to VG you may as well use atomizers instead. It'll do you more justice in the long run. Also I noticed you mentioned you're not getting much vapor on exhale. This is usually most noticeable when the cartomizer has been overfilled. It can also happen if you don't let the wicking inside the cartomizer fully soak. If only half has been filled, the top tends to bun up and "seal". So when you add liquid it only sits on the top. Thus you are always filling and always getting mediocre vapor and flavor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aloysius Posted July 4, 2011 Author Share Posted July 4, 2011 Thanks for the advice, Christopher. Regarding carto cleaning, I did a "gentle" clean by running hot (not boiling) water through them. And, one of them I didn't clean behaved the same way. I'm pretty sure they aren't burnt because they give the same size vapor puff as a new one if I do not inhale it. Given your dire warning, I'll stop cleaning immediately -- the flavor these originally came in was a pretty mild tobacco, so they don't really need it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aloysius Posted July 4, 2011 Author Share Posted July 4, 2011 New question: what's the preferred method for refilling cartos? I have tried the condom method, and popping the cap and dripping onto the filler. I've watched a couple youtube videos where a syringe is used, as well as simply dripping into the hole on the connector side (which looked really messy), but haven't tried those. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fran1959 Posted July 4, 2011 Share Posted July 4, 2011 Hi and welcome. I fill my cartos by simply tipping a bit, like you are pouring beer, and put some drops in, rotate and more drops until they are full, you are trying not to get juice in the center, it will just run out the other end. Brand new they hold like 20 drops, you can watch them soak in. I hope this helps. Like Chris, I don't clean mine, when they are done, toss them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aloysius Posted July 9, 2011 Author Share Posted July 9, 2011 Quick update: 70/30 blend gives much nicer exhale vapor cloud Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony_C Posted July 9, 2011 Share Posted July 9, 2011 New question: what's the preferred method for refilling cartos? I have tried the condom method, and popping the cap and dripping onto the filler. I've watched a couple youtube videos where a syringe is used, as well as simply dripping into the hole on the connector side (which looked really messy), but haven't tried those. I don't know about preferred, but I like to use the condom fill + Taryn spin method, then a couple drops to top it off. Didn't count the drops, but it takes roughly 2/3 of the larger condom full of liquid to fill a new carto. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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