Boiling Cartos

[TornadoContest]

Hi,

I'm new here, but have been vaping since May.

I vape Bloog and Volt 808s. And I'm wondering how many times I should reasonably be able to get away with boiling my cartos before they'll go kaput. I've got a few which have been seeming to run a little dangerously hot to me even when freshly refilled. Also, I only vape VG so they get gunked up fairly quickly.

Thanks!

[blucavvy]

you'll probably only get one decent use out of them after boiling. as in, after boiling from it's initial use, you refill with another 1ml and then maybe get to top it off a few times.

here's the problem with boiling carto's- boiling them may help remove some of the flavor from the polyfill, but the actual coil inside is still gunked after boiling. the boiling may remove some of it but don't expect to get a lot longer out of them. also, if your'e using 100%vg as you know it will gunk up the coil and the polyfill much faster than a pg liquid will. and any dark liquids tend to have alot of flavor sediment in them that will further gunk up the coil.

boiling may help keep it alive a tad longer, but not much. to me it's a waste, when a carto starts losing flavor, or the draw gets too tight for me i ditch it. they're cheap enough that if i get a week or two out of one, i've definately gotten my money's worth out of a $2 carto.

what you can do to help ensure your carto lasting longer is

a.) use a 100%pg liquid, it's thinner and generally won't gunk up coils as fast as vg

b.) if your'e deadset on using heavy vg liquids, try running the lighter colored liquids, those tend to have less flavor sediment in them and shouldn't gunk up a coil as fast as a dark vg liquid.

[blucavvy]

btw, welcome to vaportalk and if you have any other questions please feel free to ask, it's a very helpful community!

[TornadoContest]

I've definitely gotten way more than one boil out of my cartos. I'd say 3 have started to go bad out of the 15 I've been reusing/boiling since May.

And, yeah, PG effects me very badly so I'll be sticking to VG. And, yeah, the only flavors I like are tobacco flavors and, as such, dark colored.

12 bucks plus shipping for 5 cartos doesn't seem particularly cheap to me. Maybe the question I should be asking is where can I can get cartos for 808s that are good quality/long lasting, but come at a price point?

[TornadoContest]

^ better price point

And, thank you, glad to be here. It seems like a laid back and friendly community.

[mega]

its cheap compaired to your old habit now aint it, welcome aboard

[blucavvy]

12 bucks for a 5 pack is highway robbery, i take it your'e buying prefilled?

and as far as boiling a carto 3 times, if it works for you great, cartomizers are disposable though, they're simply not meant to be used that long. the draw will tighten up, and the coil will get gunked up resulting in less vapor production, as will the polyfill, boiling will only remove the sediment so many times, not to mention the heat from the atty in the carto will make the polyfill shrink and start to absorb less resulting in less flavor.

http://www.litecigusa.net/KR808d_1_Blank_Cartomizers_p/krblankcart.htm

http://www.litecigusa.net/KR808d_1_Premium_LOW_RESISTANCE_SOFT_CAP_Blank_Car_p/premlrkrblankcart.htm

^^^be warned that second link i posted is for lr carto's and using these on a battery with less than 400mah will dramatically reduce the lifespan of your batteries.

[mega]

and if you ripped one open that you boild like 5 or 6 times the poly will be burnt inside to. its disgusting.

[blucavvy]

12 bucks for a 5 pack is highway robbery, i take it your'e buying prefilled?

and as far as boiling a carto 3 times, if it works for you great, cartomizers are disposable though, they're simply not meant to be used that long. the draw will tighten up, and the coil will get gunked up resulting in less vapor production, as will the polyfill, boiling will only remove the sediment so many times, not to mention the heat from the atty in the carto will make the polyfill shrink and start to absorb less resulting in less flavor.

at the prices in the links i just listed carto's come out to a hair over a dollar a piece. at that price range if you get a week out of one carto why bother boiling it? i'm just saying that even though boiling may help extend the life of a carto it does so at the cost of vapor satisfaction. they simply don't work as good as they do brand new out of the package. like i said, to me at least it's just not worth it.

http://www.litecigus...krblankcart.htm

http://www.litecigus...krblankcart.htm

^^^be warned that second link i posted is for lr carto's and using these on a battery with less than 400mah will dramatically reduce the lifespan of your batteries.

[mega]

a 5 pack should run ya like 7-10 bucks. should last a month if you use same juice.

[blucavvy]

here's some boges, available in 2.8 or 2.0ohm, like i said the lower ohm one's will give you warmer, thicker vapor but i can't really recommend using them on a low mah battery. i do it, but i won't recommend it lol. boge's are very high quality carto's so they may be a tad more expensive than the one's i previously posted but they're nice.

http://www.avidvaper.com/products/Boge-Blank-KR808-Soft-Tip-Cartomizers.html

[TornadoContest]

its cheap compaired to your old habit now aint it, welcome aboard

Actually, it's not unless we're factoring potential healthcare costs down the road...Thanks for having me!

12 bucks for a 5 pack is highway robbery, i take it your'e buying prefilled?

and as far as boiling a carto 3 times, if it works for you great, cartomizers are disposable though, they're simply not meant to be used that long. the draw will tighten up, and the coil will get gunked up resulting in less vapor production, as will the polyfill, boiling will only remove the sediment so many times, not to mention the heat from the atty in the carto will make the polyfill shrink and start to absorb less resulting in less flavor.

http://www.litecigus...krblankcart.htm

http://www.litecigus...krblankcart.htm

^^^be warned that second link i posted is for lr carto's and using these on a battery with less than 400mah will dramatically reduce the lifespan of your batteries.

Even the blanks from Bloog cost that much.

I find the PG really harsh on my throat and lungs and it makes me cough non-stop and itchy all over. Most PG is, also, made in China which, with their track record of putting plutonium in baby food, doesn't seem like something put in my body if my goal is improving my health. The VG I use is made in small batches in the states and one of the companies even has their own batches of nic manufactured by a small chemist just down the road from them.

I meant that I've only had 3 out the original 15 cartos I bought in May go back on me so far and I've boiled them all every 1 to 3 weeks so many more than 3 times each. I do get that they're meant to be disposable, but when I'm going through on average two a day and they need to be cleaned after that usage, the cost savings kind of fly out the window. I didn't know the poly actually shrinks. Do you think it's better to clean with 151 or Vodka, then? Thanks for the links. Will check them out in a sec. What's the safest ohm to stick to for my purposes?

and if you ripped one open that you boild like 5 or 6 times the poly will be burnt inside to. its disgusting.

I saw a video of that. Yeah. It was disgusting. Right now, I'm operating under a If I Can't See It, It Doesn't Exist mindset, in regard to that. I, also, saw some weird photos of a carto someone had taken apart which appeared to be using human hair as absorbant filler.

a 5 pack should run ya like 7-10 bucks. should last a month if you use same juice.

The ones I've bought so far, wind up costing about 15 bucks for a five pack with shipping. And I only get one use out of a carto before needing to clean it and go through about two a day, on average.

here's some boges, available in 2.8 or 2.0ohm, like i said the lower ohm one's will give you warmer, thicker vapor but i can't really recommend using them on a low mah battery. i do it, but i won't recommend it lol. boge's are very high quality carto's so they may be a tad more expensive than the one's i previously posted but they're nice.

http://www.avidvaper...artomizers.html

So, would the 2.8s be safe for me?

[blucavvy]

if your'e using the standard volt and bloog batts which i believe is what you said then yes you want a sr (standard resistance) carto. anywhere from 2.6-3.0ohms will be good. if you use a lower ohm than 2.6 or so it will really decrease the overall lifespan of your batts. for a lower ohm carto, say 2.0ohm you really need at least 400mah to be safe, the batts your'e using are anywhere from 220mah to 320mah depending on size. unless your'e using the 102mm "mega" which i believe bloog offers, that's roughly 420mah. you could technically use a 2.0ohm carto on that but it will drain the battery quick as lr stuff draws alot more power from the battery.

that first link i posted for you is your best bet imho. pretty standard 2.8ohm blank carto's. for $7 for a 5 pack it's a good deal, and litecigusa.net is a good vendor.

i don't know that i'd really recommend to use any type of alcohol to clean a carto but i suppose if your'e deadset on it i'd use the 151. i've also heard white vinegar works but have personally never tried it.

you said you only get about one use out of a carto......are you topping them off ever or just filling once and using it until the flavor is gone? if you top them off with a few drops every half hour or hour or so you should be getting a lot more time out of them.

i start out lets say on a monday with a fresh carto, fill it, and then top off every hour or so with a few drops and that carto will generally last me 6 or 7 days before flavor really starts to diminish along with vapor. then it's time for a new one.

Edited February 19, 2012 by blucavvy

[TornadoContest]

Yeah, I use 65mm batts. OK, thanks for the info. So many numbers get thrown around with all this gear that I get lost in them.

I wish more brick and mortars would open up so that one could just run to the store for supplies rather than dealing with shipping, etc. The closest to me, that I'm aware of, is about 2 hours south.

[blucavvy]

not a problem at all, and believe me i know how confusing it can be lol, i still get confused myself from time to time.

[twelveday]

weird thing how people give advice all over the place, what ever happened to that magical 1 cartomizer lasting someone "months".

anyways, cartomizer generally only last about a week. Honestly I use 2 a week, more if i decide to do different flavors, and i just toss them before the beginning of the following week, unless it seems to still be performing well and not gunked up i rinse em out in hot water then put em in a ziplock to boil later maybe sometime once i have enough worth boiling or maybe go into a crisis of cartomizer shortage. I think you are going through too much trouble boiling them after every single day and probably ending up wasting more money and time than what they are worth.

It definitely is cheaper than smoking cigarettes though. E-liquid and cartomizers i go through are probably around 50-60$ a month, i spent around 200$ a month on cigarettes

[blucavvy]

weird thing how people give advice all over the place, what ever happened to that magical 1 cartomizer lasting someone "months".

anyways, cartomizer generally only last about a week. Honestly I use 2 a week, more if i decide to do different flavors, and i just toss them before the beginning of the following week, unless it seems to still be performing well and not gunked up i rinse em out in hot water then put em in a ziplock to boil later maybe sometime once i have enough worth boiling or maybe go into a crisis of cartomizer shortage. I think you are going through too much trouble boiling them after every single day and probably ending up wasting more money and time than what they are worth.

It definitely is cheaper than smoking cigarettes though. E-liquid and cartomizers i go through are probably around 50-60$ a month, i spent around 200$ a month on cigarettes

a 4ml leo carto does last a lot longer than a 1ml 808 carto. More polyfill, larger coil. Nice try though different advice is needed for products that r very different. Had he been asking abouta leo carto I would have told him he could get much longer out of it than a week

[TornadoContest]

I wouldn't be boiling them after every use, if they weren't completely clogged and unusable after every use until they're boiled and refilled. Trust me, I've got other things to do with my time than boil cartomizers.

If I were to toss them after every usage, at the rate of two cartos a day, I would be spending 45 dollars give or take per week on cartos plus juice. That's not cheaper than a 40 dollar carton of cigarettes which lasts a week and a half.

[twelveday]

I wouldn't be boiling them after every use, if they weren't completely clogged and unusable after every use until they're boiled and refilled. Trust me, I've got other things to do with my time than boil cartomizers.

If I were to toss them after every usage, at the rate of two cartos a day, I would be spending 45 dollars give or take per week on cartos plus juice. That's not cheaper than a 40 dollar carton of cigarettes which lasts a week and a half.

what cartos are you using to where theyre clogged after every use? i use 70/30vg mix, and after follow bobs tip about getting 100%vg in there i been using all vg in a couple but i never get just one use out of it, i use the boge 2.0 cartomizers.

Then again it could be the additives in your ejuice, ice only found one flavor that clogs my cartos up after about 2-3 refills.

Edited February 20, 2012 by twelveday

[mega]

a carton for 40 bucks ha try 90 here and i went thru almost 1.5 cartons a week.

[twelveday]

you really gotta be using some funky cartos or juice if u have to clean it out just after one use, either that or your cartomizers are already bad

[mega]

i think he is using that whole tobacco stufff. prolly why.

[blucavvy]

you really gotta be using some funky cartos or juice if u have to clean it out just after one use, either that or your cartomizers are already bad

agreed.

[TornadoContest]

I only vape 100% VG from Vermont Vapor and Johnson Creek. It's very good juice, clean, American made. It's, also, very thick.

[mega]

vg gunkds up quick