Do you have filthy, gunked up cartomizers that need a cleaning? Don’t throw them away just yet. There’s a new solution…
I’ve always been a cartomizer fan since the day I first got hold of them. My first cartomizers were the dual coil Smoktech’s. These produce tons of vapor and a lot of flavor but their lifespan is pretty short (I’m talking 1-2 days here, on dark e-liquids). After this time frame, the flavor from my e-liquids start tasting “watered down”. I’ve also been using the Boge 510 cartomizers and after a few days, the same thing happens.
The thicker and darker the e-liquids, the faster the coils of the atomizer become choked up. This results in less efficient burning of the juice, hence you get reduced flavor as well as vapor.
I’ve seen quite a few videos on YouTube about dry burning atomizers, but I have not tried those techniques out myself – it looked like too much trouble. And with cartomizers, you need to remove the poly fill material before you do a dry burn otherwise you’d be burning the poly fill itself, which will make your liquids taste horrible.
One cleaning method I have tried is soaking the cartomizers in hot water and although that works to a certain extent, there will always be some trace flavors remaining in the poly fill that are really difficult to get rid of. This is why I generally throw away cartomizers after about 2 days. They’re so cheap and disposable anyway.
However, today I was made aware of the “Cartoblast” cleaning method. Now this is really interesting way to clean out your cartomizers, check out the videos below.
This is the Cartoblast method:
Here’s an alternative syringe method:
The Cartoblast apparatus is really simple, and involves a plastic tube with one end that fits over a 510 cartomizer perfectly and the other which gets connected to a syringe. The syringe pumps water through the entire carto, which cleans out a lot of the remaining e-liquid.
I don’t know how well this would work on the dried up juice sitting on the coils though! That kind of gunk is only removable via a dry burn. I have yet to try this out myself but if this works as well as it appears on the videos, then those of you who are Halo G6 or V2 e-cigarette users would be able to keep reusing those cartomizers and save yourselves from ordering new cartos every week or two.
Anyway, leave your thoughts and comments below. If you’ve tried this method, let us all know how well it has worked for you. Were your cartomizers as clean as new?
Related posts:
I do kind of an alternative take on those methods. I use hot water in an ultrasonic cleaner. Mine has 5 minute cycles so I usually run 2 or 3 cycles, then I take the cartos out and blow canned air through the battery end of the carto until all the water is cleared out. Repeat until the filler looks clean. Then I usually dry them by either putting them in my toster oven (which has a very low heat warm setting) or by putting them in a container with rice in it to absorb the excess moisture.
Cool, but, is the oven step is really necessary? I reckon the cartomizers would dry out on their own in a couple of days.
Couple of other great YouTube videos for cartomizer cleaning:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YU-IWkc197A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBNvlMNe2wA
Thanks Matt for the links! Good spotting.
Has anyone actually tried this yet?
Assuming cartomizer and atomizer are being used synonymously. (I’m new to e-Cigs) I was told that each night after daily use to run each side under a stream of warm water for 20 seconds, then blow out each side.
Alternatively, and both of these came from the MFG, if it gets really gunked up, to soak it in vinegar for a few hours then rinse thoroughly.
I’ve cleaned mine every day, so I’m not experiencing any reduction in quality. I’m using a Janty Jet, and the only two complaints I have are that 1.1 ML most certainly does NOT equal a pack of analouges, and second, why don’t they MFG the tanks without the piece of plastic that covers the wick hole? That’s annoying to dig out, and I’m pretty sure I’ve inhaled at least a little bit of burned plastic from where the wick was in contact with the hanging “Chad” on the tank lid.
I do find that I get dehydrated too easy though. With analogues, I would never smoke without some kind of fluid in my hand, but I don’t get dry mouth from e-Cigs….I just realize too late that I’m dehydrated.
Hope this helps
Anyway, thought I’d pass it on.
I wash my used carto’s once a week by boiling them for 10 minutes, blowing the water out and letting them air dry. My concern is: Should I be drying them quicker like with a blow dryer? I’m afraid air drying is allowing possible mildew.. I don’t want to introduce anything (more than I already am) into my lungs.. What do you all suggest? Also, do they have to be completely dry before putting juice in? I can’t see why a little water moisture would hurt anything. Thanks for any advice.. Laura
Hi Laura,
To be honest, I’ve never bothered with cleaning my cartomizers. They are so cheap anyway, and I swap new cartos out every 3 or 4 days. They cost about $1.80 each and compared to smoking tobacco cigarettes, it’s way cheaper (I was spending about $15 every 1.5 days on smokes).
Having said that though, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with drying the cartomizers out with a hair dryer – just do it in bursts. Mildew shouldn’t be a problem unless you’re living in a tropical region. After all, when you’re vaping, your cartomizers are always wet from condensation and juice, right?
Laura, PG has some anti-fungal and anti-bacterial properties. It is highly unlikely that there will be anything in the cartos to cause problems when drying, unless the water you’re using introduces it. Which is also unlikely since you’re boiling the water.
If you’re still concerned, a Taryn spin gets out more water than blowing them out and they will dry faster. To further speed things up, rather than using a hair dryer you can placing them in a sunny spot, put them in a food dehydrator or even bake them at 200 degrees for a couple of hours.
You should let cartos dry COMPLETELY before filling. If the fill material has any water in it you will get a taste that’s off and “humid” – which can taste sort of “mildewy”, especially if the cleaning didn’t get out all the residue from previous use.
hi Matt Q,
Good call on that post man. I forgot to mention that Laura should have also put the cartomizer in the oven. I recall a lot of users doing that. I’m just not one for going through the hassles, especially when they’re so affordable.
Mech
What I do is smoke 1 carto for about a week until I have used all 5 of them from the box. After this I remove the white cap and dump them in a pan, fill it with water and let them boil for a few mins.
After I scoop them out and put them on a paper towel until they cool. Then I blow out the water and take them outside to where I have an aircompressor. I use a small nozel air compressor and give each carto a few quick blasts of air from the connector side, and a ton of junk goes flying out.
Becareful here because if you blast it too hard the filter stuff could fly out and then it’s no good.
Usually 1-2 cartos will be like new, and 1-2 will be decent, and 1 is junk. Their life expectancy will now be at least 1/2 of what it was originally but it does help.
Thanks for all your input Charlie! These tips are really gonna help the new cartomizer users out a great deal.
I purchased one of these and did not receive all of the parts from Micronix. I’ve been attempting to get these parts for 4 months. He sends me a piece at a time. As far as how it works. I’ve been using it on clearomizers and it does remove alot of the old juice (not all of it though) and it leaves the clearomizer full of water no matter how many times you try to “blow” it out using the cartoblast. I would stay far away from this vendor. No secure credit card transaction and shady business.
Thanks for the heads up Matthew. The vendor contacted me saying that he was gonna send me a unit to test out but he never ever did. I’ve totally forgotten about this apparatus until your comment today!