WWV Part III (page 5)

B. The Process

Most e-cigs look somewhat like analog cigarettes, but the process of using them corresponds more to pipe smoking (except we inhale). Pipe smokers use (and carefully store) various flavors of loose tobacco that they stuff in their pipes, light and relight the tobacco, use pipe cleaners to clean the pipe stems, and usually keep a variety of sizes and shapes of pipes: contrast Sherlock Holmes’ calabash pipe with Huck Finn’s corncob with a typical straight Billiard pipe.

Similarly, there is more to vaping an e-cig than sticking it in your mouth and puffing.

For a video overview of the process of vaping (and of some of what we covered in Part II), I heartily recommend Spike’s 45-minute Intro to Vaping 2010:

To prepare:

1. Plugging In and Charging Up – The first thing to do when your order arrives is to charge your batteries fully, at least until the red charger light turns green.

If you have a wall charger, connect the charger and cord and plug into a wall outlet or power strip. Screw a battery into the charger (notice that the LED on the battery flashes briefly and the light on the charger turns red).

If you have a USB charger, plug it into a computer USB port … or connect it to the AC adapter and plug that into a wall outlet or power strip … and plug one of your batteries into the other end as shown here.

2. Putting It Together – Insert a prefilled cartridge into the atomizer and screw the atomizer into one of the charged batteries:

When one of your batteries is ready, open up one of the filled cartridge packets. You see that there is a plastic “condom” on the end (to keep the juice moist). You remove that and put it to the side.

Remove the temporary empty mouthpiece from the atomizer (if there is one on your model) and put it to the side (you might want to use that in the future if you drip).

Push the cartridge into open end of the atomizer. Screw the atomizer into a fully charged battery.

These first two steps are demonstrated by Steve (xcashmerex) of Puresmoker:

In the case of the KR808D-1 (or when using 510 cartomizers), remove the condoms from each end of a cartomizer and put them to the side (you’ll have a use for them later). Remove the plastic plug from the battery hole end of the cartomizer.

Screw the cartomizer into a fully charged battery:

3. Filling Up With E-liquid – If you are not using prefilled cartridges, you’ve got to give your new personal vaporizer something to vape – the e-liquid.

After introducing us to the three most common atomizers, Doctor Vapor demonstrates how to fill (or refill) your cartridge and to drip directly on the atty. He uses the Joye 510, but the principle is the same with any PV, from the smallest carts (e.g., for the super-minis) to the largest (e.g., for the penstyle and fat batts).

Topping off the cartridge by squirting a few drops on top of the filling is simple, but the juice doesn’t necessarily soak all the way through. So inventive forum members have come up with other techniques, including injection with a syringe. [You should have seen my wife’s expression when I opened the package of supplies containing the syringe. I think she misunderstood where I was going to inject the liquid. 😀 ] It’s demonstrated by another of my mentors, RitaLee76:

[In Part VI, we’ll show you other advanced ways to fill your carts but they are not necessary when getting started.]

OR you can forget the cartridge and drip or dip:

• Drip 2-4 drops of juice directly onto the atomizer coil (just like when priming a new atomizer). This is the simplest method and requires no advance preparation. Therefore, it is the one that lazy Don prefers. I just use the mouthpiece after yanking out the cartridge material (or use that empty mouthpiece that came with the atty).  It’s demonstrated again (using a 510 atomizer on one of the mods) by Doctor Vapor:

• For an exposed bridge atomizer, even better is to dip the atty into a small pool of e-liquid, e.g., using a contact lens case as demonstrated here by Brian (irieb):

Dripping or dipping works very well when sitting at my desk at home. Its downside is that they are awkward to do when out and about, especially when driving. For that, cartomizers are a boon; you can fill them up when you are back at the ranch.

The most effective way to fill or refill a cartomizer is with Doggsbody’s Carto Cap Fill technique, demonstrated by Doctor Vapor:

You are now good to go!

Next page: Your first vape

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