Electronic cigarette cartridges are small containers for holding the nicotine liquid of electronic cigarettes. Electronic cigarette cartridges are sold filled with nicotine liquid or empty. A cartridge consists of a plastic shell and a piece of polyester material that keeps the liquid inside the shell.

Empty electronic cigarette cartridges can be refilled with nicotine liquid. The cartridges of some electronic cigarette models, those of the Super Mini 8084 electronic cigarette for example, are so durable that they can be refilled almost unlimited number of times. A box of 50 cartridges for the 8084 is a lifetime supply.

Cleaning Your Cartridges

Electronic cigarette cartridges collect a nicotine liquid residue from previous refills. The residue is unhealthy and can spoil the taste of the smoke. Wash your cartridges in hot water often or replace them with fresh ones.

Mouthpiece or Cartridge

Some electronic cigarette devices, early models as the RN4081, have a part that is both a cartridge and a mouthpiece. This part can be separated into two pieces but it is sold together as one. The mouthpiece is the part of the electronic cigarette that you put between your lips when you smoke. Later models as the Super Mini 8084 come with separate cartridges and separate mouthpieces.

If you just started with e-cigarettes, you already swallowed e-liquid accidentally several times. This happens when e-liquid leaks from the e-cigarette cartridge, through the mouthpiece, and into your mouth, while you’re smoking. It’s probably more unpleasant than dangerous—e-liquid tastes bitter and it stings.

A number of things can cause your e-cigarette to leak e-liquid. Here are some tips that can help you avoid swallowing e-liquid:

• Avoid refilling your e-cigarette cartridge to overflowing. If you do, use a napkin to absorb the overflow and clean the e-cigarette cartridge before sliding it back into the mouthpiece.

• If you don’t have a napkin or if you want to make sure there’s no e-liquid inside the mouthpiece that leaked from the cartridge, after you slide the cartridge inside the mouthpiece, blow several times into the mouthpiece against the cartridge inside; you’ll see a mist of e-liquid spraying on the other side of the mouthpiece.

• When you smoke your e-cigarette, you should keep it horizontal between your fingers. You can swallow e-liquid if you keep your e-cigarette in a vertical position when smoking.

If your favorite nicotine liquid (e-liquid) flavor doesn’t taste the same and your electric cigarette gives you a weak throat hit, you might have developed some tolerance to the  flavor. That’s why using at least three nicotine flavors is a good practice.

My first nicotine liquid, very high on nicotine, felt as though I smoked a conventional cigarette—taste was strong and felt good, and the throat hit hit as hard as it should. I liked it so much that I wanted to smoke only that flavor.

But by the time I finished half the 30ml bottle, the taste and throat hit started to feel weak. After alternating  my favorite flavor with another for two weeks, my favorite flavor felt as good as when I first tasted it.

And remember that when your electric cigarette tastes too light,  tolerance to your favorite nicotine liquid flavor can be only one of the reasons. Always charge the batteries, clean the atomizer, and use fresh and properly-stored nicotine liquid.

Nicotine liquid, also known as e-liquid or e-juice, is a liquid mixture for the electric cigarette. Nicotine liquid comes in a variety of flavors and a few basic nicotine levels.

Flavors of Nicotine Liquid

From the many nicotine liquid flavors offered by different manufacturers, two seem to be more popular: tobacco and mint. These two flavors have different names and slightly different tastes depending on the brand—names like Original Tobacco, Cured Tobacco, or Arctic Mint may be names for the same flavor or variants of the flavor.

There are nicotine liquid flavors made to taste like those of traditional cigarettes, for example, Marlboro, Camel, Winston, or Kent. The most common of those is Marlboro.

Smokers using the electric cigarette have a better choice of flavors than those who smoke traditional cigarettes. While it is rare for traditional cigarettes to have flavors of coffee, vanilla, strawberry, or chocolate, most nicotine liquid and electric cigarette makers and sellers offer those flavors.

Nicotine Liquid: What Is It Made of?

All main ingredients in nicotine liquid are food products generally considered as safe. There are two common main ingredients in it—propylene glycol and nicotine. Nicotine liquid can be 80 to 90% propylene glycol and 0 to 6% nicotine. Other less common ingredients are menthol—for the mint flavor, glycerol, and even pure water that can be about 10% of the solution.

Few studies investigated the health benefits of the electronic cigarette (or e-cigarette). Let’s hope medical researchers get to it soon. For now, it’s up to users like me to say how quitting smoking and switching to the electronic cigarette affected their health.

Health Benefits of the Electronic Cigarette Same as When You Quit Smoking

To my surprise, I felt healthier one week after I started using my first electronic cigarette—I switched five months ago. My research showed that the health benefits of switching to the electronic cigarette, the ones I felt, are similar to those of people who quit smoking altogether.

No More Smoker’s Cough and Phlegm

The first thing I noticed is that my smoker’s cough disappeared. The cough didn’t bother me as much as the phlegm: before I quit smoking conventional cigarettes, every night, minutes after I went to bed, I started choking on phlegm. I’m really glad the phlegm went away.

Sense of Smell Comes Back

My sense of smell came back. A friend of mine who quit smoking told me it was completely different when you can smell the smells and taste the tastes, but it’s more impressive when you feel it yourself. Today the smell of freshly cut grass and the blooming trees on our street made me feel like I’m in one of those stores that sell scented candles.

Better Physical Stamina and Cardio

My physical stamina and lung capacity increased. On my elliptical machine, I do the same 30-40 minute exercise, one cardio zone up, and I don’t get short on breath as fast as before. I do the whole exercise with ease.

No More Wheezing and Tightness in Chest

I stopped wheezing and I no longer feel tight in the chest—the most important effects that the electronic cigarette had on my health. It’s a great feeling being able to breathe freely. In fact, the wheezing and the tightness in my chest were the main reasons why I wanted to try the electronic cigarette.

The addiction topic aside,  the electric cigarette (also e-cigarette or electronic cigarette) doesn’t contain tar and other harmful substances produced when smoking regular cigarettes. Though some electric cigarette cartridges come without nicotine, most users smoke nicotine liquid.  Besides nicotine the electric cigarette liquid contains mostly propylene glycol; it also contains other substances like glycerol. So, the big question is:

How much safer is the mixture of nicotine and propylene glycol (e-liquid) when smoked with the electric cigarette?

Answering this question is like saying how much healthier is the electric cigarette, compared to the conventional—since common sense already tells us that no tar equals no health problems related to tar. Here are some other things to consider:

Is Nicotine like Caffeine When Separated from the Conventional Cigarette?

Until the invention of the electric cigarette, everyone knew that nicotine is harmful because it leads to smoking conventional cigarettes. What about nicotine itself? Is it like caffeine—good in small doses but harmful in large? Is nicotine by itself, a harmful substance? If pure nicotine is safe in small doses, what is the safe dose?

Are Propylene Glycol and Other Ingredients of E-liquid Safe?

Propylene glycol, a common food additive, is generally recognized as safe. But because smoking an electric cigarette is as addictive as smoking a conventional cigarette, how safe is propylene glycol when used daily? The same applies to other ingredients of e-liquid like glycerol, also a food additive.

Is Nicotine and Propylene Glycol Mixture Harmless When Vaporized and Inhaled?

Note–I said when vaporized and inhaled. The first reason for this question is because they might change their chemical qualities when they vaporize. The second is that some parts of the electric cigarette ( the mouthpiece and its polyester core in particular) are made of less durable materials, which could emit fumes because of the heating.

What Doses of Electric Cigarette Smoking Are Harmless?

Say nicotine, propylene glycol, and other ingredients found in e-liquid are safe when inhaled. But how much inhalation is safe, compared to the conventional cigarette?

If you don’t have enough e-cigarette supplies, you’re going back to your old smelly friend for sure. I didn’t realize how thin the line between e-cigarettes and conventional cigarettes is until my only spare atomizer died. I lasted only a couple of hours before I started craving for nicotine and I feel ashamed that I had to purchase a pack of cigarettes.

E-cigarettes are advertised as a way to quit smoking and they are not. They are just a healthier substitute—at least they seem to be. Avoid my mistake: have at least two spare atomizers, two brand new cartridges, and enough e-liquid.

One of the most effective ways to clean an e-cigarette atomizer is using steam. If you do it right, your e-cigarette will make as much smoke as it did when it was new. Steam effectively cleans the inside of the atomizer—the coil and bottom—removing the sticky residue of e-liquid that builds every time you smoke. The residue holds back the smoke, and is unhealthy. For best results, use a portable air compressor after the steam cleaning to unclog your e-cigarette.

Equipment: Home Espresso Machine and Tweezers and Napkin

You need a home espresso machine-one that has a steam nozzle for frothing milk. If you don’t have one and like hot espresso drinks—there are good home espresso machines that go for about $100. They all have steam nozzles. To hold the atomizer under the nozzle, you’ll also need a pair of tweezers.

How to Clean

After you turn on the espresso machine, hold a cup under the steam nozzle to make sure that steam, and no hot water, is coming out into the cup. When there’s enough steam, for a minute hold the atomizer with its open side facing the steam. After the cleaning, blow on the side of atomizer that connects to the battery, over a napkin. You’ll be able to see the yellowish residue that comes out the chamber with the heating coil. Leave the atomizer with its open side down on the napkin. Let the atomizer drain and dry out overnight.

If Atomizer Doesn’t Make Smoke after Cleaning

The atomizer has to dry out after steam cleaning or it won’t work. Some people use hairdryer. But I found that the atomizer will start working after sucking on the mouthpiece repeatedly with the e-cigarette assembled. You don’t have to do it all at once—you’ll get a sore mouth. I know it sounds funny but that’s how I got my atomizer working every time after I cleaned it with steam or unclogged it with compressed air.

This was a question asked by one of the readers of e-cigarettepedia. If I have to give a direct answer: many times, depending on how you take care of your cartridges. I bought my first e-cigarette four months ago, and I’m still using 5 of the original 10 cartridges that came with my Super Mini E-cigarette (RN4981) Kit.

When Do You Know that Your E-cigarette Cartridge Needs to Be Replaced

Most e-cigarette cartridges are reusable. You need to purchase e-liquid separately to refill. But the outside shell of a cartridge, the mouthpiece, is made of plastic, and after time the heat from the atomizer deforms its shape until the shell gets cracked. Once the plastic cartridge is cracked, get rid of it or you risk swallowing e-liquid. Besides a damaged cartridges produce less smoke.

The other main part, the piece of polyester batting that holds the e-liquid inside the cartridge, accumulates residue of e-liquid. So, keep an eye on the color of the polyester core. When the core gets darker, you should change the cartridge.

Clean Cartridges in Hot Water

The best way to clean your cartridges is soaking them in hot water. Don’t boil them—they’ll turn pale and start melting. A couple of minutes in hot water is enough, and make sure the polyester batting is completely clean.

Throat Hit Origins

Throat hit is the tingling sensation smokers feel at the back of the throat. It is felt when the inhaled smoke hits the throat. The term is more relevant to e-cigarette smoking because by their very nature e-cigarettes taste lighter than conventional cigarettes. Throat hit is a major concern for e-cigarette smokers because most of them converted from conventional smoking and they are used to the stronger throat hit of a burning tobacco leaf.

So, the stronger the throat hit, the better because  it’s closer to the real thing. Let’s look at some of the factors involved in producing stronger throat hit, starting from the most important.

Throat Hit Factors

#1 E-liquid Quality: Overall quality of e-liquid is cited as the most important factor in producing stronger throat hit. First time buyers of e-cigarette should research the brands that offer e-liquid that ranks high in throat hit.

#2 Nicotine Dosage in E-liquid: The dosage of nicotine can also affect throat hit. High dosage equals stronger throat hit, but again it depends on the overall quality of the e-liquid.

#3 Condition and Proper Maintenance: Life of equipment and maintenance may determine throat hit. Often uncharged batteries and clogged atomizer may cause weak throat hit; so do defective ones.

#4 Device Parts Quality: Throat hit also depends on the quality of the separate parts of the e-cigarette: atomizer, batteries, and cartridges. The model, batch, and brand play a part too.

#5 Smoking Technique: Smoking e-cigarettes takes some time to learn. It is about three times harder to draw on an e-cigarette than on a conventional cigarette. Plus getting more vapor and throat hit depends on the particular way an e-cigarette is drawn on.