Vapes

Cartridge or disposable?

A 510-thread battery is a one-time purchase that turns any cartridge into a working vape. Variable voltage is there so you can match the setting to the oil: start at the lowest level that gives you vapour you are happy with, and go up only if the draw feels thin. Live oil is where the volatile terpenes you paid for live, and heat takes those first, so it is worth keeping low. There is no safe voltage number to quote — the same voltage runs at very different coil temperatures depending on the coil's resistance. Go by taste: the moment a pull turns sharp or burnt, the coil is too hot or the wick has run dry, so drop the power, pull shorter and give it a pause.

A disposable skips all of that. It costs more per gram, and it is what you want for a trip, or for trying something once without buying hardware for it.

Dual-chamber devices carry two oils, so you switch instead of swapping.

My cartridge stopped pulling. Now what?

Usually one of three things. Cold oil: a cart that spent the night in air conditioning thickens, and a minute in your hand fixes it. In Miami the opposite happens more often — oil left in a hot car turns runny and works its way past the seal, so a cart travels better in the shade than in a cup holder. A clogged mouthpiece: one hard pull with the battery switched off normally clears it. Or the connection — back the cart off a quarter turn, because one screwed all the way down presses the centre pin flat and stops making contact.

What does not come back is burnt taste. Firing a cart dry or at too much power scorches the wick, and nothing undoes that afterwards. It is the whole reason to start a new cartridge low and work up.