There is always a huge debate about this part of the e-cigarette — tanks vs cartridges — which one is the better option?
These are two very different styles of vaporizers, just so you know. Cartridges are smaller, more petite, more discreet, and easier to use. The tanks are a little bit more high maintenance than that — they need a bit more taking care of, and a little bit more hard work to make them useful for you
I’ll start with the hardest option. You do need to clean these from time to time but you have the option of a much bigger tank capacity than what you can get with cartridges, so you won’t find yourself going through that fiddly refilling method every time. There’s no muss and no fuss. You unscrew the top, drop the liquid in, screw the top back up, and away you go. I’ve even learned to do it as I walk along the street and I’m the clumsiest person I know.
The tanks are generally clear, or in the case of VaporFi Pro, there is a clear screen so you can see into the tank, so you always know how much liquid is left. You don’t get that burnt out taste when the tank is starting to run dry, and you also get a good idea of what is going on in there — you can see when the liquid is starting to run thick or gloopy, or a darker color. This is generally a good sign that something isn’t going right. The thick, gloopy liquid doesn’t make for a very pleasant smoke. Which is why you should buy vape liquid that is much better and offer pleasant smoke
There are a couple of bad things that come hand in hand with using tanks. you’ll use more e-liquid when you are refilling one of these instead of the smaller cartridges so, at first, you may find that you ere going through it a bit quicker than usual. Plus, the first few times you use a tank you’re almost pretty much guaranteed to overfill it and waste a whole bunch
The other negative is, of course, that it’s bigger than the average two-piece design so it will take up more space, take a bit of getting used to when it comes to holding it in your hands, and you’ll probably bash it about a bit before you get used to the size of it.
Smaller, easier to use, fiddlier to refill. That’s pretty much the long and short of it.
To refill a cartridge, you need to find a poking device to put in the center hole of the top rubber or plastic stopper and pull it out of the cartridge to get to the filler material inside. Once you’ve removed it, you need to drip the e-liquid into the filler material until it’s wet enough to do the job, but not so wet that it leaks into your hands or your mouth.
Refilling cartridges is the much harder option and it’s not something that you can do walking along the road like you can with the tank. I used to find it much easier to make my way through a batch of cartridges until I had none left and then sit down and refill them all again at once – 10 to 15 drops per cartridge.
Of course, there are other drawbacks – you can’t see how much liquid is left in the tank so you don’t know when that nasty burning taste is going to come. You also can’t see whether or not the liquid has gone thick or a funny color. You just drip it in and hope for the best really…. And you will more than likely break a few cartridges by overfilling them too. That’s a given in fact.
Cartridges are expensive when you choose to buy the pre-filled ones. Definitely a lot more expensive than refilling your own, so if you want to make a few savings, don’t think that the ready-to-go cartridges are the right option.
At the end of it all, these are two very different e-cigarettes built for very different people. Essentially, the cartridges are a beginner’s way into the world of vaping, but you do need to learn to take it at your own pace.
