Two Ways of Refilling the Electronic Cigarette

For many centuries people have been smoking tobacco as the primary way to get their nicotine fix. Despite the health warnings for the past 60 years, it is estimated that around 16% of the world’s population are addicted to cancer causing cigarettes. In 2003 Hon Lik invented a smokeless cigarette that used an atomizer to heat up liquid to create a water vapor that could be inhaled instead of smoke.

The cartridge which contains the liquid nicotine can last for as long as 40 regular cigarettes and with replacements costing around $5 each, it works out a lot cheaper than regular smoking too. However, since there is no way to know that you’ve smoked one cigarettes worth, many people tend to use the electronic cigarette to smoke more than they should. To keep the costs down even further, it is possible to refill the liquid in the used cartridges – much like some people refill the ink in their printer cartridges.

The nicotine cartridge is filled with a special liquid which vaporizes when it is heated. Some brands allow you to buy wholesale bottles of the liquid to let you refill the cartridges by yourself. Needless to say the process is tricky, time consuming and not for the impatient. However, it will reduce your costs if you are regularly using the electronic cigarette.

There are two methods you can use, one involves dripping the liquid in to the cartridge in a steady, controlled manner using an eye-dropper. The other involves using a syringe and needle and literally injecting the liquid in to the cartridge.

Most cartridges can be opened by unscrewing the top. Once opened, you will find that the inside contains a polyester filling. This needs to be removed, and then using the dropper carefully add a few drops. Do not fill up the cartridge as the polyester filling needs to be put back in once the initial drops are added. Allow the filling to soak up the few drops, which may take several minutes. Once this is done, continue with a cycle of adding a few more drops and letting the filling soak up the liquid. The cartridge is full when no more liquid is soaked up by the polyester filling. This process can easily take 20 minutes per cartridge so you need steady hands as well as have infinite amounts of patience!

The injection method is a little bit simpler but does require a needle and syringe. In this method you need to keep the filling intact, instead, push the needle all the way to the bottom of the cartridge and slowly start injecting the liquid, keeping consistent pressure on the syringe plunger. The needle must be sharp and small enough to reach the bottom of the cartridge. This method is quicker and easier than the droplet method above, but it does cause some damage to the polyester filter over time.