I’ve been toying with carts for a while now and I consider myself a failly capable judge of them. I’m looking to try all the big companies that have a stateside presence. Here is what I have so far:
Ccell - sourced by hamilton
Ikrusher - sourced by their michigan office (going to double check…the guys names is mariocartn but he claims the ability to respond to the phone number on site)
QCell - direct…i kinda had to after I saw them fight back
AvD - take your pick here, looks like all are fighting to become main dist
What I’m missing:
Domestic (authorized) source for Liberty/Itsuwa - the site lists only addresses with no websites.
Just for fun, I’m going to test ccell knock offs from domestic guys. I’d like to come up with a cheap/value/top shelf way of judging them so that a cart that performs 5% better but costs 80% more doesn’t automatically beat it when it might be the top to a personal user who only uses carts once a year and fills it himself vs people in a different situaiton. I’m going with cbd_vape_cartridge_ally that I saw another member ask about, they want 1.40 per.
These tests will be with distillate with a 5% terp content. Ideas?
Well I would start by compiling a list of common problems with cartridges that your study plans to help inform around. Next design your study so that it stresses these common problems. To really do a study like this well it helps to have a big picture design and I wouldn’t skip the problem step.
Leaky (use a thinner juice?)
Affects flavor (may need to go with a flavorless juice to stress this)
Easily clog (may have to use a thicker juice to stress this)
Durability? (maybe a stress test or drop test)
Next you might consider your sample size and what type of significance you will be able to realistically measure differences across. Pulling product from different batches might be tricky but the only way to do a fair comparison would be to source product from different places or maybe order smaller batches over periods of time. I know a lot of the companies are new so their products probably change regularly so that might not work.
Are these carts made in the USA or just domestic distributors for Chinese made carts? I guess there’s some scare about lead contaminated Chinese carts that consumers around here have been talking about, so we’re looking for US made carts to put everyone’s mind at ease. If that’s even a thing.
I’ve researched this question before, and the best I could come up with was “Are there any factories in the U.S. that manufacture cartridges? … nope.”
As far as I can surmise, the only factories that produce cartridges are in China. So even the All-American CCell guys have to be getting their stuff from China, right? But if that’s the case, then why are knock-off CCell’s so bad? It’s not like the CCell guys have the clout to make a Chinese manufacturer honest…
Slightly off topic but I think it should be said. Apparently even brand named CCells have failed heavy metal tests, especially California thresholds. I tried to get an answer from both Hamilton Devices and directly from CCell regarding the metal they use in their internals and HD didn’t know and suggested possibly an aluminum alloy which is known to leach off into acidic solutions. Weird thing is aluminum isn’t even tested for in Heavy metal testing if I’m not mistaken. When I mentioned this to a CCell rep from SmoreECig (the company that makes CCells) they got super weird and deflective, kept asking me which rep from HD I talked to, like they had breached confidentiality or something. They didn’t answer my question just kept asking me which rep from Hamilton Devices I had talked to. It really weirded me out.
Convectium is a company based in Santa Monica California. Manufactured in China as well though. They use all SS internals and all of their carts are heavy metal tested. Their designs aren’t as good looking as CCell but I’d go with the safer option any day if it means reducing HM exposure. Anyone know any other brands that use strictly SS internals?? Sorry, a little off topic, but heavy metals should be the primary concern especially when dealing with China.
There’s customizable options with most of Chinese producers if you order enough. They all have their standard setups in their standard housing, but you can usually customize different aspects of what’s inside the standard hardware models like the quantity of holes and size, coil type and current rating etc. So if the knock offs are made at the same place but one company seems better then it’s probably a different coil setup. Sometimes manufactures will change their setup on a model that you’ve previously ordered aswell so its always good to doublecheck before they ship.