Ah, the ol’ clogging issue.
It’s all too common. There are a few things that contribute to success or clogs.
Atomizer internal diameter
Thickness of the oil
Capping time
Push button batteries
Ok, lets start with the internal diameter. Some of these ccell knock offs have a different internal diameter, the ceramic element is a different size. When oil seeps into this area and hardens, it becomes a plug and clogs the cart. If the diameter is wider internally, the oil can spread out and form a thinner plug that can more easily be broken with mouth suction.
This leads into the thickness of the oil. If you have thin oil, when the clog happens, the “plug” is weak and is easier to break through with mouth suction. When that oil is super thick distillate, that plug is much harder to pull through. This applies to small internal diameter carts as well as better engineered carts like genuine ccells. The thicker the oil, the harder the plug, doesn’t matter which cart its in.
Speaking of flooding, flooding can happen at the very beginning of the process at the time the cart is filled. (It can also happen if the cart is exposed to high temps in any situation: car, direct sunlight, smoking hits back to back to back, or if the cart is opened and closed again after filling.)
If you’re filling your carts and not capping them immediately, you run the risk of flooding. Think about how a thumb keeps water in a straw. The cart is the straw and the cap is the thumb. If you don’t put the cap on asap, then the oil has a chance to run through the cart and clog the atomizer. If you put the cap on immediately, it creates a lovely little vacuum and keeps that oil right where it needs to be. If you’re filling thin oils or at a hot temp, capping is especially important. If your oil is thick, you have a slightly longer amount of time to cap. We recommend capping after every fill, or at least within 30 seconds with thick oils.
And lastly. If you do have pesky clogged carts, you can help that clog become soft with a push button battery. Push button batteries heat the atomizer without having to suck on the cart, allowing the clog to warm and soften so it can be broken more easily when someone takes a hit. Likely the cart will still gurgle though, but at least it will be functional. kinda.
We suggest possibly changing your formula to 4-5% viscosity and 9% terps, as well as following good capping procedures and making sure the carts don’t get too hot. We hope this helps!