Troubleshooting 510 Vapes: Tips for Cold Weather and Beyond
In the Winter months, we notice both an uptick in vape sales, as well as an uptick in hardware issues, with our customers searching for guidance on how to deal with their clogging and/or leaking 510 cartridges. So we figured we’d put all of our troubleshooting and preventative tips in one place for reference.
Although flower still dominates the market, vapes are steadily increasing in popularity. They seem to hit all the points people are looking for: light in smell, discrete, coming in a multitude of flavours whether you prefer something more true to the plant or a fruity pick-me-up. In wintertime, the convenience of low-smell indoor vaping is even more appealing.
These are imperfect technologies (sometimes being used imperfectly) and issues do arise more often than we’d all like with these little devices. A big factor that we lucky Ontarians have to take into consideration is our ever-changing seasons. Good ol’ winter, I’m not going to rant about the cold temperatures or short days, you all get it. It’s here, it’s happening, but luckily we can offer some insights into keeping your vapes doing their thing despite the cold!
510 batteries just aren’t efficient in the cold. Most vapes heat off of the process of fast-moving electrons powering the device. During colder temps, these electrons slow down, forcing your battery to work double-time to achieve your desired results. This puts a strain on your overall battery life and the integrity of your battery as well, meaning shorter charged life and less vaping power. So what can we do? Bottom line, take care of your battery and it will take care of you. We recommend keeping them in an inner pocket or using your hands to protect the battery when outdoors. Never leave your battery or cartridge in your cold vehicle or garage. It’s also good practice to keep a charger on you if you're planning on consuming on-the-go, just in case you need to charge up sooner than you expect. Keeping a good charge on your battery keeps it from working harder than it needs to and avoids under-heated fluid clogging your mouthpiece.
As you inhale on your vape, cold air travels through the chamber, causing your vape’s atomizer to generate less heat, meaning smaller, cooler hits than usual. With this weaker draw, you might be tempted to take a long monster pull to make up for the lost vapour, and you wouldn’t be alone on this! But, it’s not best practice. A super-long draw causes your battery to work overtime to achieve the results you’re looking for, under undesirable circumstances for your vape. Simply put, vaping this way will quickly eat up what battery life you do have and will probably lead to a shorter device life overall.
Consider instead using your preheat mode to begin warming the chamber (usually accessed by clicking twice), then heading into a higher heat setting for your session. Cold-starting your vape from sub-zero environmental temperature to a high heat setting is super hard on both your battery and your cartridge and could cause it to misfire, creating leaking problems.
Proper storage is key. There is still lots of moisture hanging about this season, leaving your vape at risk. Protecting it from condensation damage as well as from the cold itself will help extend its life. When you are finished vaping, always unscrew your cartridge from the battery. It’s very easy to accidentally turn your battery on in a pocket, causing it to heat the cartridge without a draw being taken, which also contributes to clogging and leaking.
Store your cartridges upright at room temperature. 510 batteries will struggle to heat fluid from a very cold resting temperature to the desired heat and aren’t designed to do so. Cold thickens the consistency of the fluid, making it more prone to clogging. If you’ve developed a clog, try a needle or toothpick gently inserted through the mouthpiece. Preventatively, be sure you are fully clearing the vapour after each hit, as small amounts of oil residue can build up inside the mouthpiece over time.
Charging your battery only to full (usually indicated with a light changing colour, or turning off) and trying not to leave it on the charger beyond what’s necessary will also help to extend its overall life.
This next point may be more relevant to those who like some CBD in their 510’s, although all cannabis cartridges can be susceptible to crystallization depending on their purity levels. It's a misconception that crystallization = a bad product! In reality, crystallization actually speaks to the product's quality, purity, and potency. A good comparison is your high grade honey, when left on the shelf it will start to crystallise, producing a slush-like consistency. For crystallization, Preheat Mode is your best friend. When your cartridge starts to show signs of visible crystallization we like to recommend putting your battery through a pre-heat setting. allowing the cartridge time to heat up (pro tip: hold the cartridge close to your ear - you should hear the oil start to sizzle as it warms up.) Sometimes all your cartridge needs is some time to liquify around the atomizer again.
If that doesn’t work, try a zip lock bag! Unscrew your cartridge from the battery, seal it in a ziploc bag, and pop it in some hot water until you see the slush start to liquify. Alternatively, holding it upright, blast the cartridge with a hair dryer on low heat for 5-10 seconds at a time.
Consider also the quality of cartridge and battery hardware you’re using. It may be worth investing in a slightly more expensive brand that is using higher quality component parts to avoid the headache of clogs, leaks, and quick-dying batteries. Many batteries offer a manufacturer’s warranty, even at the $20-50 price point. If this is your main method of consumption, it may be worth investing a bit for more reliability. I typically expect a $10-15 battery to last about 6 months to a year with daily use, unless it’s being really well cared for. Switching from a buttonless breath-activated battery to one with at least 3 heat settings and a preheat mode will solve a lot of your issues (or at least allow you to resolve them once they’ve happened), even without implementing any other changes to how you care for your carts and battery.
Fingers crossed that some of these tips and tricks can help you throughout the next couple of months, or better yet, throughout the whole year when what should be a very convenient consumption style turns very inconvenient. As you know if you shop with us, if we can’t help you troubleshoot a clog or leak, we will always offer a return or exchange. We do believe that producers need to be aware of these issues, so we are always happy to submit quality issue concerns so that products can be better designed for our climates and for actual use practices.
We’d love to hear from you! What types of troubleshooting have you learnt along the way that we haven’t touched on in this article? Are you experiencing any issues with your 510 that we haven’t discussed? Have you completely thrown in the towel with 510s and want to learn about other alternatives like PAX pods!? Let us know in the comments!!!