There is a lot confusion surrounding electronic cigarettes, what their benefits are and how they work. This is partly because they are making their way into the mainstream and becoming more and more popular. But not helping the confusion is the lack of clear information regarding clearomizers, atomizers and cartomizers. These are essential parts of vaping that many people are in the dark about.
Many people have no idea what they do or what the difference between them is. But understanding these components of electronic cigarettes is the key to making smart purchasing decisions and ensuring you have the best vaping experience.
So we will break down for you exactly what these devices are, what they do exactly and how they can change your electronic cigarette use. Then, we’ll recommend what atomizer, clearomizer, and cartomizer we think is the best recommendation for you!
If you’re looking for the reviews and rankings of the best atomizers, clearomizers and atomizers — make sure to check out this page.
A Look at Atomizers
Every electronic cigarette has at least three main components inside- the battery the tank, and the atomizer. It is the atomizer that turns the liquid into a vapor, but sometimes there is another component between the liquid and the atomizer. This can be either a clearomizer or a cartomizer.
So essentially, both clearomizer and cartomizers have an atomizer included in them. In fact, every type of e-cigarette setup in existence uses an atomizer.
How Atomizers Work
The atomizer has a coil that is powered by the battery. The coil heats up and warms the e-liquid. Once this liquid becomes hot enough, it will reach its vaporization point and turn into the vapor that you see coming out of the electronic cigarette.
Now when the atomizer is by itself in the pen (i.e. without a clearomizer or cartomizer) then the liquid usually drips straight onto the atomizer. The atomizer has a soft wick on it that absorbs the liquid and helps regulate how much liquid is permitted near the coil at once. This ensures that not too much vapor is being produced and that the liquid burns at a reasonable rate to allow for lengthy vaping sessions. This is called “dripping”.
Dripping with an Atomizer
This is a dripping atomizer. You essentially drip the e-liquid right onto the coils as seen in the photo. This is very efficient but also complex and a bit inconvenient.
The best thing about using the direct dripping method and the atomizer alone is the clear and potent taste of the liquid. Nothing separates the heating unit from the flavorful liquid, which means it is not being diluted at all. You get the strongest flavor this way. This method also ensures that the vapor doesn’t become too hot. Other methods can burn the liquid and create an unpleasant taste or odor. But when the liquid drips straight onto the atomizer, you don’t usually have that problem.
On the downside, using the atomizer alone is much more inconvenient and can make a big mess. You may have to clean your pen more often, and getting the sticky residue out can be a pain. If you aren’t holding or using the pen properly when you vape, you could also flood the pen with liquid. For those inexperienced with electronic cigarettes it can be easy to make this mistake and end up with a mess on your hands.
You can still get a burnt taste from the atomizer, but that is only if you are still trying to vape with your pen once the liquid has run out. If you know how much vapor and how many hits your pen can produce from a single load of oil, then you can avoid this situation entirely. And the other negative effects of using the dripping method can all be sidestepped once you learn how to use the pen properly.
A Look at Clearomizers
Clearomizers have the excellent benefit of being completely transparent. This means you can see how much liquid you have left in your tank, and you won’t end up creating an awful burning smell by continuing to vape once your liquid has run out. If counting your draws from the atomizer seems like too much to remember, you may just want to switch to a clearomizer.
The clearomizer also comes in a few varieties of tank size. So you could opt for a large tank and get a lot more out of each vaping session without having to refill your tank.
You may still get a burnt smell when you use a clearomizer and you have liquid in the tank. This happens when your wick dries out. Just tilt your tank until the wick is wet again or put more liquid in the tank to keep on vaping.
Clearomizers also help you control the amount of liquid you are using better than you would with just an atomizer. The wick is fed into the atomizer, and you can decide how much of the wick it receives by moving it back and forth manually.
You can customize your vaping experience with clearomizers as well, though this should be reserved for more advanced e-cig users. You can add more coils to produce more vapor (which may be a good idea if you have a large tank) or you can change out the kind of wicks you use. And many clearomizers come with their own atomizer heads. These tend to burn out after a while, and you may need to replace yours regularly. Thankfully, the atomizer heads are easy to snap on and off and cheap to replace.
Types of Clearomizers
Some examples of popular clearomizers
There are a few different kinds of clearomizers, and we will cover what advantages and disadvantages each of them have.
Top Coil- The top coil clearomizer creates a nice, warm vapor. That’s because it is so close to the atomizer head. These are the easiest kinds of clearomizers to refill, since you can fill them up from the top.
But their wicks are not the best, and you have to keep re-wetting the wicks to get consistent hits. This can mean that your flavor may take a hit here and there as the wicks become dry.
Bottom Coil- A clearomizer with a bottom coil has great wicking, and the vapor quality is excellent. And it produces a very cool vapor, which is great if that is what you prefer. You won’t have to worry about the vapor burning your throat.
On the downside, the tank can make odd noises, such as hisses and gurgles. And the tanks can start to develop leaks if it isn’t secured properly or if you aren’t using the wicks like you should. They are also harder to fill than their top coil counterparts, and the wicks can be a pain to adjust at times.
Multiple Coils- With multiple coils, you receive more vapor and a stronger throat hit. And it may surprise you that two coils make for a cooler vapor. That’s because the coils are spread out, so the heat is spread out as well, making for a cooler interior temperature.
Click This Image to View The Aspire Nautilus Clearomizer Speed Review!
But even with the lower temperature, dual cols require greater energy from the battery, so you will have shorter battery life with the dual coil setup. Either setup will work great, and it comes down to personal preference as to which one you prefer. Do you want the cooler vapor with a larger hit? Or would you prefer the warmer vapor, longer battery life and diminished hit?
The clearomizer by we recommend is byAspire (pictured right). Click here or on this picture for more information:
A Look at Cartomizers
Note: Cartomizers are a bit outdated and tend to be found on the older, less quality styles of electronic cigarettes. But there are some benefits
Cartomizers are a lot like clearomizers. Both of them have a coil and a tank, but they work a little differently in the way they send liquid to the coil. A cartomizer can be packed with a material known as poly-fill, which is an artificial filler. This basically makes the cartomizer cartridge un-fillable. That means it is a one and done usage device. But there are still ways to refill the cartridge if you like; they are simply troublesome and not always able to provide the most pleasant of experiences.
The refillable ones use a syringe to allow you to refill them. But there are some problems with this method as well. The tank is rather difficult to clean properly, and if it is not thoroughly cleaned, you can still have some residue from the previous liquid left behind.
Now this won’t be as much of a problem if you always use the same flavor. But most people like to mix it up and have different flavors every now and then. If the residue from the last one is left behind, it can distort the taste of your liquid with the old flavor. That’s not a very pleasant scenario.
If you purchase a ceramic cartomizer, the will be no poly-fill. This makes it far easier to clean there cartridge, and it cuts down on problems like bacteria growth.
The convenience of cartomizers is that they already contain the atomizer head and they connect directly to the battery. And the cartridges may also be already filled with liquid, making using them as easy as just pulling out the old tank and putting in the cartomizer. Buying a new one isn’t very expensive, so if you want to just vape in the easiest way possible, it’s not going to cost you a lot more than if you used an atomizer or clearomizer. And the flavor experience you get from the cartomizer is basically the same as it is for either of the other methods.
Cartomizers come with two different coil configurations. The most common is a vertical coil. This coil runs the length of the cartridge, and it is surrounded by poly-fill. There is no wick involved at all, which can be a good or bad thing, depending on how you look at it.
One the bright side, the vertical coil allows the oil to drip directly on it. This means that your initial hits will be very flavorful. And you don’t have to worry about keeping the wick wet, but that doesn’t cut down on the burnt taste. You still get a burnt smell when the oil runs out and the coil starts burning the poly-fill.
Click This Image to View The Green Smoke Cartomizer Review!
With the horizontal coil, there is no poly-fill. But you don’t have to contend with the wicks. The wick can sometimes be too think and hard to keep wet. The wick has the oil wrapped around it, so the oil is still dripping directly on the coil as it drips on the wick. This can make it slightly difficult to direct the path of the oil, and it can be troublesome to try to keep a steady flow going.
We recommend the Green Smoke cartomizers. If you want to check out these cartomizers, then click here or the image to right!
Which One Works Best?
Click This Image to View The Aspire Nautilus Clearomizer Speed Review!
For beginners, we would definitely recommend the clearomizer. Atomizer set-ups tend to be a bit more complicated and cartomizer setups are outdated and don’t really work well anymore.
If you’re looking for the best clearomizer, then we recommend the Aspire Nautilus Clearomizer (pictured right). Check out this review and where we recommend to buy the Aspire Nautilus Clearomizer by clicking here or clicking the image to the right!
But if you’re looking for a really convenient setup, the cartomizers work quite well. You can just switch out the cartridges once you are finished with the one you are using.
Click This Image to View The Green Smoke Cartomizer Review!
They can be finicky to vape with, and you may have to contend with a burnt smell and taste pretty often, but they are definitely the easiest to use.
If you’re looking for the best cartomizers, then we recommend Green Smoke (pictured right). If you want to check out the review we did and where we suggest to buy them, then click here OR click the image to the right!
The clearomizers are the ones preferred by almost everyone, however. They make it easy to tell how much liquid you have left, and it’s no problem to find a tank that is big enough for the kind of vaping session you want to do. With an atomizer, you are basically stuck with the initial tank size, and you will have to switch to a clearomizer or cartomizer for something larger.
There’s no need to upgrade your electronic cigarette, but if you aren’t getting consistent flavor and the kinds of vapor you want, it is worth looking into other options. We urge you to try out the available options to see what gives you the most pleasant experience. You won’t really know until you try for yourself.