Knowing how to fix and prevent a clogged vape cartridge is going to be the best way to get maximum usage out of your Skyhio delta 8 vape cartridge. Here we’re going to walk you through the best practices for most situations. There are an almost unlimited amount of batteries, usage styles, and other variables that can affect how this works for you, but this should work for most people.
SUMMARY: Vape at 3.2v-4.0v. Preheat only if necessary, for the minimum amount of time required. Draw a lightly as possible, do not suck hard. Take <5 second hits. Clear the airway after hits with no heat being applied. If a clog does appear, clear clogged airway of oil using a paperclip. Do not overheat and suck your cartridge to clear a clog. While this is a temporary fix, this will make things worse over time.
What Is Happening When My Delta 8 Vape Cart Clogs?
Clogging is simply oil blocking the airway of the mouthpiece so that vaporized oil can’t travel past. Until you remove the oil or manage to create a hole in the clog, the vapors will remain trapped and you will be unable to inhale them.
It often seems like a major contributor to vape cartridge clog issues is just a misunderstanding of what a vape cartridge actually is. Many people think it’s a complicated piece of machinery, but it’s very simple:
- Your delta 8 oil sits in a tank with a porous heating coil between the tank and the airway that eventually leads to your mouth.
- When you apply heat to your delta 8 vape, you are applying heat to the coil. This heats the oil touching it into a vapor.
- The vaporized oil collects in the airway
- You suck the vapor out.
- Done
So after knowing that, you can see that the most common variables are the following: the type of oil in the tank, the level of heat used, and the level of suction applied.
How Oil Type affects Clogging (Delta 8 vs Delta 9)
Delta 8 oil is more thermodynamically stable than Delta 9 oil so it ends up being more viscous and requiring more heat to vaporize it. This means it will also condense more quickly after being vaporized. This means you’ll need higher heats to work properly with Delta 8 compared to Delta 9.
Additionally the thickness of Delta 8 oil can cause issues with saturating the heating coil prior to use, which may require some initial heat being applied to the coil before
The addition of suction from your mouth adds another variable that can create clogging. Too much suction and you , and even then, it often times requires suction to pull unvaporized oil through
Clogging does not mean your cartridge is broken, but it does signify that maintenance needs to be performed and some changes should be made in the way you use your Delta 8 vape cartridge. You can think of it like needing to get your breaks replaced on your car because you’ve slam them too much while driving, except this can be done cheaply and quickly.
Best Heat Setting for Delta 8 Vape Cartridge
The best heat settings for our cartridges are 3.2v-4.0v. We ran internal tests and a poll on this which confirmed our testing, that if you heat at 3.2v-4.0v you should have far less clogging issues than if you heat at less than that. The lower the heat of the oil the more oil that is going to condense on the inner airway of the mouthpiece after vaporization. You may also be getting some of the oil just hot enough to be sucked through the coil, but not hot enough to be vaporized. This will just pull oil directly into the airway creating clogs quickly. This is especially true if vaping <3.2v and drawing too hard.
Preheating: Preheating should be done the absolute minimum amount possible, if at all. Typically you only need to preheat the initial hit of the cartridge to allow the oil to saturate the coil. After that, the oil should fill into the coil behind itself and resaturate it after every hit. There is a tendency for people to go after “big cloud” hits which preheats will give them, but not only are you wasting oil with excessive preheats, you’re going to accelerate clogging by getting the oil so thin it’ll run past the coil. If you absolutely have to, just push the button for a second or two max before hitting. 10 second preheats are crazy.
With proper use, the first hit of any new session might be a small, baby cloud, so you may need to take a couple to get that big cloud you want, but it will decrease clogging issues.
How to Draw Properly: A lot of people suck on vapes like they’re trying to suck a thick milkshake through a straw. This, combined with excessive preheating, is the number one reason for clogs. Hit your cartridge evenly and lightly at the same time you’re applying heat. If you suck too hard on hot oil it’s going to pull the oil past the coil and into the airway causing clogs.
How to “Finish” a Draw: Let go of heat sometime before you end your hit. After exhaling the hit, go back and suck out the remaining vapors without applying any heat. This will help prevent condensation of D8 oil on the airway and delay clogs.
Length of Hits: Short and sweet 3-4 second hits are best. Again, the chasing of big Instagram-worthy clouds is going to run you into clogging issues. Taking 3 x 3.3 second hits > 2 x 5 second hits > 1 x 10 second hit. The longer you go, the hotter you get (on autodraws), and the more oil flows through and it leaves more vapor in the airway when you’re done.
Maintenance/Removing Clogs: If you experience clogging, unwind a paperclip and insert it all the way down the airway of the mouthpiece, past the actual mouthpiece and swirl the walls. Remove the oil from the paperclip and continue until there is no more oil being pulled (this oil can be eaten like an edible). This is usually the only proper way to clear clogs.
Sometimes at the very end of a cartridge (only) you can help things by unscrewing the top of the cartridge. Unscrewing the mouthpiece of the cartridge early on can accelerate clogs/leaks.
If you preheat and suck hard to “pop” clogs, this can provide a one-session remedy, but you will have to clear it again next session, and are just making things worse over time. Don’t do this. The same method that clears the clog, also means you are excessively preheating the oil and sucking too hard. This is the exact reason people get oil coming out of the top of the mouthpiece: overheating and sucking too hard over a period of time.
D8 is like dried superglue. There’s literally no other way to get it out of the top of a mouthpiece without sucking too hard and applying too much heat. So if you have this happening, it’s a surefire way to know that there are some usage changes that need to be made.
Expectations: The average user-type experiences a clog at some point in a D8 cartridge, but typically it’s seen at the halfway to 3/4 point (this is also common in D9 cartridges). That’s just because the average user is not willing to do all of the things above, all of the time, so it eventually catches up to them. But if you’re at least willing to do the minimum maintenance required (paperclip method above) right when issues arise, then it is usually a quick, lasting fix.
Unfortunately, there’s nothing that will fix the combination of overheating and “milkshake-level” sucking. A CCELL cartridge can minimize it, but even then it’s likely there will be issues at some point in the life of the cartridge. Hard pulls do not add anything to the vaporization process and should be seen as an absolutely necessary change.