It’s seems wasteful to throw away vape pen cartridges after you use them just one time. Why not refill them if they can be refilled, but how to refill a vape pen cartridge?
After you’ve invested in some refillable vape pen cartridges, you’ll be able to add more oil whenever you need to. It’s an easy process and one that can be accomplished in just a couple of minutes. You don’t need any special tools, either other than a syringe and blunt needle to make it easier to avoid spills.
All you should have ready is the refillable cartridge, the actual cannabis oil that you want to use, a syringe with at least a .5 milliliter capacity, and the vape battery. The syringe can be a metal ones or one of the disposable plastic ones, such as a medical syringe.
Step 1
Fill the syringe with up to a 1 milliliter of the cannabis oil. Take care to choose an oil type fit for vaping so the the viscosity is right, and this will make refilling easier too. Some syringes don’t have that large of a capacity, but your cartridge will not take an enormous amount of oil either. Do be careful to know exactly how much oil a particular cartridge will take. There is sometimes an indication line which you should not go over when adding the oil.
Step 2
Unscrew the flattened metal top of the vape cartridge. Set it aside and make sure it doesn’t roll off the table you’re using. Underneath and inside the cartridge, you’ll see there is a narrow opening down into the filling area. Some cartridges will have a center post and you will need to add your oil carefully between the post and the innerwall of the chamber. This when you will realize that the syringe is very useful.
Step 3
Next, take your oil filled syringe and hold it vertical, with the tip of it pointing straight up so you don’t drip oil. Most of these syringes come with a special applicator tip for precise dripping and some will have a cap to stop leakage from the applicator between use. This is a small piece of plastic that fits over the tip end of the syringe. Press it snugly in place. It fits just like a pen cap.
Step 4
With the applicator tip on, hold the vape pen or cartridge in one hand and upend the oil syringe to start adding oil. Instead of pouring the oil into the narrow opening discussed in Step 1, you’re actually going to inject the oil into the empty space of the middle of the vape pen around the center post. You don’t want any oil to drip outside the cartridge, so take your time and don’t rush.
As a side note, some vape pen users suggest to lightly heat the vape pen cartridge first, so that when you do add the oil, it runs smoothly down the sides and prevents it from becoming sludgy. However, heat causes cannabis oil to degrade much faster, so if you do this, don't over heat, or warm the cartridge too much. Only heat the oil if it’s very thick and not moving at all, or only heat it if it’s fresh and you know you’ll use it within a short period of time.
Step 5
Pressing the back of the syringe, slowly release the oil into the vape pen. It is a deep brown in color and has a viscous quality to it, so it won’t pour like a regular liquid. When you add it slowly, you’re filling the vape pen cartridge evenly. As you finish it up, make sure that you don’t spill any oil outside the cartridge. Hold the syringe steadily.
Step 6
Most vape pens have a 1 ml capacity, while the syringe might have a .5 ml capacity. If that’s the case, then after filling it, you’ll have to wait for the oil to finish going into the rest of the cartridge. However, if the capacities for both the vape pen and the syringe are the same, then naturally, you’ll finish filling the cartridge and allowing for the oil to settle as into the lower recesses of the cartridge as you do.
Step 7
Screw on the flattened metal top of the vape cartridge down firmly so it’s in place.
Step 8
Once the oil has settled down to the bottom of the vape pen and where it needs to be, that’s when you can take the bottom protector off and screw the vape pen on to the vape battery, same as a diposable cartridge.
Step 9
Set it vertically, with the battery on the bottom, and give it a few moments to let the coils get saturated with the cannabis oil. Then it’s ready to use.
Step 10
If you’d like to transfer oil from one vape pen cartridge to another, you can also use a syringe to do that. Using the applicator tip on the syringe, suck up the oil in one cartridge and follow the steps above to transfer it to the new vape pen or cartridge.
Easy Oil Changes
This outlined process is simple, easy, and, with the right tools available and care, it can be accomplished in just a few minutes. You might want to invest in several refillable cartridges so you can fill a number of them in one exercise.
If you do fill a number of cartridges to have ready for use, you might want to think about the Cartsdom Roulette to safely store you cartridges, especially if you have a set prepared for travelling.
As a general tip, make sure you clean out the syringe with each use. Cannabis oil is a natural product made from the flowers of the cannabis plant, so it can degrade and form a sticky, wax-like substance that’s almost impossible to get off the interior of the syringe. Wash the syringe out after each time, so that it’s ready to refill the cartridge again.
Another general tip worth mentioning is to clean and maintain your pen and cartridges regularly before refilling. This will give you the best operation and the most from your favourite oil. There are a number of videos out there to show you how to clean the parts of your pen but we chose this one from HoneyStick:
