Cartomizer

A cartomizer is a legacy hardware category — now largely obsolete in cannabis use — that combined a cartridge (oil reservoir) and an atomizer (heating coil) into a single disposable unit, typically threaded onto a reusable battery. The term originated in early e-cigarettes around 2008 as a compromise between very short-lived standalone atomizers and the later clearomizer design that exposed the tank through clear glass walls.

In the nicotine e-cigarette market, cartomizers were displaced by clearomizers, sub-ohm tanks, and pod systems. In cannabis, the term briefly described early 510-threaded oil cartridges that used cotton-wick atomizers inside a filled tube, but "cartomizer" has largely fallen out of cannabis usage and is now replaced by "cart" or "cartridge." The category remains a frequent source of terminology confusion because some retailers and older educational materials still use cartomizer and atomizer interchangeably, even though strictly the atomizer is only the heating element, while the cartomizer is the combined unit. → See also: Vape cartridge, Atomizer.

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