What has already been said. This type of applicator seems to work best with the 'so-called' water based cements, as the solvent does not evaporate out as fast. A trick for slowing down the loss of solvent evaporation for the other types of cement is to store the container in the refrigerator when not in use. Some even advocate in the freezer compartment. The solvents in most of the non-water types have a freezing point much lower than that of the water based cements, so they do not freeze.