Totally Wicked / TECC

Tornado Tank – 2 Week Review

My Totally Wicked Tornado Tank arrived on the 19th Jan 2011 so I’ve had them now for just over 2 weeks, so thought I’d post my current thoughts on them.

As I already have both a white and platinum standard Tornado, I didn’t purchase the full kit but instead simply bought the Tornado Tank atomisers and a pack of tank cartridges. I opted for 1 white, 1 platinum tank atomiser to match my current Tornado set-up and 1 black tank atomiser to see if it would work on a non tornado battery.

(Note: the Tornado Tank atomisers ship with a dummy cartridge to protect them during shipping, so you will need to buy the tank cartridges separately.)

If you are unsure what the difference is between the Tornado Tank and a standard Tornado, then I shall endeavour to give a brief explanation.

A standard Tornado uses an atomiser and cartridge system that requires the use of a polyester wool type material in the cartridge to hold the nicotine liquid. This system has always been a little problematic in that if you have too much polyester wool in the cartridge then the nicotine liquid cant flow quick enough to feed the atomiser, to little and you’ll get a leakage problem.

After a while the polyester wool can also become clogged and need replacing. Keeping the polyester wool in tip top condition can often be time consuming and messy so many people will opt to simply manually drip liquid directly onto the atomiser instead of mess around with cartridges. This also has disadvantages in that if you drip in to much liquid you will flood the atomiser and get some leakage, plus every ten drags or so you need to drip in more liquid which can be annoying at times.

The Tornado Tank does away with the need for the polyester wool, as the nicotine liquid is stored in a clear plastic tank. This plastic tank sits in a specially designed atomiser which has a hollow spike that enters the tank. As you draw on the mouthpiece of the tank, some liquid is vaporised in the atomiser and fresh liquid simply flows from the tank to the atomiser to replace it. With this system you can easily tell how much liquid is in the tank, something that is hard to do with traditional cartridges, and it is much simpler and cleaner to refill and maintain.

Tornado Tank atomiser & Cartridge compared to a Standard Tornado setup.

So far I’m pretty impressed with this new atomiser system, they are easy to fill and to date I haven’t had a single leak or flooded atomiser, although there does seem to be a some variation in performance between the atomisers, but then that is a problem I’ve found with practically any other atomiser system as well, in that some atomisers will perform better than others.

When it comes to the flavour produced by the Tornado Tank I’ve seen some people say that it produces more flavour than their usual atomiser and others say it looses flavour. Personally I just look at like a new type of atomiser, in that the flavour will be different and some flavours will taste better and others worse. For example I much prefer my Black Label Cuban Cigar flavour on the Tornado Tank than any other device, but Black Label Aromatic has a much better flavour on my Boge 3ohm cartomizers.

For me personally, moving from one atomiser system to another is like buying your first e-cigarette, in that you have to experiment to find out what flavours work best with the device, which always comes down to personal taste. The amount of heat, vapour and air generated by the atomiser will affect the overall flavour, and these combinations are always going to be different between different atomiser models.

Both the white and the black seem to work perfectly with with my 60% PG and 40% VG mixes but the platinum one struggles and quite often produces a dry atomiser taste even though there is plenty of liquid in the tank. Of the 3 the black atomiser seems to work the best, as it is quieter than the other 2 and produces loads of vapour. Not that the other 2 are slouches or perform badly, even the platinum one still produces plenty of vapour.

With the platinum atomiser, once the dry taste appears I find removing the tank and giving it a gentle tap with my finger dislodges an air bubble from the base of the tank. I then replace the tank and take a few primer puffs without pressing the button to try and draw some liquid into the atomiser, and then continue to use as normal. After a couple of normal drags the flavour starts to return to normal.

On the platinum Tornado Tank atomiser I initially thought the tank cartridge must be trapping the air around the atomiser spike, but I’ve tried swapping tanks with the white and black atomiser and still got the problem, so I knew that wasn’t the problem. I then thought that maybe the wick inside the spike may be too tightly bound and couldn’t wick fast enough, or may be holding onto the air entering the tank to replace the space vacated by the liquid. So I took a toothpick and scraped it across the surface of the wick in the spike, and this seems to have solved the problem.

I’m not exactly sure why this worked however. It could be that I managed to loosen some of the threads on the wick allowing liquid and air to flow through it easier. I have also seen it mentioned that pushing the wick down slightly helps to fix wicking problems, so I may have pushed the wick down slightly, although that wasn’t what I was trying to do. It could also simply be coincidence and the atomiser may have just needed time to wear in and would have started working on its own had I done nothing.

One thing I would say though though is that pushing on the wick should only be done as a last resort and will invalidate your warranty, and you could end up pushing the wick out of the spike totally making your atomiser unusable. If you buy a Totally Wicked Tank starter kit or atomiser and its not working properly, always contact the Totally Wicked customer support team first. They are there to help and will do their best to sort out any problems you are having.

As I’ve only had them just over two weeks I couldn’t comment on the life span of the atomisers, which is something I have problems doing anyway, due to the fact that I tend to use more than one device. If I’m out and about or working then I tend to use something more cigarette shaped, and use it like a cigarette. If I’m relaxing in the evening or on the computer then I’ll use the tornado or similar sort of device.

Tornado Tank Size Comparison

At the moment all I can say is that I’m impressed with the system, easy to use and refill with little mess. I can certainly see this design becoming the norm in the not to distant future. I’m sure the Tornado Tank is only the first design, and more tank systems for different sized e-cigs will appear on the market. Already I hear that a Low Resistance Tornado Tank atomiser is on the way.

If you are new to vaping or already own a Tornado I would definitely recommend taking a look at the Tornado Tank System. I’m fairly sure it won’t take to long for a Titan 510 tank atomiser to appear, which would be ideal for those people who want to take the leap into electronic cigarettes but find the Tornado a little to big to start out with.

Product results as of Thursday 23rd of February 2012

	Tornado Tank Starter Kit - Black The Tornado Tank is the latest generation of electronic cigarette which has a revolutionary new fluid feeder system. Most electronic cigarett...	£59.99
	Tornado Tank Starter Kit - Platinum The Tornado Tank is the latest generation of electronic cigarette which has a revolutionary new fluid feeder system. Most electronic cigarett...	£59.99
	Tornado Tank Starter Kit - White The Tornado Tank is the latest generation of electronic cigarette which has a revolutionary new fluid feeder system. Most electronic cigarett...	£59.99
	Tornado Tank Starter Kit - Pink The Tornado Tank is the latest generation of electronic cigarette which has a revolutionary new fluid feeder system. Most electronic cigarett...	£59.99
	Tornado Tank Starter Kit - Red The Tornado Tank is the latest generation of electronic cigarette which has a revolutionary new fluid feeder system. Most electronic cigarett...	£59.99
	Tornado Tank Pre-filled Cartridges - 1.2ml Capacity - 10 Cartridges These Tornado Tank cartridges come pre-filled with either Tobacco or Menthol flavoured e-liquid in a choice of 3 strengths: 18mg, 11mg or 8mg. The To...	£14.99
	Tornado Tank - Cone Shaped Atomiser The Tornado Tanks Cone Shaped Special atomizers have been especially designed to hold the Tornado Tank Cartridges. They will not work with an...	£9.99
	Tornado Tank - Cone Shaped Lr Atomiser The Tornado Tanks Cone Shaped Special atomizers have been especially designed to hold the Tornado Tank Cartridges. They will not work with an...	£7.99
	Tornado Tank Empty Black Tip Cartridges - 1.2ml Capacity - 5 Cartridges The Tornado Tank empty cartridges hold 1.2ml of liquid are especially designed to be used with the Tornado Tank cone shaped atomisers. They w...	£4.99
	Tornado Tank Clear Empty Cartridges - 1.2ml Capacity - 5 Cartridges The Clear Tornado Tank empty cartridges hold 1.2ml of liquid are especially designed to be used with the Tornado Tank cone shaped atomisers. ...	£4.99

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Tornado Electronic Cigarette – Review

I’ve been meaning to write this review for a while now but kept getting side tracked, but I’ve finally gotten around to it. What follows is my opinion of the Tornado electronic cigarette.

I purchased a Tornado electronic cigarette from TECC / Totally Wicked about 2 months ago in the form of the Tornado Compact Kit. The reason for the compact was simply that at the time they were on sale and I wanted to try it it before splashing out on a full kit.

My personal choice in electronic cigarettes has tended to be towards products that look and act like a real tobacco cigarette, but the Tornado doesn’t quite fit into this category, being much larger and not exactly cigarette shaped, so I wasn’t sure that I’d get on with it very well.

To find out if I had overcome my initial doubts you’ll have to read the review below.

The Tornado Compact Kit Contents.

Tornado Compact Kit Box

As usual with TECC / Totally Wicked starter kits the Tornado Compact Kit comes in a quality presentation box, with a magnetic fastening front. I personally keep hold of these boxes to store spare parts in. The dimensions of the presentation box are approximately L 10cm x W 8cm x H 5.5cm.

They are available in 3 colours of Black, silver and white with the presentation box coloured to match. I bought the platinum version so my presentation box was a platinum / grey colour.

All the Compact kits come with the bare minimum of components needed to start using the electronic cigarette. This allows you to try out the device, if you are unsure about it, without having to buy a full kit which in this instance is about £20 dearer. At the time of writing the compact kit is £29.99 while the full kit is £49.99.

The Kit contents:

• 1 x Manual Rechargeable Battery
• 1 x Atomizer
• 1 x Battery/Atomizer cover cone
• 1 x USB Charger
• 1 x 10ml bottle of 18mg Tobacco fluid
• 3 x Empty refillable cartridges

Tornado Kit

Tornado Electronic Cigarette Assembly

Unlike most electronic cigarettes which have 3 parts: a battery, an atomiser and a nicotine cartridge the Tornado Electronic Cigarette has 4 parts as it also has a cone that screws onto the battery and covers the atomiser.

The cone is there to improve the look of the Tornado, giving it a nice sleek look, and also to help increase the amount of vapour produced by the tornado. If you like to direct drip liquids directly onto the atomiser, then the cone also prevents any excess liquid, that may leak out from the atomiser, from coming in contact with your hands.

Assemble is still a straight forward matter of simply srewing the battery an atomiser together, slotting the nicotine cartridge into the atomiser and then sliding the cone over the nicotine cartridge and atomiser and screwing it gently onto the battery.

You will however need to fill the nicotine cartridges first, as they are supplied empty with a bottle of tobacco flavoured e-liquid. Again this is a simple process which the video below will demonstrate, the video is for the full Tornado kit but the assembly and instructions are the same for both the full and compact kits.

Using the Tornado Electronic Cigarette

If this is to be your first foray into the world of electronic cigarettes the first thing you’ll notice is that the Tornado Electronic Cigarette is much larger than a regular tobacco cigarette, it’s also larger than a lot of other electronic cigarettes and is also heavier.

The overall dimensions of the assembled Tornado are 118mm long by 14mm in diameter.

Tornado Electronic Cigarette Size Comparison

To activate it you need to press a button on the battery, which is positioned mid way along the length of the fully assembled Tornado. When you press the button it illuminates with a white light and makes a slight clicking noise as it’s depressed and released.

Once activated there doesn’t appear to be a cut off time limit as you tend to get on automatic batteries. This means you are able to inhale on the Tornado Electronic Cigarette for as long as you wish. It also means that if you simply drop the Tornado into your pocket or bag and something depresses the button, then it will not turn off until the button is released, this could lead to the battery being drained, or if attached to the atomiser a hot leg or fried atomiser.

One good thing with the Tornado batteries is that the increased size means they have a longer lifespan between recharges than electronic cigarettes designed to like regular tobacco cigarettes. My Super Mini Electronic Cigarette for instance will only last 2 hours at most with relatively heavy use, the tornado on the other hand will last at least 6 hours of heavy use, and if used like a regular cigarette taking 10-15 drags and then putting it down until I next fancy a cigarette a single fully charged battery will last me about a day. It’s all down to how you use it, but even really heavy users should get 6 hours out of a fully charged battery.

As you would imagine the Tornado Electronic Cigarette also requires longer to charge than a battery such as a Super Mini Battery, taking around 2.5 hours to charge on the supplied USB Charger.

The Tornado Electronic Cigarette uses the same atomiser as the Titan 510 so if you are upgrading from a Titan 510 then you can use your current atomisers with the Tornado.

If you have read my review of the Titan 510 you’ll know that I had problems with the cartridge system not being able to provide enough liquid t atomiser, and would need to top up the cartridge every 10-15 drags with 2 or three drops of liquid, although the cartridge holds around 16 drops. The Tornado has not improved this situation, and if anything made it slightly worse as the cone helps to hold heat in the atomiser so that it runs slightly hotter.

The 510 atomisers tend to generate more heat than other models which is why they produce so much vapour, this means in my experience that the cartridge can’t supply enough liquid to the atomiser unless totally saturated . Many people modify their cartridges with different fillers or springs to improve the liquid delivery. I tried a few of these modifications but none really worked that well for me.

If you like to direct liquid directly onto the atomiser though, then the Tornado Electronic Cigarette works well and delivers excellent vapour production and throat hit.

If you intend to use an electronic cigarette in an enclosed public space such as an office or your local pub, then the shape and look of the Tornado should make the process easier, as it’s not likely to be confused with a regular tobacco cigarette, and make it easier to explain what it actually is.

Conclusion

So what did I personally think of the Tornado?

Well when it first arrived I wasn’t to keen on it, as I still like my electronic cigarettes to mimic a tobacco cigarette and I couldn’t get on with 510 atomiser. After a few weeks though it began to grow on me, basically because I changed one component and began to look on the Tornado as a Cigar rather than a cigarette.

What component did I change? The 510 atomiser of course.

I purchased a 510 battery to 901 atomiser adaptor and of course a 901 atomiser as well. This made a world of difference, flavours were improved and cartridges seemed to work an awful lot better, I still couldn’t use all the liquid in the cartridge but I’d find I could fit 10-12 drops in the cartridge when it needed refilling instead of just 2 or 3 with the 510 atomiser.

When I feel like a cigarette I will still reach for something that looks like a cigarette and tend to use an M402 from Mirage Cigarettes as my main electronic cigarette when working or outside. The Tornado however I personally find great for using with my sweeter flavours such as strawberry or Lychee in the evening when watching telly or generally lounging around, treating it more like a cigar.

The 901 atomiser and adapter does however increase the length of the Tornado from 118mm to 132mm.

Update November 3rd 210 – I’ve recently tried out the Totally Wicked 910 Cartomizers and have found them to be a great improvement over the 510 atomiser and cartridge system. They don’t suffer any of the wicking problems. I use them all the time now and would recomend anyone buying a Tornado also ad a couple of cartomizers to their order and give them a try.

I’d also favour the the Tornado in enclosed public spaces where something like the M402 would attract to much attention and requests for me to put out my cigarette, not that I find myself in those situations very often, as I’m more of an outdoor person anyway.

So would I recommend the Tornado Compact Kit to anyone else? The answer to that is yes.

If this is going to be your first electronic cigarette or you haven’t tried the 510 atomiser then I’d definitely go for the compact kit plus a 901 adapter, atomiser and spare cartridges (901 Cartridges are different to 510′s) so that you can get a feel for the device and both types of atomiser. If you like the device you will of course want to purchase a second battery, so that you aren’t left without one when it’s time to recharge, at which point you could try one of the Mega Tornado Batteries or stick with the standard.

If on the other hand you have used a Titan 510 and are happy with the way it performs then I’d probably say you’d be better off with the full kit.

All in all this s a good device and if, unlike me, you don’t require something that looks like an electronic cigarette it provides much improved battery performance with sleek good looking device.

Product results as of Thursday 23rd of February 2012

	Tornado Electronic Cigarette Compact Starter Kit The Tornado electronic cigarette is the next step up from the Titan 510. It still uses the 510 line of atomisers but uses a larger, longer la...	£29.99
	Titan 510 / Tornado Cartomizer The Titan 510 / Tornado Cartomizer combines the regular atomizer and cartridge into 1 single unit, making the electronic cigarette simpler to use.	£1.99

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Titan 510 Automatic Battery Electronic Cigarette Review

If you have read my previous review of the Titan 510 compact kit you’ll know that I wasn’t all that impressed with the manual battery that can with the kit, so I decided to order a white Titan 510 automatic battery and a new atomiser to go with it to see how that compared to the manual version.

The battery life of the Titan 510 electronic cigarette isn’t all that good either so I decided to order the Titan PCC at the same time as the Titan 510 automatic battery and atomiser. As usual with TECC / Totally Wicked, the items arrived the day after they were dispatched from their warehouse.

If you like your electronic cigarettes to look and imitate real tobacco cigarettes then the all white Titan 510 with automatic battery may well be just the ticket, whilst being larger than a normal tobacco cigarette, from a distance it can easily be mistaken for the real thing. In fact a couple of people who had gotten used to seeing me with the gold Titan 510 thought I had reverted back to tobacco cigarettes.

The draw on the automatic Titan 510 electronic cigarette is just right in my opinion and is nice and smooth with a slight bit of resistance, but you don’t have to suck so hard that it makes your jaw ache. The battery is activated and the atomiser starts to produce vapour as soon as you begin to inhale, without the need to remember to press a button, just the way a tobacco cigarette would react.

On the manual Titan 510 I found that the atomiser would start to generate a burnt taste after taking 10 – 15 drags, and you’d need to top up the cartridge with 2 or three drops of fluid. With the automatic battery this problem seems to disappear and I can get 50-60 drags before having to top up the cartridge with 10-12 drops of fluid.

Why the cartridges should last longer before needing topping up I’m not sure. At first I thought it must be the atomiser so I used the automatic battery with my gold atomiser and got the same result. If I then used the white atomiser with my gold manual battery I’m back to topping up the cartridges every 10-15 drags. The only thing I can think of is that the way I use the manual battery means it’s active longer, but no matter how I try I can’t get the manual battery and cartridge to last longer than 15 drags between top ups.

Now I really like the Titan 510 electronic cigarette with the automatic battery, but it still has a few problems. One of the main ones is that the portable battery is too sensitive and can be activated by vibrations and wind, and I’ve also heard people say loud noises will activate it, but I can’t say I’ve noticed that problem.

Putting it down on a hard surface such as a table will often start the battery for a second or two. Blowing on the LED at the end of the battery will also activate it, so if you are outside on a windy day or in a car with the windows open you may find that it smokes itself.

For me these aren’t serious problems but they may be to you. If I’m out on a windy day or a passenger in a car, holding the Titan by the battery with my fingers curled around the LED solves the wind problem, but probably not so easy if your driving. As to the vibration problem, simply separating the battery from the atomiser when not in use will prevent any damage from occurring due to accidental activation. You definitely won’t want to drop it fully assembled into your pocket, unless your looking for something to keep you warm in the winter.

Another problem, if you can call it that, is that the automatic battery seems to have a 2 second cut off, in that the battery won’t remain active in one go for more than 2 seconds at a time, but there is no delay before it can be activated again. You can for example take two consecutive 2 second inhales, but can’t have one 4 second inhale.

Again I don’t find this a problem and tend to take two quick primer puffs to get the atomiser working and then a full 2 second inhale. Having smoked hand rolled cigarettes, that don’t contain chemicals to keep them burning like factory made cigarettes, this is something I’d often find myself doing anyway as the rolly started to go out. The vapour production isn’t as good as on the manual battery but it is certainly enough for me and is more than my Super produces.

It also still produces a good throat hit, or at least I find it does but most of the time I use 0mg liquids, so heavy smokers may not find it produces as much of a hit as I do. The nicotine strength of the liquid you use will also have an effect on this.

The battery life on both the automatic and manual batteries is on the low side lasting around an hour and a half of heavy use. Even if you are a fairly light user you are going to run into problems with dead batteries especially if you are away from a power source for any length of time or only have one battery. That is of course unless you have the Titan PCC (Portable charging Case).

All in all I’m really pleased with the Titan 510 electronic cigarette and Automatic battery, so much so that my poor little Super hasn’t been out in about a week. If it wasn’t for the battery being so sensitive I’d probably say this was the best starter device for anyone making the switch from tobacco to electronic cigarettes. But I can see the sensitive battery causing real problems for some people.

I was going to include the Titan PCC in this review but thought I’d give it it’s own post.

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TECC Super Mini (RN4081) Electronic Cigarette Review

TECC Super Mini (RN4081)

I purchased my Super Mini Electronic Cigarette, or RN4081 to give it it’s model number, about a month ago now from TECC (The Electronic Cigarette Company). At the time I purchased it, they had a batch of Super Mini’s that were originally destined for the Greek market which were being sold of cheap, so that’s the one I purchased. They are exactly same as the UK version, the only differences being the box contents layout, branding, a Greek language instruction manual and the charger mains plug was a European 2 pin version.

The reasons for choosing this particular model were that I wanted an electronic cigarette that looked like a real cigarette and allowed for different flavours of nicotine cartridge. The previous versions I had tried were limited to just 1 flavour of tobacco and maybe a menthol alternative, which is fine unless you don’t like their tobacco flavour, in which case you have more or less wasted your money.

Below is my TECC Super Mini Electronic Cigarette review after having a month to play with it.

The Starter Pack

Tecc Super Mini Greek Starter Pack

This starter packs layout will be different to the UK version that you will get from TECC but the contents will be the same except you will receive an English Manual and a UK three pin plug on your mains charger.

I ordered my starter kit in the morning and it was dispatched the same day and arrived in the following mornings delivery, so you can’t fault their delivery system.

The Kit Contains:

• 2 x Rechargeable Batteries
• 1 x Atomiser
• 1 x Mains Charger
• 5 x Tobacco Flavour 0mg Nicotine Cartridges
• 1 x User Manual

Assembling The Super Mini Electronic Cigarette

On unpacking the Super Mini the first thing you will need to do is fully charge a battery, which is just a case of unpacking the mains charger and plugging the mains cable into one end and screwing the battery gently into the other end of the charger and plugging the three pin mains plug into a wall socket.

When plugged in you will notice that the indicator light on the charger turns red, this lets you know that the battery is charging. Once the battery has been fully charged the indicator light will change from red to green, which takes about 2 hours to achieve.

Once you have a fully charged battery you can begin to assemble your super mini electronic cigarette, which you’ll be pleased to hear is a simple and painless process as it only has three parts to deal with, which are: the atomiser, the battery and a nicotine cartridge.

The Three Parts Of The Super Mini (RN4081) Electronic Cigarette

First off gently screw the atomiser onto the battery and then remove a nicotine cartridge from it’s packaging and slide it over the end of the atomiser until it buts up to the gold band and that’s it, your Super Mini is now assembled.

Using the Super Mini Electronic Cigarette

As the Super Mini uses an automatic battery, you use it in much the same way you would a normal tobacco based cigarette, in that all you need to do to activate it is inhale on the nicotine cartridge. The air movement created when you inhale is the trigger for the battery to heat the atomiser and create the vapour that you inhale.

There is one difference to smoking a normal cigarette however and that is in how long you need to inhale in order to create a decent amount of vapour. With a tobacco cigarette you simply take a short one or two second drag. With the Super Mini electronic cigarette though you will need to get used to a 3 or 4 second drag, which will give the battery enough time to get the atomiser up to temperature and evaporate enough of the nicotine solution.

Also, when you inhale on the Super Mini you do tend to get a hissing noise, as air is pulled through the nicotine cartridge. The atomiser can also produce a gurgling sound not dissimilar to the noise a straw makes when you reach the end of your drink.

The size and weight of the Super Mini (RN4081) is something you may find strange at first. Whilst it is only slightly longer than a Superking sized cigarette it is 1 or 2mm wider and is also heavier due to the electronic battery. It doesn’t take to long to get used to this though and you’ll soon be holding it just like a normal tobacco cigarette.

Super Mini (RN4081) Electronic Cigarette Size Comparison

Battery life between charges isn’t the most impressive I’ve come across but it isn’t the worst either. On average I tend to find that 2 fully charged batteries will last me a whole day, but I would consider myself a light to medium user. Having rid myself of the nicotine addiction I no longer get the cravings but still enjoy the process of smoking with a cup of coffee or after a meal.

Heavier users may want to have a third battery as a backup, that they can leave fully charged either at work or the home. This way should you should never be in a position where you are without your super waiting for a battery to charge.

You may also want to consider buying a second battery charger that you can leave at work, or if you are on the move a lot then a car charger may be a good option. Both are available from the TECC website along with spare batteries and atomisers.

Super Mini Nicotine Cartridges

The nicotine cartridges for the Super Mini give you a lot of scope when it comes to flavours and nicotine strengths, and is one of the deciding factors that led me to purchase it.

I was previously using the Nicocig Plus, and would probably still be had they offered cartridges in other flavours instead of just 1 tobacco flavour and Menthol. I would often change the brand of tobacco I smoked when I got bored with it so why shouldn’t I do the same with my electronic cigarette. Only the electronic cigarette offers a far more options than just changing brands.

With the Super Mini you can purchase pre-filled tobacco flavoured nicotine cartridges in nicotine strengths of 18mg, 14mg, 11mg and 0mg. If tobacco flavour isn’t to your liking then you could try Strawberry, Vanilla, Apple or Cherry in 18mg, 14mg or 11mg nicotine strengths.

If that is not enough of a selection then you can buy empty refillable cartridges, at which point the options become to numerous to fully list here. These blank cartridges can be filled with numerous blends of so called e-liquids which can be purchased ready mixed in a large range of flavours and nicotine strengths, or if you are feeling adventurous you can mix your own.

One pre-mixed range of e-liquids you may want to take a look at is the Totally Wicked Red Label Range which has about 6 or 7 different tobacco flavours and around 12 other flavours with various fruity flavours such as apple, banana, strawberry and cherry along with coconut, chocolate and coffee.

If you want to mix your own liquids then the choice of flavours and nicotine strengths goes through the roof, as you can set your own nicotine strengths and flavour levels as well as combining flavours to taste.

Right now I have three atomisers each with a different flavour that I can use as the mood takes me. One atomiser I use for Totally Wicked’s Hilton pre-mixed tobacco flavour, in another atomiser I use Decadent Vapours Roasted Nut flavour mixed by myself, and in the final atomiser I have a mix of Decadent Vapours French Apple Tart and Tiramisu again mixed to my personal taste. Each of these has a 0mg nicotine level, but I could easily add nicotine to them if I wished to.

Now before I get too distracted by different flavours and e-liquids you’ll probably want to know how long a cartridge lasts, well it’s a difficult question to answer really. The TECC website says a cartridge lasts about 10+ regular tobacco cigarettes, but I’d say it is probably more like 8, but it does really depend on the brand and size of cigarette you smoke, plus your smoking habits.

I tend to use e-liquids and refill my cartridges, so once the vapour starts to diminish I just add a few more drops to the cartridge or simply swap it for another cartridge that I filled at an earlier time.

One thing I have noticed though about the Super Mini nicotine cartridges is that I doesn’t produce much of a throat hit, if any at all, at lower nicotine levels. I have some 11mg nicotine cartridges that I keep for when other smokers ask me about the Super Mini, and I can just about feel an effect off of them at the back of my throat, but I’ve been off nicotine for a couple of months now so a regular smoker probably won’t notice it at all. I also have a small bottle of Totally Wicked’s Hilton mix at 18mg and that starts me coughing, but as I say I have been nicotine free for a few months.

Vapour production from the cartridges is good from both pre-filled nicotine cartridges and e-liquids, although it is not as good as other models I’ve tried, such as the Titan 510 or the Tornado, but is certainly enough to satisfy most smokers. I think the atomisers on the 510 and the Tornado get hotter than those on the Super Mini which is why they produce more vapour, but it also reduces the flavour. So what the Super Mini loses in vapour production it makes up for in crispness of flavour.

Now having said that, rather than filling cartridges all the time I personally prefer to direct drip a drop or 2 of e-lquid directly onto the atomiser. I find it easier than filling cartridges, but I do like to have 1 or 2 cartridges filled for times when it’s not practical to direct drip.

Conclusion

So am I happy with my purchase of the Super Mini electronic cigarette? Yes I am is the simple answer. As TECC are currently having a 50% sale I decided to try out a couple of other versions, notably the 510 Titan and Tornado, I’ll review these later when I’ve had a bit more time to get to know them, but I think I’ll still find myself coming back to the Super Mini.

One thing I like about the Super Mini is it’s toughness, you can just drop it in your pocket and pull it out when you need it and it works first time. The same can’t be said for certain other models, especially those with manual batteries where the activation button would be constantly triggered leading to a flat battery and burnt out atomiser if you left it assembled.

The Super’s automatic battery also has just the right responsiveness, only being activated when inhaled on. I have a Titan 510 automatic battery however that s triggered by loud noise, tapping it or strong wind blowing on the LED, so again you wouldn’t want too drop that in your pocket fully assembled, and on windy days it smokes itself, I suppose it does a good imitation of a real cigarette on that point though.

However there are a few drawbacks to it as well. If a good throat hit is important to you then you probably won’t be as impressed with it as I am, as the throat hit from the Super Mini is nowhere near as good as the hit generated by the Titan 510 or the Tornado. The small reservoir in the nicotine cartridge means it needs filling more often than other makes of electronic cigarette.

For me though the Super Mini is a tough little electronic cigarette that just works when you want it to. So if throat hit isn’t important to you and your looking for an electronic cigarette that looks like the real thing and isn’t too big, then it is definitely worth consideration. I am a light user user though, heavy smokers or those that require a good throat hit may want to look at a different model of electronic cigarette.

Pros and Cons

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50% sale at TECC

If you are unsure as to whether or not you want to try an electronic cigarette then now may be a good time to take the plunge as TECC are having a massive sale with 50% off of everything, but you need to hurry as the sale ends on the 1st September 2010.

This is a great opportunity also for anyone who already has one of there products and wants to grab a few spare batteries and atomisers, or even try out some of their e-liquids.

Hurry sale ends on the 1st September 2010

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