TECC / Totally Wicked

Tornado Electronic Cigarette – Review

Tornado Compact Kit

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 Compact 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 Wednesday 22nd 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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