Tornado Mega Cartomizer

The Mega Tornado Cartomizer is my latest foray into the Mega line and after my experience with the Mega Tornado Atomisers I wasn’t to hopeful, although the other cartomizers I’ve tried had been better than their atomiser and cartridge counterparts, and these cartomizers were no different, a great improvement.

They do still have a leaking problem but no where near as bad as the atomizer. I purchased them from Totally Wicked e-Liquid. Like their 510 cartomizers they are only available pre-filled. This time the only option is tobacco flavour at 18mg strength, but you do get a choice of black and white.

On opening the package I found 2 Mega Tornado Cartomizers in clear plastic bags, one of which had already leaked quite a bit of brown liquid into its bag, which didn’t fill me with confidence. As it had already leaked after giving it a good cleaning with a tissue I stood it upright on a tissue expecting to see a flood of liquid. After an hour however this didn’t happen. A small amount did leak out but only enough to leave a small ring on the tissue.

In case you are wondering, the size of the mega tornado cartomizer is the same width as the tornado and slightly longer than an assembled atomiser and cartridge. Part of the length however is the outer sleeve which doubles as the cone you would normally use. Once attached to the battery the whole unit is about the same length as the standard tornado with atomiser and cartridge.

Tornado Mega Cartomizer Comparison

So I screwed it on to a standard manual battery I took a few drags, and was greeted with plumes of vapour and a strong throat hit that had me coughing, mainly because I don’t normally vape anything over 12mg in strength and the 18mg that came pre-filled was a little to strong for me, which is also why it took me the best part of 2 days to vape it out.

One of the first things I noticed was that the Mega Tornado Cartomizer was a lot quieter than the mega atomizer and cartridge. It still crackled and fizzed but it didn’t have the same hiss that the cartridge produced as air was drawn through it.

I could also put the Tornado down on end and make a coffee without coming back to a stream of liquid running down the battery. There was slight leakage over time so still wouldn’t chance using them with automatic batteries, but the leakage was more akin to that produced by direct dripping.

Once I managed to empty the Mega Tornado Cartomizer I had to refill it, so headed over to youtube and watched a few videos on the subject. As with the atomiser it was recommended to stick to about 1.5ml of liquid.

The recommended method seemed to be to remove the cover in the mouthpiece followed by the inner liquid trap and then pierce the centre filling hole and fill with a syringe. I tried this but no matter how slowly I tried to fill the cartomizer liquid would simply flow straight out the hole in the battery end.

I then saw another method using a 5ml dropper bottle to force liquid in directly from the battery end, this time liquid dripped from the mouth piece. I then resorted to simple dripping a drip at a time on the hole in the battery end, after 10 or so drops once again liquid started dripping out the mouth piece.

After a while I figured my VG based liquids were to thick to soak straight into the wading and it was just running straight through instead of soaking in. So I hit on the idea of using a glass dropper to squeeze around 7 or 8 drops worth of liquid into the hole in the battery end and then lay the Mega Tornado Cartomizer on its side for a minute or so, and then repeat another 3 times. This method seemed to work allowing the liquid time to soak in.

Once refilled the cartomizer worked as expected the only problem was that the vanilla I used to fill the cartomizer was tainted by the residual flavour of the pre-filled tobacco, in the second cartomizer I used a stronger flavour in the form of Parma Violet which totally masked the tobacco flavour and produced plenty of vapour and the expected amount of throat hit.

Whilst a whole lot better than the Mega Atomisers I still probably wouldn’t use these on a regular basis unless they are sold unfilled. Whilst I don’t find the prefilled tobacco flavour unpleasant, I wouldn’t buy it out of choice and definitely not at 18mg strength, so trying to vape it out is a bit of a chore. Also as you can only really refill with 1.5ml of liquid and not the 2.5ml as advertised. While the whistle tip style is comfortable in the mouth I personally prefer to use the standard 510 cartomizer, which is also quicker to empty, holds around 1ml of e-liquid and doesn’t leak.

Product results as of Wednesday 22nd of February 2012

Mega Tornado Cartomizer The Mega Tornado Catomiser holds over 2.5ml of E.Juice. The Cartomizer is an atomizer and pre filled cartridge all rolled into one. ...

£2.99

Tornado Mega Atomiser

Following on with my investigation of the Mega Tornado accessories I purchased a couple of Mega Tornado Atomisers and a box of unfilled cartridges from Totally Wicked e-Liquid. After my good experiences of the Mega Automatic Battery I was looking forward to trying the Mega Atomiser, however my experience wasn’t so good with these.

On arrival as you would expect I was eager to try them out so I immediately unpacked an atomiser tucked a tissue into it and blew out any primer fluid. I then unpacked a blank cartridge and filled it with 40 drops of liquid. They are listed as being able to hold 2.5ml of liquid and as on average 20 drops equates to about 1ml I thought it would be under filled.

I then added a couple of drops to the bridge of the atomiser and eagerly pushed the cartridge into the atomiser, screwed it onto a standard tornado battery and took a drag. After a few drags I was rewarded with a good flavour, nice throat hit and clouds of vapour.

Whilst in use the atomiser makes quite a bit of noise sizzling and crackling away, and you get a hissing noise as air is drawn through the cartridge. It’s not to bad to start with but after a while the noise began to get on my nerves.

Eventually I put the tornado down as I normally do by standing upright on the end of the battery and went and made a coffee. Came back and picked up the tornado to find a stream of liquid running down the side of the battery.

Tornado Mega Atomiser Detail

Thinking that maybe it was a faulty atomiser I tried again with the second one, this time standing it on a tissue and watched the liquid pour out the bottom after a few minutes. Not sure if I had a faulty pair of atomisers or if it was a problem with the cartridge filler I thought I’d try replacing the filler with fluval and got the same result.

At this point I decided to do a little investigation on the forums where I found it was recommended not to fill with more than 1.5ml of liquid, and not to disturb the cartridge filler and even fill with a syringe so that liquid is inserted at the base of the cartridge, then top off with a few drops so that the wool is wet when it comes into contact with the bridge of the atomiser. This helped a little but if left stood on a tissue liquid would still eventually leak out.

Other advice recommended that you hold the Tornado horizontally while in use and the cartridge be removed from the battery when not in use and stored cartridge down, which indicated to me that leaking was a common problem.

Add the leaking issue to the noise they make and they are way too much trouble for me. I like an electronic cigarette that I can just pick up and use, without having to hold in a certain way, and that I can put down to answer the door or phone or simply make a coffee without coming back to pool of liquid on my desk or table. I definitely wouldn’t use them as my main device or carry them around with me.

I may have just been unlucky and received 2 defective atomisers but judging by some of the forum posts I don’t believe I was. Having said that though many people think they are excellent and say they haven’t had any leaking problems.

One theory I’ve thought of is that maybe heavy smokers don’t notice the problem as they are constantly using their Mega Tornados so liquid doesn’t get the chance to leak out, while I quite often put mine down. They do produce good flavour and vapour so if you like to direct drip they could be good for that. I’ve seen people asking for drip tips for them so people obviously use them in this way.

If after this write up you still want to try them all I’d say is make sure you use a manual battery, as the chances of ruining an automatic battery by leaking liquid managing to find its way inside the battery is a fairly high risk with the Mega Tornado Atomiser.

Product results as of Wednesday 22nd of February 2012

	Mega Tornado Atomiser Each Mega Tornado Atomiser and Cartridges can hold over 2.5ml of e-liquid. This should be sufficient to last the average user the whole day w...	£10.99
	Low Resistance Tornado Mega Atomiser The Low Resistance (LR) Atomiser are the same size as the reglar Tornado Mega Atomisers but allow the user to experience of higher voltage vaping on a...	£6.99
	Tornado Mega Atomiser Cartridges These Tornado Mega Atomiser Cartridges are supplied unfilled, allowing you to fill them with your favorite e-liquid. Each cartridge can hold ...	£4.99

Mega Tornado Automatic Battery

Having purchased a Tornado compact kit and found a cartomizer that works perfectly with it, I thought I’d investigate some of the Mega upgrades for it, starting with an automatic Mega Tornado battery (also available in manual form). As I have a platinum standard Tornado I thought I’d go for a white auto Mega Tornado battery, plus a white cone, for a change.

As you would expect from the name, the Mega Tornado battery is larger than the standard battery and also stores more power. Size wise it is the same diameter but 25mm longer having a length of 95mm as opposed to the 70mm of the standard Tornado battery.

Power wise the Mega Tornado battery has a rating of 1000 mAh as opposed to the 650 mAh rating of the standard battery. In real terms this means you get more usage time between charges with the website stating between 12-24 hours as opposed to 8-12 hours.

In practice I found that if I used it as my main electronic cigarette, the Mega Tornado battery would last me a full day and quite often nearly 2 days, and I’d say I’m a light to medium vaper. Some days I’ll vape more than others, it all depends what I’m doing and how busy I am. A standard Tornado battery probably last me around 8-10 hours, I’d have to charge it once a day.

As with most auto batteries I find you have to use a different inhale technique with the Auto Mega Tornado battery than you would with manuals in order to get the most out of them. With a manual battery you simply press the button and inhale, however with the auto you need to take one or two short primer puffs before your main drag. The primer puffs just pre-heat the atomiser, and is much the same method I would use when I smoked my hand rolled cigs so it feels fairly natural to me.

The draw is relatively smooth and you don’t have to suck like crazy to get a decent amount of vapour, especially if you take the primer puffs. Manual batteries though probably produce more vapour as you have more control over how long the battery is active.

Again like other auto batteries there is a small hole in the the top where the battery connects to the atomiser, this allows air into the battery so that it activates when you inhale. This hole can also let in liquid which can damage the battery, so if you direct drip then a Manual battery would be a better choice, as the battery is sealed and it’s easy to flood the atomiser when direct dripping which can lead to liquid finding its way into an automatic.

If you are a heavy smoker then these batteries will probably be great addition to your kit, and as they are also available as manual batteries you have the choice of which to buy. For me though they are a bit to big and I wouldn’t want to use them all time. They are quite good for using as cigar though. I now tend to have it attached to a cartomizer with one of my fruity flavours and use it when relaxing in the evenings, I only have to charge it once or twice a week that way.

Product results as of Wednesday 22nd of February 2012

	510 Titan / Tornado 10 Battery Mega Mains Charger The 510 Titan/Tornado 10 Battery Mega Mains Charger can charge 10 batteries at a time. Not only will it charge the JOYE510 and TORNADO model ...	£22.99
	510 Titan / Tornado 5 Battery Mega Mains Charger The 510 Titan/Tornado 5 Battery Mega Mains Charger can charge 5 batteries at a time, not only will it charge the Joye 510 model it will charge JOYE306...	£16.99
	Tornado Mega Battery - Automatic The Mega Automatic Battery for the Tornado comes with a 1000mAh Capacity. This means your average user will get between 12-24 hours use befor...	£14.99
	Tornado Mega Battery - Manual The Mega Manual Battery for the Tornado comes with a 1000mAh Capacity. This means your average user will get between 12-24 hours use before n...	£14.99

Titan 510 Cartomizer

After my experiences with the soft tipped 510 cartomizer I decided to try out the Totally Wicked 510 Cartomizers, which are longer and constructed from plastic. They work with both the Titan 510 and Tornado versions of the electronic cigarette.

This particular version of cartomizer are available from Totally Wicked e-Liquid and currently only as pre-filled and in black. You have a choice of their tobacco or menthol flavours at strengths of 11, 14 and 18mg strengths. Hopefully they will expand the range to include empty and white versions as well, as I personally prefer the white colour and prefer to use my own flavours. Once emptied though you can refill with whatever flavour you prefer.

In use I find this version of the 510 cartomizer produces a good throat hit and a better flavour to the cartridge system. They don’t seem to have any wicking problems I had with a separate cartridge and atomiser, even with thicker VG e-liquids.

The draw on them is nice and smooth and the vapour doesn’t seem to be as dry and harsh as I found the cartridge system to be, making them a more pleasant vapeing experience. The vapour is also cooler than that produced by the soft tip 510 cartomizer I reviewed previously.

When I first used them they seemed to make quite a loud fizzing and crackling noise, but once I had vaped out the tobacco flavour that they came filled with and then re-filled with my own liquid the noise diminished and more or less vanished after a second fill. I’m not sure if that is to do with my VG heavy mix or just the cartomizer wearing itself in.

Each cartomizer holds about 1ml of e-liquid or around 20 drops, and are pretty easy to fill. I’ve seen a few videos for filling where you remove the plastic end cap and the inner silicone seal, but I find it easier to simply drip the e-liquid onto the battery end as the cartomizer simply pulls the liquid in on its own.

I normally do this dripping in three stages. I first slowly drip in 10 drops, waiting for each drop to get pulled in before adding another. I then let it rest for 20 seconds or so for the liquid to absorb into the wadding inside. The reason I let it rest is because I use thicker VG mixes which don’t absorb as quick as thinner PG liquids. I then add another 5 drops and again leave to rest. After its rested for a bit I then blow through the mouth piece and if the airway is clear of liquid I add another 5 drops and again leave to rest. At this point I normally find there is a little excess liquid in the airway which I then blow back into the bottle.

All you do then is wipe the battery end with a tissue to remove any excess liquid before attaching to your battery and continue vaping. This method may take a little longer than some of the other methods but I don’t have to take anything apart and risk damaging the plastic cap or inner silicone seal. If you use thinner PG based liquids you may find the liquid absorbs quicker which will speed things up.

At the time of writing this I’ve re-filled my 510 cartomizers about 10 times and they are still going strong. I’m not overly sure how many refills they will take before dying, but I’ve heard of people re-filling 25 times or more, and at £1.99 per cartomizer that’s not bad value, especially when they simply work out of the box, unlike the cartridge and atomiser combination.

I really like these and would say they are better than the soft ended version which I thought were good, this version however seems to have improved the design, which probably has something to do with the length, giving the liquid time to properly vaporise before reaching your mouth.

If like me you don’t want the bother of continually direct dripping, and have had problems getting cartridges and atomisers to work properly, then I really recommend you try this version of the 510 Cartomizer. I’m definitely a convert, I just hope they start selling them in white and unfilled, as having to vape out their tobacco flavour is tiresome.

Product results as of Wednesday 22nd of February 2012

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

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 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.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZiVGq37K3E

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

Site: Liberty Flights

Type: Discount Code

Code: VAP10

Expires: Non Expiring

Refilling electronic cigarette cartridges is both a cheaper and greener option to simply throwing them away and buying new ones. Over time though the polyester wool used to hold the e-liquid becomes dirty and clogged, at which point you either have to throw the nicotine cartridge way or find a replacement for the polyester wool.

The problem is what do you use to replace the polyester wool? Atomisers on electronic cigarettes run hot, as they need to evaporate the e-liquid, so you don’t want to use something that is going to melt or get burnt. The answer, believe it or not lies in Aquariums.

Aquarium water needs to be kept clean and a large range of filters have been designed for this purpose, and some of them use the same polyester wool, as used in electronic cigarette cartridges, to remove particles from aquarium water.

One make in particular is Fluval. If you have visited any electronic cigarette forums you may have seen it mentioned in the form of ‘Fluval 2 Plus’. These small filter pads approx 9 x 6.5 x 1cm in size, which you can then cut to fit your particular make of electronic cigarette cartridge.

Just recently however I’ve tried using the Fluval ‘Water Polishing Pads’ which seem to work slightly better. The reason for this is that the ‘Water Polishing Pads’ have a more open texture than the ‘Fluval 2 Pads’, and are also larger so should last you longer.

Fluval 2 Plus (Top) - Fluval Water Polishing Pads (Bottom)

When filling an electronic cigarette cartridge with either of these two products, insert the wool so that the layers run vertically inside the cartridge, as this will help the e-liquid flow down to the atomiser.

Both of these products should be easily obtainable from your local pet store or, failing that, on ebay. Just remember to rinse it through before use.

Fluval Water Polishing Pads on eBay

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Titan 510 PCC

In case your wondering, PCC stands for ‘Portable Charging Case’ or ‘Personal Charging Case’ . They are designed to allow you to charge your Titan 510 Electronic Cigarette batteries while on the move, and with the Titan 510′s short battery life this is a must have item for anyone who is on the move a lot.

One of the biggest problems with the Titan 510 electronic cigarette is that their batteries don’t last very long between charges, so if you spend a lot of time away from a power source you’d probably need to carry 3 or fully charged batteries, and then have to remember to recharge them each night. The Titan 510 PCC goes a long way to solving this problem as a fully charged PCC can fully recharge at least 4 510 batteries.

I ordered my Titan 510 PCC from the TECC / Totally Wicked website and, as always, it arrived the day after it was despatched. The PCC came in it’s own black cardboard presentation box, inside which was a usb power cable for charging and the Titan 510 PCC, which in my case was Purple, but it’s also available in Dark Blue/Purple, Black or silver.

The PCC case is about the size of a pack of 10 Superking cigarettes and measures approx 10.7cm x 4.3cm x 1.8cm, so its not going to feel out of place in your pocket. Inside the PCC there is room to store 2 spare cartridges, 1 atomiser and cartridge combined and 1 automatic or manual battery.

The Lid of the Tian 510 PCC hinges along the top back edge and flips open like a regular pack of cigarettes. To open the lid you simply press a button on the side of the case and it flies open due to being spring loaded, so its a good idea to place a finger on the top as it can fly back at quite a speed.

The battery slot has a spring at the bottom of it and when you close the lid the battery is pressed down onto the charging unit, and begins to charge automatically if it is need of a charge. When you open the PCC the battery springs back up off of the charging connection, which is another reason for placing a finger on top of the lid when you open it, otherwise you may find the battery shoots out if your holding it horizontally.

On the bottom left of Titan 510 PCC case you will find three indicator lights that only light up under specific circumstances. Each light has it’s own meaning as follows:

• Top Light – This illuminates red when the Titan 510 battery is being charged and goes out when charging is complete.
• Middle Light – This glows red when the PCC battery needs to be recharged. It will turn off a short while after being connected to a power source.
• Bottom Light – This will glow red when the PCC battery is being charged and turn to green when the PCC battery is fully recharged. Once disconnected from the power source the light goes out.

On the bottom of the case is the USB cable connection for charging the PCC. Charging is just a simple matter of plugging one end of the supplied USB cable into the Titan 510 PCC and the other end into any available powered USB port on your computer, laptop or suitable mains power supply. When you plug in the USB cable into the PCC you’ll see the bottom one of three lights turn red and then change to green when charging is complete, which takes around 4 hours for a full charge from flat.

Titan 510 PCC Indicator Lights

So does it work and is it any good?

For most users I’d say it is an excellent device and works well and is a must have device for any Titan 510 user. Whenever you put your Titan 510 battery back into the PCC it is automatically recharged back to full strength, be it just a top up charge or a full recharge, so you always have a fully charged battery.

There some things that could be improved however. For one thing I’d have liked the PCC case to be slightly wider so it was more like a pack of 20 regular cigarettes, this would then allow it to accommodate a second battery.

For light to medium smokers this probably won’t be an issue, so long as you remember to put your Titan 510 battery back in the PCC, but for heavy smokers and those people that like to keep a cigarette in their hands, they may find that they drain the battery and then have to wait 45 minutes or so before they can use it again. A spare battery slot means you could be using one battery while the other charges.

The extra space would also allow for a couple of extra cartridges to be stored, or maybe a small dropper bottle could be accommodated in the case, giving the user the choice of direct dripping or refilling their cartridges on the move.

I’d also prefer it to be made from a rigid plastic with rounded corners rather than the metal that it is made of at the moment, as the corners can occasionally dig into your leg if your carrying it in your trouser pocket.

Even without these improvements the Titan 510 PCC case is a great piece of kit. I use it all the time now to charge my white automatic Titan 510, even when in the house. Whenever I use the Titan 510 I always replace it in the PCC when I’m finished with it. All I need do then is simply give the PCC a top-up charge every night, and as both Titan 510 battery and PCC battery can be charged at the same time there is no need to remove the Titan 510 battery.

I personally feel that the PCC makes the experience of using your Titan 510 as close as possible to using a regular tobacco cigarette, especially if you use an automatic battery.

Enter discount code 915CD for a 7.5% Off of regular priced items at Totally Wicked / TECC

Titan 510 White Automatic Battery & Atomiser

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.

Enter discount code 915CD for a 7.5% Off of regular priced items at Totally Wicked / TECC

TECC / Totally Wicked Super Clasp Case

As my collection of parts for my Super Mini (RN4081) seems to increased I thought I’d get a case to help keep them in one place and not rolling around my desk. So I took a look on the Totally Wicked website and ordered a black ‘Super Electronic Cigarette-Clasp Case‘.

On the site it states that clasp case carries 2 batteries, 1 atomiser and a few spare cartridges, which although can be done, it isn’t quite what the case appears to have been designed for. Inside the case you will find two slots to hold a battery in each, and between them a smaller slot which I think was designed to hold 2 atomisers out of the cartridge.

The case itself had a leather effect finish on the outside and a nice velvet type finish on the inside to protect your electronic cigarette from scratches. The case closes with a nice snap and the catch is nice and firm so it won’t keep popping open in your bag or pocket. The area inside the case that the batteries and atomiser fit into is simply a piece of thin pre-moulded plastic, but it seems to hold the batteries fairly snugly.

How I ended up using it was for two batteries and 1 atomiser inside a cartridge. They only way I could find to carry any extra cartridges in the case was to place 1 either side of the atomiser between the batteries. This isn’t ideal though as the cartridges apply pressure to the lid and base of the case, which may damage it over time. Plus when you open the case you tend to find yourself picking the cartridges up off of the floor, as there is nothing to hold them in place.

As I had already come up with a solution for carrying spare cartridges and atomisers with me (See Here), I decided to modify the case to hold 3 batteries. This was a simple process of extending the central column. As the battery holder area is just a thin plastic, all that was needed was a sharp craft knife to extend the slot.

I had also recently bought a Gold Titan 510 compact kit with a spare battery, that I tend only to use in the house, and found that the Titan electronic cigarette would quite happily fit in the Super Clasp Case. So I ordered a second case, this time in silver, for my Titan.

I did however find that the batteries would come loose and occasionally fall out if you opened the case upside down, as there is a millimeter or two of space above the battery and case lid when closed. I think the Titan batteries are fractionally narrower than the Super batteries, and the gloss finish doesn’t help. To solve this I simply added a couple of strips of foam to the roof of the case, I used the stuff that is wrapped around the Totally Wicked e-liquid bottles (it holds itself in place) and it solved the problem, Just make sure the foam doesn’t press on the battery switches or you’ll end up with flat batteries all the time.

I quite like these cases as they are relatively cheap, not too big, fit comfortably in the pocket and will keep your equipment clean. They are available in Black, Red, Silver and a Tartan design, so if you have more than one electronic you want to protect you can different colour case, for each one, so that you know exactly whats inside without having to open it.

If all you want is something to keep your batteries in and maybe an atomiser then these electronic cigarette clasp cases are great, you will however need another solution for carrying cartridges (See Here for my solution).

Enter discount code 915CD for a 7.5% Off of regular priced items at Totally Wicked / TECC