As a long time customer of White Cloud (long before I became a Customer Service Sentinel for the company) I have had the pleasure of using every product we have brought to market over the last 5 years. While my mainstay is the ClearDraw and Cirrus rechargeable e-cig line (first ClearDraw, then ClearDraw2 and now the ClearDraw MAX) I have tried my fair share of rechargeables, disposables, accessories and flavors during my time here at WC.

Experimenting with E-Liquids and Nicotine Strengths

When we here at White Cloud came out with our bottled e-liquids for purchase, I was chomping at the bit to give them a try – but, I had nothing to use them with as we were still awaiting the arrival of our e-liquid Mini Tanks (which are refillable tanks that screw onto your existing Cirrus batteries just like the pre-filled ClearDraw e-tanks do).

While I am well versed in our entire White Cloud product line, my knowledge of larger tank and mod systems (which are also suited for our e-liquids) was a bit lacking as I had never really used them regularly and only had a layman’s knowledge of what they were about.

Related: The Vaper’s Glossary

My curiosity (and, perhaps, a bit of my innate impatience) prompted me to go out and purchase a small tank system. With the glee of a kid let loose in a candy shop with a pocket full of change, I rushed home, glanced through the instruction booklet for the system I had just purchased (the print was very, very small so I was forced to squint very, very hard to read it) and loaded the tank up with my all-time favorite White Cloud flavor: Regular in the 5.4% NBV strength. With everything set up, I placed the mouthpiece to my lips and took a good, solid puff.

Nothing happened.

In my excited haste I had forgotten that, unlike White Cloud products, I needed to hold down a button on my new tank system when I took a puff. I shook my head (literally) and kicked myself a bit (figuratively) and tried again, this time button depressed as I puffed and pulled in a deep vapor cloud.

I spluttered and gagged.

My Regular, my 5.4% NBV, the very flavor and strength which kept me warm on the occasional chilly Florida winter days, the constant companion to my morning cup of coffee was…way too strong.

I tried a few more times, each attempt ending in the same result. When I got to work the next day, I picked up the 3.6% nicotine strength in the Regular flavor, one step below the 5.4% I usually use. While that was far more comfortable, it was still somewhat overpowering, which prompted me to start looking into why this may be. So I began experimenting with different nicotine strength levels, and I believe I may have hit on a good explanation, as well as a fantastic solution.

Choosing the Right Nicotine Strength for Open Tank Systems

The White Cloud cig-a-like products I have been using for years deliver a certain amount of vapor and nicotine though a small opening; therefore, the vapor produced is relatively low compared to larger tank systems, which also operate at higher temperatures. As a very heavy smoker previously (over two packs a day for over 20 years), I craved a robust throat hit, as well as high nicotine content, and the 5.4% Regular flavor fit the bill quite nicely in that setting.

The tank system I was now using offered a very different delivery system. With a far, far wider aperture to pull vapor though creating vapor at higher temperatures than I was used to, combined with an awful lot more nicotine being distributed per puff, the 5.4% I was accustomed to puffing on was simply way too much of a good thing.

I started trying out different strength levels and found, much to my surprise, that the 1.6% nicotine strength suited me well, and the 0.8% nicotine strength suited me even better when used in my tank system. The additional vapor and heat produced from a lower nicotine strength level seemed to provide the throat hit and flavor I was used to when using a Cirrus battery with a ClearDraw.

After trying our e-liquids in refillable ‘pen’ systems, I found that the throat hit of 5.4% was a bit more robust than usual, but also found it to be quite comfortable; however, I did note that going a strength down (to 3.6%) seemed to do the trick nicely for me. In our new Mini Tanks, I found that using the 5.4% in Regular flavor provided the same experience I had grown accustomed to when using the ClearDraw line.

Since that point, I have used the 5.4% in our Mini Tanks and the 0.8% in the larger tank system, and this has made for a very satisfying experience. I also found that I am really enjoying some flavors away from the Regular Tobacco Flavor – Cherry Black, Chocolate and The Orchard in ultra light strength are becoming new mainstay vape flavors for me when using my tank system.

I hope this experiment proves helpful to you. As a long time customer myself, I completely get how using something new (like e-liquids instead of pre-filled tanks) might have a bit of a learning curve, so I am always willing to share my experiences. If you found this helpful, or have run similar experiments with different results, please let us know!

Guest blog by John Crumley, beloved White Cloud Customer Service Sentinel.