# Cloud chasing: how to make big vapour clouds > Hardware, e-liquid, settings and technique: a UK guide to cloud chasing, how sub-ohm kit produces volume, and how to keep your cells inside their limits. Nothing about a thick, slow rolling cloud is accidental. Behind every impressive exhale sits a specific set of hardware, an e-liquid built for the job and settings that have been worked out rather than guessed. **Cloud chasing** is the part of vaping where the whole chain matters at once, from the coil surface up to the cells powering it. This guide sets out what actually produces volume in a British setup, what the local rules change about the liquid you can buy, and where the limits of the exercise sit. ## What cloud chasing actually asks of a setup **Cloud chasing** rests on three things working together: sub-ohm hardware capable of heating a large coil surface, an e-liquid heavy in vegetable glycerine, and settings opened up to feed that coil with air. Take any one away and the other two cannot compensate. A well specified mod running an unsuitable liquid gives thin, hot vapour. A superb high VG juice on a tight mouth to lung coil gives almost nothing. The volume you see in competition footage is the product of coherence across the whole setup, not of any single component being impressive on its own. There is a fourth element that never appears in the photographs, and it is the one that decides whether the hobby is sensible or reckless. Sub-ohm builds pull hard on removable cells, and the discipline around those cells is not optional. We come back to it at the end, because it deserves more than a footnote. ## The hardware that moves the air Volume comes from heated surface area and from the amount of air passing across it. That is why cloud focused kit looks the way it does: wide bore tanks, generous airflow slots at the base, large mesh or multi strand coils, and a chassis built around two removable cells rather than one. British specialist shops file this hardware under sub-ohm or direct to lung kits, and the category is well stocked. Mesh coils have taken over most of the shelf space in recent years because a flat mesh strip heats evenly and wets quickly, which is exactly what sustained direct lung draws demand. Rebuildable atomisers take the same logic further by letting you set the coil surface yourself. They are also where the responsibility shifts entirely onto the user, since nothing in the build is factory checked. Our guide to [sub-ohm vaping](/uk/sub-ohm-vaping-guide/) works through what that shift involves before you commit to it. The mod itself is the least mysterious part. A regulated dual cell device gives the headroom and the runtime that a demanding coil needs, and the criteria worth weighing are set out in our comparison of [box mods for big clouds](/uk/choosing-a-box-mod-for-clouds/). ## Why high VG liquid does the heavy lifting Vegetable glycerine is the ingredient that becomes visible vapour. Propylene glycol carries flavour and throat hit but produces far less of the dense white aerosol that cloud chasers are after. Shift the ratio towards glycerine and the exhale thickens noticeably. This is where British buying habits diverge from the rest of Europe. Because nicotine containing e-liquid is capped at 20 mg/ml and sold in bottles of no more than 10 ml, the high VG market here runs largely on shortfills: larger nicotine free bottles that you finish yourself with a nic shot if you want any strength at all. For **cloud chasing** that arrangement works in your favour. Shortfills come in the 70/30 and higher ratios that sub-ohm coils prefer, they last long enough to survive the consumption rate of a big coil, and they let you settle on a low strength rather than accept a fixed one. The trade offs of very high glycerine ratios are covered in our guide to [full VG e-liquid](/uk/full-vg-e-liquid-guide/). One consequence is worth stating plainly. Dense vapour delivers a lot of aerosol per draw, so cloud focused vapers generally sit at the low end of the strength range rather than the top. Pushing strength up on a high output coil makes the draw harsh long before it makes it better. ## Settings, draw and the part technique plays Two vapers on identical hardware can produce very different results, and the gap is usually in the settings. Airflow is the first lever: opened up, it cools the coil, thins the aerosol slightly and increases the sheer volume of air carrying it. Closed down, it concentrates heat and chokes the output. Wattage is the second, and the only sound method is incremental. Coil packaging carries a manufacturer range, you begin at the lower end of it, and you climb in small steps until the vapour is full and warm without any hint of a scorched note. That scorched note, the dry hit, marks the point where the coil is heating faster than the wick can supply it, and the useful setting sits just below it. The full method is in our walkthrough of [wattage and airflow settings](/uk/wattage-airflow-vape-settings/). Then there is the draw itself. British guides converge on the same sequence: a fast direct to lung inhale rather than a slow sip, a brief hold, and a steady controlled exhale rather than a forced blast. Posture and breathing matter more than beginners expect, which is why competitive cloud events reward practised technique as much as expensive hardware. ## What cloud chasing costs you in practice The hobby has running costs that go beyond the kit. Large coils vaporise liquid quickly, so consumption climbs sharply compared with a small pod, and coils themselves wear faster under sustained high output. Sweetened dessert flavours accelerate that wear by leaving residue on the mesh. Battery runtime follows the same curve. A demanding coil drains a pair of cells noticeably faster than a modest setup, which is the practical argument for a dual cell chassis and for owning a second matched pair on charge. There is also a social dimension that visitors often miss. Vaping indoors in public places is governed by venue policy across the UK rather than by a single national rule, and producing very large clouds in shared spaces tends to test that goodwill. Discretion is part of the craft. ## Frequently asked questions ### Does cloud chasing wear hardware out faster? Yes. Sustained high output puts more thermal stress on coils and pulls harder on cells. Regular cleaning, prompt coil changes and cells in good condition keep that wear predictable rather than sudden. ### Do I need a rebuildable atomiser to get big clouds? No. Modern factory mesh coils in sub-ohm tanks already produce a great deal of vapour. Rebuildables mainly buy you fine control over coil surface and wicking, at the cost of doing the safety work yourself. ### What PG VG ratio suits cloud chasing? Ratios weighted heavily towards vegetable glycerine, from 70/30 upwards, favour volume. Flavour definition softens slightly as glycerine rises, which is the standing trade off. ### Why are UK high VG bottles usually nicotine free? Because nicotine containing e-liquid is limited to 10 ml bottles at up to 20 mg/ml here. Larger shortfills sidestep that by shipping without nicotine, leaving you to add a shot if you want one. ### Is cloud chasing safe for a complete beginner? The vaping part is straightforward. The battery part is not, and it is the reason this style is better approached once you understand cell datasheets and Ohm's law rather than before. ## Battery discipline, and what to take from all this The rules that matter around removable cells are habits, not numbers. Cells run as a matched pair, bought together and aged together, never one new alongside one tired. Wraps stay perfectly intact, and any nick near the positive terminal means the cell is rewrapped before it goes back in, never taped over. Cells travel in a rigid case rather than loose in a pocket, because contact with keys or coins is enough to short one. Charging happens on an external charger built for the format and the lithium ion chemistry, following the maker's instructions. And when you want to know whether a configuration is reasonable, you read the cell manufacturer's own datasheet for its continuous discharge rating rather than the figure printed on a commercial wrap. **Cloud chasing** rewards coherence above everything: sub-ohm hardware, a high glycerine liquid, open airflow and a wattage found by increments, all sitting on cells whose published limits you have actually read. Get those aligned and the volume arrives without drama. Treat the cells as an afterthought and no amount of hardware will make the setup sound. Editorial content for adult readers only. Vaping products usually contain nicotine, a substance that causes addiction. Not for sale to under-18s in the United Kingdom. This article is not a buying recommendation.