# Cloud chasing: the art of the biggest vapour > Cloud chasing explained: origins, kit, shortfills, DTL technique, tricks, competitions and why the UK scene faded when pods took over. On a stage somewhere in a British exhibition hall, a vaper draws slowly, holds, then releases a cloud thick enough to swallow the spotlights. The room reacts. What looks like a showy puff has a name, a rulebook and a history. **Cloud chasing** grew out of the vaping community itself, complete with its own figures, its own slang and its own contests. The interesting part is working out what separates it from simply exhaling a lot of vapour. ## What cloud chasing actually is Cloud chasing is the practice of producing the largest, densest cloud of vapour a person can manage, sometimes competitively, sometimes purely for the visual performance. British guides tend to describe it in the same three parts, and they are worth keeping in mind because everything else follows from them. First, the hardware: sub ohm gear, wide airflow and enough power behind it. Second, the e-liquid: high VG, low nicotine, chosen for vapour production rather than subtlety. Third, the technique: a fast, deep DTL draw and a controlled exhale. Get one of the three wrong and the cloud collapses. The term power vaping is used as a synonym, and it says something useful. This is a corner of vaping built around wattage, coil surface and airflow rather than around discretion. A cloud chaser and an MTL vaper are doing genuinely different things with genuinely different gear. ## Where the discipline came from Cloud chasing was not designed. It emerged from people pushing their own builds further than the manufacturers intended, then filming the results. The West Coast of the United States is usually credited as the birthplace, but the practice travelled fast and Britain picked it up through vape expos, shop meets and social media clips. Informal gatherings turned into organised competitions with judges and criteria. That lineage explains a defining trait: the scene has always rewarded craft and creativity as much as raw volume. A messy build that happens to produce a big cloud earns far less respect than a clean one that produces the same cloud with control. ## The kit a cloud chaser reaches for Standard gear will not do it. Cloud chasing has always leaned on specific hardware, very often assembled by hand rather than bought off the shelf. - An RDA, occasionally an RTA, with the airflow opened right up so air moves freely across the coils. - Low resistance sub ohm coils built to take real power without lagging. - A capable box mod with proper safety electronics behind it. - High VG e-liquid, typically 70/30 or 80/20, because vegetable glycerine is what carries the vapour. The build itself becomes the skill. Experienced cloud chasers choose wire diameter, wrap count and coil spacing, then match the wicking density so the cotton keeps up with the heat. Pack the wicking too tightly and the coil runs dry and you get a burnt taste. Leave it too loose and the juice floods the deck. That balance is why two identical mods rarely produce identical vapour. It is also what fuels the endless build discussions that hold the community together. If any of the vocabulary here is new, our [vape glossary](/uk/vape-glossary/) covers the terms in plain English, and our guide to [why a vape tastes burnt](/uk/vape-tastes-burnt/) explains the wicking side in more detail. ## The British twist: 2 ml tanks and shortfills This is where the UK scene diverges from the clips people watch online, and it is the part most overviews skip. British rules cap tanks at 2 ml and limit nicotine-containing e-liquid bottles to 10 ml at a maximum of 20 mg/ml. For a discipline that empties a tank in minutes, that reshapes daily practice. A cloud chaser here refills constantly, or builds around dripping, where liquid goes straight onto the coils. The e-liquid side is where shortfills changed everything. A large bottle sold without nicotine, then topped up with one or two nic shots, is the British answer to the 10 ml limit, and the shortfill market skews heavily towards high VG blends. That suits cloud chasing perfectly. It also pushes the scene towards low final nicotine strengths, which is exactly what a deep DTL lung draw calls for, since a strong mix would deliver an unpleasant throat hit at that volume of vapour. ## Technique is half the battle Hardware does not do the work on its own. The same build in two pairs of hands gives noticeably different results, and that is where the discipline turns into an art. The draw is trained. A cloud chaser pulls fast and deep straight into the lungs, fills completely, then meters the exhale rather than dumping it. Airflow management, posture and rhythm matter as much as watts on the screen. Anyone unclear on the difference between the two draw styles will find our comparison of [MTL and DTL](/uk/mtl-vs-dtl/) a useful starting point, because cloud chasing lives exclusively in the airy DTL world. ## Tricks, the artistic side Producing a big cloud is only the entry ticket. The discipline gets interesting when a vaper starts shaping the vapour instead of just releasing it. O rings are the gateway trick, pushed out with a small pulse of the throat or a tap of the cheek. From there the repertoire opens up: the jellyfish, where a ring is chased and pulled through with a second exhale, and the dragon, vapour pushed out through the nose and the corners of the mouth at once. These require breath control more than power, and in several competition formats they are judged alongside raw volume. ## How a competition runs Contests gave the scene its structure. The best known format puts two vapers head to head and measures the distance their cloud travels, with judges assessing density, length and how well the cloud holds its shape rather than dissipating. Other events are built entirely around tricks and choreography. Around all of it sit brands, build stations and a knowledgeable crowd. That framework is what turned a garage habit into a genuine scene with recognised names, and much of the archive of that era still circulates through the [cloud chasing](/uk/category/cloud-chasing/) coverage that keeps the practice documented. ## So what happened to cloud chasing? It is the question the forums keep asking, and it deserves an honest answer rather than nostalgia. The golden age of cloud chasing ran through the middle of the last decade. Then the market moved. Pods arrived, then disposables, and both were built around the opposite priorities: small, discreet, no building, no coil wrapping, nic salts rather than high VG. A generation of vapers came in without ever touching an RDA. The scene did not disappear so much as contract. Competitions became rarer, shop meets thinner, and the centre of gravity shifted to online build communities. What remains is a smaller, more technical group who keep the craft alive because they enjoy the craft, not because it is fashionable. ## Frequently asked questions ### Is cloud chasing only for experts? Competitive builds are, but plenty of sub ohm tanks let a curious vaper explore big vapour production without rebuilding anything. The move to a reconstructable atomiser makes sense once the basics are solid. ### What e-liquid produces the biggest clouds? High VG, typically 70/30 or 80/20. Vegetable glycerine carries the vapour, while propylene glycol carries flavour, so density comes at some cost to flavour definition. ### Does it get through a lot of e-liquid? Yes, a great deal. High wattage and sub ohm coils vaporise liquid quickly, which is why a 2 ml tank empties in minutes during serious practice. ### Do I need an RDA to try it? Not to begin with. An RDA gives the widest airflow and full control of the build, but a sub ohm tank is enough to understand what a DTL lung hit and a decent cloud feel like. ### Why is it also called power vaping? Because the whole approach rests on running real wattage through low resistance coils. Power vaping has been used interchangeably with cloud chasing since the early days. ## More than a cloud **Cloud chasing** tells the loud story of vaping, a world away from the quiet daily draw on a pod. It sits at the meeting point of technical obsession, hardware culture and pure showmanship, and it is the clearest reminder that vaping has always had a hobbyist streak running through it. The scene is quieter than it was, but the knowledge has not gone anywhere. Anyone tempted to explore it inherits a genuine body of craft: coil geometry, wicking, airflow, breath control. Approach cloud chasing with curiosity, respect the hardware, use batteries rated for the current your build actually draws, and the rest is practice. 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.