Any difference between smoke fluid brands?

I too have used Mega Steam, Lionel, MTH, and Bachmann. By far Mega Steam is the thinest (most watery), but engines smoke like crazy with it. I think MTH's smoke fluid causes engines to smoke well too. My experience with Lionel is that their's smoke less. And Bachmann even less.  

I use Mega Steam & Super Smoke & I like them both.   don't really care for the Lionel smoke fluid.  I'll use MTH if I have any around, but Mega steam is my fave

I have used Mega-Steam for many years with wonderful results. Not changing now. 

To your original question ( ie the title) yes as if memory serves me correctly for liquid type smoke units there is actually 2 different types one takes what I believe if I remember correctly takes sluth and the other can't remember. Also there was at one time I believe before present owner complaints about Mega Smoke clogging the smoke units in some ( I want to say Lionel ) as believe Lionel took the other type oil But haven't heard that complaint in a few years so the present owner must of figure how to correct it. Or lionel did something with smoke units but yes there is 2 type of smoke units to my knowledge 

Just got a used MTH Baldwin M-1 as well as the PE Gold set (new)this week. The MTH fluid definitely made more smoke. At times I could barely see smoke w/the Lionel.  PTC, et al - I'm encouraged by the good results you've had w/Mega-Steam. Does it burn off any quicker? Very interested in their scents, esp. around the Holidays for my wife. Do they make a sampler platter, by chance?  

I'm all in with Mega Sream.

Brad

Jt mega is the only smoke for me.

I use Mega Steam and add a small amount of Lionel smoke.

Megasteam is all I use. Any other fluid made the trash a long time ago. 

Those scented Mega Steam scents are really something.  I bought a bottle of coal/steam smoke scent once.  Holy smokes.  What was I thinking.

.....

Dennis

My favorite smoke fluid, original Gilbert American Flyer.

Sort of covered some of this on another thread, but when it comes down to it, there are really two "types" of smoke fluid marked that I am aware of.  VG/PG mixes that are perfectly safe, won't burn, or ignite.  These are functionally identical to the liquid used in electronic cigarettes.  The other type uses light mineral oils, it will burn, it will ignite, and it may also damage paint if left on it too long, never mind the thought of breathing in oil fumes for hours at a time in small inclosed spaces.  As far as I am aware, MTH's protosmoke is the only major brand that states on the bottle it contains mineral oil.  I doubt that is the primary ingredient, but there's at least some in there.  

Seems after doing a little more research all the major brands are either using, or contain oils.  a little worrisome, but I suppose it works out well enough.  Obviously manufactures do't want to say exactly what's in their fluid, but I wouldn't mind hearing from anyone in the know on if there are only traces of mineral oil, or if that is the primary ingredient in lionel/mth/megasteam.  

I use which ever is the least expensive smoke fluid, and that includes baby oil, baby oil cut with MTH smoke fluid or baby oil cut with Mega-Steam. The scent of baby oil is wonderful. 

This past Christmas Season I stumbled across MTH's Apple Pie Proto Smoke at Xtreme Hobbies in Deer Park. The scent of apple pie is the strongest in my experience, and it is my new favorite. It smoke profusely and a 50ml bottle cost $4.75.

When I was growing up, I used mineral oil in my American Flyer. Now I use Williams cut with some Mega-Steam in my Williams and straight Mega-Steam in my Marx (Marx scent), LCT and MTH locomotives.

Yes, quite a difference.  All major brands I tried worked, but I use Mega Steam, mostly 'cause I love the NADA, which does smell, but nearly as much as any others, and because it makes more smoke than Lione;'s fluid.  Good stuff.

I use Megasteam as well.   To the original question, I am now doing an eyedropper and a half in my LionChief Plus locos using Megasteam.   More than that bubbles over, that amount seems to be the maximum.    Really great looking smoke from these locos - enough fan pressure to look like high pressure coming from the stack, and then a nice billowing cloud.

Ive used Mega Steam and MTH  interchangeably over the years and no difference, both work well!!

MEGA STEAM scents  rally set them apart from the competition and Jeb's booth at York is a must stop!1

 Although its not Lionel recommended, I use Megasteam exclusively as it works great and smells good. It is oil based, it has a high flash point for safety and a low smoke point for good performance.   

The bigger question is; will Lionel honor the warranty if you use Megasteam? I would think not.

Megasteam.

I just bought my first Mega Steam bottles, coffee and NADA, and will use them once the current MTH smoke fluid runs out in currently filled engines.

I used Pat's trains smoke fluid for awhile too (vanilla) which was pretty good.

Lionels was poor, and MTH a step better than Lionels.

Cannot wait to see the MegaSteam in action!

The truth and nothing but the truth:  Thanks for the questions and comments regarding our product.  First, Mega-Steam is produced with a special viscosity (thickness) that is safe to use in all types of smoke units...including the Seuthe units. It does have the appearance of being thinner than other fluids on the market. That allows our fluid to vaporize more quickly, produce plumes of realistic-looking smoke, then dissipate quickly (not fog up your train room). In our independent testing, our smoke required 2 more fillings of 1" of dropper each, per 30 minutes of running compared to the thicker fluids on the market. To our knowledge our product has never clogged up any smoke unit. Some of the thicker smoke fluids have been known to clog up the works just because of their heavier viscosity.

Mega-Steam does not harm paint. That issue was discussed here on this forum a couple of years back and the problem was found to be with a manufacturer's paint issues from the factory. If our smoke fluid should spill on your locomotive's shell, simply wipe it off with a soft cloth. No harm. In the ancient days of model railroading (back in the 50's) LOL, Lionel even suggested using petroleum jelly to clean and shine their locomotive shells. Our product is of no harm to paint or locomotive shells, since our formula has some ingredients that are similar to petroleum jelly.

Our new product that is soon to be released is called "b-Gone" and will be a special cleaner to remove finger prints, smudges, and even smoke fluid spills...easily and safely.

More information to be announced.

Above all, Mega-Steam is proudly produced right here in the U.S.A. by model railroad hobbyists. We control the entire process to ensure that every bottle is made precisely to our high standards. Our quality control is very important to us as we take great pride in our product. We aim to please! All smoke fluids are not equal. Many of the other fluids on the market are made overseas and they do have quality control issues from time to time due to the nature of overseas standards.

For further information, please visit our web site: www.megasteam.com. Thanks for the opportunity of providing this information.

All the very best,

Jeb Kriigel

JT's Mega-Steam

www.megasteam.com

Show of hands...How many folks that have had warranty repairs on smoke units that used Mega Steam have had Lionel NOT fixed them because of it?

 

While I understand they always recommend their own, I have yet to hear of one person complaining about a warranty refusal due to using Mega Steam.

 

 

 

Originally Posted by Dennis LaGrua:

 The bigger question is; will Lionel honor the warranty if you use Megasteam? I would think not.

 

Lionel has only just recently added the "smoke fluid forensics" team to the warranty dept. Good luck sneaking that past them now.

I don't care,  I'm not running that lousy( Lionel brand) chinese fluid in my trains!

JT's Mega-Steam NADA all the way: very little odor, great smoke and dissipates quickly in my small bedroom/layout room!

BEST smoke fluid ever, IMHO!  

Jeb,

What do you mean by 2 more fillings per 10 minutes of running time? I know I'm not understanding this correctly and maybe I'm not refilling often enough, but I never seem to have to refill so often that it would require multiple refills within 10 minutes.

Ed Kazarian

Hi Ed,

That was a typo...my apologies! I have corrected my original post to read correctly:  "2 more fillings of 1"of dropper each during 30 minutes of running." We refill when the smoke amount falls off. The amount we added after the initial filling of 18-20 drops is 1" of dropper. The other brands used in the test, M--,L-----, S----S----, B------, were of a heavier viscosity and during the 30 minutes of running, we found that we only added their fluid 1 time with the same amount. Our conclusion was that although we found it necessary to refill Mega-Steam 2X, the overall amount of smoke, quick dissipation, pleasant scent, and the fact that it did not fog up our train room; made the extra refill insignificant. That was our findings. IOHO...these were our conclusions.

Hope this answers your question. Thanks for pointing our my original error!

Is there another smoke fluid other than Mega-Steam?

Paul