Tanks By Mail: refillable nitrous cylinders by UPS, sold under a food-only contract

Who they say they are, and what the record says

Tanks By Mail sells nitrous oxide in metal cylinders, by UPS, to addresses anywhere in the United States. Its first archived home page, in November 2022, offered "food grade nitrous oxide shipped to your door the green alternative to whip cream chargers", and under it, "all size tanks available deposit required must be 21".[1] The cylinders are aluminum, from 5 to 20 lb of gas. A buyer leases one with a deposit and sends it back empty, buys one outright, or mails his own in to be refilled. The FAQ puts the arithmetic plainly: "1lb of gas is equivalent to 56 cartridges".[2] The products page gives the 10 lb tank as "equivalent to 580 whip cream chargers".[3]

This page sits beside our deep dive on the flavored nitrous tank boom, which covers the disposable Galaxy Gas-style tanks, the lawsuits and the state laws. Tanks By Mail is the other half of that market: plain refillable cylinders of the kind restaurants and welding suppliers use, sold to individuals.

Figure 1. The first archived storefront, 2022-11-21. Before a buyer sees a tank, the site asks for an ID showing 21 or over and a signed agreement. [1]

The business is a registered company and says so. The site's terms say "the site is provided by tanks by mail inc individually and on behalf of its subsidiaries and affiliates", under New York law.[4] The purchase agreement on the products page names the party as "tanks by mail inc a new york corporation having a business address at 150 orange street suite b albany new york 12210".[5] New York's corporation records agree: Tanks By Mail, Inc. is a domestic business corporation in Albany County, DOS ID 6523195, first filed on 2022-06-29, with its process address at 150 Orange Street, Suite B, Albany.[6] The domain tanksbymail.com was registered four weeks earlier, on 2022-06-02, through eNom with the registrant behind a privacy service.[7] The label on the cylinders carries the same legal name and street, as Suite C.

Figure 2. The store's own photograph of its 10 lb cylinder, archived July 2023. The label carries the hazard diamonds, a printed warning and the company's legal name and Albany address. [8]

Contact has always been a phone number and a free email account: "call 838 200 6692 or email tanksbymail gmail com".[9] The site was built by a web designer whose credit runs along the foot of the early pages, "designed by pinehillsweb".[1] Payment goes through Shopify, "payments secured through shopify", and the cylinders ship "from our shipping locations ny or mo", that is New York or Missouri.[2]

Albany, Chicago, Boston: the family of businesses

Tanks By Mail is one name among several. By December 2023 its FAQ menu linked two partner businesses, "capital gas management albany ny big city air chicago il",[2] and by April 2024 a third, "capital gas management albany ny nitrous hub boston ma big city air chicago il".[10]

Figure 3. The FAQ in December 2023. Its menu links two partner businesses, one in Albany and one in Chicago; its first answer is the age check. [2]

Figure 4. By April 2024 the menu lists three partner businesses, in Albany, Boston and Chicago. [10]

The company's own Reddit account explained the ties in its first year. In April 2023 it wrote "kctanks was purchased by tanks by mail", about a seller whose website had gone dark;[11] two days later, "we just opened a shop in chicago";[12] and the next day, "we have a fully licensed shop in albany".[13] Buyers repeated the first claim: "they bought out kctanks and are 100 legit".[14] A second account, which describes itself as running the business, wrote in October 2023 that "tanks by mail and cgm air in ny are all under the same umbrella".[15]

New York's records hold a second corporation at the same address. CGM Air Inc, DOS ID 5936540, was filed in Albany County on 2021-02-08, sixteen months before Tanks By Mail, with its process address also at 150 Orange Street, Suite B.[6] The Chicago shop's website, bigcityair.com, was registered on 2023-03-15 through the same registrar as tanksbymail.com.[16] Its footer links back to both New York names, and its copyright line names a third: "sitemap tanks by mail cgm air inc copy 2023 bcgm air inc".[17] Big City Air sells nitrous among seven industrial and beverage gases and in 2025 announced a move to a larger Chicago address.

Figure 5. New York's corporation records put Tanks By Mail and CGM Air at the same Albany address for service, sixteen months apart. The Chicago shop's footer names both. [6]

Figure 6. Big City Air, the Chicago shop the company's account called its own, in August 2025. Nitrous is one of seven gases on the page, and the footer links back to Tanks By Mail. [17]

The dates line up within a few months of each other: the domain in June 2022, the corporation the same month, the first archived storefront on 2022-11-21,[18] and the first Reddit thread about the store the day before, on 2022-11-20.[19]

Figure 7. The record in order. The New York filings and the domain come first; the company's own Reddit claims fill 2023 and 2024. [18]

What they sell

Cylinders, full. The catalogue has barely changed. In July 2023 and again in October 2025 the products page sold the same four sizes, 5, 10, 15 and 20 lb, each in two ways, lease and return or purchase and no return, and stated that "all our nitrous oxide tanks on this page come full with nitrous oxide".[3] The purchase option sends a cylinder that "has no tbm markings stickers and is wrapped in plastic".[2] Accessories joined the cylinders by 2025: a CGA-326 regulator and a "deluxe whipping kit".[3]

Figure 8. The catalogue in October 2025: the same four cylinder sizes it began with, sold full, to account holders only. [3]

Prices. By August 2025 the home page was a price table. A 10 lb lease cost $400 at checkout, of which $150 was gas, $100 the deposit, and $150 shipping out and back; the deposit came back with the empty tank, so the gas cost $300 delivered. A 20 lb lease came to $400 after the deposit.[9] Fill by mail is cheaper for buyers who own a cylinder: "fill by mail is a service available to existing tanks by mail customers".[9]

Figure 9. The home page in August 2025 is a price table. A 10 lb lease costs $400 at checkout and $300 once the empty cylinder is back. [9]

Returns. A leased cylinder has to come back, and the return page charges for what happens to it in between: "sticker removal 10 per sticker sticker addition 20 per sticker", and "lease tanks not returned will be subject to seizure".[20]

Figure 10. The return rules in February 2024, with a charge for each sticker a buyer adds to or peels off a leased cylinder. [20]

The gas. The site calls it food grade. The FAQ says "no oils or metals used in filling filled in northeastern usa".[2] The company's Reddit account went further and called it "99 3 percent purity same as medical grade" in March 2023,[21] and in November "quality is top notch 99 3 percent purity and sourced in the usa".[22] The site's safety data sheet gives a different figure, and a general one: "concentration typically found in a purity of 99 9 or higher".[23] The molecule has a page on this site: nitrous oxide.

The contract

Before a buyer reaches the products page, the site asks for two things. The 2022 welcome box set them out as steps: upload an ID showing 21 or over, then sign an agreement.[1] The FAQ spells out the first: the "id must be valid and show proof of age 21", and at delivery "someone 21 must be physically present to accept hazmat package".[2] Buyers describe the same check: "nope just 21 and over and upload your id".[24] The agreement is long, and four of its clauses matter more than the rest.

Figure 11. Four clauses of the agreement every buyer e-signs, verbatim from the products page as archived in October 2025. The buyer promises to use the gas only for food or drink, and only for business. [3]

The buyer declares an age, "if the client is an individual they are twenty one 21 years of age or older", and two uses. The first: "the products are to be used for commercial purposes only and not for personal family or household purposes". The second: "if purchasing nitrous oxide under this agreement the gas will only be used for the preparation of food or beverages".[3] The same clause stood in the July 2023 version.[5] The agreement also recites the law: "it is a violation of new york law to possess or knowingly distribute nitrous oxide or any substance containing nitrous oxide with intent to breathe inhale or ingest it for the purpose of intoxication".[3] And it moves the risk to the buyer, who "expressly and voluntarily assumes all risk of death or personal injury".[5]

The company points to the contract when asked about use. In a 2023 thread about whether police can seize a tank, its account wrote "we make everyone sign an intent of use contract prior to each order".[25] A month later it said of customers who misuse the gas, "they are immediately banned from the shop there are no exceptions for misuse".[26] The account that describes itself as running the business wrote "we do not condone misuse of our product".[27]

Where it sells: a forum about inhaling it

The contract says food and business. The company's marketing went to r/NitrousOxide, a Reddit forum whose members discuss inhaling nitrous oxide for its effect, and most of the 65 threads about Tanks By Mail there are about exactly that.[28]

The company account posted in that forum from November 2022 to March 2024. In the first thread about the store, in 2022, it offered "first50 code at checkout for 50 off your first order" and called its product "the literal highest quality food grade gas".[19] In November 2023 it posted a code good for life, "this 10 off code boomer is good for every order you ever make",[22] and a sale: "we are having a sale on 15lb aluminum tanks".[29]

Figure 12. The photograph the company's Reddit account posted with a sale on 15 lb tanks, 2023-11-21. Whose storeroom it is, the post does not say. [29]

In January 2024 it celebrated a number: "2000 orders with nothing but positive experiences and great customer service".[30] The image it posted shows a Shopify order page, number 2000, shipped by UPS on 2024-01-03. A commenter under the post asked the obvious question: "how are nitrous companies able to be so active on a sub devoted to using their products illegally".[30]

Figure 13. The image the company posted on 2024-01-15 with its claim of 2,000 orders in 14 months: order number 2000, shipped by UPS on 2024-01-03. [30]

Others in the forum noticed too. In the first thread, in 2022, a reader wrote "it seems like most of the feedback is coming from the business owners".[19] The forum's moderators removed two of the company's posts with the line "no solicitation or product promotion is allowed".[22] In January 2024 a group of members opened a new forum, r/laughing_gas, saying "recently r nitrousoxide has become overran with shills", and its first rule named the company: "no sales reps or company accounts allowed mark lina bigcityair tanksbymail etc are banned".[31]

The company's posts also made claims about its competitors with no test behind them. In November 2023: "most single cartridges are made in china and many contain welding gas residue".[22] In July 2023, about the flavored disposable tanks: "avoid all the welding grease and other stuff commonly found inside those 640g ones".[32] The second account said "we cut open two 580g canisters at the shop last year".[27] No result, photograph or laboratory was given for any of the three.

What buyers report

Every post in r/NitrousOxide from January 2023 to October 2026 whose title or text names Tanks By Mail, tanksbymail or TBM was found in the Arctic Shift archive, 64 posts, plus the first thread of 2022-11-20; all 65 were read with their comment threads, the newest comment dated 2026-09-29.[28] A thread can fall into several groups.

What the thread describes	Threads
A delivery as described, or praise of the gas or service	27
A courier delay or tracking problem	1
An order that never arrived	0
Weak, fishy-tasting or contaminated gas	9
A dispute over a deposit or a charge	1
Trouble with the ID check or the sign-up form	3
A question whether the business is still running	4
A post or reply by the company account	9
A post or reply by the second account that says it runs the business	4
A reader or moderator calling it promotion	7
A passing mention	23

Speed and service. The praise is mostly about delivery and the gas. "i ordered on thursday afternoon and it was at my crib by saturday", one buyer wrote in 2023.[14] Another, on the deposit: "tank refund hit account 2 days after i shipped the tank back".[22] As late as June 2025 a post was titled "tanksbymail was legit very high quality gas and straight to your front door".[33] The one delay on record was UPS's: "they sent out a batch of orders via ups on the 27th and they all show label created only".[34]

The gas. Nine threads, from seven buyers, describe gas they did not like. "the nitrous from tanksbymail is garbage it has a fishy taste and everyone that did it got super bad headaches", one wrote in October 2023;[35] another that month, "feeling very disappointed as the gas in the tank seems very low quality".[36] One found debris after filtering the gas: "the cotton ball filter i put on the silencer was full of blue and black fibers".[37] In 2024 two asked whether something had changed: "i ordered from them in the last couple months and i felt that it was a bit weaker",[38] and "the last one i got seems kinda similar to the cheap chinese gas you get from those small canisters", in a thread asking whether the company had changed suppliers.[39] Nobody in the threads had the gas tested, and three of the nine complaints come from one buyer.

Where the gas comes from. The company says the USA and the northeast. Buyers name a source. "they get their mother tanks filled by airgas", one wrote, Airgas being the large industrial gas distributor;[35] and in another thread, "these tank filling companies are services that fill tanks with gas from airgas".[40] A fan put the point the company makes: "also the quality is way better its filled in new york not overseas".[41] The second account wrote that "tbm has a few fill stations they work with".[15] None of these is a document, and the company has not named its supplier.

The sticker charges. The only money dispute is in the first thread: "you have to pull them all off before shipping back otherwise they charge you 20 bucks a sticker".[19]

Is it still there? The questions start in 2025. In July a buyer wrote "the voicemail is always full generally not friendly anyways no communication";[37] in December another, "trying to buy but i go to sign up and you need a license";[42] and in May 2026 a post asked "did their business get shut down", in a thread about the company's email no longer working.[43] The products page was still selling in October 2025, and buyers were still discussing it as an option in August 2026.

Lab results

None are published. The purity figure, 99.3 per cent, comes from the company's Reddit posts.[22] The safety data sheet on the site is a general document about nitrous oxide, giving 99.9 per cent "or higher" as typical, and it names neither a manufacturer nor a supplier.[23] It is frank about the effect buyers in r/NitrousOxide are after: "in low to moderate concentrations nitrous oxide can induce feelings of euphoria dizziness and relaxation".[23] Nothing in the record says which plant filled any given cylinder or what was in it beyond nitrous oxide.

The cylinders carry the label the law expects of a compressed gas: the UN number, the green non-flammable gas diamond and the yellow oxidizer diamond, a printed danger warning, and the company's name and address.[8]

Regulatory and legal

New York. The law Tanks By Mail recites in its contract is section 3380 of the state's Public Health Law. It says "no person shall use nitrous oxide for purposes of causing intoxication inebriation excitement stupefaction or the dulling of the brain or nervous system of himself or another".[44] It also governs the seller: "no person shall sell any canister or other container of nitrous oxide unless granted an exemption pursuant to this subdivision", and "in no event shall any canister or other container of nitrous oxide be sold to a person under the age of twenty one years".[44] The site's age check and the contract's 21-year clause match the second sentence.

Federal. The FDA's 2025 advisory, "FDA advises consumers not to inhale nitrous oxide products from any size canisters, tanks, or chargers", names flavored brands such as Galaxy Gas and HOTWHIP.[45] Tanks By Mail is not among them. A CourtListener search for "Tanks By Mail" and "TanksByMail" on 2026-10-11 returned no federal case.[46]

Other states. Several states have restricted sales of nitrous oxide tanks since 2024; they are set out in the deep dive. The company's pages do not list states it will not ship to. In 2023 a regular in the forum recommended it to buyers in states with strict rules.

Still open

• Who fills the cylinders. The site names no supplier and the safety data sheet names no manufacturer. Two buyers name Airgas; the company says only the northeastern USA.
• The Chicago and Kansas City businesses. Big City Air's footer names BCGM Air, Inc.; its Illinois record was not read for this page. KCTanks, which the company says it bought, was not looked up in Missouri, the state the FAQ gives as a shipping point.
• A New York exemption. Section 3380 requires one to sell nitrous containers. No list of exemptions was found, and whether Tanks By Mail or CGM Air holds one is open.
• Status in 2026. The last capture of the products page read for this dossier is from October 2025; the buyers' questions about email and phone are from 2025 and 2026.

If you have bought from Tanks By Mail, rate it below or comment on the thread at the foot of this page.

Changes

• 2026-10-11: first published.

References

1. Tanks By Mail home page, archived 2022-11-21 — Wayback Machine
2. Tanks By Mail FAQ, archived 2023-12-09 — Wayback Machine
3. Tanks By Mail products page with the product purchase agreement, archived 2025-10-15 — Wayback Machine
4. Tanks By Mail terms and conditions (last updated 2022-10-22), archived 2023-05-20 — Wayback Machine
5. Tanks By Mail products page with the product purchase agreement, archived 2023-07-21 — Wayback Machine
6. New York Department of State, Active Corporations: Tanks By Mail, Inc. (DOS ID 6523195) and CGM Air Inc (DOS ID 5936540), read 2026-10-11 — New York State, data.ny.gov
7. RDAP record for tanksbymail.com (registered 2022-06-02, eNom, privacy registrant) — Verisign
8. Tanks By Mail product photograph, 10 lb cylinder, archived 2023-07-21 — Wayback Machine
9. Tanks By Mail home page, archived 2025-08-04 — Wayback Machine
10. Tanks By Mail affiliates page, archived 2024-04-15 — Wayback Machine
11. Did kctanks website go down or do they have a new website? (2023-04-24) — r/NitrousOxide — anecdotal report, not evidence
12. Looking for a local shop that sells tanks in Michigan (2023-04-27) — r/NitrousOxide — anecdotal report, not evidence
13. Selling a 10lb tank with account name and location to fill in Massachusetts (2023-04-27) — r/NitrousOxide — anecdotal report, not evidence
14. Tanksbymail (2023-05-26) — r/NitrousOxide — anecdotal report, not evidence
15. Big City Air (Chicago) (2023-10-10) — r/NitrousOxide — anecdotal report, not evidence
16. RDAP record for bigcityair.com (registered 2023-03-15, eNom) — Verisign
17. Big City Air home page, archived 2025-08-24 — Wayback Machine
18. Wayback Machine capture index for tanksbymail.com — Internet Archive
19. Tanksbymail.com (2022-11-20) — r/NitrousOxide — anecdotal report, not evidence
20. Tanks By Mail tank return page, archived 2024-02-28 — Wayback Machine
21. There are so many new brands and with the new many tanks (2023-03-16) — r/NitrousOxide — anecdotal report, not evidence
22. Tanks By Mail things (2023-11-14, posted by the company) — r/NitrousOxide — anecdotal report, not evidence
23. Tanks By Mail safety data sheet page, archived 2025-03-23 — Wayback Machine
24. I can confirm - Tanks By Mail is WHERE IT'S AT!! (2023-02-18) — r/NitrousOxide — anecdotal report, not evidence
25. Can cops seize a tank if you get pulled over with one? (2023-05-11) — r/NitrousOxide — anecdotal report, not evidence
26. do you have to remove a silencer when getting your tank refilled? (2023-06-12) — r/NitrousOxide — anecdotal report, not evidence
27. 6 pack of Smart Whip Vs 10 #er (2023-10-01) — r/NitrousOxide — anecdotal report, not evidence
28. r/NitrousOxide posts naming Tanks By Mail, 2022-11-20 to 2026-08-03, through the Arctic Shift archive; 65 threads with comments read — Arctic Shift — anecdotal report, not evidence
29. Tanks by Mail 15lb sale! (2023-11-21, posted by the company) — r/NitrousOxide — anecdotal report, not evidence
30. TANKSBYMAIL.COM HAS DONE 2000 ORDERS IN 14 MONTHS!!! (2024-01-15, posted by the company) — r/NitrousOxide — anecdotal report, not evidence
31. r/laughing_gas is live (2024-01-19) — r/NitrousOxide — anecdotal report, not evidence
32. Fill Station (2023-07-25) — r/NitrousOxide — anecdotal report, not evidence
33. Tanksbymail was legit very high quality gas and straight to your front door (2025-06-07) — r/NitrousOxide — anecdotal report, not evidence
34. Tanks By Mail Tracking? (2023-09-29) — r/NitrousOxide — anecdotal report, not evidence
35. Tanks n2o nitrous! Tanksbymail (2023-10-20) — r/NitrousOxide — anecdotal report, not evidence
36. Tanks by Mail (2023-10-31) — r/NitrousOxide — anecdotal report, not evidence
37. Tanks by mail is legit, very good quality gas and took 2 days to get here (2023-04-26) — r/NitrousOxide — anecdotal report, not evidence
38. Anyone else order from Tanksbymail recently, and find that the gas was weak? (2024-08-06) — r/NitrousOxide — anecdotal report, not evidence
39. Tanks by mail change suppliers? (2024-06-21) — r/NitrousOxide — anecdotal report, not evidence
40. Mars or tanks by mail? (2024-01-25) — r/NitrousOxide — anecdotal report, not evidence
41. Tanks by Mail? (2023-09-12) — r/NitrousOxide — anecdotal report, not evidence
42. Tanks by mail requires a license?? (2025-12-05) — r/NitrousOxide — anecdotal report, not evidence
43. Tanks by mail email not functioning? (2026-05-21) — r/NitrousOxide — anecdotal report, not evidence
44. New York Public Health Law section 3380, Sale and possession of certain substances, archived 2025-05-26 — New York State Senate, via Wayback Machine
45. FDA Advises Consumers Not to Inhale Nitrous Oxide Products — US Food and Drug Administration, March 14, 2025, updated June 4, 2025
46. CourtListener RECAP search for "Tanks By Mail" and "TanksByMail", run 2026-10-11 (no results) — Free Law Project