The others are right, the ash oil will cause problems in the long term. However, you can mix outboard 2 stroke oil that meets the tcw3 spec. This is an ashless oil and will not cause problems. I use it in my equipment at home and in my car. I mix it, as do most others, at 1oz of oil for every 5 gal of gas. not only does it help keep things lubed better (probably why your mower seemed smoother), but it has some cleaning abilities as well. There is a gentlemen on bobistheoilguy that had been doing this with his construction site air compressors that run all day, and upon tear down, his mechanic said he has never seen such clean combustion Chambers our pistons, let alone not even a ridge worn into the cyl liner. Some use it in their cars to try and get the best mpg they can, but I like using it just from a maintenance stand point. It has to be the tcw3 rated stuff though, its ashless and its made to be burned. This is often the stuff used with snowmobiles and they need something that will burn clean and not gum up the power valves